One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1)

The boy shrugged, squinted a bit and stared off into the distance. “Nah. The man I saw had brown ‘air, a bit like ‘is.” Once again the boy nodded toward Marcus.

“And he was thinner?” Luke finished for him, thinking about the man he followed and lost in the street. From the description the children had given him they had all seen the same man. He watched the boy nod. “Did you go back to the park once I chased you off?”

The boy grinned. “You could’na keep up with us,” he chirruped proudly.

Luke shook his head and looked rueful. “Did you hear that God awful racket the woman was making? I had to go back and shut her up. You were lucky, boy.” He straightened a leg and pointed to it. “Mine are longer than yours. I can keep up with you and don’t you forget it.”

When the boy merely grinned unrepentantly and scoffed, Luke smiled back. The jocularity helped ease the children’s wariness, and he was relieved when they began to relax against the seat without even realising it.

“What about the woman?” Although he kept his face impassive, Luke was aware of being tense as he waited for the children to answer. Suddenly, their reply mattered; more than anything else they could say. A frown marred his brow as he thought about that for a moment. It wasn’t like him to be so hung up on a woman. Just what was it about her that captivated him so?

“What about her?” The boy asked.

“She had a big bag and was dressed nice,” the girl added.

“She doesn’t work with you then?” Luke made the question sound as casual as possible.

“What ‘er? You ‘av to be jokin’,” the girl scoffed.

“So you targeted her?” It wasn’t a question.

The girl grinned unrepentantly. “There was nobody around to see.”

“She didn’t arrive with – say – the man then?”

“I dunno,” the girl shrugged. “I didn’t see her with anyone.”

“So she was alone all the time you saw her?”

“She was walking along the path before you,” the boy added. “I didn’t see her with anyone. Then you turned up.”

“What’s she done?” the girl asked curiously.

Luke sighed but chose not to answer. “Did you see anything untoward at all that morning? Anyone else milling around that area? Anything in the water, the lake, or any other part of the park?”

Over the next several minutes, Luke pushed and pushed for information but both children remained adamant that they hadn’t seen anything or anyone other than Luke and Poppy, and the watcher in the woods. Eventually he had little choice but to accept defeat and allowed the silence to settle over them for a few moments while he contemplated what to do. It irked him to just let them go back to their life of crime, but he could hardly keep them confined in the carriage, and taking them to the safe house left everyone vulnerable to discovery if the children were ‘employees’ of Sayers. If he had to let them go back out onto the streets and be at the mercy of their boss then he could at least give them a few sage words of caution, and do whatever was necessary to ease their predicament a little.

“So, why did you risk mugging me? I mean, my fob watch is really hard to pick given it is tucked into my waist coat. I am hardly likely to miss you tugging on it, now am I?” Luke drawled reasonably. He settled back in his seat to study them and watched the young boy puff his chest out proudly.

“I am the best pick-pocket in the whole of London,” he declared with youthful enthusiasm.

“Not good enough though, are you? I mean, I was on to you. You didn’t get the goods on this occasion. I kept them and got my hands on you.” He lifted his brows challengingly. “Your boss isn’t going to be too pleased when he realises you have not been earning for the last few hours either.” He let the boy think about that for a moment. “What will happen to you when you go back with your pockets empty?”

That was enough to wipe the smug, self-satisfied look off the young boy’s face.

“Going back without the goods will probably get you a beating, won’t it?” His eyes narrowed as he watched a sullen look appear on both children’s faces and knew that he was right.

“We need to get back,” the girl murmured suddenly, and threw a worried glance at the door.

“You will not go anywhere until I get some more information out of you,” Luke snapped suddenly. The atmospheric shift within the carriage swung from being calm and friendly to firm and threatening and made both children squirm in their seats warily.

“I may have work for you that will earn you a pretty penny. The extra money should keep your employer off your back, but will also bring you a bit extra to take home, or keep for yourselves. But, I need to know where I can meet you safely. I can’t keep picking you off the streets. If your boss finds out you will get into trouble so this arrange

ment has to remain between us. I don’t want your boss knowing about our little meeting today either. He won’t be very pleased, you see?”

“What do you want us to do for you?”

“Do you want us to lift for you?” The boy asked with a frown at the girl.