Page 129 of Not a Fine Gentleman

Chapter 39

Margaret kept pace with her brothers and Connor as they boarded the merchant ship, a Dutch East Indiaman, unless she was mistaken. A larger vessel than Jared’s yacht, it moved differently, and creaked and groaned like a live creature.

Jared chuckled. “Cole will be furious when he learns he missed out on all the fun.”

Margaret exchanged amused glances with him but returned her focus to the task at hand. They simply must catch the Finches.

Connor grabbed the first sailor who crossed his path. “Where are the passengers?”

“They went into the captain’s cabin.” He pointed.

In a half-crouch to accommodate for the tilting deck, Connor strode to the captain’s cabin. Staggering a little against the motion, Margaret remained at Connor’s side. It felt right to be at his side, always.

Grant peeled off and went to one side. Jared went to the other. Her pulse quickening, Margaret kept a firm grip on her gun. After glancing at Jared and Grant, and receiving nods that they were prepared, Connor hefted his gun and threw open the door.

Sunlight shone in through two round windows, illuminating a whiskered man with darkly tanned skin who held up a glass to Mr. and Mrs. Finch. Next to them sat a desk littered with instruments, papers, a bottle of amber liquid, and a ferocious-looking black powder pistol. The room’s occupants turned at Jared and Connor’s entrance, glasses still held high.

Margaret stepped through the doorway with Grant and Jared close behind.

“Forgive the intrusion,” Connor said as if he were at a dinner party. He glanced at all the stunned faces and focused on Finch. “Mr. Finch, we are here to escort you to Bow Street to face justice for ordering the murders of the late Lord Hennessy, your servant Ol’ Dan, the man you had Dan hire to kill Lord Hennessy, and for the murder of Lord Hennessy’s footman, Martin. Not to mention the mob you paid to try to kill Lady Hennessy. Come along, please.”

Everyone froze.

“No!” Mrs. Finch lunged for the black powder gun on the desk and pointed it at him, a surprisingly fierce expression on her face. She stared them down for a minute, then swung the gun at the captain. “Put down your weapons, back away, and leave this ship, or I’ll shoot the captain.”

Margaret didn’t know whether to laugh or admire her for her misplaced bravery. She was one against four armed people.

Calmly, Connor said, “If you shoot the captain, you have no way of making your escape.”

Jared added, “You are outgunned and have no hope of escape. You put down the gun and back away.”

“You will not take him!” Mrs. Finch shouted.

“Ma’am, you’re protecting a killer,” Connor said calmly.

Her hands shook. “No. No, you don’t understand. We’re leaving. Can’t you just let us go? We won’t come back.”

Margaret let out a half-laugh of disbelief. “You don’t honestly think you can leave after your husband has killed so many people.”

Mrs. Finch turned to her with teary eyes. “All those men were awful, anyway. No one cares that they’re dead.”

Finch grunted. “Thugs and thieves and killers, the lot of them. Got what they deserved.”

Margaret shook her head in disbelief. How could they think murdering anyone was justified?

Connor said, still calm, “No one deserves to be murdered. And one of your victims was an innocent man.”

Grant said in a deadly voice, “Put down the gun, Mrs. Finch.”

Moving in a blur, Finch grabbed the gun from his wife and pointed it at Connor. Connor dropped to a low crouch the same instant the gun fired. A bullet flew past one ear. Smoke filled the cabin.

“Stop right there.” Grant’s voice rang out.

Grant pressed the nozzle of a gun to Finch’s temple. Finch froze. Connor secured Mr. Finch’s hands the same way he’d secured Margaret’s that day he’d found her.

Mrs. Finch sobbed. “No, no….”

Connor asked Finch, “Did your wife know?”