The Duke Identity (Game of Dukes #1)(65)

The air crackled with an invisible force, as if someone had attached an electrifying machine to the alcove and was madly cranking. Harry had to appreciate Black’s move. The appeal to self-interest was a brilliant stratagem to enlist the dukes’ help and to flush out the traitor.

“What do you want us to do?” Knight said.

“Bring me the rat,” Black said flatly. “I’m giving you a week. Produce the traitor, or I’ll be forced to do a purge, bloody casualties be damned.”

Black was offering them a chance to find the culprit before he was forced to do so…by any means necessary. Speculative glances were traded around the table, the question in everyone’s mind clear: Which among us is the rat?

“That’s all,” Black said.

Dismissed, the three dukes took their leave. Todd remained.

Black nodded, and the guards shut the curtains once more.

“Well?” Black said without preamble.

Ming’s braid swung side to side. “Not know. All could be guilty.”

“I don’t like that bastard Garrity.” Todd’s lips curled. “Don’t trust any man who takes money from a squealer. And, for all we know, the Peelers are behind this: maybe they paid Loach to take a shot. God knows they’ve tried every other way to take you down.”

Goddamnit, we still cannot pin that bastard Black to a crime? Inspector Davies’ words rang in Harry’s head. Davies had made it his life’s mission to capture Black, yes, but surely a man of the law wouldn’t stoop to murder?

“Wouldn’t be the first time one o’ Peel’s Bloody Gang tried to frame me.” Black grunted. “Protecting the public, my arse. They only protect one kind o’ people, and it ain’t our kind.”

Harry’s insides knotted. Who could he trust? Was he helping the right side?

Black was no saint, yet he brought a semblance of order to his rowdy domain. He did charitable works, helped those in need. And he was under siege by an evil that, if uncontained, could threaten all of London.

“Well, Bennett, what do you think?”

Black’s question broke Harry’s brooding.

“I think that surveillance needs to be kept on O’Toole, Knight, Garrity…and anyone with a link to Loach,” he said starkly. Including Davies.

“We ’ave the men for that, Ming?” Black said.

“Stretched thin. Could use help.”

“I could—” Harry began.

“No.” Black’s tone was unequivocal. “You got your assignment, the most important o’ all.”

Harry didn’t argue because the other was right.

Todd said, “I’ll send o’er reinforcements.”

Black nodded grimly. “The seeds are sown. Now we’ll wait and see which way betrayal grows.”





23





“You have no idea who is the guilty one?” Tessa pressed as the carriage swayed on.

“It could be any of them.” Bennett’s face was set in austere lines, and no wonder, given how he’d described the meeting he’d just returned from.

Despite the grim topic, the fact that they could talk about it gave Tessa a warm tingle. The intimacy between them was deepening. Bennett was treating her like a real partner: he’d shared what happened with the dukes and with little prompting on her part.

Not only that, but he was listening to her.

During her fitting for the masquerade, while Madame Rousseau had fussed with fabrics and accoutrements, Tessa had meditated upon how to investigate De Witt. Upon Bennett’s return, she’d excitedly shared her idea: they could ask her friend Alfred Doolittle to help. When Bennett had asked if Alfred could be trusted, she’d replied with the truth, that she would trust her chum with her life. As a result of the ensuing discussion, they were at present en route to pay Alfred a visit.

To observe proprieties, she’d had to bring Lizzie along. At least she’d been able to coax the maid into riding up top with the groom so that she and Bennett could have a few moments of privacy.

“And the Peelers? You think they’re involved as well?” she said.

“I…don’t know.” His brows drew together.

“Well, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit. It’s as I’ve always said: one can’t trust a policeman farther than one can toss him.” She sniffed. “Spies, mercenaries, and brutes, the lot of them.”

“Right.” Bennett cleared his throat. “At any rate, your father is lending men to the cause, so a close watch is being kept on anyone attached to Loach.”

“Papa ought to help.”

Although her father and Grandpapa had never got on, she was glad that the former was finally showing backbone. She hoped it would improve the state of affairs between them because she hated having dissension in the family. The thought of family reminded her of other questions she had for Bennett.

The unexpected meeting with his brother had made her realize how little she knew about his background. About his kin, where he’d come from. Their whirlwind courtship had consisted mostly of butting heads, escaping danger, and making passionate love. Now that they’d reached a temporary calm, she wanted to know more about him.

“I enjoyed meeting your brother last night,” she ventured.