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There was a contingent of Bow Street Runners in uniform, led by one in plain clothes, hovering around his carriage. He paused to observe whether they had come in peace or were here to his detriment. A cursory glance behind him also showed that the gang that were in pursuit of him had also stopped on sighting the constables.
His decision made, he stepped forward abruptly into their line of sight. If they were here to his detriment, he was going to have to deal with that eventuality when he got there.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” he said, attracting the attention of the one who was obviously the leader.
“Lord Rockgonie! I am Detective Cooper. I have been looking for you.”
“And I have been looking for you as well,” Noah said. “First off, where is my friend, Lord Walsrock?”
“That is why I have come. Your friend mentioned your name in events that transpired yesterday. I have come to…”
“Whatever he said happened, happened. You have got the wrong person in custody. Now where is he? I want to see him.”
“Why do you say we have the wrong person in custody?” the Detective asked.
“Because I just finished having a conversation with the actual person responsible for all this mess,” Noah argued. “May I see Lord Walsrock now?”
“Patience, please, Lord Rockgonie. Who is this person you speak of?”
“Leonard, of course, Lord Walsrock’s valet…and half-brother, apparently.” Noah thought for a second before adding the last part to his statement. “The slimy fellow played everyone all along. Even his disappearance was planned. And now he is instigating the masses to war.”
“If Leonard Arnold is here, I would sure like to talk with him,” the Detective said.
“Then go and find him,” Noah fired back.
“All right, which way did he go?”
Noah simply pointed in the direction he’d come from and said nothing else. He realized he was still panting from his near capture and needed to slow down to catch his breath.
“All right, this crowd is marching toward parliament. Spread out and find Leonard Arnold,” the Detective ordered his constables.
He then turned back to look at Noah.
“Shall we take a ride down to the office in your carriage?” the Detective asked.
Noah agreed and climbed aboard his carriage, the Detective in tow.
“What did you mean by Leonard Arnold being Lord Walsrock’s half-brother?” Detective Cooper asked as soon as the carriage began to move again, this time headed toward the Bow Street Runners’ office.
“I do not know. All I know is that Leonard was talking to me and lost his calm. Next thing he said was his brother could go to hell,” Noah responded.
“If this is true, that puts a different slant to this tale. Did you know that a lot of the leaders of this uprising are bastard children of the gentlemen of Britain’s high society?”
“I did not know,” Noah responded truthfully.
“Well, if it is true that Leonard Arnold is the bastard son of the Duke, that explains the congregation of bastards who are running the show. And what a perfect decoy, to try and stack evidence against your half-brother, who you actually work for,” the Detective reasoned.
“So you believe you have the wrong man now?” Noah queried.
“I believe someone has a lot more to tell us than he already has.”
“I doubt Lord Walsrock knows about this. I know the gentleman quite well. There is no way he would have subjected his half-brother to working for him if he had known,” Noah said in defense.
“I wasn’t talking about the Marquess, My Lord. I was talking about Leonard Arnold,” the Detective clarified.
“You have been talking to Leonard?” The shock on Noah’s face couldn’t have been more obvious.
“Yes. He, in fact, was the one who served his brother up to us as a suspect,” the Detective confessed.
“That Devil’s spawn,” Noah cursed.
They continued to trade stories until Noah finally pieced it together that Lord Walsrock was never really under arrest. It had all been a ploy by the detective to keep him safe.
“Lord Walsrock isn’t under arrest, right?” Noah asked as soon as they arrived at the office.
Just then, one of the constables Detective Cooper had sent out, met them at the carriage with news.
“We have found Leonard Arnold, sir.”
