“Any word on Miss Bennet’s disappearance?” Richard asked. If Rouncewell had any new information, Mr. Bennet and Mr. Gardiner would wish to know it.
“That is what I aim to find out from my informant.It would be convenient if the same two sailors seen near the tavern where Mr. Darcy was taken were also responsible. I have no proof the cases are related, but the timing is suspect.” He took a step away. “I will keep you informed. I must go.”
Miss Rothschild spoke, her voice confident, her tone rich. “Mr. Rouncewell, my carriage shall take you wherever you need to go. It is at your disposal.”
With a bow, Rouncewell said, “Thank you, Miss, but your fine conveyance would draw too much attention where I must go.”
“Another time, then.”
He nodded and was on his way.
Richard did not detain him. Turning to Miss Rothschild, he extended his arm. “Would you like to walk?”
She took his arm, and the exotic scent of jasmine filled his senses. “I remember seeing you at Bow Street with Mr. Rouncewell. He is a kind man,” she said.
“We have been friends for many years.” With such a handsome woman so near him, Richard was pleased he could speak in a complete sentence. It was a proud moment.
She nodded, peeking up at him and inspecting him under thick eyelashes. She had the kind of perceptive gaze that saw beneath the surface. “He said you are a trustworthy gentleman. I am inclined to believe him. I wonder what Rouncewell told you about me?”
Richard looked at her in astonishment.
The corner of her lips quirked. “Do not be so surprised, Colonel. Men gossip every bit as much as women do, and men in possession of information are the worst of all. I know he must have said something.”
Richard was grateful Rouncewell had said nothing untoward, or she would have known. “He said very little. Merely that he pitied your peculiar case.”
He heard her exhale. “He does not hold out much hope, but he does not mock me as the others do.”
Richard slowed his pace, watching her. “Surely, you must know that any crime—if indeed there was a crime committed—done so long ago would be difficult to prove. Clues will have disappeared; all leads long dead.” All obstacles which might prevent him from revealing the truth about Darcy and Blackburne.
“I know it.”
“And yet, you persist.”
She glanced up at him. “For the same reason you do. A great wrong was done, and it is up to me to expose it. I do not know that the damage can be undone, but I shall try.”
He wondered how much she knew about him. “What else did Rouncewell tell you about me?”
“Oh, he said nothing. However, I was at the office when Mr. Connell—you know him, of course … the thief-taker—was informed that his prisoner was freed under the charge of the Earl of Matlock. He is your father, is he not?”
Richard nodded. “Why would Rouncewell connect your investigation with mine?”
“Mrs. Finchley is the common denominator. Were you aware that baby snatching has been a booming business over the years? And that several of the women she assisted had their children stolen after they were born? They were snatched from their wet nurse’s room while she slept or from the exhausted mother’s side. I think that Mrs. Finchley is the brains behind a baby snatching operation which has lasted almost three decades—as long as she has been a midwife to the upper classes. But nobody will listen to me. They think I am crazy.”
Richard had difficulty believing her. Mrs. Finchley did not seem like a hardened criminal, and he had known several. But he would hear Miss Rothschild’s proofs with an open mind before casting judgment. “What does that have to do with my family?”
“I am often at Bow Street. Lord Matlock caused quite a stir when he insisted upon the release of a prisoner. I am convinced that the Darcys were her first victims. That Nicholas Blackburne is, in fact, Mr. Darcy’s twin, and that Mrs. Finchley arranged his kidnapping.”
“You are forgetting the nurse in the room with her.”
“Her accomplice … who was later found dead after delivering the stolen Darcy.”
Richard tried to give her story credit, but it seemed too far-fetched.
“Where was the nurse found?” Miss Rothschildpressed.
“Outside Devonshire.”
“Have you asked Mr. Blackburne where he is from?”
