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‘Madame?’ No answer. Puzzled, Elinor righted the stool and wondered if she should sit down and wait here, or go outside and watch for the dressmaker.
There was a thump from overhead, the sound of something heavy landing on the boards, a man’s voice muffled and then abruptly cut off. She could make none of it out clearly, but it sounded like violence. Theo?
She might be making a complete fool of herself, but she was not going to risk ignoring it. Elinor delved in her satchel and came out with two objects that she eyed with some misgiving. She untied her bonnet and set it on the table and kicked off her shoes. There was another thud from upstairs. Cautious on the old boards, the pulse pounding in her throat, she began to climb the winding stair in the far corner.
It emerged on to a dark landing, lit only by a small window at the far end. The door leading to the room over the shop was ajar. She hesitated, wondering if she was imagining things. Then a voice that she realised after a moment was Theo’s said, ‘How many times must I tell you? I haven’t got the damned thing, and I haven’t got the money either.’ It sounded odd, as though he was speaking with no air in his lungs.
‘His lordship isn’t going to like that,’ said another voice, also speaking English, closer to the door and much clearer. It was a man and he sounded profoundly unimpressed by what he was hearing. ‘His lordship is going to be very unhappy indeed.’
‘I gathered tha—’ Theo’s voice was cut off in a grunt. The sound of the blow made Elinor flinch. The silence that followed was broken only by Theo’s gasping breaths. ‘I am trying to find out who took—’ This time she heard a body hit the floor and the sound of retching. Her stomach churned. Theo.
‘If anyone did take it.’
There had to be two of them, the one who was hitting and the one who was talking. And Theo was not going to stand around to be hit without fighting back, so at least one of them must have a firearm. Elinor swallowed hard and edged the door open, then slid through the gap.
One man was standing with his back to her, a shotgun in his hands, blocking her view into the room. He was about Theo’s height and build with strands of greasy black hair slicked over a bald head. His companion she could just glimpse, a great bruiser of a man, his attention on something at his feet. She had to duck down to see Theo lying on the floor, his body curled up protectively as the man drew back his booted foot to kick. There was a great deal of blood on the boards, on Theo’s shirt, on what she could see of his hands raised in front of his face.
Anger washed through her, driving away her fear and the shock of the violence. Elinor gripped the object in her right hand and pressed it firmly into the small of the bald man’s back, right into his spine. ‘Tell him to stop. Now.’ She could feel her voice shake and steadied her diaphragm as though she were singing to try to stop it.
‘What!’ The man half-swung round and she jabbed harder, nauseated by the stink of sweat, blood and violence emanating from him.
‘Stand still. This is a pistol, it is loaded and I am holding it at half-cock. My thumb is not very strong; I suggest you do not make me lose my grip.’
‘It’s only some gentry mort,’ the other man said, his attention distracted from Theo for a moment. ‘Where would she get a pop from? Just a bluff—you get her, Bill, and we’ll have some fun with her. That’ll make him talk.’ Theo moved convulsively and was kicked in the head.
‘It is no bluff, and neither is this.’ Trying not to think about what was happening to Theo, Elinor lifted her left hand and pushed the point of the old kitchen knife she kept in her satchel for sharpening pencils against the man’s throat. ‘Put down the gun carefully and tell your bully boy to step away from him.’
‘That’s a chive right enough, Bill,’ the big man conceded.
‘I know it is, you jolterhead. It’s my throat the silly girl is sticking
it into.’ The bald man bent his knees slowly and Elinor followed him down as he laid the gun on the floor. She put out a foot and kicked it across to Theo, praying he was conscious.
‘Theo!’ He stirred and looked up, his face a mask of blood. ‘The shotgun.’ He pushed himself up with one arm and reached for it with the other and then all hell broke loose.
The man in front of her turned so fast that she lost her footing. The pistol in her hand went off, the explosion deafening her, and spun away into a corner of the room. Elinor felt herself falling and struck out with the knife, found flesh without knowing what she had hit, then was knocked away with a backhanded blow to her jaw.
The big man was roaring, the words meaning nothing, then there was sudden, shocking, silence. ‘If she is hurt, you are dead,’ Theo said in a voice she hardly recognised and Elinor opened her eyes to see him leaning against the wall, the shotgun in his hands and the two men huddled together in the opposite corner. ‘Nell?’
‘I’m fine,’ she said firmly, managing to stand up, dizzy with her ringing ears. It was true, you did see stars…
‘Come round here, don’t get between me and them. My satchel is on the bed—take out some of those leather laces. You two, turn around.’ He waited until they obeyed him before he moved, and as he began to walk towards them Elinor realised why: he could hardly stand. ‘Kneel down, hands behind you.’
They went down on their knees and she approached cautiously from the side, looped the leather around first one and then the other, pulling it as tight as she could, making herself concentrate on the knots.
‘Guv’nor?’
The voice from below had her spinning round in alarm, but Theo called out, ‘Jake!’ as feet pounded up the stairs.
‘Oh hell.’ Hythe burst through the door and stopped at the sight of Theo, then saw Elinor, ‘Saving your presence, ma’am. Who are these two?’
‘His lordship’s men. I have not been able to convince them that I have neither the object nor the money.’
‘Yeah, they look a bit thick. What’ll we do with them, then? Nice deep river out there.’
‘Go and get the carriage. You can drive them over to our friend in Avallon—I’m sure he’ll keep them snug for a week or two.’
‘Yeah.’ A broad grin spread over Hythe’s face. ‘I’ll do that thing—the carriage is outside, I haven’t taken the team out of harness yet. You all right, guv’nor?’
