Page 47

The first to look in was Mann. He paused in the doorway and beamed at them all.

“We got the whole crew. All those at the factory who had decided to indulge in a little dealing on the side. One of the supervisors was involved, too. Getting all the rotten ones out, more or less in one fell swoop, is a major feather in our caps. Those higher up the management ladder had no idea they were losing guns, and the commendations are flowing freely.”

Stokes grinned. “Excellent. A good result for the Yard.”

Mann nodded. “The Commissioner is more delighted than I’ve ever seen him, but I hear that might have even more to do with the other unexpected outcomes of your case.”

“One can only hope,” Stokes replied. “However, not all our foxes have as yet been caught.”

But they were. One after another, the reports from the other inspectors came in. London’s underworld was reeling with not just the four bosses taken up but quite a few of their underlings as well. The praise freely heaped on Stokes’s head and directed at his team was unstinting.

The inspector who’d overseen the arrest of Toby Mavenpick observed, “I never thought they’d trip themselves up in such a way—through an account ledger!

” He leveled a look at Stokes. “Not but that they weren’t very clever, setting up that business as they did.

Just lucky for us that the one weak link in their chain happened to fall into your hands for another reason entirely. ”

Penelope smiled at the inspector. “Fate moves in mysterious ways.”

“It does, indeed, ma’am.” The inspector bowed to her, then saluted Stokes. “I’m off to interview Mavenpick, who, apparently, is spitting chips. I’ll let you know how it goes.”

Eventually, they received confirmation that all four crime bosses had been incarcerated in the cells below the building.

Penelope, Barnaby, Ruth, and Jordan were about to leave Stokes to wind up his highly successful day when the Commissioner arrived.

“Stokes, well done!” The Commissioner bowed to Penelope, then shook hands with Barnaby. They were acquainted socially through Barnaby’s father, who remained one of the peers overseeing the Metropolitan Police. “Excellent work all around.”

Stokes introduced Jordan and Ruth, and the Commissioner grew serious and shook their hands and asked Ruth to convey his best wishes to her family and his condolences on Thomas’s death.

Then the Commissioner swung to face Stokes, Barnaby, and Penelope. “I understand that finding the needle in the haystack of Keeble’s accounts and, even more, understanding what the critical account actually meant was a group effort. Please pass on my sincere thanks to all those who helped.”

Penelope hid a smile while Barnaby assured the Commissioner that his approbation would be conveyed to all the appropriate quarters.

“Now, I must away!” The Commissioner clapped his hands together and beamed upon them all. “Thanks to you all, I’ve an untold number of charge sheets to authorize before evening.”

Once he was gone, Penelope looked at Jordan. “‘All appropriate quarters’ includes the crew from Dolphin Square.”

Grinning, Jordan nodded. “And I can guarantee that Roscoe will flaunt that commendation like a feather in his cap for years to come.”

Everyone was laughing as they made for the door.

Following them to the stairs, Stokes observed, “Today has been one of those rare days that’s been an unrelieved good day all around.”

Jordan escorted Ruth home to Finsbury Circus. After descending from the hackney, she took his hand, and he made no demur when she led him to the house and inside.

There, Ruth called not just her mother, Bobby, and Gibson to the drawing room but all the staff as well. “You all knew Thomas,” she told them. “You all valued him, in your own way, so you should all hear the truth of what happened.”

She told them the story, all of it, simply and without any undue embellishment.

Her mother wept, and Bobby and Gibson surreptitiously wiped their eyes.

When the murderer was revealed as Keeble, Gibson spontaneously exclaimed, “Oh God! Poor Josh.”

Jordan felt that said a lot about Gibson’s true character.

After relating the unexpected outcome of so many well-deserved arrests, Ruth passed on the Commissioner’s condolences and commendation.

Jordan had remained silent to that point, but felt compelled to add, “In the end, by taking such a principled stand over the gun-running scheme, Thomas, through his death, was instrumental in bringing down multiple villains, all of whom would otherwise have escaped the police’s net.

In many ways, by many measures, Thomas died a hero. ”

Ruth sent him a watery smile, and Mrs. Cardwell reached across and gripped his hand tightly.

It took several moments for the family and the staff to compose themselves, then the staff slipped away, and Mrs. Cardwell drew in a breath and raised her head.

She looked at Ruth and smiled, then turned that smile on Jordan.

“You have both brought me comfort. Losing Thomas is hard—very hard—but at least I know it wasn’t in any way his fault and that, ultimately, much good came from his death.

” Her gaze shifted to Gibson, who was looking somber and serious. “And it wasn’t Gibson’s fault, either.”

He grimaced and raised his head. “Except for me being a stupid dupe.”

“You didn’t know,” Jordan said. “And in following you, Thomas made his own decision. You cannot and ought not take that burden onto your shoulders—that would, in a way, be diminishing what Thomas did.”

Gibson frowned, unconvinced but also uncertain.

Mrs. Cardwell rapped her chair’s arm. “Now, I know Cook had the dinner almost ready. You will stay to dine, won’t you, Jordan?”

He looked at Ruth, saw encouragement and hope in her eyes, and smiled, then turned the gesture on Mrs. Cardwell. “Thank you, ma’am. I’d be honored.”

Jordan hadn’t consciously made any decision to guide Gibson or Bobby, but over the course of the meal, he found himself gently steering the younger men.

He was relieved to learn that the pair had been talking to each other about taking on the responsibility for the family that previously Thomas alone had shouldered and rethinking the direction in which each wished to steer their life.

Jordan readily encouraged them to pursue their tentative notion of keeping Thomas’s business running.

As Ruth had told Jordan, both Gibson and Bobby had inherited the same facility with numbers that she possessed. In addition, Gibson was quite good with people, yet clearly doubted his capacity to step into Thomas’s shoes with the clients his brother had dealt with.

“I’ll be happy to help,” Jordan finally said. “I deal with business owners all the time. I could…I suppose the right phrase would be to mentor you as you pick up the reins.”

The offer was embraced with copious thanks all around.

Later, when he was taking his leave of the family, Mrs. Cardwell gripped his hand and looked into his eyes. “Thank you for all you’ve done for our family, Jordan. Please be assured that you will always be welcome in this house whenever you wish to call.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Jordan darted a glance at Ruth. Me calling here will, with any luck, happen quite often.

He shook hands with Gibson and Bobby and instructed them to send word to Dolphin Square if they had need of his advice.

Then he turned to Ruth, and she smiled and linked her arm in his. “Come, I’ll see you out.” Ignoring the interested looks from her family, she started for the front hall.

There, she amended, “In fact, I rather fancy a turn about the park.” Her laughing eyes met Jordan’s. “Will you please escort me, sir?”

His smile deepened. “I would be happy to, Miss Cardwell.”

They walked beneath the trees, now burgeoning into full leaf. Ruth looked up at the sky, then said, “Thomas’s life was cut short. Unexpectedly and unavoidably. If his death has taught me anything, it’s that the future is uncertain and always unknown.”

Jordan halted and turned to face her and took both her hands in his.

“I feel the same.” He looked into her blue eyes.

“And because of that, I intend to make the best of what life has placed in front of me—what it’s offering me now.

I intend to enjoy life as it presents itself to the fullest.” He smiled.

“As Penelope would say, there really is no other viable, sensible, logical choice.”

Ruth laughed softly.

Lost in her dancing eyes, Jordan drew in a deeper breath and asked, “Will you, Ruth Cardwell, live that life—life lived to its fullest—with me?”

She sobered, but still smiling, searched his eyes. “What, exactly, are you asking, Jordan?”

He took a moment to think, to find the right words, then said, “Until I met the Cardwells, I didn’t know I was looking for a family.

I come from a close family, I’ve always been a part of a family, but I thought my family—the one I needed—was made up of Roscoe, Miranda, their brood, and Mudd, and Rawlings, and theirs.

” He shook his head. “But it’s not. I’m close to them all, but as my forever family, that group doesn’t quite hit the mark. ”

He looked into her eyes—fell into the blue—and spoke from his heart.

“Fate has shown me—life has shown me—that the family I need is one that needs me. Like the Cardwells. So I’m asking if you will allow me to become a part of your family, to stand beside you and them. If you wish it, I’ll be there.”

She searched his eyes one last time, then a smile of great sweetness broke across her face. “Yes,” she simply said. “I would like—I would love—that.”

Jordan blew out a breath. “Good.”

She laughed again and stepped close, and he gathered her in, and they kissed soft and sweet under the shade of the trees in Finsbury Circus.