Chapter Fifteen
Riley swallowed, taking a second to quell his own panic. He was vaguely conscious of Peterson still standing in the doorway, looking concerned. Sergeant Barton was at his shoulder.
‘Calm down, Amelia, and tell me everything that happened.’ Riley guided her to the chair that Salter had just vacated. Instead of retreating behind his desk, he sat in the seat beside her, took her hand and gave her fingers a reassuring squeeze. ‘Cabbage was going to spend the afternoon with you, I recall. Was her harp playing so bad that you had to escape the house?’
Riley’s efforts to lighten the mood fell flat, mostly because he was racked with worry himself and his words lacked a degree of credibility.
‘We played for an hour, and she really wasn’t that bad. But it was such a lovely afternoon, fresher than of late, and Sophia expressed a desire to see Holland Park.’ Amelia’s smile was fleeting. ‘She claims your mother and aunt only ever took her to Hyde Park.’
‘And you can walk to Holland Park from your house.’
‘Yes. She had been reading about the park and wanted to see the house, the waterfall and…well, you know Sophia. Everything interested her.’
‘I imagine you became separated somehow and that Sophia is lost, not abducted.’
‘No, Riley, you don’t understand.’ Amelia became agitated again. ‘I stopped briefly to pass the time of day with acquaintances. Sophia was busy examining the famous dahlias.’ Riley smiled, aware that at the turn of the century the then Lady Holland had been the first person to successfully grow dahlias in England. Sophia, an avid reader, would be aware of that and would want to inspect the results for herself. ‘When I looked up again, she was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t panic at first, thinking she couldn’t have gone far. But when I failed to find her after ten minutes of searching, I really did begin to worry. I asked everyone I saw, and finally found someone who had seen her, with a gentleman. He had her arm and she was talking away as though she knew him.’
‘Perhaps she did,’ Riley said, a sinking feeling rocking his body.
‘She did,’ Amelia said, fresh tears brewing. ‘I know because someone else claimed to have seen them and knew the identity of the man. You introduced them at Lady Bilton’s.’
‘Terrance Ashton,’ Riley said in a chilling tone. ‘I should have anticipated something of this nature.’
‘What can we do to help, sir?’
Riley’s bout of self-recrimination was interrupted by the sound of Sergeant Barton’s calm voice. The door to his office was now wide open and every policeman on duty, detectives and uniformed alike, was crowded at the doorway, all ready to help in the search for Cabbage. Differences and resentments, it seemed, had been put aside. A lost child trumped petty disagreements, especially when that child was related to one of their own. Riley threw the sergeant a grateful look and held up a hand, asking for patience. It would be pointless to run off in a dozen different directions, chasing their tails. Better to get all the information from Amelia first and then devise a plan of action.
‘How long ago did this happen?’
‘Half an hour. No more than that. It just seems like an eternity.’
‘Which direction did Ashton take her in? Are they still in the park?’
‘No, I don’t think so. I have all my servants looking, and Jute too, but Ashton, if it was him, was seen leaving the park with a young woman wearing yellow.’
Yellow. The colour of sunshine. The colour that Riley would always associate with his spirited niece. A girl whose optimistic nature and love of life brought sunshine into a room with her, even on the darkest winter day.
‘Jute?’ Riley’s head shot up. ‘Mrs Ferguson’s footman?’
‘Yes. I saw him in the park. He told me he had awarded himself an afternoon off. Mrs Ferguson granted her other servants permission to visit their families whilst she is away, leaving Jute alone to look after the house.’
Riley frowned, wondering if Jute’s presence at such a vital time was a coincidence. How had Ashton known that Sophia would be in Holland Park, without male protection, that afternoon, unless someone had seen her and alerted him? To a man with a grudge to bear, a deranged and despairing man who had nothing left to lose, the opportunity to gain revenge upon Riley by striking at his heart would seem too good to pass up. Damn it, he shouldn’t have danced with Cabbage and shown society just how much he cared for her. Riley liked and trusted Jute and didn’t want to think that he was involved—but he also didn’t believe in coincidences.
‘He saw I was distressed and asked me why,’ Amelia said, recalling Riley’s attention. ‘I told him and he joined the search immediately, as did a constable I saw patrolling the area. When I told him that Sophia was your niece and I was coming to inform you of her abduction myself, he quickly took control of the search and has the park attendants involved, too.’
‘You needn’t have come,’ Riley said softly. ‘The constable would have got word to me.’
‘I didn’t want you to hear it from anyone else.’ Fresh tears glistened on Amelia’s lashes. She swallowed several times and managed to retain her composure. ‘This is all my fault. I should have taken better care of her.’
‘This is not your fault. If anyone is to blame it’s me. I should have arrested Ashton when I had the chance,’ he added, almost to himself. ‘Right, Sergeant Barton.’
‘Sir?’
‘Send four men round to Ashton House and have them search it from the attics to the cellars. Be as noisy as you like. Break things. She won’t be there, but it’s better to leave no stone unturned. Besides, I am tired of Lord Ashton directing this operation. His son has made this personal. Send six more, if you can spare them, to Ashton Investments in the City. Take command of that search, Salter. Same rules. Be as public and disruptive as possible, and don’t let Lord Ashton intimidate you if he’s there.’
‘It’ll be a pleasure, sir,’ Salter replied with relish.
‘Anyone else you can spare, Barton, should come with me to Holland Park.’
‘No one will want to go off duty until the lass if found, sir, so you won’t want for help.’
The grizzled old sergeant and Riley exchanged a look of understanding. Cabbage’s abduction had bridged a divide. The rest of the uniformed men took their lead from Barton and Riley knew that he had finally been accepted. But he would gladly return to the uncomfortable status quo if Cabbage could remain safe and unharmed.
‘Thank you, Barton.’ Riley turned to Amelia. ‘Wait here,’ he said.
‘No, I’m coming with you.’ She stood, a look of firm determination on her face. ‘I can’t wait about and do nothing. Please don’t ask it of me. Anyway, if we find her she’ll need some comforting.’
‘How did Cabbage get to your house?’
‘She’s staying with your sister at the moment. Your mother is spending a few days with a friend in the country.’
‘Thank goodness for that,’ Riley said.
‘Martha dropped her off and went on to make some calls. She is returning for her in…oh, God, less than an hour’s time.’
‘Come along then. I’ll take you home and, with your permission, we can use your house as a command centre.’
‘Of course.’
Riley and Amelia made the journey in a cab. Riley promised the driver double fare if he covered the distance as fast as possible. They were followed by six uniformed constables and two of Riley’s detectives in a police wagon more commonly used to transport prisoners. Riley held Amelia’s hand for the duration of the journey in a wordless gesture of reciprocal comfort.
When the hansom pulled up outside Amelia’s home, there was no sign of life. Any lingering hope that Sophia had simply wandered off and found her own way back was dashed. Riley saw Amelia inside and forced a measure of brandy on her. A little colour returned to her face, along with a look of firm resolve.
‘Go ahead,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay in case she returns. I shall be perfectly all right now that you are here. Besides, your men await your orders,’ she added, nodding towards the window and the wagon which had just pulled up in the street.
‘I will leave a constable at the door, just in case,’ he said.
Amelia widened her eyes. ‘You cannot think that I am in danger, surely?’
‘I am not prepared to take that chance…any chance…with your safety,’ he said softly. ‘Terrance Ashton is cornered. He knows he is on the point of being arrested for Susan’s murder. I should have taken him into custody this morning, but afforded him the opportunity to turn himself in. Things would have been easier for him if he had, but it was a weakness on my part. A miscalculation.’ Riley vented his frustration by punching his right fist into his open left hand. ‘I knew he was desperate, but I thought I could control him.’ He gave a huff of self-disgust. ‘Now I am paying a heavy price for my arrogance.’
He touched Amelia’s face and went outside to direct the waiting officers.
‘Stay with me, Peterson,’ he said to the man he had grown to trust and whose integrity was beginning to impress him.
‘Yes, sir,’ Peterson replied, as the other officers rushed towards the park. The two detectives went from door to door, asking residents if they had seen a young woman in a yellow gown and bright straw bonnet being manhandled by a gentleman.
‘What are we to do, sir?’ Peterson asked.
‘Why was Ashton in this area, do you suppose?’ Riley asked as panic subsided and rational contemplation took its place. ‘In abducting my niece, it’s clear that he wants to revenge himself upon me, but he cannot have known that she would be in Holland Park this afternoon. So what else would bring him to the area?’
‘Miss Ferguson lived here,’ Peterson said without hesitation. ‘And we know he loved her.’
‘That’s it.’ Riley acknowledged the young man’s quick thinking with an inclination of his head. ‘Well done, Peterson. He probably felt close to her here. He knew Holland Park was a favourite haunt of hers because she could walk to it. She didn’t make any secret of that fact. It was where she used to meet young Grant. Perhaps she walked in it with Ashton, too. Anyway, it must be where he went after I’d shaken him up this morning. Then he saw Mrs Cosgrove with my niece. It must have seemed like manna from heaven to a deranged mind, and he took Sophia without thinking about the consequences.’ Riley shrugged. ‘To a man with nothing left to lose there are no consequences.’
‘If you ask me, sir, he’s dicked in the nob.’
‘Very likely. The question is, Peterson, where would he go? Where would he take her? I doubt he’s still in the park. Dozens of people are searching it and he would have been found by now if he was.’ The approached Mrs Ferguson’s house and Riley snapped his fingers. ‘Of course! I am incredibly dense.’
Looking perplexed, Peterson dutifully followed Riley up to the house, which was locked up. They walked round the side of it but there were no broken windows or signs of forced entry.
‘Mrs Ferguson has gone away for a week or so,’ Riley explained. ‘Only Jute remains to care for the house, and he is at the park, helping with the search.’
‘You imagine Ashton might have taken Lady Sophia to Miss Ferguson’s room?’
‘The thought crossed my mind.’ Riley suppressed a shudder at that unpalatable possibility. He reached the back of the house, feeling frustrated. He had been so sure. Then he glanced at the summerhouse and realisation dawned.
‘This way,’ he said, striding down the garden path and then stopping so abruptly that Peterson cannoned into him.
Terrance Ashton sat on the veranda of the summerhouse with Sophia beside him. He held a pistol in his hand and waved it about as he ranted and raved, seemingly oblivious to Riley’s presence.