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“I doubt it,” Gunning replied evenly. “I think the answer you seek is in the morning paper.”
“Listen to me very carefully, thief-taker. I know the man you call the Earl of Bradshaw. I had more than one dealing with him in the past. And one of my associates—”
“One of your goons?”
Hades stilled. Very few people dared to interrupt him. Gunning was lucky Hades learned to control his temper long ago. He would pardon the thief-taker this once. “One of my associates spent the entire Kensington masquerade watching Bradshaw. He never left the ballroom. So your trick did not work.”
Gunning didn’t even blink. “It wasn’t my trick.”
“Then whoever tried to help you failed.”
“I did everything you asked. Everything else is out of my hands. Bradshaw is about to be tried for the murder of your sister. If they find him not guilty, I shall look into it further.”
Gunning moved to close the door, but Hades took a step and the door banged against his shoulder instead.
“We had a deal,” he growled.
“Yes, and I held my end of the bargain. I found the man. If you believe I am wrong, you are free to dispute it. But if you need my help in looking into this further… What was it you said when we came to you once before? Oh, right. I don’t do favors. And I most certainly do not help people.”
Hades looked at Gunning, his gaze icy. “I also remember saying that if you failed to capture the man who killed my Ava or tried to run… I would take the thing you value the most.”
The thief-taker’s nostrils flared. Finally, a reaction. “I did not fail.”
“That is up to me to determine.” Hades turned on his heel and walked away.
He turned the corner, then approached the black carriage without any identifying signs on it. Two men stood by the door, conversing.
“Did you succeed?” Hades asked.
“We always succeed,” one of his associates, William, answered.
William opened the door of the carriage and waved him in. Hades entered and settled down next to a small, frightened young woman. She had a sack over her head, and her hands were bound.
“Good.” Hades tipped his hat to William, closed the door, and banged on the carriage roof. “Well, Miss Eloise Gunning,” he said, “let us go home, then.”
