Hiding Rose (Saved By Desire 5)

“How long will it take us to get to Portsmouth?” Rose asked when they were nearly at the houses.

“We will be there before daybreak. We will wait until the docks get busy and then make our way into town,” Barnaby said.

Rose stared straight ahead. She hated to ask, but he seemed to expect her total compliance in everything – well, almost everything – the least he could do was tell her a few details about himself. Irked a little at his complete lack of trust in her, she pierced him with a look that pinned him to the spot.

Barnaby lifted his brows and braced himself for the inevitable.

“Who are you?”

He blinked and looked at her. “Pardon?”

“Who are you? You seem to know a lot about this underworld thing and don’t seem to want to tell me who you are yet you expect me to embark on this journey with you and trust you with my life. How do you know so much about criminals in London?” Their eyes met while she talked. “Who are you?”

At first, Barnaby had thought she was asking about him, the person, but she wasn’t. She only wanted to know how much danger being in his presence put he

r in. It was a little disappointing to his ego if he was honest but at least she was talking to him.

“My name is Barnaby Stephenson,” he said after several moments of thoughtful silence. “I work for a government organisation called the Star Elite. We are based at the War Office, but of late our work has taken us out into the Shires, and we now have men located in the counties working on all sorts of crime.”

“Like this Chadwick person?”

“Yes, Rose, like this Chadwick person. During the war, we helped locate numerous French spies who had been smuggled into the country. The Star Elite managed to disband a quite ingenious network of smugglers from all walks of society who were providing the spies with false identities, accommodation, and even money. When the war ended, we turned our attention to other types of crime like serial murders and that kind of thing. Then, about two years ago, our boss in the War Office began to hear grumblings from numerous members of the aristocracy in London that they had been burgled. Not just anything was taken though. Just some – not all, but some – valuable jewels disappeared. We were asked to investigate, and a pattern emerged. Not just in how the crimes were committed but with the types of items that were stolen. The burglar walked past some extremely expensive paintings and objet d’art, and stole specific gems and jewellery sets. We have traced a network of crooks who all seem to work for one man: Terrence Sayers. He is nothing more than an East End crook, but is good at what he does and has earned himself a formidable reputation.” He looked at her and realised she had no idea what he meant. “The East End of London is dockland. It is full of ships, and has many sailors, vagrants, and foreigners coming and going constantly. It is a poor area; quite disreputable in fact. It is not the type of place someone like you should ever go anywhere near unless you are catching a ship overseas. Otherwise, steer clear because criminals like Sayers thrive there. He has numerous people, some of whom grew up in deprived circumstances like him, on his payroll. They are all out to make quick cash at someone else’s expense and don’t mind if they have to commit crimes to get it.”

“How awful,” she whispered. She had witnessed first-hand how ruthless they could be. “The two men in the yard weren’t people they stole from, were they?”

“No, they were part of Sayers’ gang. We think they were trying to profit from double-crossing Sayers, and Chadwick was sent to stop them.” Barnaby sighed, talking freely to Rose helped him get some perspective on what he was truly involved in. “Recently, the burglaries in London became less frequent, and a far less of a professional job was made of the thefts.”

“But things got stolen?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“How were they less of a professional job then?”

“More noise was made, Rose, and damage was done. There have been a couple of instances when the burglar didn’t even manage to break into the safe,” Barnaby explained. “On the last ‘professional’ job as we call it, a lot more was taken than usual. Several rare and extremely expensive items were stolen that went far beyond what Sayers usually ordered. Then the burglaries stopped for a while. We think the burglar, a prolific thief called Victor Mainton, stole enough for himself and left London shortly afterwards with his sister. Where he has gone and why now we don’t know. Nobody seems to know where this man moved to; he has just vanished. Sayers is looking for him just as much as we are so we know he is alive but nobody can find him.”

“Is he around here do you think?” She shivered at the thought.

“I don’t know,” Barnaby sighed. “I wish I did. He took his sister with him but simply disappeared. They left their mother behind in London, but she didn’t have a clue that they even intended to go.”

“Poor woman,” Rose whispered.

“Oh, don’t feel sorry for that old bat,” Barnaby snorted. “She is harsh and was undoubtedly cruel to her children. She raised them in squalid conditions that are only one step higher than the gutter. I am sure they were glad to be rid of her.”

“Good Lord,” Rose whispered. “So they left her behind. I hope they manage to keep hidden.”

Barnaby looked at her. “You do?”

“Yes,” she replied frankly.

“He is a burglar, Rose. He stole a lot of jewels worth an absolute fortune to furnish his new life. Do you not think he should be behind bars?”

Rose considered that for several moments. “I cannot even begin to imagine the kind of life they grew up in, you understand? However, one never knows what someone is prepared to do in desperate times. If the man had no funds but was being made to steal anyway, I think I would steal a bit extra to buy my freedom as it were. I am not defending what he did at all, please don’t understand, but in his situation I don’t doubt that I would consider doing the same. Even if I didn’t go through with it, I would consider it. I mean, what is the worst Sayers could do?”

Barnaby looked hard at her. “Catch him and kill him and his sister.”

“Yes, but from the sound of it the alternative is to remain in squalid conditions in London and continue to steal for someone else’s benefit. At some point you would catch him and put him behind bars. He would be no better off no matter what he stole, how much, or how often.” Rose sighed.

“He should be put behind bars,” Barnaby grumbled.