governor’s been up to.”
Robert nodded. “I’ll check with others.” He would have to; Wolverstone and Melville would be waiting to learn which way the wind blew with Holbrook. He watched Sampson down a large mouthful of ale. “Have you heard any whispers of people going missing recently, or of any other odd happenings?”
Sampson pursed his lips. After a moment, he said, “Haven’t heard anything about anyone on Tower Hill being gone, but I did hear about the docks that some navvies didn’t turn up where they were expected. But hereabouts, no one can say if they’ve vanished like those others, or if they just upped stakes and went off to some better prospect, or took work on some ship.” Sampson shrugged his heavy shoulders. “No way to know, is there?”
“Indeed.” That was half the problem in this case; in this sort of place, so many people were disconnected drifters.
Sampson shifted on his bench. “Howsoever, in terms of odd happenings, there was one I hadn’t expected.” His voice had grown stronger, more definite. “A young lady—well, not that young, I suppose, but young enough, if you catch my drift. She turned up...ooh, must be going on two weeks ago now. Showed up at one of Undoto’s services and spent the whole time looking sharply about. She spotted me, and after the service, she came up and asked to speak with me. She was searching for her brother—a naval lieutenant by the name of Will Hopkins. I’d seen him at the services, months back. And she—the lady—was right. Young Will had come up and had a jaw with me. He liked to hear my stories.”
Robert frowned. He was acquainted with the older two Hopkins brothers. “This lady. Did she mention her name?”
Sampson’s brow furrowed as he clearly thought back, but then he shook his head. “No.” He met Robert’s eyes. “I suppose she’d be Miss Hopkins, but she was more than old enough to be married, and widowed, too, so she might have another name now.”
Before Robert could comment, Sampson continued, “Anyways, she was asking questions, obviously trying to figure out what had brought her brother to the services. Asked if it were some young lady, but I put her straight about that. But she was right—a lad like Will Hopkins had to have had some reason to come to the services. He wouldn’t have just wandered up to waste his time, not on three occasions at least.”
“He was sent to track Dixon, the army engineer who had already vanished.” Robert saw no reason to conceal that fact.
“Aye, well—Miss Hopkins, or whatever her name is, hadn’t tumbled to that, but she knew as well as I did that there had to be something behind Will coming to the services. She was asking questions, trying to learn what.” Sampson drew in a deep breath. “I didn’t think that was wise, and I tried to warn her off.” He met Robert’s gaze. “I told her about your brother and how he’d been asking questions about the officers who’d gone missing, including her brother, most like. I also told her that your brother had to withdraw quickly—that he’d sailed from the settlement and just might have headed back to London—and I pointed out that people who asked questions about people who’ve gone missing tended to wind up missing, too. I did me best to get her to back off and leave the investigating to those qualified to do it.”
Robert arched a cynical brow. “Did you succeed?”
“I’m not hopeful. She’s been back to two more services, and anyone who thought to watch her would know she weren’t paying attention to Undoto’s thunderings.”
Robert grimaced; the last thing he needed was a gently bred but determined female complicating his simple and straightforward mission. “Do you have any idea where she’s staying?”
“Not precisely. She’ll be up on Tower Hill somewhere, would be my guess.”
“What did she look like?” It was Benson who asked.
Sampson took a moment, plainly calling up a picture in his mind. “Brassy-brown hair—sort of bright brown and glossy, not dark. Hazel eyes. Average height. Good figure, but well laced. Very English looking, and if I had to guess, used to getting her own way. Wouldn’t say spirited so much as forceful.”
Unease trailed tauntingly down Robert’s spine. Damn! He was going to have to act to effectively deflect the woman. He couldn’t risk her popping up at some crucial moment and interfering with his mission. More, if she was Hopkins’s sister, then given his acquaintance with her older brothers, he should definitely do his best to send her packing all the way back to England.
Sampson humphed. “I made it clear she was dabbling in dangerous waters, and while she listened, I’m damned sure she’s not going to pay my warning much heed.”
For a moment, all were silent. Sipping the last of his ale, Robert considered what would have brought a lady like Miss Hopkins all the way to Freetown. Sibling devotion, clearly, but it would have to be strong to have driven a gently bred lady to take ship and brave the dangers of a place like Freetown, a settlement on the outer fringes of civilization. That Hopkins’s sister was in the settlement at all, let alone determinedly asking questions, argued that convincing her to meekly step back, return to England, and leave the investigating to him wasn’t going to be any easy task.
That she’d found her way to Undoto’s services and Sampson—and it sounded as if she was concentrating her efforts around Undoto and his church—suggested she was intelligent, too.
Robert drained his mug. He would need to remove the lady from the situation, and soon. Before matters became any more complicated.
He set his mug on the table and glanced at his men, then looked at Sampson. “I need to speak with the vodun priestess, Lashoria. My brother told me she lives in the slum on the hillside to the east of here—is that still the case?”
Sampson nodded. “Far as I know.” He drained his mug.
“There’s a gentleman by the name of Babington—Charles Babington. I’ll probably need to speak with him, too. Do you know where he lives?”
“He’s the one that’s Macauley’s junior partner, aye?” When Robert nodded, Sampson said, “That’s easy, then. He lives in the apartment above the company’s office. On Water Street, that is. You can’t miss it.”
Robert nodded. He’d noted the Macauley and Babington office during their walk the previous night.
He’d call on Lashoria that evening and decide what he wanted to do about Babington after that.
He refocused on Sampson. All the men had finished their ales. “Our landlady mentioned that Undoto is holding one of his spectacles at noon today.”
“Aye.” Sampson nodded his shaggy head. “I planned on heading up there about now.”
“Do you mind if we join you?”
“Not at all.” Sampson grasped his cane and levered himself to his feet. He beamed at Robert and his men. “Glad of the company.”
They rose and left the tavern. Robert waved his men ahead and adjusted his pace to Sampson’s halting one. Robert looked about him as in companionable silence they progressed slowly up the hill.
He doubted he needed to ask Sampson to point out the notables in the congregation; if Robert was any judge, the old man thoroughly enjoyed having his knowledge plumbed, his observational skills put to use.
But when they halted at
