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‘Well, I bother.’

‘Thank goodness that someone does.’

‘And if you need somewhere to stay for a while, we’ll help you.’

‘You’re so kind.’

Lucinda burst into tears and plucked a handkerchief from her sleeve. Dolly found a simple way to stop her crying. Leading her across to the easel, she tossed back the cloth to reveal the portrait. Her visitor goggled in wonder.

‘Is that really you?’

Dolly laughed. ‘It’s not only me — it’s all of me.’

‘You look lovely … like a queen.’

‘I don’t think Her Majesty would pose for a portrait like that. It would be undignified for a real queen. George wanted to show me off to the world. Don’t you think he’s clever? Yes, it is little Dolly Wrenson,’ she said, proudly, ‘but the artist’s skill has transformed me.’

Neither of them heard the feet approaching up the stairs. The first they knew of George Vaughan’s return was when he walked through the door. Like Dolly, he was shaken by the visitor’s appearance at first but he quickly rallied and pulled out a bottle of brandy from under the bed. After pouring a glass for Lucinda, he led her to the chair. Dolly, meanwhile, was giving him a breathless account of what had befallen her friend. He exuded sympathy.

‘Someone must be called to account for this, Lucinda,’ he said.

Dolly nodded in assent. ‘That’s what I told her.’

‘Who is this rogue?’

‘Oh, I couldn’t possibly tell you that,’ said Lucinda, anxiously.

‘He needs a good thrashing. What’s his name?’

‘I swore that I’d never divulge it to anyone, George.’

‘When did you do that?’

‘It was when I first moved into the house.’

‘And I daresay that you kept your promise, didn’t you?’

‘I did. Nobody else knows his name and nobody will.’

‘But the rules have changed now,’ Dolly pointed out. ‘It was all very well protecting him when you were being kept by him but that’s not the case now. He threw you out. He punched and kicked you, Lucinda. Do you really think it’s your bounden duty to hide the name of a thug like that? If it’d been me that he attacked, I’d be shouting his name from the rooftops.’

‘Dolly is right,’ said the artist. ‘This man may be a Member of Parliament but that doesn’t entitle him to do what he did to you. He’s no better than an animal. You owe him no loyalty, Lucinda. Tell us who he is.’

Clive Tunnadine arrived at Crewe station to be met by Alban Kee. The private detective had booked rooms at the hotel mentioned in the ransom note. Taking charge of the politician’s luggage, he summoned a cab and they drove off. Tunnadine wasted no time looking at the surroundings. Crewe was a railway town with a station built in the Elizabethan style. They went past rows of identical houses where those employed at the thriving railway works lived. An element of neatness and symmetry had been imposed on a small community that had grown in size until its population was well past eight thousand. The hotel was just outside the town. As soon as Tunnadine had been assigned a room, he sat down in it with Kee to discuss the situation.

‘Well,’ he said, ‘what have you decided?’

‘The kidnappers have chosen well,’ replied Kee. ‘This junction allows them to travel in almost any direction. They could ride off overland, of course, but the railway will be much quicker. Before they meet you to collect the ransom, they’ll already have bought tickets to their next destination.’

‘They’ll never get there.’

‘That’s my hope, Mr Tunnadine.’

‘It’s not a hope, man, it’s a necessity. We must rescue the hostages and kill the scheming devils who had the gall to abduct them.’

‘Shooting them must only be an option if all else fails, sir.’

‘I want them dead.’

‘I appreciate the sentiments,’ said Kee, ‘but you might get more satisfaction in handing them over to suffer the full force of the law. Besides, didn’t you tell me that Sir Marcus Burnhope was offering a large reward for their capture?’ He gave an oily grin. ‘You’d be in a position to claim that.’

The thought appealed to Tunnadine. He stroked his chin pensively.

‘No,’ he said at length. ‘I’d be in a position to claim it and to turn it down. That would redound to my credit. I have no need for the money and it would put me in my father-in-law’s good books. More to the point,’ he added, ‘it would impress the dear lady I am to marry.’

‘You will do that simply by coming to her rescue, sir.’

‘That’s true.’

‘If we have to draw our weapons,’ suggested Kee, ‘let’s shoot to disable them rather than to kill. A bullet in the knee will cripple them and cause agony.’

‘It’s good advice. We’ll aim for the legs. But when we’ve got them squirming on the ground,’ said Tunnadine, ‘I’ll kick them hard until they beg for mercy.’

‘You’d not do that in front of the ladies, surely?’

‘I’ll rely on you to divert them.’

‘We are, of course, assuming that the hostages will actually be there,’ said Kee, cautiously. ‘At the first exchange, there was no sign of them. They used a decoy.’

‘They won’t try the same trick twice.’

‘Perhaps not, sir, but they’re wily enough to invent a new one.’

‘Then we must be on our guard.’

Tunnadine was glad to concentrate all his thoughts on Imogen’s rescue. It saved him from thinking about the way that he’d treated Lucinda Graham. She’d committed the cardinal sin of joking about blackmail. He felt that he’d been right to attack her and to drive her out of his life forever. She belonged to his past now and his future would be built around his wife. Once the marriage had settled into a rhythm, he decided, he could search for someone to replace Lucinda Graham. A mistress served a purpose that a wife simply could not. The notion of flitting between the two appealed to him greatly. At the moment, however, he had neither mistress nor wife. It was a thought that kept his brain simmering.

Alban Kee spread out an ordnance survey map on the table.

‘The ransom will not be handed over in the town,’ he concluded. ‘They’ll want to draw you out into the open so that they can ensure you are on your own. I’ve been looking at possible choices.’

‘Good work!’

‘I’ve marked them on the map.’ He indicated some crosses. ‘They’ll pick a spot where they can be hidden while you are exposed to their scrutiny. It won’t be far away from the town because they’ll need to get back quickly in order to catch a train. The first thing I did when I got here yesterday,’ said Kee, ‘was to hire a horse and ride out on reconnaissance.’

‘They will doubtless have got the lie of the land themselves,’ said Tunnadine, looking at the areas marked by crosses. ‘Which would you choose?’

Kee jabbed a finger at the map. ‘This one, sir — it answers all their needs.’

‘What about our needs?’

‘I’ve not neglected those. They’ll expect you to come in a trap so that you can drive the hostages away. I’ve hired one that will allow me to lie concealed beneath a rug. Even with a telescope, they won’t be able to spot that there are two of us in it. You can hand over the ransom,’ said Kee, ‘in the knowledge that I won’t be far away. Once the ladies are safe, I can come out of hiding.’

‘I like the device,’ said Tunnadine.

‘All that I’ve done is to think ahead, sir.’

‘You’ve given us the advantage of surprise and that’s crucial.’

‘What will happen afterwards, sir?’ asked Kee.

‘I’ll be hailed as a hero and you’ll be richly rewarded.’

‘That’s not what I meant, Mr Tunnadine. The point is that you chose not to apprise Sir Marcus of the fact that you received the ransom note. How will he react when he realises that you acted on your own without consulting him?’

‘He’ll be too overjoyed to offer any criticism of what I did.’