The assault was a bold one. A glass panel on the back door was smashed. The chauffeur was asleep on the third floor and heard nothing. Eleanor, who had been restless and exhausted for days, also managed to sleep through it. But the four men on watch all heard it.
Edward was walking the first floor. He went to the back hall and found three men dressed in dark clothes coming through the door. Their boots crunched as they walked over the shattered glass.
The first of the burglars said in a pleasant voice, “Good evening!”
The other two men jumped him.
Edward struggled, but the sudden attack robbed him of his initiative. It was only a few seconds before he was bound and gagged. The burglars tossed him into the kitchen and shut the door.
When they turned, they found the gardener standing there. The lead burglar threw a hard punch from his shoulder, through the gardener’s jaw.
The man hit the floor.
“I’m sorry,” the burglar said, “but you should know better than to surprise a fellow. A man gets jumpy in the dark.” He nodded to his two companions. They trussed up the gardener and left him with the baron.
When the two of them went to join their associate, they found him in the front hall, staring around at the furniture and embellishments of the house.
“What a lovely place! We should have visited sooner.”
One of the other men chuckled.
“Ah, well. We have business to attend to.”
The burglar turned in time to see a glint of moonlight, shining through the glass of the front door, catch on a cuff link. He pushed the punch to the side and buried his fist in the man’s ribs.
“You have velvet feet! My hat off to—”
He couldn’t finish the compliment; he had to dodge the next attack. When he danced back, the light caught on the teeth of his smile.
The other two burglars stepped in from behind. It took both of them to hold Taylor still long enough their leader could sweep out his legs. The butler was not a small man, but he wasn’t large enough to manage all three of them.
Taylor was put in the closet under the stairs. He struggled and rolled until he could see the silhouette in the door.
“I’m impressed, sir,” the thief said. “You’re the kind of opponent that makes a man grateful he has friends. Perhaps we can spar another time.”
The door closed. Taylor was left in pitch darkness.
The man went to join his friends.
“Well?” he whispered.
“We’re all right, Mr. Penn,” the taller of the two figures said. “How’d they get that fighter? He’s not police.”
Penn scoffed. “Never.”
“How many left, do you think?” the last of the burglars asked.
“Tired already, Jeremy?” Penn clapped his friend on the back.
“Nah. I’m all right, Mr. Penn.”
“There’s at least the duke, and if I know my man, he won’t bother with fists. He’ll have a gun.”
“And Haley?” The unnamed thief sounded nervous.
“At home.” Penn rubbed his hands together. “All right, boys, how do we want to handle His Grace?”
“Divide and conquer?” Jeremy suggested.
Penn nodded. “Good. Which stairs do you want—front or back?”
“Front,” Penn’s friends said in unison.
“Oh, fine. Remember, don’t get shot. By the by, how’s the leg, Stewart?”
“All the better for your asking,” Stewart grumbled.
Penn put a hand on the shoulder of each of his comrades. “If I don’t see you in a few minutes, I’ll see you in hell.”
“Yeah. We’ll look for you on the throne.”
Penn grinned, then turned toward the back stairs.
As he went up the stairs on hands and knees, he thought about what a crime it was that your head always came into view first when you were assaulting the high ground.
There was a light above him. Penn moved to the edge of the stairwell and crept up until he could barely peer over the last step. Judging by the size of the man standing in the hall, it was Duke Aubrey-Serrs. In one hand, the duke held a cold blast lantern. In the other, he held a revolver. He waited with his eyes fixed on the back stairs.
This was the most ticklish part of the whole game. Bullets tended to take the fun out of everything. Especially if you encountered one moving in excess of six hundred feet per second. That kind of rendezvous could ruin a man’s whole day.
Since the top of his head was still intact, Penn assumed Aubrey-Serrs hadn’t spotted him. Penn would have to remain where he was. Having his hair in sight was less dangerous than lowering himself even an inch. They always saw movement first.
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A man holding himself up on half-extended arms is not the best judge of how much time has passed, but by Ryce’s calculations, a million years went by before he heard the noise he’d been waiting for.
Knock-knock-knock.
The duke whirled around to face the front of the house. When he turned, Penn crept up the last of the stairs and flattened himself against a dark wall. Then he rapped on the wood behind him.
Knock-knock-knock.
Aubrey-Serrs whipped around to face the other way. The lantern he was holding swung on its handle, and the light swung with it.
Knock-knock-knock.
It came from the front stairs. Penn was able to creep four feet closer before the duke turned back.
The thief tapped the toe of his shoe this time.
Knock-knock-knock.
Knock-knock-knock.
By now His Grace had figured out their trick. He stood sideways between the two parties.
Penn smiled. They all did that. Did they really think it would help? Only if they’d grown eyes on the sides of their head.
He kept knocking each time he advanced and froze. Stewart and Jeremy did the same. The hurried knocking rained around the increasingly furious duke, and then—
Knock-knock-knock.
The last sounding came from both directions at the same time.
Aubrey-Serrs was jumped from both sides. He raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
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Eleanor jerked awake. Her mind knew nothing until she was already upright in bed.
Gunshot.
There was nothing but silence now. As it persisted, she began to doubt her senses. But the blast was still ringing in her ears. She hadn’t imagined it.
The pressure in her chest built until it ached. The next noise she heard was the rush of air when she finally took a breath.
Her borrowed room was secluded in one of the most remote parts of the house. No matter how her ears strained, she still heard nothing but the sound of her own breathing.
It wasn’t too long before that became the focus of her concern. It was much too quick. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it was fluttering against her ribs. White fuzz crept in from the edges of her vision.
Eleanor closed her eyes. That only traded one darkness for another, but it helped her concentrate.
She told herself to calm down. She told herself that nothing had happened to her and that she didn’t know that it would. She knew she was being stupid, and she hated herself with a venom that stabbed at her stomach, but no matter how she berated herself, she couldn’t slow her breathing or her heart rate.
Eternity slipped into the room to make itself comfortable. As more time passed, the silence became as threatening as the first shock of sound. Eleanor waited and tried to quiet her delirious body.
Whatever modest progress she had made was undone when she heard the knob on her door rattle.
Her bed was in the corner of the room. She curled herself into the furthest corner of the bed.
The door opened, and a man came in. He was holding a lantern. Patches of geometric light flew over the walls and floor.
As if through a fever dream, she heard the man say, “Eleanor Louise Serrs, I presume.”
He came toward her. She tried to push herself back, but she was already against the wall and her headboard.
His quiet laugh sounded dull and distant. “You’re trembling like a rabbit! Are you really so afraid of your intended?”
As he got closer, the light of the lantern illuminated her face. His steps faltered.
“You have…very lovely eyes,” he mused.
Penn had an enviable view of them; they were wide with fear and fixed on him.
He cleared his throat and said in a more natural voice, “But I forget, we haven’t met yet.”
He put the lantern on the nightstand by her bed, placed his arm across his chest, and bowed.
“Lady Serrs, please allow me to introduce myself. I’m the Marvelous Ryce Penn, your beloved fiancé.”
Her lips parted. Words tumbled out in a choked whisper: “What do you want?”
Eleanor cringed when he sat on the bed with her.
“To start, I’d like to thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed such a wonderful correspondence as I’ve shared with you and your father. And I have something for you.”
He took her hand and pulled it toward him. The pressure felt strange on her numb limb. She tried to pull away, but what strength she had was gone.
Still through muffled senses, she heard him say, “There. Now we’re engaged. Be sure to tell your father.”
“My father!”
“Don’t panic yourself. I wouldn’t dream of harming him. There are few men I treasure more.”
Penn released her, stood up, and crossed over to the window.
“I think I’ve been here a bit too long to leave by the back door.” He opened the window as wide as it would go and pulled a rope from his jacket. “There’s just enough for the job. That’s what I call elegance.” He tied it to the leg of her bed before tossing the rest out the window. After leaning out to check, he said, “That’s an easy drop.” He turned to her. “My darling Eleanor, this is where I leave you. Please know I’m always happy to be of service—especially to such a charming lady—but I have other matters to attend to. I look forward to meeting you again.”
He saluted, then climbed out the window.
Eleanor covered her face with her hands.
[https://i.imgur.com/FT0j8VK.png]
Hand over hand, Penn climbed down the rope. He reached the end, dropped to the ground, and remained crouched there, listening for a cry from any one of the dozens of policeman that were haunting the block. When none came, he stood up.
“Ryce Penn.”
The thief groaned and turned around. “Dammit, Haley! You were supposed to be home in bed. How did you know I was here?”
“I’m placing you under arrest.”
Penn snapped his fingers. “It was the man following you, wasn’t it? You spotted him and watched to see when he left—”
Penn’s commentary was cut short by Haley’s attack. The two men struggled together, blocking and dodging as they exchanged punches and kicks.
“You’ve been practicing!” Ryce cried. “And not with me! I feel so neglected.”
“You talk too much, Penn.” Haley grabbed the thief’s fist and tried to twist it. “It doesn’t help your fighting.”
Penn swung the outside edge of his palm toward the policeman’s neck. Haley had to let go to avoid the blow.
“Yet you still listen! And it doesn’t help yours.”
They clashed again. This time Haley found the chance to drive his heel into Penn’s ankles. Ryce stumbled back and landed with one knee on the ground.
As Haley came toward him, Penn readied to launch himself at his attacker.
“Eleanor!”
It was a woman’s scream—high, desperate, and, above all, loud. Both men heard it through the gaps in the partly open windows. Both of them looked toward the house.
Haley turned back less than a second later, but by then, all he could see was Penn’s back, retreating fast. It was a terrible moment for the inspector, but when he started running, it wasn’t toward the thief.
Haley crashed into the back door, ran over the grit of glass, and took the back stairs two at a time. He registered the figure of Aubrey-Serrs, bound and gagged, discarded in a corner, but his attention was focused on Lady Helena.
She was standing in front of her niece’s open bedroom door. Miss Tessa was beside her, holding her up. The baroness’s whole body was slumped and wilted, but she fastened her hard, blue eyes on the inspector.
“Eleanor’s gone!”
Without a word, Haley turned and started down the hallway. He knew she wouldn’t be in her bedroom. He knew where she was—he’d put her there himself! But his pace increased with every step, until he ran the last few feet to Eleanor’s room.
He threw open the door without knocking. There was a lantern on the nightstand and a figure curled in the corner of the bed.
He strode over to her. As he drew near, he could see tear tracks gleaming in the light where her face peeked over her knees.
“Are you hurt?” he demanded. “Did he hurt you?”
Eleanor broke out of her immobility enough to shake her head.
The air fled from Haley’s entire body in a loud sigh. “Thank god.” He dropped to the floor where he was.