Page 30 of Caught with the Beastly Duke (Dangerous Dukes #3)

Chapter Thirty

“ W here is he!?” Nathan growled, slamming his fist down hard on the side of the roulette table. “I was so sure this would be it!”

Grove, who was standing across the roulette table watching him with a frown, shook his head.

“Our contacts were good,” he said. “I believed them when they said that this is the gaming hell Cain usually frequents. But he must know to keep a low profile right now.”

Nathan practically snarled with anger. “I’m surprised that weasel of a man has the fortitude to resist the gaming hell. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man who can ever resist his temptations.”

“Well, the manager says he hasn’t seen him in a fortnight.”

“And we believe this man?” Nathan asked, his eyes narrowing. “Let me speak to him. I’m sure I can get a confession out of him.”

Grove held up his hands. “Careful, Your Grace. You don’t want to go accusing someone of lying to Scotland Yard. Especially Mr. Rilkins. He has been very helpful to us in rounding up illegal gambling rings, and we help enforce the debts when he comes collecting. We have a symbiotic relationship, and I trust him.”

Nathan turned away. He couldn’t hide the skepticism on his face, but he didn’t want Grove to see it. He knew he was being unreasonable, suspicious of everyone, and generally disagreeable. All week long, he’d been like this: unable to control his temper, paranoid that everyone was out to get them, and impatient. But it had been a week! How long did it take Scotland Yard to find a wanted man?

This is like when Jebediah Crampton escaped from prison. They took forever to find him, also with disastrous results!

But he couldn’t fully blame them, either. It was easy to hide in the underbelly of London. There were so many dark, dangerous parts of the city where a person could slip away, unnoticed.

That’s why they were at Rilkin’s Casino in the heart of the underbelly of the city.

They had arrived at Rilkin’s an hour earlier, just as the place was at the height of its night of gambling. It was a Friday, and the floor had been crowded. When Scotland Yard had burst through the door, it was to find half of the ton’s wealthiest and most powerful men gambling, their looks of shock and embarrassment almost equal to Nathan’s certainty that he was about to find Lord Cain.

But Lord Cain hadn’t been there. Scotland Yard had torn through the place, upsetting the patrons, who had been forced to file out through the doors one by one so that they could be checked against the description of Lord Cain.

Once the place was empty, Scotland Yard had searched it high and low for any hiding places where Cain might be.

But he was nowhere to be found.

Now, Nathan looked around the empty casino, and he felt nothing but disgust; the smell of cigar smoke and sweat still lingered in the air, half-empty glasses of champagne sat atop gambling tables or were broken on the ground in their drinkers’ haste to get away from the authorities, and die and gold coins were scattered across tabletops.

“They call me the Beast of Carramere,” he muttered, “and yet even I do not frequent such places. Half the ton does, but they aren’t given a villainous nickname for it.”

He couldn’t keep the bitterness at bay anymore. Not when he no longer had Rosalie. She had been a shining beacon of hope in his life. Without her, all the bitterness and anger he’d felt over the last two years had come rushing back. He knew that’s why he’d been so ghastly all week. He was angry at the world for taking her from him, but most of all, he was angry at himself for pushing her away.

“Why don’t we head back to headquarters?” Grove asked. “Reed should be back by now from searching Redfield’s estate. It’s possible that Cain went there to hide out with his opium production.”

“You know I think it unlikely he returned there,” Nathan snapped. “It would be the obvious thing to do.”

“Well, we’ll know for sure very soon.”

Nathan stood still a moment longer, his eyes staring hard at the casino around him. “I want to speak to Rilkin,” he said. “I want to hear him say that Cain isn’t here.”

Grove sighed. “I’ve already spoken to him.”

Nathan turned his cold, furious eyes to the Inspector. It was a testament to Grove’s professionalism and bravery that he didn’t flinch.

“Now,” Nathan hissed.

Grove nodded. “Follow me, Your Grace.”

Upstairs in Mr. Rilkin’s office, they found him standing in front of the window that looked down at the casino floor, his hands clasped behind his back.

“Was the investigation not to your liking, Your Grace?” Rilkin asked as Nathan and Grove stepped inside. He didn’t turn to see them, but it was clear he knew who it was who had entered his office.

“Why do you say that?” Nathan asked.

Rilkin shrugged. “You’re still here, even after tearing apart my casino.”

“You’re lucky we left so much of it intact,” Nathan snarled. “Dens of iniquity such as these have no right to exist.”

“It is your people who keep them going,” Rilkin said, still not turning to face him. “Our best members are aristocratic. Without them, there would be no need for these ‘dens of iniquity’ as you put it.”

At last, Rilkin turned around to face them. He was a tall, wiry man, with a very pointy mustache that matched his pointy chin. His eyes were as gray as his hair but gleaming with intelligence—and, Nathan suspected, secrets.

“We know Lord Cain is a member here,” Nathan growled.

“You are correct. He is. But he is not here at present as you can see.”

“He could be hiding here.”

Rilkin sighed. “Your men have already searched the entire casino, including all of its hiding places. He was not to be found.”

Nathan’s eyes narrowed. “There could be others that we don’t know about.”

Rilkin blinked. His face remained neutral, and then he spread his hands wide. “Well, there is no point in me denying that, since you will not believe me anyway, but it matters little if you cannot find them. The result is the same.”

“So, you admit it?” Nathan barked.

Rilkin sighed again and looked at Grove. “Is this really the fearsome Duke of Carramere? I find him to be more of a bully than a menace.”

Nathan bristled. “I am a duke,” he snapped. “You will not speak about me as if I am not here.”

“I’m used to dukes like you,” Rilkin sneered. “You think you own the world and that everyone must bow down in front of you. But tell me, Your Grace, do you actually have the things that matter most to you? Or are the things you own only material in nature?”

“What are you talking about?” Nathan demanded. He didn’t like this Rilkin character at all. There was something slippery about him, and the gleam in his eyes only made him creepier.

“I’m talking about desire, Your Grace.” Rilkin took a step toward him, and Nathan had to resist the urge to step back. There were not many people who frightened him, but there was something about this man that made his skin crawl. “I know more about desire than most men on earth. That’s why people come to this casino, after all: because they desire wealth and power or the privileges that those things can bring them. The company they can buy. In my years running this casino, I have learned that desire is the driving force behind all of mankind’s actions. But the problem is, most men have no idea what it is they desire. They think it is one thing, but once they get it, they find it does not satiate them. And then they are left more lost than ever, flailing in the dark, unable to decipher the deepest desires of their soul.”

Rilkin’s eyes glittered with a prophetic malice. “And when I look at you, Your Grace, I see a man who has no idea how to get what he desires.”

Nathan felt his throat constrict. He wanted to tell Rilkin to stop talking, but he felt as if he’d lost the ability to speak.

“You are a duke, yes. A wealthy, powerful duke. You have all the money and freedom you could ever want. But you do not have what you actually desire. It’s possible you don’t even know what that is.”

Rosalie’s face suddenly appeared like a vision in front of his eyes, and his hand curled into a fist. I want her to be safe. I want Cain behind bars, so she can be safe, and we can be together without fear.

“I know what I want,” he snarled. “That’s why I’m here; I want Cain behind bars.”

But Rilkin looked unconvinced. “And then what? Once this man is apprehended, will it get you what you truly desire? Or will you still be flailing in the dark, searching for a satiation you don’t fully understand?”

Goosebumps prickled up Nathan’s arms. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, he knew that Rilkin was right; even once Cain was behind bars, that didn’t mean he would have what he desired above all else. Because Cain wasn’t the problem. It was him. Even with Cain out of the picture, he couldn’t subject Rosalie to himself.

Not until he found a way to forgive himself. To release himself from the torment that had plagued his soul for so long. And even once he did that, there was no guarantee she would take him back.

“Continue your search if you must,” Rilkin said, waving a dismissive hand, and he turned away again, back to the window that overlooked the casino floor. “But I promise you, you won’t find what you’re looking for here.”

Nathan and Grove were quiet all the way back to the Scotland Yard Headquarters, speaking only a little and only when strictly necessary. Nathan felt sick. Despite his best efforts to push away Rilkin’s words, they seemed to be haunting him, and he couldn’t get them out of his head.

Grove, meanwhile, seemed lost in thought.

When they arrived at the headquarters, they found Captain Reed and Lord Redfield waiting for them.

“I’m sorry to report, but Lord Cain was not there,” Reed told them as they all sat down to large, hearty whiskeys in Grove’s office. “We searched everywhere, and we interviewed all the workers hired to pick and transport the opium, but no one had seen him for weeks. Many didn’t even know who he was; they’d only worked with the middlemen that Cain had hired.”

“I suspected it would be that way,” Grove sighed. “Still, we had to check.”

“And you’re sure he couldn’t be hiding out there?” Nathan asked. “Somewhere it would be hard to find him?”

“We looked in all the villages, and to be perfectly honest, no,” Redfield said. “I have good men in all those villages, men I trust, and none of them had seen Cain in some time. I believe them. They were the ones who were reporting on the opium production to me in the first place, and all of them are fiercely against its proliferation.”

Nathan nodded. “All right. I didn’t think he was there, anyway. He would stick to London where he can blend in among the scoundrels here. And he’d want to be close to his allies so that he could escape easily. And…” he hesitated before saying this, “I think he would want to stay close to the Duchess as well.”

“How did it go at Rilkin’s?” Reed asked, looking at Grove. “I know you didn’t find him, but were there any leads?”

Nathan was about to say no when Grove said, “I think so, yes.”

“You do?” Nathan stared at him, perplexed. “But when we were there, you seemed so adamant that there were no clues.”

“That was until you spoke to the Rilkin,” Grove said. “The way he spoke to you made me suspicious.”

“He is an off-putting man,” Nathan agreed, “but I don’t know if that means he’s hiding Cain.”

“I don’t know either,” Grove said, inclining his head, “but he knew too much about you. The way he talked about your desires, I had the strong impression that he knows much about your relationship with the Duchess.”

Nathan considered this, trying not to let it immediately boil his blood. “But it’s his job to know about the members of the ton . To exploit their weaknesses for his gain.”

“True.” Grove’s eyebrows knit together. “And perhaps that’s all it is. But I had the feeling he had heard directly from Lord Cain about your relationship with the Duchess. Which makes me think the two are closer than we thought. He may not be hiding Cain, but I think it likely he knows where he is.”

Once more, goosebumps skidded down Nathan’s arms. It made him sick to think of Cain and Rilkin discussing Rosalie.

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked. “Go back and demand he tell us everything?”

“No.” Grove shook his head. “Not like that. We should go back but undercover. Tomorrow night, we should return in disguise and find out everything we can about Rilkin’s relationship with Cain.”