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Mrs. Kipper called after her. “Where are you going?”
“I am going to find a way to stop Marie from killing Lord Hawthorne!” Madalene shouted over her shoulder.
“Who is Marie?” Mrs. Kipper yelled back.
Madalene didn’t have time to stop and explain. Instead, she ran out the main door and approached a hackney that was parked down the street from the orphanage.
“I need a ride!” she shouted up at the driver.
Keeping his gaze straight ahead, he replied dismissively, “I don’t give rides to ladies.”
“But you must!”
He met her gaze and frowned. “Are you aware that you have dried blood in your hair and on your face?”
Ignoring his question, she said, “I will pay you a pound if you take me to the Blue Boar right now.”
He eyed her curiously. “You don’t want to go to the Blue Boar, Miss. It is deep within the rookeries, and it ain’t safe for a young miss like you.”
“You won’t take me?”
He shook his head. “Not even if you paid me two pounds.”
“Five pounds.”
“Pardon?” the driver asked in disbelief.
Stepping closer to the hackney, she said, “I will pay you five pounds if you take me to the Blue Boar.”
“Do you have that kind of money on you?”
Madalene shook her head. “I do not,” she admitted. “I only have two pounds in my reticule.” She pointed at the building behind her. “But this is my orphanage, and I live on Grosvenor Street. If you come by tomorrow, I will gladly give you the rest of the money.”
She could see the uncertainty crossing the man’s face, and she knew she needed to continue to plead her case. “I assure you that it is a matter of life and death,” she asserted.
The man gestured towards the door. “Get in before I change my mind,” he barked.
Madalene rushed to open the door to the coach and was met with a pungent odor that managed to assault all of her senses. How she wished she had a handkerchief with rosewater on it at this precise moment.
“Is there a problem, Miss?” the driver asked impatiently.
“Not at all,” she replied as she stepped inside, attempting to ignore how the bottom of her boots were sticking to the floor.
After she closed the door, she sat down on the bench that was worn so thin that it offered little cushion. She truly hoped that she arrived at the Blue Boar before Marie did. If not, she didn’t even want to think about the possibilities.
Sitting on thestraw mattress in his rented room, Baldwin yawned as the back of his head rested against the wall.
“You look terrible,” Oliver muttered.
“I feel terrible,” Baldwin replied. “We spent all night searching for Miss Dowding but found no trace of her.”
Oliver took a bite of his bread. “You need to eat something,” he advised.
“I’m not hungry,” Baldwin said, glancing down at the piece of bread in his hand. The thought of food didn’t appeal to him right now, not when Miss Dowding was still missing.
“We will find her,” Oliver assured him.
Baldwin turned his attention towards his brother. “We both know there is a good chance that we will never see her again. People disappear in the rookeries all the time, and no one gives it any heed.”
