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“Ten pence says Clarence Richardson ‘as a ship at the East India docks.”
I pulled ten pence from my pocket and handed it to her. “I’m counting on you winning that bet.”
Jess spent much of the journey from Tower Station to the docks staring out the window of the omnibus as we talked, but then suddenly, she leapt to her feet. “There’s the inspector,” she said urgently.
And indeed, there he was, suddenly so precious to me. The feeling nearly overwhelmed me, so I shoved it down where it wouldn’t show and pulled on the cable to alert the driver to stop. He did, and Jess and I were off the omnibus a few moments later. She ran ahead to catch up to Dhruv while I scanned the street to look for his quarry.
I spotted Desmond on the quay, speaking with a shorter man I recognized as Richardson. He’d changed much more than Desmond had in the years since I’d seen him, the paunch of his belly and the walrus whiskers doing much to alter his appearance. But Richardson and Desmond together gave us a reason for the boys’ abductions, and possibly, a place to find them.
I ducked into the shipping office before they could spot me. The clerk behind the counter looked as surprised to see me as I was to be there, so I put on my most imperious impersonation of a lady and blustered my way through.
“Captain Richardson’s ship, where is it?” I demanded.
“Ex … excuse me, madam,” the clerk stuttered.
“Perhaps I’ll excuse you, but only if you prove your usefulness. Young man, the Scotland Yard has business with Richardson, and if you do not point out Richardson’s ship to me immediately, life could become very uncomfortable.”
The young clerk was still blustering about rules and getting fired, so I made my voice as soft and gentle as Charlotte’s and leaned close to his ear. “I understand if you can’t tell me which ship is his, but you can certainly look in its direction, could you not? Perhaps give me a clue as to its name?”
I stayed close to his ear so he didn’t have to look me in the eyes. He whispered, “North Star.” I pulled back to see that he looked to the south side of the quay, and I slipped a coin across the counter to him with a smile.
“Thank you.”
I immediately turned south when I exited the office, and the third ship I encountered was a sloop called the Polaris. Before I’d thought too much about it, I’d crossed the gangplank and was on board. A sailor called down to me from the rigging. “Help ye, mistress?”
“Richardson sent me for the boys. I’m to measure them for clothes.” I wasn’t sure why I’d assumed the guise of a seamstress, but it was a role I knew well as I’d had to sew my own dresses from the age of fifteen.
The young man, who couldn’t have been much older than the boys, pointed aft and called out, “Down two flights.”
I waved my thanks and picked my way across the deck to the ladder at the rear of the ship. I encountered no other sailors on deck, and made it down the two flights without incident. I found myself in the hold of the ship, and except for one locked door, the vast space was empty.
“Ajay?” I called quietly into the hold. Nothing. I turned and directed my whisper to the locked door. “Ajay Patel? Are you here?”
I heard the sound of rustling behind the door, and then a small voice whispered back, “Who’s there?”
“I’m a friend of Dhruv Lestrade. He has come to get you off this ship.” I had no idea exactly how that would happen, but finding the boys was a good start.
“Kai and Saahil are here too,” Ajay whispered. “We want to go home.”
“We’ll get all of you home,” I whispered back.
Suddenly, the sound of boots on the ladder echoed through the hold. I looked frantically for a weapon of any kind, but found none, so I did what I could do – I pulled myself up to my full height and stood with my back to the door and my arms outstretched protectively. The only way in was through me.
The first person I saw was in uniform, and he scowled in confusion at me. The second person I saw was Jess, and my heart sank at the thought that she’d been captured. But she flung herself at me with a grin, and then I realized Dhruv was right behind her, followed by two more uniformed Scotland Yard officers.
“They’re in here,” I said, stepping forward to take Dhruv’s hands.
He held my hands in his and kissed them, whispering, “I am so glad you’re here.”
“I am too,” I whispered back.
One of the officers found a crowbar and called out to the boys to step back as he broke the lock and splintered the wood.
“Where are Richardson and Desmond?” I asked Dhruv.
“They’re on deck under guard. When Jess told me about Richardson, we finally had enough information to move in.” He squeezed my hand. “Thank you,” he said, and then looked down at Jess. “Thank you both.”
The door opened and three rather scruffy-looking boys emerged, looking as though they hadn’t seen a washcloth or a comb in days. Dhruv let go of my hand to pull one of them in for a hug.
