“Who’s a pretty little thing?” the imposing Dalton, Duke of Osborne, asked as he entered the study, followed by another man with the same sandy hair and height.
“Miss Sandrine Oliver, a young lady from Squalton-on-Sea,” Warburton said. “She’s here in London to convince Lord Dane to sign over a historical building to a charitable society, but she’ll stop at nothing short of bringing him to his knees.”
Osborne nodded sagely. “Never underestimate the power of a determined young lady to upend your life.”
“That’s certainly the truth,” the other man said. “Case in point being how Thea tamed you, Dalton.”
“Warburton, Lord Dane, this is my brother, Patrick. He’s my legal counsel and assists me with all manner of investigations. I assume that’s why you’re here today, to continue the relationship your deceased brother established, Lord Dane?”
“What relationship are you referring to?”
“Your brother came to me a week before he died. He told me that he’d been the victim of extortion for years, and he was fed up. He wanted to extricate himself and hired me and Patrick to help uncover the identity of his blackmailers.”
“And have you been successful?” Dane asked eagerly.
“Not yet. We were wrapping up another case first, and we didn’t have a chance to begin your brother’s request before he died.”
“You’re right that we’re here about the same issue,” Dane said. “I was set upon by three men in a dark alleyway. They placed a hood over my head so I couldn’t see them. One of them, whose name I think begins with the lettersL-A, told me that my brother owed them money and had also been performing illicit tasks at their insistence.”
“Which corroborates what your brother told me.”
“My brother and I were estranged. This is all a complete shock to me.”
“Now that you’re the heir presumptive, the blackmailers are trying to continue their lucrative scheme.”
“They said they have incriminating information that could ruin my family. I want to know who they are and what, if anything, they have on my brother. I could not care less about my reputation, but I wouldn’t want to see my sister-in-law and her children harmed. I’m fervently praying she gives birth to a boy soon.”
“You don’t want to be a duke?” Patrick asked. He had a peculiar accent. Dane remembered hearing something about Osborne’s brother being stolen away when he was a boy and raised in America.
“Hell no!”
Osborne chuckled. “Typical spare. You haven’t had to deal with any of the weighty responsibilities. You’d sooner shoot yourself in the foot than take a seat in Parliament. I know all about you and the Thunderbolt Club. Crazy lot of risk-taking scoundrels, eh, Warburton?”
“Excuse me,” Warburton said. “You’re one to talk when it’s you who tracks down and prosecutes dangerous criminals.”
“So that’s why my brother came to you,” Dane said.
“Let’s just say that we help people out of complicated situations. Patrick takes care of the legal side of things, and I do the grunt work. Sometimes people come to us with matters that they can’t bring to the authorities. We only take a case if it’s worth risking our lives for. I wasn’t certain that your brother was blameless in this matter. I’ve been investigating him as much as the blackmailers.”
“And?”
“On the surface your brother appears to have been clean as whistle. But my instinct tells me he was hiding something, and when you discover the truth you’ll know as much as the extortionists. What demands have they made so far?”
“I gave them two hundred pounds and bet on the man they told me to at a prizefight and handed over my winnings.”
“That’s good for now. Go along with their demands, within reason, of course. Make them think that you’re an easy mark, that you’ll do their bidding. Patrick and I will begin our investigation in earnest.”
“We’ll thwart them together,” Warburton said. “We do have one interesting angle to pursue. There’s been a man asking questions about Dane at Madam Avalon’s Silver Palaceand observing him in public. He’s tall, slender, with wispy hair, a habit of sucking his teeth, and he wears a stickpin in the shape of a scorpion.”
Patrick gasped. “A scorpion! Are you sure?”
“Here’s a sketch Miss Oliver made.”
Patrick and Osborne studied the sketch. “I know this insignia well,” Patrick said. “Your man is a member of the Order of the Scorpion, or at least that’s the public name, a shadow organization that some believe are the true rulers of this country. I hope it’s not them behind your brother’s troubles. These men are pitiless, obsessed with accumulating wealth and power.”
“Our father was a member of the Order,” Osborne said grimly. “You don’t want to go up against them. They have their grimy hands in every facet of government, commerce, and law enforcement.”
“I may not have a choice,” Dane replied.