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My brows shot up. “They could promise that?”

“Oh yes. These are some of the hardest men in South London. They weren’t afraid to come around these parts, which is saying much.”

Indeed. London’s neighborhoods, especially its eastern quarters, were divided into territories that had nothing to do with parish borders or the police beats, no matter how fondly the government and police believed they controlled the areas. South London toughs did not interfere with those of Cheapside or Bow Lane, who in turn did not venture into Whitechapel or Shadwell. One knew the periphery of one’s domain.

The fact that these men swaggered to Joanna’s home without worrying about what the Cheapside lads would do to them meant their South London leaders would see that nothing untoward happened to them.

“What do they want in return?” I asked. No one in these gangs did things out of the kindness of their hearts.

“Money. Me.” Joanna’s mouth twisted, then a fierce light entered her eyes. “My daughters. They considerately said they’d wait until they were older.”

“Bloody devils.” My anger rose at the same time as my fear. “We won’t let them touch them.”

“Too right, we won’t.”

We shared a look that took us back to our girlhood days. The only way to deal with the bullies of Bow Lane had been to dig in our heels and not back down. My mother coming after them with a broom hadn’t hurt either. She’d only have to pretend to reach for it to make the youths flee. Joanna and I had made a formidable team.

“Daniel will help,” I promised. “He can have men posted here to watch over you while Sam is…away.”

“Police constables?” Joanna scoffed with the experience of one born in London’s dark lanes. “I’m not sure boys in helmets will be any match for Sam’s old mates.”

“Police, and others. Daniel knows many sorts.”

Joanna frowned. “I don’t want to be obligated to them as well.”

“Never. Daniel is a good man. You know him.”

“Yes, and I recognize a former villain when I see one.” She softened the words with a shaky smile. “Doesn’t matter how charming he is. Mr. McAdam is from South London, isn’t he?”

“I believe so, yes.”

I spoke the words uncertainly. Daniel could sound like a man who’d never been north of the river in his life, but then he could also mimic an upper-crust accent so well that those of the upper crust accepted him in their midst. Any questions they had about his family and connections he neatly sidestepped.

I knew he’d spent some of his boyhood years in Bethnal Green with a man called Mr. Carter, until that man had been killed by villains worse than himself. But where exactly Daniel had come from in South London, I had no idea. He flitted from pillar to post, and there was no telling where he’d originated.

“He might know these men from Sam’s past,” Joanna said.

“Possibly. It has been a long time, though, since Daniel lived on the streets. He’s beyond that now. Mostly.”

The intense anger faded from Joanna’s eyes, though the concern did not. “My poor Kat. You do not know what to make of him, do you?”

“Not really,” I had to say.

“I was the same with Sam. He sat me down and told me where he’d come from, and how he wanted to leave that life behind. I believed in him. I was willing to marry him and help him.”

“And he did it,” I said. “Sam has made himself so thoroughly respectable I never suspected for a moment he hadn’t always been.”

“He must not have been very important to his old gang,” Joanna reflected. “They let him go easily. Except for the chance encounter at the music hall, we’ve never heard a peep from them, until now.”

“That is interesting.” I thrust my hands at the fire to warm them, the coldness of the room finally ebbing. “I wonder why they’ve come forward. Do they believe Sam did rob the bank of that money and they might obtain it from him or from you? Or are they worried about what Sam might say to the police? Secrets coming out?”

I imagined the sharp-witted Inspector McGregor visiting Sam in jail, noting anything he said about a South London gang, and then rounding up officers to hunt them down. That is, if Sam said anything at all. We learned early that it was always best to stay silent in front of the law.

“I don’t know, but they unnerved me,” Joanna said. “If they do manage to help him escape, the police will hunt Sam down. I’ll never see him again, no matter what.”

Her face crumpled, and the tears she’d bravely sought tocontain returned. I gathered Joanna to me, and she sat like a child against me while I tried to comfort her.

I had not much comfort to offer. I would rally every force I could—Daniel, Lady Cynthia, Miss Townsend, and, if necessary, Daniel’s underworld connections—to keep Joanna’s family safe. It would be a monumental task to bring Sam home, but I determined to do it.