The older man was the one to fear.
The valet was stricken with a wave of deep dread. He stopped suddenly and glanced wildly around, seeking an escape route. None presented itself. The lights of the coffeehouse he had left a few minutes ago were at the end of the lane, too far away to afford any refuge. There were naught but empty, darkened doorways lining both sides of the pavement.
“What d’ya want with me?” He tried to sound firm and forceful. He’d had some experience in that line, he reminded himself. A good valet was expected to develop an air of grave authority.
Mayhap grave was not quite the appropriate word here.
“We wish to speak with you,” the more dangerous man said.
Fitch swallowed. They were too well dressed to be footpads, he told himself. But somehow that deduction did nothing to reassure him. The expression in the older man’s eyes made him want to take to his heels. But he knew that he would not get far. Even if he managed to outrun this hunter, he would never escape the young leopard-in-training.
“Who are you?” he asked. He heard the anxious-ness in his own voice and cringed.
“My name is March. That is all you need to know. As I said, my companion and I wish to ask you a few questions.”
“What sort of questions?” Fitch whispered.
“You were employed as valet to Lord Banks until quite recently. According to our information, you were turned off with no notice.”
Real fear struck him then. They knew what he had done. The Creature had discovered the theft and sent these two after him.
Fitch’s mouth went dry. He had been so certain that no one would ever miss the damned thing, but he had been found out. Visions of calamity sent shudder after shudder through him. He could be transported or even sent to the gallows for this.
“We would like to know if you helped yourself to a certain valuable on your way out the door,” March said.
He was lost, Fitch thought. There was no hope for him. No point trying to deny his guilt. March was the sort who would hound a man to the ends of the earth. The promise was there in the bastard’s eyes.
His only hope was to throw himself on the leopard’s mercy and hope that he might be able to buy his way out of the disaster.
“She let me go without even paying me my quarterly wages. And she gave me no references.” Fitch slumped against an iron railing. “After all my hard work. I did my best, I tell you, but it wasn’t easy servicing the Creature.”
“You refer to Mrs. Rushton?” March asked.
“Indeed. Twice a week it was, sometimes more often if she happened to be feeling particularly spirited. For nearly three long months.” Fitch straightened a little at the memory of his heroic efforts. “The Creature was the most demanding employer I’ve ever had. And then she turns me off with no notice, no references, and no bloody pension. Where’s the justice in that, I ask you?”
The younger man spoke for the first time. “Why did Mrs. Rushton let you go?”
“She started taking regular therapeutic treatments with a bloody mesmerist.” Fitch grimaced. “Claimed he did more for her nerves than I did. She came back from an appointment one day and casually announced that she wouldn’t be requiring my services anymore.”
“So she let you go and you decided you were owed a little something by way of compensation, is that it?” March asked.
Fitch opened one hand, palm up, silently beseeching the hunter’s understanding. “It wasn’t fair, I tell you. That’s why I took the damned snuffbox. Never thought it would be missed, to tell you the truth. Banks hasn’t taken snuff for nearly a year and not bloody likely to ever use the stuff again.”
March’s eyes narrowed. “You took a snuffbox?”
“The thing had been sitting there at the back of a drawer in his lordship’s dressing room for longer than anyone can remember. Who’d have thought she’d even know about it, let alone care if it went missing?”
March closed the distance between them. “You took a snuffbox}”
“Thought everyone in the household had forgotten about it long ago.” Fitch gazed dolefully down at the pavement, wondering at the unkindness of fate. “Can’t see how the Creature ever came to discover that it was gone.”
“What of the bracelet?” March said.
“Bracelet?” Fitch raised his head, bewildered now. “What bracelet are you talking about?”
“The ancient gold bracelet that Banks kept in his locked safe,” March said. “The one set with an unusual cameo.”
“That old thing?” Fitch grunted in disgust. “Why the devil would I take it? One would have to deal with someone in the antiquities market in order to make a profit on a relic like that. I’d learned enough working for Banks all those years to know that I did not want to get involved with that lot. They’re a strange breed, they are.”
March exchanged an unreadable look with his companion and then turned back to Fitch. “What did you do with the snuffbox?”
Fitch shrugged morosely. “Sold it to a fence in Field Lane. I suppose he might be persuaded to tell you who bought it, but-”
March reached out and gripped the lapels of Fitch’s coat. “Do you know what happened to the Medusa bracelet?”
“No.” A glimmer of hope rose in Fitch. The hunter did not appear the least concerned with the snuffbox. All he cared about was the antiquity. “The bloody thing’s gone missing, then, has it?”
“Yes.” March did not release him. “I and my friend here are looking for it.”
Fitch cleared his throat. “Can I assume that if I tell you what little I know about the matter, you’ll have no further interest in me?”
“That would be a reasonable assumption on your part, yes.”
“I don’t know where it is, but I’ll tell you this much. I very much doubt that anyone in the household stole it, for the same reasons that I did not bother with it.”
“Too difficult to sell?”
“Precisely. None of the staff would have any notion of how to make a profit on such a relic.”
“Do you have any idea of who might have taken it?”
“No-”
March gave him a slight shake.
“But I’ll tell you this much,” Fitch said quickly. “The day the Creature moved into the mansion, she took charge of all the keys, including the one to his lordship’s safe. Unless an intruder broke into the house, made his way unseen upstairs to Banks’s bedchamber, found the dressing room, located the hidden safe, picked the lock, and then managed to sneak out undetected, all of which seems a bit unlikely, I’d say there’s only one person in the whole world who might have helped herself to the artifact.”
“Mrs. Rushton? Why would she steal a valuable that she was due to inherit shortly? Indeed, one that she could have taken at any time, unquestioned, had she wished to do so?”
“I have no clue, Mr. March. But I’ll give you some advice. Don’t underestimate the Creature or be so foolish as to presume that her actions conform to your logic.”
The hunter held him in his clutches for a moment longer, as if thinking over the matter of what to do with his captive. Fitch realized he was holding his breath.
Then quite suddenly March released him. Fitch lost his balance, stumbled back, and came up hard against the railing.
March inclined his head with mocking formality. “My companion and I are obliged to you for your assistance, sir.”
He turned and walked away into the fog without a backward glance. The young leopard gave Fitch an icy smile and then fell into step beside his mentor.
Fitch held himself very still until the pair disappeared into the swirling mist. When he was certain that he was once again alone in the street, he risked a deep breath.
He had escaped the hunter’s teeth by the merest shred of good fortune. He did not envy March’s real quarry.