“Hello, dearie.” The woman’s voice matched her smile with a sing-song tone. She ran her hand up Eloise’s arm and over her shoulder. “This your first time, darlin’?”
Eloise blinked a few times, then nodded.
“Well, don’t ya be lingerin’ too long by this post. The boys on the floor don’t like lurkers. They want ya to be laying out your coins on the tables.”
Eloise nodded again.
“Ach, a shy one, are ya?” She pressed her body against Eloise’s side. “So is it your first time for other things, too?” And with that, she reached down and closed her hand on Eloise’s crotch.
Eloise yelped and clamped a hand over her mouth, and the woman stepped back, her eyes even wider. She merely studied Eloise a moment, her gaze traveling from the flat cap on top of her head to her boots. Then she made a low noise of admiration, leaning close again.
“Oooooh... dearie, ya very good. I wouldn’t have guessed, and Lucy never misses a thing on this floor. Who are ya looking for? Husband? Lover? Brother?”
“How did you—” Eloise stopped and lowered her voice both in volume and tone. “How did you know?”
Lucy shrugged, and the shoulder of her bodice dropped a bit lower. “We get ladies who do this”—she gestured at Eloise’s suit—“and they’re either looking for a lost soul... or other women.” Her eyes narrowed a bit. “If that’s your game, you’ll have to go somewhere’s else. Robbie—he runs that side of the house—discourages that. Too risky. Too quick to get raided if the word gets out.”
Eloise shook her head. “No, I—my brother. Timothy. He was here last night. He didn’t come home.”
Lucy nodded. “Younger?”
“Yes.”
“Figures. The young ones. They think they need to fuck to be a man. We get a lot of ’em.” Lucy paused and pushed her dress back up on her shoulder. “Well, he ain’t in one of the girls’ rooms. They shove them out at least by noon. What’d he look like?”
“Fair. Blond. He’s five and ten, but he looks much younger, which is why—”. She stopped and swallowed hard. “He was with two friends, dark hair, but they came home. Said they lost track of him after... after...”
“After they fucked.”
“Yes.”
“Happens. Young boys, don’t know what they gettin’ into. They always lose their minds after. Half of ’em fall asleep in the parlor and don’t roust till the next day.” She grinned. “We love ’em ’cause sometimes they don’t even make it in before it’s all over and done with. All the money and none of the work for us.” She cackled and gripped Eloise’s upper arm, leaning in with a leer, but she lowered her voice. “You’re attracting attention, dearie. You need to head for one of the tables before they think you’re working for Bow Street. I’ll ask the girls if they saw your boy.”
“Brother. Timothy.”
“Yeah.”
Eloise glanced up at the window again, but the two men had moved away.
“Oh, no, dearie. Don’t get ideas about asking Robbie or Mr. Campion. That’s trouble you don’t need.”
Eloise took a deep breath and gave Lucy a quick hug. “Thank you.”
The woman’s eyes brightened. “Here now. Just you be careful.”
“I will.” Eloise stepped away and turned toward the tables, pushing her shoulders back. It was time to do more than observe.
Chapter Nine
Monday, 18 July 1825
Campion’s Gentlemen’s Emporium
One in the morning
“Idid notexpect you back so soon. But I am certainly glad you are here.”
Robert stopped pacing the space in front of the office window to face Bill, who sat behind his desk, an ornate cherry mammoth roughly the size of the Salisbury plain. Only its henge was made up of ledgers, reports, and a variety of red and black inkpots. Fortunately for Robert and Bill, the growing need of London’s adult males to risk their wealth and estates across the tops of green baize tables meant more need for black ink than red.
