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“I’m not sure. Probably with Girvin.”
She looked at Braden. “At the Hanging Judge.”
He nodded. “No doubt. Haxton, do you know where they keep the children?”
The banker opened his mouth but then closed it. His watery gaze suddenly turned shifty.
“I’m a victim, too, you know,” he said. “They blackmailed me and then tried to kill me. I won’t utter another word about any of this until I talk to my solicitor.”
“Oh, that isnotgoing to wash,” said Samantha as she took a step forward.
Braden pulled out his pistol. “Allow me.”
He leaned down and pressed the tip of the barrel against Haxton’s temple. The banker let out a strangled cry as he tried to squirm away.
“Tell me where the children are, or I’ll blow your brains out,” Braden growled.
“You . . . you’ll never get away with it,” Haxton said in a trembling voice. “You’ll never be able to explain it.”
“You could say Haxton couldn’t live with the shame and decided to off himself,” Logan helpfully supplied.
“Sad turn of affairs,” Kade said. “Too bad we couldn’t stop him in time. God knows we tried.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” Braden said, keeping his gaze steady on Haxton’s sweating, horrified face. “And since we’re Kendricks, everyone will take us at our word.”
“Haxton,” Samantha softly said, “if you wish to live, you’d better tell us where the children are.”
The banker gave way in a puddle of nerves and sweat. “The underground vaults, below the South Bridge. There’s an entrance behind the Hanging Judge. That’s where MacGowan has his hideout, and where he’s keeping the children.”
Samantha muttered a curse. “Of course, the old vaults and tunnels. Donny and I searched a few of them but never found any evidence of the children.”
When the bridges connecting New Town to Old Town had been built, some were constructed right over existing houses or shops, creating a bizarre, subterranean complex of tunnels, rooms, and vaults. These days, only the poorest of the poor lived in some of the grim recesses. The rest were abandoned.
They were the perfect boltholes for criminals to hide almost anything, including children.
Logan shook his head. “It’s not surprising this gang has been so hard to track down. No one in his right mind would go into those vaults.”
Braden looked at him. “We will, though.”
“Whoever said we were in our right minds?” Kade dryly put in.
Samantha nodded. “We need to get to those vaults as soon as possible. I doubt Baines and MacGowan will sit around much longer, and God knows what they’ll do with the children at that point.”
“Yes, but perhaps now is the time to bring in the police,” Braden said. “It’s a bloody maze down there, and very dangerous.”
“You’ve been in them?” Samantha asked, clearly surprised.
“Some of my most indigent patients have the misfortune of living down there.”
“Well, we can’t wait any longer,” she said. “It would take too long to explain the situation to the police. We need to gonow.”
Braden grimaced. His gut told him that she was right.
“Very well, this is what I propose. You, Logan, and I will head to the Hanging Judge and meet up with Logan’s men. Kade will take Haxton to the police and explain the situation.” Braden pinned Haxton with his gaze. “You will help my brother, understand? If you do so, we’ll make it clear to the police that you cooperated. If you don’t, things will go very, very badly for you. My word as a Kendrick.”
Haxton, thoroughly crushed, simply nodded.
“Do we know how many men MacGowan has?” Logan asked the banker.
