Tony was a bit too thrilled at the prospect. “I’ve wanted to bring to account those who’ve shunned you for some time. Make a list of who insulted you and what they’ve done. I’ll have them swear loyalty to us. We won’t issue a formal announcement. But when they see with their own eyes that I have an heir approaching, they’ll have to choose: me, or the Red Dog Gang.”
“One of those sorts of invitations difficult to refuse, then.”
“Entirely.”
“I have a few I’d like to invite, if I may.”
Tony smiled warmly. “Of course. I want your friends round you. Invite whoever you wish.”
* * *
The next day, Tony came home early, arriving in time for tea. After tea, which we had on the veranda, he took my hand, and we strolled through the gardens together. In the far meadow past, men stood upon boards busily measuring, planting stakes at intervals.
“I hear you have another case,” Tony said. “My men told me that Mr. Pike came to call.”
“He did,” I said. “His investigator has gone missing.” I felt a sudden melancholy. “I fear the man’s dead.”
“Someone you know, then?”
I nodded. “A Mr. Bower. He did a case for me once, long ago, and more recently would give me cases from Mr. Pike that he didn’t want to handle himself.” I chuckled, but I felt bitter. “Mostly the widows, or those who couldn’t pay much.”
And I wondered at that. Was Bower extorting a cut from these people, on top of what Pike paid him?
“I hope you find him,” Tony said. “I remember how terribly frightening it was when Jonathan went missing.”
He wants me to go to Jon. “Has he been ‘at home’ the last time you called on him?”
Tony shook his head. “Mr. Cesare says he won’t see anyone, not even his parents.”
I gazed out upon the meadow, trying to hold back my anger. Of course Jon wouldn’t see his parents! He’d lied to them in the worst possible way.
I took a deep breath, let it out. I had Tony here, without anyone to interrupt or overhear us. I must make use of the time. “I need your help on a matter.”
Tony blinked. “Of course, whatever you need.”
“Mr. Bower’s wife has seen Frank Pagliacci’s face.”
“What? How?”
“It’s a long story. I’ve persuaded her to have a portrait of the man done. But —”
“You don’t want a repeat of what happened before. To the lawyer and his family.”
My stomach clenched at the thought. We’d had a huge argument over it when Tony learned the details. “Yes.”
“Give me her address, and I’ll see to it.”
“She’s on Market Center. And someone in her home has had trouble with our Family already. So you must be discreet. I don’t want her frightened.”
Tony nodded. “I’ll tell the men myself.”
I took his arm, and we started back towards the house. The first blooms of spring were upon us, lighting the overcast day with small explosions of color.
“I wonder if you might answer me something,” Tony said, a wistfulness to his tone. “Do you truly love me? Is that why you’re here? Or is,” he gestured around him, “all this just to escape the Pot?”
The truth was the best answer. “It’s complex.” I faced him, took his hands. Looked into his eyes. “But I do care for you. Very much.”
He crushed me to him. “Oh, Jacqui.” He kissed my hair, resting his head upon mine. “You don’t know how happy that makes me.” Then he took my face in his hands. “You are my life. And while I must play this,” he gestured with his left hand towards the house, “stern Family man with these long hours and tedious events, always know that this,” he returned his hand to my face, “right here, is us. Just us, here together. Nothing could break me from loving you.”
I felt taken aback, both at his words and with the intensity in which he said them.
And I thought: what if he learns of the fate I plan for his child? Would he still love me then?
* * *
Events such as the one Tony envisioned didn’t just spring from the earth: they had to be planned. And as the Lady of the Manor, whether I liked it or not, most of the planning fell to me.
I really had neither the time nor the inclination to spend what little freedom I had planning a social event. So like any reasonable person would, I enlisted my housekeeper to do it.
Jane Pearson loved such things, and she about fell over curtsying when I not only told her I was trusting her with the duty, but would let her ride with me in my carriage to my apartments to plan it. “My Lady, you give me honor above all women!”
I said, “I’m sure you’ll do a fabulous job.”
She was overjoyed to see her granddaughter Ariana again, as well as her daughter Mary, who she hadn’t seen since her last day off.
I brought Jane into my office to sit beside my desk, then I opened up my notes. “Let me go over what my husband has planned.”
The whole thing took perhaps an hour. I sketched out the scene for her, both upon paper and in her imaginings.
She took copious notes upon a thick pad. “So we’ll need ... let’s say sixty square yards of smoothed planking —”
“Better order eighty,” I said, “just in case.” We could always return any we didn’t use, and we might need extra if the day was muddy.
“Yes,” she said, making a note, “and guide railing on both sides of the walkways, fifty yards. I best measure it once the paths are set to make certain. Black velvet roping, I take it?”
I nodded. “With silvered stanchions. See if we might get chrome.” Chromium-plating was technically illegal here in Bridges, but it did look ever so much nicer.
“Of course, mum,” Jane said. “My husband knows a supplier.”
“Very good. I trust you’ll plan the menu with Monsieur?”
“I’m to meet with him this afternoon.”
“Wonderful!”
I’d left the door to the hall open, and Ariana crawled past, Blitz following her.
Jane smiled at the pair. “He’s such a good father,” she said, a touch of envy in her tone. Then she glanced at me. “Not that mine was a poor one. And Mr. Pearson loves his children dearly, but —” She hesitated, falling silent.
“But what?”
“I sometimes wish we’d both had time with them when they were small. Spadros Manor was run much differently then.”
“In what way?” With what I’d heard about Roy’s mother Maria, it sounded a nightmarish place. But I wanted to see what she thought.
“Begging your pardon, mum, I don’t want to speak ill of the dead.”
This surprised me. “Mr. Acevedo was unkind to you?”
Her face became guarded. “I didn’t mean to say that, mum. We all just assumed —”
Ah. I remembered what Sawbuck said of Mrs. Maria Spadros and her disappearance the day of Roy’s wedding. “You’re not the first to tell me of ... trouble, shall we say, with the former Mrs. Spadros.”
She nodded, eyes wary.
I smiled, hoping she saw it as encouraging. “Never fear; I don’t know and hope never to meet the woman. We’ll say no more.”
Blitz stood in the doorway as Ariana crawled circles around his shoes. I said, “Whose cards do you think she’s gotten?”
Blitz leaned one hand upon the doorpost. “Well, I don’t remember my grandmother much, so I couldn’t say. I’ll have to ask my Ma the next time we bring her by.” He considered the matter for a moment, then glanced at his mother-in-law. “Perhaps she takes after Mary’s grandmother?”
Jane seemed relieved at the change in subject. “I don’t honestly know. Perhaps my grandmother on my father’s side. She was a most determined sort of woman.” She leaned back, considering. “But I think it’s really too soon to tell.”
I chuckled, amused. Sometimes it was that clear. Other times, it appeared as though the Shuffler had many hands in the Grand Deck to mix for the Blessed Dealer that day. “I suppose we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“I’ve heard from Master Rainbow,” Blitz said.
At Jane’s confusion, I said, “A mutual acquaintance.” I turned to Blitz. “I hope he’s well.”
“He is,” Blitz said. “Out and about, it seems.”
“If you see him again, invite him to the party. My husband said I might invite anyone I wished.”
Blitz grinned. “He should like it.”
“Did he mention anything about what he was doing? Last I spoke with him, he was trying to find some little boy.”
“Nope,” Blitz said. “He never speaks about any of that with me.”
“Well, when you do see him,” I said, “tell him I'd be glad to help.”
* * *
It would take several weeks just to gather all that was needed for the event; it took a week alone just to sign the invitations. Tony even helped sign some one night as we sat in his study by the fire.
Tony had spelled out the invitation precisely: only the persons summoned — and yes, he used that word — were to attend. No non-invited guests, no children. This made it perhaps awkward for a few, yet when we visited with a sample of the invitation for his approval, Roy liked the idea. “Good. They have to learn we control the quadrant, not them.”
Roy had lost weight since I’d seen him six months earlier. His hair was thinner, and had gone completely white. I recalled thinking the man might be ill: this only confirmed it.
As much as I'd hated the man, and the harm he'd done me, his appearance gave me some concern. I didn't even want to think of the imbalance, nay, the chaos, that his death would cause to the city.
Tony refused to speak of it. “All is in control, my love. You fix your mind upon the matters at hand.” At that, he'd smiled. “Let me worry for the both of us.”
One day after morning meeting, I was upstairs in my rooms changing so as to walk out past the gardens and survey the work. Amelia was doing up my outer corset, quite loosely this time.
The large bell rang.