Simon froze with his cup halfway to his mouth for another drink. “What do you mean?”
“Well, it’s fairly obvious this fake marriage scheme is the only thing keeping you here.”
“Is it?”
Timms chuckled. “Sometimes I think you forget that I’ve had the same training as you, Allister.”
“Good,” Simon said, diverting the conversation away from himself. “Let’s use that training to find the bastard then.”
Three hours later, Simon threw down his pen, ink smudging his fingers. There was no bloody connection to where he’d been seen. Why was this man so hard to track down? He stretched his arms and twisted his body from side to side.
Warwick had seen what happened to all the others, including his brother, who had been the mastermind of the whole thing. His brother had made all the connections and taken all the payments, and for that, he’d paid with his life. So Warwick knew the consequences of being caught, and was working hard to stay hidden.
Timms burst into his office. “We’ve got him!” He rattled a paper in the air.
“What do you mean?” Simon’s heart raced, but he had to be sure he didn’t misunderstand.
He set the telegram on Simon’s desk. “I mean, we’ve got him. We’ve got the bloody vicar. Or at least, I think we do. He’s being held right now, and you and I are going to bring him in.”
Simon was already reaching for his coat. “Where is he?”
“He’s up north, not far from where we arrested his brother, actually.”
They’d arrested his brother on Ash’s estate, which was as far north as you could go before crossing into Scotland. They wouldn’t be going home tonight. Not that it mattered. He had nothing to go home to.
They spent most of the long train ride in silence, but there was a burning vehemence that seemed to fill the air around them. Timms may not be as personally connected to this case as Simon, but he’d poured a lot of himself into it, and was eager to bring it to a close.
Part of the reason they didn’t speak much was because they were both afraid of getting overly excited, only to be let down. They’d been on more than one trip together that was supposed to be to collect Warwick, and when they’d arrived, it wasn’t actually him.
Following the train was still a lengthy cab ride to get to their destination. The man was being held in a small jail.
After the officer verified their identities, he led them back to see him. As they approached the cell, the man inside turned to face them. He had a black eye and a swollen lip, and his hair was long and disheveled, but it was unmistakably Warwick.
Triumph rushed through Simon, and he had to hold back a roar of victory. This man had not only prevented Simon from moving forward with his life, but had hurt so many women with his actions, including his sweet sister. She didn’t deserve what happened to her, and Simon longed to return every moment of that pain in full. But unfortunately, he couldn’t. All he could do was taunt the man. His punishment would be decided by a judge.
“You’ve played quite a challenging game of cat and mouse, Warwick.”
He sneered, but Simon could see the fear in the man’s eyes. That, combined with his evident injuries brought him at least a little gratification.
“What you don’t realize is the chase just makes catching you that much more satisfying.”
Simon turned to Timms. “What do you think is worse, a lifetime of hard labor or the noose?”
“I don’t know.” Timms shrugged one shoulder. “What do you think, Warwick? Which one are you hoping for?”
The man swallowed but didn’t speak.
“I can assure you, I will enjoy watching whichever one you’re sentenced with,” Simon promised.
After looking their fill and riling the man a bit more, Timms and Simon confirmed his identity with the officers on duty. The relief of having found the man was extraordinary. As much as he’d like to kill the bastard, seeing him behind bars was a close second.
“It’s too late to put him on a train tonight, so we’ll be back to collect him in the morning.” Simon was not about to leave the task to someone else.
“Well,” Timms said as they left the building. “I suppose we need to find an inn for the night.”
“Actually, do you remember where we picked up his brother?”
Timms nodded.
