An Unexpected Pleasure (The Mad Morelands #4)(104)
“He can, and he will,” Dennis returned coldly, “if we do not stop him.”
“We will stop him,” Frank told him firmly. “We will go over there and get the girl from him.”
“Sorry, Barchester,” Theo told him. “I am afraid that we will have to lock you up. I will make sure you have a cot to lie on and water to drink. But we cannot let you loose to tell him.”
“I wouldn’t,” Barchester protested. “What kind of man do you think I am?”
“That I’m not sure of.”
Barchester looked abashed. “I know I have given you no reason to like me. I have been naive. Worse, I guess. I have gone along far too willingly in my own deception. I—let me try to make it up to you. Let me help you.”
“How?” Dennis and Theo regarded him with identically guarded expressions.
“I can get you inside. I will sneak you into the museum before the ceremony starts. I know where Julian keeps the keys. We can go down to the basement and find the room where he is keeping the girl, and get her out of there before the ceremony.”
Theo shook his head. “How can we trust you? How can we be sure you will not tell Coffey about our plans and help him hide the girl somewhere else?”
Barchester stiffened. “I give you my word as a gentleman.”
Theo arched a brow. “I don’t think that is good enough. Not when a girl’s life is as stake.”
“It would be helpful if he sneaked us in,” Dennis pointed out.
“Lock him up,” Frank suggested. “Don’t let him out until we are ready to go over there. That way he cannot give away our plans to Coffey. We can make sure that he leads us to your daughter.”
For the next hour or so, they hashed over their plans, until finally they settled on Frank’s suggestion of locking Barchester in a room until it was time to rescue Caya, then taking him with them to guide them. They decided to leave right after dark, when they would be less noticeable sneaking into the museum, but before the other participants started arriving for the ceremony.
“Do you have guns for us to carry, Moreland?” Frank asked. “We should be armed.”
“I have a couple of revolvers,” Theo said, eyeing him askance. “But surely, Mr. Mulcahey…you are not planning on going.”
“Of course I am. Why the devil wouldn’t I?”
“Da, no, you might get hurt,” Megan said without thinking.
“Oh, I might, might I?” he replied, putting his fists on his hips pugnaciously. “So it’s feeble I am now?”
Megan sighed, realizing she had said exactly the wrong thing. “No, I don’t think you are feeble. But we cannot have too many of us there or we shall be too easily noticed.”
“‘Us’?” Frank raised his eyebrows so high that they threatened to disappear into his hair. “‘Us’? So you’re saying that you are planning to go in, but I am too many?”
Megan scrambled to think of the right way to phrase her words to keep her father from objecting, but Theo was there before her, saying smoothly, “We need all the help we can get, Mr. Mulcahey. But Megan is right. We cannot have too many people entering the house, or someone will be bound to notice. But we will need to have someone in reserve—in case we get into trouble. If you and Megan could wait on the grounds or in the carriage, where no one could see you, then if we don’t return in a reasonable time, you could sound the alarm.”
“Hmm.” Frank frowned, glancing from Theo to his daughter somewhat suspiciously.
Over her father’s head, Theo sent Megan a significant look. She knew what he was trying to do. She could keep her father out of harm’s way by standing watch with him outside, away from the actual fray. Of course, that would also serve the purpose of keeping her out of harm’s way, a factor she was certain was not lost on Theo. He had caught her pretty neatly, she thought.
The idea rankled, but Megan was also sensible enough to admit that, much as she would have liked to be in the thick of the fray, it made more sense for her and her father to remain outside and the men to enter the house. Theo’s brother Reed and Tom Quick would be handier with their fists if the need arose than either she or Frank.
Sending Theo back a sharp look to let him know that she was aware of exactly what he was doing, Megan replied, “Yes, I suppose you are right. We should wait outside, Da. In reserve, so to speak, in case they run into trouble.”
“I will give you one of my revolvers, sir,” Theo promised her father, leaning forward to say in a quiet voice, “if you will stay with Megan and watch out for her, it would be a great help to Dennis and me.”
“Aye, I understand,” Frank agreed. “I’ll do that. No need for you and Den to be worrying your heads on that score.”
With that matter arranged, they settled down to making plans for the evening raid on the museum. First they tucked Barchester away in one of the guest rooms of the house, the door locked to make sure he could not get away to warn Coffey if his expressions of remorse and willingness to help were merely playacting.
Theo sent for Tom Quick, then went upstairs to engage his brother’s aid for their project. Dennis and Megan took the other Mulcaheys upstairs to meet Dennis’s son.
The afternoon was a quiet, loving interlude in the action of the day. Despite the worry over Dennis’s daughter, Megan and her family could not help but rejoice in this time spent together. For years certain that their brother and son was dead, murdered, they were filled with elation to be able to be with Dennis, to talk and laugh and, for this little while, to be the family they once were.