Lady Lilias and the Devil in Plaid - Julie Johnstone Page 0,81

road turned to slush by the earlier heavy rain and the fog grew thicker, the night took on an ominous air and she began to doubt her decision. But she could not turn back now. Kilgore was here, and she did not see how she could manage this confrontation in the daylight. Someone might see her.

Though the hour was late, people loitered on the street, and as Lilias and Kilgore passed them in the gig, she studied them. The women were selling their wares, and many of the people sitting against ramshackle buildings with blankets pulled up around them likely did not have homes. But it wasn’t all gloomy. Several corners blazed with light, and when they passed a building where music flowed out into the cool night air, Kilgore told her it was a gaming hell.

The houses grew closer to one another and smaller as they moved into the underbelly of St. Giles, and the stench of garbage made Lilias cover her mouth with her hand.

Kilgore handed her a handkerchief as he drove the gig. “For the smell.”

She nodded gratefully and took it from him, and then said, her voice muffled from the cloth, “Shall we go over the plan again?”

“Yes. Levine should not be home. He always gambles at the Cross and Crown on Saturday night until nearly dawn. But regardless, I have my pistol with me.” Kilgore lifted his right leg, and she gazed down with a mixture of relief and concern. She’d never gone on a mission as dangerous as this one was working out to be, but she would not turn back now.

“How will you get in if the door is locked?” She only now thought to ask.

Kilgore laughed, but it was a mirthless sound. “Let’s just say I learned long ago how to get out of rooms in which I had been locked.”

She nodded, repressing the urge to ask him about it. The mysteries of Kilgore would have to wait until this mission was complete.

“You will keep watch on the corner by Clyde’s Pub, which is a stone’s throw from Levine’s house, while I try to find the manuscript inside his home, assuming it is even there,” Kilgore continued. “There is always a line of vendor carts there, and you will hide behind those. If you should see Levine coming, give the bird call so I’m prepared for him but he’s not alerted to my presence. If I have not found the manuscript, I’ll confront him about it with my pistol in hand.”

She nodded, feeling fairly secure in their plan. Kilgore had told her he made it his business to know what his enemies were up to so that was why he knew Mr. Levine’s routine. And thank goodness he did!

“Let me hear the bird call again,” he demanded.

She gave it, pleased with how loud it was.

“You’re as good at it as any man I’ve ever worked with.”

“Do you care to expand?” she asked, rubbing her arms to ward off the chill that was settling into her bones.

“No,” he replied. “Some stories are best left buried.”

“What if the manuscript is not there and we cannot persuade Mr. Levine to give it to us?” Lilias asked, nibbling on her lip and staring down at the pretty new gloves that Nash had bought for her. Nash, who might be betrothed to someone else.

A dark chuckle came from Kilgore. “Lady Lilias, there are always ways to persuade men to part with things they don’t wish to. But don’t fret about that now. We’re here.”

She followed his pointed finger and felt her mouth slip open at the dark, tiny, dilapidated house that was Mr. Levine’s residence. And she had thought her life was hard! Shame rolled over her. She knew nothing of true poverty, but tomorrow, she was going to do something about that. Somehow, she was going to help those less fortunate. Mr. Levine had not started out wicked. He had come into the world pure, as all babies do, and the circumstances of his life had molded him. That was no excuse for the things he had done, of course, but it did make her wonder how the Mr. Levines of the world could turn out if they had more of a chance.

Kilgore pulled the gig up to the pub. Though the door was closed, laughter and bawdy songs flowed from the tiny establishment. Light illuminated it, and Lilias could see men in dirty work clothes and women dressed to catch the men’s attention all packed