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L ady Fortescue scowled at them, then to Lucy’s surprise and alarm, she leveled a pistol at them. “Come, come. We haven’t time to waste. I need to get the two of you across town in a matter of minutes, and we haven’t much time.”

As she and Will walked side by side in front of the widow, Lucy chided herself for not trusting her instincts when it came to the woman. She’d been suspicious of her the day she and Meg had encountered her at the Blackwood house. She hadn’t been able to put her finger on why, but now she realized what it had been. She hadn’t seemed at all bothered by the disappearance of her lover’s daughter. Not that she had to be fond of Vera, of course, but she could have at least had some real compassion for Mr. Blackwood.

“Might I inquire where it is you’re taking us?” Will asked in a casual tone, almost as if he were asking what the soup would be at dinner, or whether he might have another cup of tea.

“You’ll see that well enough once we get there,” Lady Fortescue said tightly. “Just keep walking. We are headed to the garden gate leading into the mews.”

Lucy frowned. “This is the same way that Vera was abducted from the Leighton-Childe ball.”

“And it worked well enough, so why should we change things at this late day,” the widow snapped.

Lucy was curious as to why the widow was so on edge. It was likely she hadn’t ever done anything like this before. From what Lucy knew of her, she’d been married for many years to a man who had left her with a modest fortune, but not enough to live as well as she’d hoped to. That was why Lucy hadn’t been too surprised when she saw her with Mr. Blackwood.

“So you were in on Vera Blackwood’s abduction?” Lucy asked as she and Will continued down the path through the garden that led to the very back of the property, where the mews ran behind the row of houses. “Why was that?”

“Has anyone ever told you that you ask entirely too many questions, Miss Penhallow?” the widow asked from behind them, and to Lucy’s alarm, she felt the prod of the gun’s barrel against her back. “Try remaining silent until we get to the carriage, or I’ll have to find some way to keep you quiet myself.”

Though the words were harsh, the voice that spoke them was trembling a little, as if Lady Fortescue wasn’t quite so self-assured as she’d at first seemed.

Curious.

“If you have to hurt someone, my lady,” said Will tightly, “then hurt me. I am your greater threat. It makes more sense for you to remove me from the scene first, because I can do the most damage to you.”

As Will’s words sank in, Lucy wanted to shout at him. Why would he tell Lady Fortescue something like that? He was going to get himself killed, the nodcock.

Rather than acting on his suggestion, however, Lady Fortescue laughed bitterly. “You don’t know how much I would love to take you up on your offer, my lord. More than you could ever know. But I’ve been ordered to bring the two of you to—”

She broke off and it was immediately clear to Lucy that she’d been about to reveal either their intended destination or the name of the person who had sent them here. Though who that could be besides Jedidiah Hamilton, Lucy had no idea.

“I’m confused, my lady,” Lucy said aloud now, deciding to ignore the directive to keep silent, since it was obvious the woman was too inexperienced to follow through on her threats. Or so Lucy hoped. “I thought you were in a happy—or at the very least comfortable—relationship with Mr. Blackwood. Why would you risk giving him a disgust of you by doing something like this?”

Apparently, recognizing that Lucy wasn’t going to listen to her threats, Lady Fortescue said in a put-upon voice, “Not that it’s any of your voice, miss, but I had no choice in the matter.”

Lucy and Will exchanged a glance, and she wondered if he was thinking along the same lines as she was. If Lady Fortescue was being forced into this somehow, then perhaps they could make a counteroffer that would persuade the widow to change her allegiance to their side.

At least that was what Lucy hoped Will was thinking.

“Everyone has a choice, my lady,” she said to the widow gently. “But if you feel you don’t have one, perhaps Lord Gilford or I might be able to offer you something that could make it unnecessary for you to do this other person’s bidding. I am quite wealthy, you know. So if it’s money that you need—”

She must have struck a nerve, because Lady Fortescue interrupted her and snapped, “I thought I told you to keep quiet.”

Before she even realized what was happening, Lucy felt the glance of the pistol’s butt against the back of her head. But before Lady Fortescue could bring the full force of the heavy gun down on her skull, Will had been able to capture the woman’s wrist with his hand and twist until the widow had no choice but to let go or risk broken bones. They wrestled for a moment, but almost as soon as she realized she’d been defeated, Lady Fortescue seemed to collapse in on herself and slid to the ground in a sobbing heap.

“They will kill him,” she said over and over again as she rocked back and forth. “He said if I failed, Richard would die. It’s all my fault. It’s all my fault.”

Will, still slightly breathless from his tussle with the widow, glanced at Lucy with a look of alarm. “Jedidiah Hamilton?” he asked aloud.

Lady Fortescue must have heard him, because her head snapped up and she shook her head. “No, not Jedidiah. His cousin, Christopher.”