Page 84 of Last Night with the Duke
His stomach clenched. “Apparently not, but someone tell me right now.”
“I’ll tell it since I was there,” Sara said. “We were sitting in the drawing room talking, when Josephine and Napoleon came in from the back garden. A few minutes later Sparks came to Miss Swift and said there was a man who wanted to see her.”
“Oh, botheration, Sara,” Vera complained. “Let me tell it. You will take forever, and I simply don’t have the patience for it today.”
“You can’t tell it because you weren’t there. You were still out with Lord Henry.”
“Both of you stop bickering, and one of you tell me what happened.”
“I’ll tell it,” Lady Evelyn said, rising from her chair to stand before Griffin. “Sparks was there and I spoke with him this morning to make sure I had all the facts straight from the twins. A Mr. Chambers from several streets over saw Miss Josephine playing with Napoleon outside the back gate. He called to her but she ran back into the garden with Napoleon. Of course, he came right over and demanded the dog be turned over to him because he said it belonged to his granddaughter. He then forcibly took Napoleon away with him.”
Both Griffin’s hands made tight fists despite his injury. “He took Napoleon from Josephine?”
“With her crying, screaming, and beating him on the back,” Sara added.
I will strangle that man with my bare hands!
“Sometime during all this,” his aunt continued, “while Miss Swift was still trying to reason with Mr. Chambers, she asked Mr. Lambert to leave so she could handle the situation properly. According to Sparks, Mr. Lambert did leave the house. However, he watched from his carriage across the street as Josephine rushed out of the house to chase Mr. Chambers, and Esmeralda and Sparks ran after her. Mr. Lambert saw Sara standing in the doorway visibly upset, and he came back to comfort her. That is what led to the kiss you witnessed.”
“So you see, Miss Swift didn’t leave me unattended with Mr. Lambert. I should have made that clear to you yesterday that she thought Mr. Lambert had left.”
“I don’t care about Mr. Lambert or his leaving right now, Sara. Did they get Napoleon back?”
“But it’s important for you to know Miss Swift didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Sara,” he said impatiently, “we’ll settle that later. Did Esmeralda get Napoleon back?”
“No,” Vera said.
“Mr. Chambers said that Napoleon’s real name is Spook and he belongs to his granddaughter, Gracie. Spook wandered off when she was visiting him last year and they couldn’t find him. Now that he’s found Spook he was taking him back to his granddaughter.”
No, hell, he isn’t.
“Napoleon definitely knew the man,” Sara continued, but Griffin was no longer listening.
His fists grew tighter.
“Did Mr. Chambers say where he lives?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Doesn’t matter. I’ll find him.” Griffin looked from his aunt to Vera to Sara. “I’m going to bring Napoleon and Miss Swift back.”
Chapter 27
Don’t think that you will never be wrong. You will be.
MISSMAMIEFORTESCUE’SDO’SANDDON’TSFORCHAPERONES, GOVERNESSES, TUTORS,ANDNURSES
The door of Miss Mamie Fortescue’s Employment Agency was locked. Griffin looked around. The sun had set but the street lamps hadn’t been lit along the storefronts. He hadn’t noticed before, but even though it was still twilight most of the shops were closed.
He knocked on the door and waited. Impatiently. There was no answer. He knocked again. Louder. Finally, he heard the soft patter of footsteps. They stopped but there was no click of a key turning in the lock.
“It’s Griffin, Esmeralda. Open the door.”
Nothing but silence greeted him from the other side. He knew she was angry with him and had every right to be, but he would see Josephine.
“I’m not going away. Do I keep knocking and disturb your neighbors or will you let me inside?”
