Taking in how frail she looked, he grudgingly added, “But you may remain until the house is closed, for you do not appear fully recovered from your illness.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Darcy nodded curtly. Perhaps he was being unfair. He could not think about that now, though. He could not focus on Mrs.Younge except to see the disaster she’d helped create. He had to go. He must find Georgiana before the worst took place. Before she forever bound herself to Wickham.
Richard stood at attention before Padgett’s desk, fighting a frown. Padgett flipped through a report Richard knew he’d already read, presumably to avoid meeting Richard’s gaze.
“You are certain only the remaining two owners were involved?” Padgett asked. “B.B.B. Shipping & Co. has three B’s in it, after all.”
“You know the two surviving brothers bought out their nephew when his father died.” Richard attempted to keep his voice crisp, rather than hostile, but could not help adding, “And this case could have been closed a week later. After I had gone to Ramsgate. Have you any notion what you have done by keeping me here?”
“A rider was sent to Mrs. Younge, as promised. After several days of trying, he returned with his message undelivered, for she was too ill to receive it, and he deemed the information moot. Had you gone, you would have arrived to find the same.” Padgett neatened the papers. “Furthermore, your calling is to safeguard King and Country, not to act as a nanny.”
But had Richard arrived and found Mrs. Younge unwell, he would have gone after the two, not hung about for nearly a week and then scurried back to Padgett. “I am Georgiana’s co-guardian, and it was my name the dastard was using. I should have gone.”
Padgett finally raised his face, revealing a scowl. “The best decision was made that could have been made, given the information at hand.”
“B.B.B. Shipping & Co. was not due to send another report to the French for weeks. I had time to go to Ramsgate.” Richardseethed with anger, and without George Wickham before him, General Padgett was the only focus for that ire.
“Your tone borders on insubordination, Fitzwilliam,” Padgett snapped. “You know as well as I that we had no way to know when they would next report to their French masters untilafterwe apprehended and interrogated them.”
Richard ground his teeth, aware General Padgett was correct. B.B.B. Shipping & Co. had long ago negotiated a contract with the Crown, making them responsible for supplying new weapons to the front. It was the deceased brother who had won the contract, and Richard preferred to think that he had not known his younger siblings would turn against England. That they would begin opening the crates they transported for the Crown, documenting the contents, and providing that information, along with the locations to which they sent said weapons, to Britain’s enemies.
“Listen,” Padgett said in a calmer voice. “I am sorry. I did not believe that a Darcy, even a young, female one, would be so foolish. So corruptible. It lowers my opinion of the fairer sex.”
“You did not think a fifteen-year-old, of either sex, subject to manipulation?” Richard cast back. Especially manipulation by one so practiced as Wickham.
“And I thought Mrs. Younge a better operative,” Padgett continued over him. “I believe it is only your sterling character that caused her not to raise the alarm. Thinking Mr. Wickham was you, she did not see the danger Miss Darcy was in.”
Richard’s eyebrows climbed. “Pardon me for not having a less savory reputation.”
With a negligent wave, Padgett brushed aside Richard’s sarcasm and met his gaze squarely. “I apologize, Fitzwilliam. I made a rare miscalculation.”
He held Richard’s gaze for a long moment.
Finally, Richard sighed. “Apology accepted, General.” As if there was aught else Richard could do.
“Now, may we return to the case at hand?”
Richard blinked. “The case at hand? We have apprehended the owners of B.B.B. Shipping & Co., and brought in any of their staff we deem may know of their clandestine doings. They are being questioned now, and the offices and homes of the two men scoured.”
“And the third? The nephew? Must I again remind you, there are three Bs in B.B.B. Shipping & Co.”
“The third B, as you call him, was bought out of the business when he was twelve, sir.”
“But you did look into him? Assess if he has any involvement?”
Richard frowned. “I assure you he does not. He is not the sort, and he has nothing to do with his father’s business. Even when his father was alive, Bingley was being groomed as a gentleman.”
“And you do not protest his innocence out of some misguided sense of loyalty?” General Padgett’s eyes bored into Richard. “I am aware that Charles Bingley is a close associate of your cousin’s.”
Richard drew his shoulders back, affronted. “Did we not moments ago discuss my sterling character?”
Padgett still scrutinized him. “These are the questions I must ask, Colonel.”
Shaking his head, Richard reiterated, “Charles Bingley has nothing to do with his uncles’ business. He has had nothing to do with B.B.B. Shipping & Co. since his twelfth year, and has not been seen at any of the warehouses, or even in the company of his uncles, in years.”
“Then you are certain?”
