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“I brought her for my own reasons,” Arthur replied. “No one else is to touch her.”
The woman’s answering grin was mocking.
“We require privacy.”
The grin became a leer. “Oh yes, sir, we can give you all the privacy in the world. That’s our spec-ee-ality, it is. Always supposing you’ve brought the fee.”
“Naturally.”
She held out her hand like a confident beggar.
“How much?”
Her eyes hardened with suspicion. “Lord Simon would’ve told you that.”
“He was drunk. As he so often is. And he mumbles when he’s drunk. And I am not accustomed to being kept standing.”
Muttering something disparaging about toffs, the woman named a number that startled Arthur. Knowing it was probably inflated, and not caring, he opened his purse and paid her. He’d made sure to bring plenty of cash. She closed her hand over the bills and gestured. “Upstairs,” she said.
They followed her to an upper hall. She threw open a door and waved them into a large luxurious bedchamber with a canopied bed.
“I was assured we would not be disturbed,” said Arthur. “For any reason.”
“Not until you ring,” the woman replied. “That’s what we do here. Nobody hears nothing. Nobody says nothing. And we can take care of things, after.”
Arthur was more and more appalled with each thing he learned about this place. “I require the key to this room.”
“I told you, nobody’ll be botherin’…”
He silenced her with a look borrowed from his patrician grandfather in his later years and held out his hand.
Grumbling, the woman turned away. They stood in silence until she returned with the key. Then Arthur closed the door in her face and locked it. “I didn’t want to discover later that they’d locked us in,” he said quietly to Señora Alvarez.
“This is a bawdy house, isn’t it?” she replied.
He nodded. “A very private one, apparently.”
“Because here men can do whatever they like to women, and no one comes to inquire. Or cares.”
“Seemingly.”
She spat out a word Arthur had never heard from a lady. Her dark eyes glittered with fury, and he thought that she had a hand on the pistol in her pocket. He couldn’t blame her. “We will wait a few minutes to let that creature go about her business and then search for the dancers,” he said.
“I fear what we will find.”
He could only agree with her.
They waited in silence. There was nothing to say; they were here to act. “That should be sufficient,” Arthur said. “Will you stay here and lock the door behind me?”
“No!” Señora Alvarez gave him an impatient look. “The girls know me. They will be afraid of any man in this place. Why would they come with you?”
“Ah.” He had been thinking of keeping her safe. Which was not possible. “Of course.” He unlocked the door and looked into the corridor. It was empty.
They stepped out. Arthur relocked the door. “You don’t think she has another key?” asked the señora.
“She may. We can only trust that she meant what she said about not returning until summoned.”
“You would trust such a person?”
