“I get taken for a bath on the nights when I will have company so I have seen a lot of the other ones here. What do your boys look like?”
Olympia carefully described Ned, Peter, and Noah, naming each boy as she did so on the chance that this child had heard a name if nothing else. She found it hard to speak. Every part of her wanted to grab the boy and run but she knew that would only condemn the boys she hunted for. It cut her heart to shreds to see this small boy chained like an animal, and to know what he meant when he spoke about having company. She prayed that when they did bring this house down, a lot of the evil men who frequented it came down with it. She would attend their hanging in her best gown.
“I saw the woman and her man bring in the boy Noah. Some others brought in your Ned and Peter. They were yelling about that bitch when they were dragged in. I think they fought hard as they had a lot of bruises and so did the skinny man who was collecting the money from Mr. Searle.”
“What did the skinny man look like?” asked Brant and felt stabbed to the heart when the boy looked at him with fear. “I am with this angel. Those boys are my brothers.”
“But you have her eyes,” whispered Henry and he reached out for Olympia who quickly took his hand in hers.
“I fear sometimes evil is born into a family. In my case, my father married it.”
Henry nodded. “My mother was bad, too. She sold me to Mister Searle for ten quid.”
Olympia felt bile sting the back of her throat but fought down the urge to be sick. “Tell us what the skinny man looked like, Henry.” Anger pushed aside the sickness still twisting in her stomach when Henry described the butler of Fieldgate. “It appears Wilkins has always been more than just your mother’s spy at Fieldgate, Brant.”
“So it does. Henry, can you describe the man that was with my mother?”
“You do not want to know how the men with the skinny one looked?” asked the boy.
“I will find out who they were when I have a stern talk with Wilkins.”
Henry nodded and described the man who had come with Lady Mallam and handed young Noah over for what sounded like a sizable amount of money. The look on Brant’s face told her he recognized the man but she bit back the urge to demand to know who it was right now.
“Do you know what floor the boys are on?”
“All the boys are on this floor or the one below. The girls are on the upper floors. That is where Mr. Searle lives, too. Are you going to help everyone?”
“That is the plan.”
“That would be nice.”
Olympia could tell that the boy did not believe them. His brown eyes were dark with resignation and despair. She wanted to take him into her arms and hold him, but he was stretched to the very limit of his chain.
They asked him a few more questions but then the boy tensed. Before Olympia could ask what was wrong, he shut the window, even pulled the old worn drapes over it and she was alone with Brant again. Silently they worked their way around the house. Only once did they stop so that Brant could steal a look into a window but he quickly backed away and ordered her not to look as she passed. Olympia was tempted to disobey him but decided she did not really want to see what had made Brant turn so pale with rage.
They were soon back down on the ground and took up a place in the shadows by the corner of the house so that they could watch the door for a while. It took awhile for Olympia to be able to quell the urge to go straight to Dobson and demand he put an end to this abomination. She knew they needed as much information as possible if they were to be able to convince Dobson to bring his men here and help free the children. Dobson would probably come for no other reason than curiosity, even simply because it was the right thing to do, but he needed his men to end this place and most of them needed far more of an incentive than righteousness.
“Brant,” she whispered and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention when she suddenly thought of something concerning Henry, “did you happen to notice the way young Henry talked?”
He frowned at first, wondering why she was talking about such things now, and then he thought back on the boy and all he had told them. “He is no street urchin or servant’s child.”
“No, he is not. Perhaps we should have asked exactly who he was.”
“Do you think the boy is some stolen child, that there may be a reward for Dobson and his men?”
“I do not think he is stolen as he said himself that his mother sold him for ten quid.”
“We shall have to sort that out later. Look who comes to play.”
Watching the overweight man struggle out of his carriage, Olympia had to slap a hand over her mouth to stop herself from gasping aloud. “That is . . .”
“It is. I always knew he was a bastard but I had never thought he was a pervert as well.”
“Perhaps he is here for the women.”