The terrible question had barely presented itself when the carriage rolled to a halt.Gosfield Street.They’d arrived.
Adrian flung the door open and stepped down into the narrow street.Murry followed, and Jennings, the coachman, was asked to wait wherever parking allowed.They’d find him later.
“This area’s a step up from O’Leary’s last location,” Murry said as they strode toward the nearby coffee shop.“Rent will be more, which does make one wonder…”
Adrian acknowledged the comment by raising an eyebrow.“I’ve a feeling O’Leary picked Saint Giles because he’d feel safe there, surrounded by criminals, not because it was cheap.A man like him doesn’t wait half his life for revenge, only to come to England with empty pockets.What’s surprising is that he would choose to run his next operation from a house in this kind of neighborhood.”
While this wasn’t Mayfair, it was still a very respectable area.Decent people resided in this part of Town.Solicitors, doctors, tradesmen… Hell, Kendrick’s place of residence wasn’t far from here, but maybe this was part of O’Leary’s game.After all, he’d only been connected to this location because he’d been followed by one of Harlowe’s informants.
Adrian would never have thought to search for him here otherwise.
He reckoned the same could be said of Kendrick.
The chief constable occupied a corner table at the back of the coffee shop when Adrian and Murry entered.A scowl darkened his features, his sharp gaze tracking Adrian as he approached.
“I feel it’s my duty to try and dissuade you from what I suspect you’re about to do,” Kendrick said to Adrian once he and Murry had taken their seats.“Give me the information you have on O’Leary’s exact location.Let me and my men arrest him so he can be tried in court.”
“You know I can’t do that,” Adrian said.
“And you must surely know that I’ll have no choice but to apprehend you if you harm him in any way.”Irritation showed in Kendrick’s grey eyes.“Is that truly what you want?To face sentencing once again after Marsdale and I, your wife and your colleagues, all worked so hard to ensure your freedom?”
Adrian sent a quick glance in Murry’s direction, then propped one elbow on the table and turned more fully toward Kendrick.“I will always be grateful to you for what you did, but I think we can both agree that it wasn’t so much for me as it was you simply doing what you believed was right.That’s what I’m asking of you again.Help me do what is right.”
“One might argue that you were repaying the debt you owed me when I asked you to help Gabriella,” Kendrick muttered.“We should have been square, you and I, yet you expect me to turn a blind eye on an act I cannot condone.”
“And what act would that be?”
Kendrick snorted.“We both know you mean to kill the man.”
“All I’m asking is for you and your men to do as you did before, when we went to rescue Samantha.Just guard the surrounding streets and cut off any escape routes.That’s it.”
“If I do catch O’Leary,” Kendrick said, raising his chin a notch, “I’ll not hand him over to you, Croft.”
Adrian knew this and would accept it since he’d every intention of catching O’Leary by surprise, before he had a chance to escape.Bringing Kendrick into this was just a precaution.And besides, a jail cell was no guarantee for one’s safety.He’d get to O’Leary one way or another.
With this in mind, he gave Kendrick a nod before asking Murry to produce the map on which O’Leary’s location and the surrounding streets had been marked.
“I recommend placing two men at these locations,” Adrian said, marking six spots with a pencil.
“Would it not be better if they were closer to the house in which O’Leary’s residing?”
“That poses the risk of alerting him to your presence.”Adrian leaned back in his chair.“By having them guard the spots I’ve indicated, escape routes will be cut off farther out, which will hopefully allow us to catch him by surprise.”
“Fine,” Kendrick agreed, “but I’m coming with you, Croft.”
Adrian gritted his teeth.The last thing he needed was the chief constable looking over his shoulder.“That’s not what I had in mind.”
“I’m sure it isn’t,” Kendrick said, “but it’s the only way in which I’m letting you implement this plan of yours.”
“You’re notlettingme do anything,” Adrian argued.“On the contrary, you’ll be a hindrance.”
“In case you need reminding, I am a man of the law.Perhaps you should have thought of that before you chose to involve me.”
Adrian scoffed.“I only did so because of the terms that were put in place by the prime minister when he issued my pardon, instructing me to cooperate with Bow Street.”
“Then we are in agreement,” Kendrick said with a smirk.
Adrian muttered a curse and shoved back his chair.“It’s almost half past eight.We’d best stop wasting time with pointless talk and get moving.”
