Nor was I certain a man who’d had Hannah tied and gagged, ordered the murder of a private secretary, and caused the death of Lord Peyton would tolerate Lady Fontaine’s prattling for long. He’d leave her somewhere, or perhaps kill her along the way. The train to Dover went through long stretches of countryside, with perfect places to roll a body out of a carriage in a lonely area.
“No, you don’t, you old bastard,” Hannah snarled under her breath.
I realized we’d not best Lord Downes by subterfuge. Direct action was needed. He was an elderly man, and I heard no one else in the room but Lady Fontaine. Any guard with them would make some sort of noise—loud breathing, clearing his throat, or asking for orders.
Despite his fondness for shotguns, I knew the elderly Lord Downes could not prevail against the three of us.
I thrust open the door, and we burst inside, only to halt in dismay.
Lady Fontaine glanced up from where she sat on a horsehair sofa, which was pulled against the back of a desk. We were in an office, with filled bookshelves, comfortable chairs, and a smattering of papers on the large desk.
Lord Downes, the bearded man I’d watched descend from his carriage yesterday, was indeed the only other person in the room. He was dressed in a dark suit and coat, of the sort one might wear for traveling. He held no shotgun, for which I was grateful.
What stopped us as we crossed the threshold was not a shotgun or a tough waiting to bully us away.
It was the piles of dark tubes of dynamite that were piled against the bookshelves on every wall, with another stacked under the window in the back of the room.
Lord Downes faced us. He held another stick of the deadly substance in one hand, a meerschaum pipe, lit and trickling smoke, in the other.
28
Lady Fontaine rose in surprise as we hovered on the threshold. “Mrs.Crowe?” she said to me in amazement. “Marjory? Where didyouget to? And who is this urchin?”
“Come away with me, your ladyship,” Hannah said, holding out a hand and ignoring Lady Fontaine’s disparagement of her son. “It ain’t healthy in here. We’ll get you far away.”
Lady Fontaine’s eyes sparkled. “Nonsense. Lord Downes and I are eloping. It is quite exciting, though scandalous, I know. We will live in Paris a while until the fervor dies down.”
“He has no intention of marrying you, Lady Fontaine,” I broke in. “I would guess he is taking you with him, because what could be more innocuous than a proper lady and gentleman journeying to the docks in Dover?” I turned to Lord Downes. “Are you waiting for the bombs your lackeys have planted to go off? Hoping that in the confusion, the police will not notice you slipping away?”
“Bombs?” Lady Fontaine asked in bewilderment. “What areyou talking about? Lord Downes uses this dynamite on his estate, to clear out the burrowing animals from his fields. He told me.”
“The police know about them,” I said, keeping Lord Downes and his lit pipe in my view. “They have the locations of all the devices supposed to go off today and will render them harmless. You’ve lost this round.”
I spoke with confidence I did not feel. I had no doubt that Inspector McGregor, Daniel, and Monaghan and his men would make certain the explosives were found, but I could not say whether Lord Downes would set off the dynamite in this room in a moment of madness.
My hope was that he wanted only to get away and had no intention of topping himself, but he might light the stick he held if he became desperate. Not only would the dynamite end him, the blast would kill the rest of us, and if the lot went off, this side of Belgrave Square would become a smoking hole in the street.
I was fairly certain Lord Downes did mean to detonate the piles around him, perhaps using a slow match to give himself time to get away. The collapse of the house would bury evidence of his crimes, but inhabitants of the houses along this row, along with anyone walking or driving by outside, would be hurt or killed.
Meanwhile, Lord Downes would escape to France, either ridding himself of Lady Fontaine along the way or finding a way to do it once he was on the Continent.
He’d have left Hannah tied up in the room below, ensuring she was the first person to die.
The last thought made me furious. “If you name the conspirators to the police, they will possibly be more lenient to you,” I said in a hard voice. “You are a peer of the realm andwon’t have to scrabble for your bread in Newgate. The police only want to stop the bombings.”
“What I’m doing will be considered treason,” Lord Downes said with eerie calmness. “I don’t think they’ll go easy on me, young woman, whoever you are.”
“Why are you helping the Fenians?” I countered. “Are you Irish? I quite understand their cause, but—”
Lord Downes snorted a laugh. “I’m no Fenian. I’m from Bedfordshire, born and bred. My family were here before the Normans.” He regarded me with arrogance in his small, dark eyes. “But this country has gone to hell. So-called British gentlemen swarming over the world, riding roughshod over anyone in their way. It’s embarrassing. Not because they want to bestow Christianity on these nations and give them railways and so forth. It’s so they can grab tea, cotton cloth, and opium without having to pay fortunes for them. The so-called empire is a disgrace. Home Rule.” He snorted again. “More pompous gents pretending to give Irishmen what they want while still holding the reins. Ireland’s a powder keg ready to go off. Might as well give them a leg up.” He brandished the dynamite with a chilling smile.
“Blowing up everyone at home isn’t likely to change that,” I said rapidly. “You’re in the House of Lords. You can introduce bills or whatever it is you do to stop those who are running roughshod.”
“You are a stupid woman,” Lord Downes informed me. “You can have no idea what difficulty it is to bring legislation to a body of gentlemen who care for nothing but reposing in soft chairs in their clubs with the best brandy. A few explosions will gain their attention. That and having their womenfolk who are no better than they ought to be leverage the slovenly lords to do whatever I wish.”
“Told ya he were mad,” Hannah muttered.
“Well,” I said in what I hoped was a reasonable tone. “I quite understand. If you want to flee to France and obliterate part of Belgrave Square, I can hardly stop you. I ask only that you allow us to take Lady Fontaine away and warn the inhabitants of the surrounding houses to clear out first.”
