“Anything containing his handwriting. You may read anything you find, I permit you and—”
Mortification took hold of her as her hand flew to her mouth.
“I am sorry, Mary, I forgot.”
Mary shook her head and looked away. “No matter, Miss Keating, many of us servants don’t know how to read and write.”
Winnifred felt awful. She knew Mary couldn’t read or write. She’d attempted to teach her years ago but to no avail. Winnifred wasn’t quite sure if it was because Mary had trouble retaining what she told her, or if she, Winnie, was simply a terrible teacher. She suspected the second—teaching was not one of her accomplishments.
In either case, Mary discontinued their studies soon enough and no longer showed any desire for it. The awkward silence between them grew thicker and thicker, so much so Winnie wanted nothing more than to escape it.
Winnifred rushed to her brother’s desk and retrieved a handwritten note. His brother habitually kept notes, notepads, and expensive pencils scattered throughout the house in case an idea struck him.
“Here, his penmanship looks like this. Find anything like this and collect it. I shall read it. Thank you, Mary.”
Mary nodded and stepped to the large bookshelf. It was heavy with books about spices, teas, herbs, and their origins. While Seth managed the relationships with their partners, Leo devoted much of his time to the products they sold. He was a wealth of information about teas and herbs—not that Winnie had much interest in such things. She preferred her animals, and to a lesser degree, her novels.
She stepped into his bed chamber. Her stomach clenched when her eyes fell onto the neatly made bed and the stack of books on his nightstand. Everything looked so neat, so perfect—so unlike when her brother was home. He was a bit of a foozler who tended to drop and spill things as he went. Seeing his chamber so tidy made her want to cry.
I cannot be so sentimental. It will not bring Leo back. Perhaps this is why Seth did not wish for me to work alongside him. Maybe he thought I would find myself overcome by emotion at the most inopportune times. Well, I shall show him. I do not need Seth. I will find Leo on my own and perhaps Rose, too, should their disappearance be connected somehow.
She used the footstool to climb onto her brother’s high bed and opened the drawer to his nightstand. She’d glanced at it before, but looking through his things didn’t strike her as the right thing to do—until now. And when she pushed back an old, worn copy of the Holy Bible—a gift from their grandmother—she gasped.
There it was. The leather-bound notebook she’d given him as a present for his thirtieth birthday. She knew he kept it close by as he loved the intricate floral design on the front. Her heart raced as she opened it and flicked through the pages.
“Leo, Leo... This is all just about tea and spices... What am I to do with this?” She was about to toss the notebook back into the drawer when a loose page fell out of the back. She gripped it between her fingers so tightly the paper almost tore in half.
Drayton—
We know your secret, and we will spill it. It would be a shame if all your dirty deeds ended up in the scandal sheets, wouldn’t it? We are amenable to a one-time payment, to be remitted on Tuesday, June 3rd. Meet at the South entrance of St. Giles’s in the Field, Midnight. Do not be late.
She swallowed. Tuesday June 3rd was the day she last saw her brother. The day he disappeared.
What secret is Leo keeping that would take him into the rookeries to keep a blackmailer silent? What terrible thing could be made public about her brother to worry him so much as to lie to me about where he was going? We were to have a family dinner that night. It was his idea. Or did he not know about this when we last spoke?
Winnie didn’t know what to do. The note was sent two weeks ago, the meeting would have come and gone. And yet, it was her only lead. It was clear this was connected to his disappearance. For a moment, she considered calling on her sister, Victoria, but dismissed it at once.
It would do no good. Victoria would never join her on a quest such as this. She was not someone who liked to venture out of the places she knew well. Victoria didn’t travel, didn’t even go on her own to call on relatives or friends. She would never go to the rookeries of St. Giles with her. No, she’d have to do this on her own.
Winnie tucked the note into her pocket under her blue round gown and rushed back into the study.
“Mary,” she called out, “have the coachman ready the carriage. We must go out again. To St. Giles.”
“St Giles? Miss Keating, no!”
Winnie shook her head and dashed out of her brother’s chamber.
“I must. If His Grace does not help me find Leo, then I must go on my own. And the search takes me to St. Giles. Mary, I will not stop at anything to find my brother. The thought of a life without him scares me more than the thought of venturing into a bad part of town.”
“The worst part, Miss Keating. The very worst.”
Winnie swallowed but waved a hand, dismissing her maid’s worries. “I care not. I would go to Waterloo if I had to.”
She turned and dashed down the hall to her chamber to retrieve her pelisse, her heart beating faster than ever. She knew she’d find him, for now at last she had a clue.
Yes, her answers, she was convinced, were in St. Giles. And she’d stop at nothing to find Leo.
Chapter 5
