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“Tia, this is Mr. Adams. This is Miss Featherstone.”
Adams lifted her hand and kissed it softly. “A pleasure indeed. I can see why you might have given up your vow.”
Braden clenched his jaw and smiled slightly at his friend and business partner. “It was hardly a vow.” Of course, that was exactly what it was and now that both his friends had reminded him of it in one night, he felt his frustration growing. He had to get the conversation off Tia.
“Who was the man Jonathon was fighting?” Braden asked.
“Evan Chambers.”
“Yes, but who is he? I have never heard of him before the runner told me his name.”
“No one of any significance. The third son of Mr. Richard Chambers. A banker in town.”
A banker? Dear God, had Jonathon tried to get a loan to carry him until his allowance next month?
“Chambers?” Tia whispered.
Braden looked down at her pale face. “W
hat do you know about him?”
“Your brother told me Chambers was the one who encouraged him to take the . . .”
“The what, Miss Featherstone?” Adams demanded. “You need to tell him what you know about this mess. And your involvement.”
“My involvement?”
“Her involvement?” Braden asked at the same time. Tia had better not be involved in this situation. She had access to opium for medicinal purposes. If she had anything to do with his brother’s addiction, he would never forgive her.
“Perhaps we should take this out of earshot of others,” she wisely recommended.
Her suggestion only raised Braden’s suspicions of her. “Very well, let us talk in the office.”
Adams slid back a door and they entered a dark corridor. He led them back to an office where two people sat counting money. “Liam, go check on the faro table. Mr. Blackwood seems to be winning an unusually large amount. Simon, give Weathers a break at the front door. Tell him to get some supper.”
“Yes, sir,” they answered in unison and quickly departed the room. Both gave Braden a quick nod.
“Now, what exactly is your involvement in this situation, Tia?” Braden asked as he closed the door to the office.
“Nothing. Jonathon and I had become close friends while he was staying at the estate.”
“She’s from the estate?” Adams asked.
“Not now,” Braden replied.
“As I was saying,” Tia said with a pointed look at Adams. “We had become close friends. That’s when he started to confide in me about his past. He told me about . . .” She paused and gave Braden a questioning look.
Braden nodded, understanding she wasn’t sure if she should speak of this in front of Adams.
“He told me about the opium. He admitted that his intake had become out of hand, but you were helping him. I asked him how he had started, assuming it was due to a physician giving him too much when he was hurt in some manner. But he told me it was a man named Chambers. He had told Jonathon how enjoyable it was when he ingested the drug.”
Braden closed his eyes. Like Tia, he had assumed it was a physician who had started the intake of the drug. “Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”
Tia shrugged. “I do not believe so. I had forgotten about Chambers until I heard his name.”
“Where can I find him?” Braden asked Adams.
Adams wrote down an address. “That is his father’s address. I don’t know where Chambers is staying while in town. I’m sure his father could tell you.”
