Chapter 36
It had been a week since Darcy had left with her father… or rather, her father had left with Darcy. And barring the one phone call her dad had made to say they'd arrived in London, they had heard nothing, and it was driving Lizzie insane. Not to mention it was ticking her off, that all her calls and messages were going unanswered, from both her father and her boyfriend. The only saving grace from town was that Detective Ryan called daily, never with any good news, but through her, Lizzie knew that the two most important men in her life were actually still alive.
Things at the house were unsettled. On Monday, the day after the kidnapping, the household had been woken early by a knocking at the door. Lizzie had stumbled down the stairs to find a police officer on the doorstep. Since then, the family had never been alone, as someone from the local authorities was always in the house.
They worked on a rotation by instruction of the detective's in London. Lizzie understood why they had to be there, not just to keep an eye on them, but because Wickham had said he'd call again… but he never had.
As for the family, nobody knew what to make of things. Jane had taken to mothering everyone, and was relishing in having Georgiana in the house to take care of. Georgie was almost able to do everything for herself now, but for Jane's sake, was playing the patient. And Charlie, well, Charlie was dutifully attempting to balance his support for Jane, while upholding business for Will. Meaning, he was commuting the distance from the Stanstead Abbots, to London, twice a day.
Lydia was strangely quiet, spending most of the time locked in her room and her mother had taken to two things. If she wasn't sitting in the armchair by the living room window, then she was in the kitchen baking. The girls had no choice but to eat cakes, brownies and muffins at every meal before they were buried in it.
Lizzie had taken to sneaking raw vegetables from the fridge just to get some sustenance. Two days ago, Jane had suggested packing some of the baked goods up and giving them to the neighbours, but almost as soon as they had emptied the kitchen of cake, their mother had filled it again. All four of the sisters had been making frequent trips to the grocery store to replenish supplies, but only when accompanied by a police officer, of course.
Mary had come home the day following Katie's kidnapping, and had confided in Lizzie that their father had shown up at her West End apartment and pleaded with her to go home. The only reason she'd agreed was that their father never asked anything of her. So when she wasn't up in her room writing, Mary had taken to setting herself up at the dining room table and reading the tarot cards.
Mary was the sister that Lizzie knew least about, they weren't as close as she was to the others, despite their being the closest in age. Their parents hadn't wasted any time after having Lizzie, and Mary was only ten and a half months younger than her. They may not have been close, but right now, being around Mary was calming for Lizzie. So while Mary dabbled in her new age hobby, Lizzie had taken to sitting with her at the dining table, usually in silence, only occasionally sharing a few sentences of conversation.
It was early on Sunday afternoon, and while Lizzie and Mary were sat at the dining table again, Mrs. Bennett and Lydia were upstairs in their rooms and Charlie, Jane and Georgiana were out in the garden, Jane and Charlie were tending to the vegetable patch while Georgie kept them company from a chair on the lawn, hidden under a large sunhat.
"It's funny," Mary said, breaking Lizzie away from where she was watching them through the window "You'd think it would be Lydia who's be the one to get into a situation like this…"
Lizzie laughed at that.
"I don't think it's fair to say Katie got herself into this," Lizzie replied, picking at a thread on her jeans.
"No, I suppose you're right. Being kidnapped is hardly a dream one would harbour,"
"I can't imagine it is…" Lizzie agreed, "But you aren't wrong about the Lydia thing. In fact, George Wickham is exactly the type of person who Lydia would be attracted to."
"Really? Then why were you dating him?" Mary teased, and Lizzie smiled, she appreciated that Mary could make her smile at a time like this.
"Please, don't make me analyse that. All I can say, is it's probably a good thing that they never met. She'd probably have run off with him or something,"
"God save us all," Mary smirked, laying out her tarot cards again, just as the house phone started to ring.
Back in London, things were not going as smoothly for Darcy on his hunt for George Wickham, as he had hoped. Will had thought this would be easy, he was certain that he knew Wickham well enough, that he'd have found him straight away, and this would already be over. That he'd be back with Lizzie, and they could work past the problems this… interruption had caused them. But George was still nowhere to be seen, and Will was becoming frustrated with the dead ends he kept facing.
Part of that was to do with George's experience in avoiding unwanted attention. Another part had to do with Lizzie's father, who had picked up on Darcy's scheme almost immediately, and soon insisted he be included. Darcy didn't blame him for wanting to be involved. In fact, he was glad Mr. Bennett wanted to be a part of it. It showed his dedication to his children. But it was difficult for Will to balance everything, and not appear like a crazy person, when he was working with the patriarch of the family he very much hoped to be a part of one day.
It was on the third day of his search, after another day yielding no results, for Darcy, and a frustrating conversation with the police, for Tom Bennett, that Mr. Bennett decided he'd had enough of waiting. He knew the young William Darcy was up to something, and now he wanted to know what.
So when Will came home that Thursday night, and went straight to the fridge for a cold beer, Mr. Bennett wasted no time in confronting the younger man.
"Mr. Darcy," he said, from his seat at the kitchen table, Will hadn't even noticed him sitting in the dark as he'd come in.
"Mr. Bennett!" he exclaimed, "I didn't know you were there,"
"Please, son, you might as well call me Tom. It's become rather clear to me that you and my Lizzie have… overcome your differences,"
"Tom…" Darcy spoke, trying it out, "You really don't have to call me Mr. Darcy either," he said, getting a second bottle out of the fridge and brining it over to the table. He handed it to Tom and sat across from him.
The two men sat in silence for a minute, but Will knew that Tom had something to say, so he waited.
"William, I know that something is going on. I don't know exactly what it is, or what you're doing, but I know it's something, and whatever it is, I want to help,"
"Tom, I…"
"Just wait, please," Tom interrupted, voice raised, Darcy quieted "My daughter is missing," he started again, this time, almost inaudibly, "She's missing and nobody seems to know anything, and I feel helpless. I'm stuck here in this house, which is not my own, the rest of my family are together but suffering, and I can't do anything to help my daughter.
"I know I haven't always been the best father to my girls, I'm not hiding that, but now, Katie is gone, taken by a man I don't know and don't trust and she's at his mercy. Lizzie's told me this man is dangerous, and that you used to know him… that leads me to suspect that when you leave this house each day, you're out there trying to help Katherine, and I would like for you to include me in whatever it is you're attempting,"
"Tom… it's not that I don't want to include you. But what Lizzie said is true, Wickham is dangerous, but I know his tricks. He's pulled them on me enough times that I'm familiar with them. But he's good at hiding his tracks too. I don't want to put you in a position that might get you hurt… this isn't exactly within the law."
"Then," Tom said, after a pause, "If he's so dangerous, you shouldn't be doing this on your own. There is safety in numbers after all… I assume you want to come home to Lizzie safely,"
Darcy was nodding emphatically,
"Then let us work together, please son, I can't keep doing nothing,"
"Alright, but unfortunately, at this point, I haven't had much luck,"
The main problem they faced, once the pair had come to an agreement, was locating Wickham's new hiding place. Darcy started by explaining his endeavours so far.
"I've been tracking down his old friends, people he used to rely on in the past, but most of the ones I've tracked down aren't in contact with him anymore. He's burned a lot of bridges. I've visited some of his colleagues, but it seems for the most part, he has been playing a role within his regiment, most of them don't know him well at all. The one man I thought might know something, refused to speak to me. That's where I was today, trying to convince him to share what he knows, but he's stubborn. There's one person who I am certain will know where he is… Veronica Young. But he's obviously warned her, because she's gone underground too… but if we can find her, I think I can convince her to lead us to him…"
"Alright, then that's what we'll do tomorrow?"
"Yes, but Tom…" Darcy said, stopping the man as he tried to leave the room, "If we… when we find him, we have to let the police take him out. He's gotten away with too many bad deeds in the past. I don't want to risk him getting out of this too,"
"Agreed," Tom said, then left the kitchen. It was a few seconds later that he came back to the doorway. Darcy was still at the table.
"You know," Tom said, "I can see why Lizzie likes you, William. You're a good man," he didn't give Will time to respond, but headed upstairs to get some rest.
As it turned out the advantage of having a second man with him actually helped Will. He'd thought he needed to act alone, to keep others safe, it had never occurred to him, that Tom Bennett could be intimidating. But he had been, at least, intimidating enough that very late the following day, Friday, but really it was almost Saturday by the time their friend started talking. An old acquaintance of George's, who because of George's betrayal now made his living selling stolen car parts, knew where Veronica Young was hiding out, and, for a fee, which Darcy was quick to pay, happily revealed her whereabouts. They were one step closer to finding Katie now, because Veronica Young was the one person in the world, who George confided in, couldn't lie to and loved unconditionally. She was his sister, and the only person in the world who George trusted.
Their informant told them that Veronica was hiding out in Bristol, at the home of a man name Lyle Watson, an ex-boyfriend, who was the manager of a Tesco… Darcy was glad Veronica had chosen to hide out with one of her few, safe acquaintances. First thing on Saturday morning, after a few hours of restless sleep and several cups of hot coffee Tom and Darcy climbed into Will's car and headed towards Bristol.
Darcy had found Lyle Watson's address online, and after punching it into the GPS, it was an easy trip. Two and a half hours later, Will pulled up in front of the beige bricked block of flats. It was mid-morning on a Saturday, but there were only a few people around. There were two children playing in the parking lot, as their father sat on the stoop smoking a cigarette, down the street a woman walked a small white dog in the opposite direction.
Tom followed Darcy as he got out of the car and went up to the buildings glass doors. The unsecured building wasn't even locked, and the two men didn't even receive a glance from the man with the cigarette. They walked up two flights of stairs to find apartment 312. Darcy only had to knock once and the door flew open. Obviously Veronica hadn't thought anyone would find her here and thus didn't have to take any precautions, because she'd opened the door without checking through the peephole, and seeing Darcy, she blanched before trying to close the door on him. He jammed it with his foot.
"Hello Veronica," he said coldly, "I'd like to have a word with you about your brother,"
"I have nothing to say to you!" she cried, pushing harder against the door. Will didn't even flinch.
"I think you might," he insisted, and after a minute of arguing and trying to push him out, she relented and let the men in.
"Who's he?" Veronica asked Darcy as they walked into the apartment.
"He doesn't concern you right now," he answered, making sure he was blocking the exit as she settled nervously on the lounge.
"Look, I'm not telling you where he is, so you may as well just leave now," she started, trying to sound confident.
"Veronica, I didn't drive two and a half hours out here, for you to turn me away, I don't know what George told you, but I'm almost certain it's not the whole truth,"
"He said you were hunting him! Why can't you just leave him alone?"
"I'm not hunting him Veronica. I'm trying to… rescue someone. A girl, he took her,"
"What?"
"Her name is Katherine. We call her Katie… you asked who this man is? This is her father… Veronica, he's gone too far this time"
The pause that followed that sentence was broken by the sound of crying from the next room.
"Just, hang on a minute," she muttered, leaving towards the back of the apartment. She came back a few minutes later, carrying a small child.
"He took your daughter?" she asked, cuddling the bundle to her chest and staring into Tom's eyes. He answered with a nod.
"We just want to bring her home," Will pleaded.
"She your girlfriend?" Veronica asked, "I know he's got issues with you that I never really understood, but are you sure he didn't just win her off you?"
"She's not my girlfriend," Will assured her, "I won't deny that Katie was taken because of my connection to the family, they already know that, but Katie has nothing to do with George, she doesn't even know him, please…"
"You won't hurt him?" she asked
"I won't touch him, but I won't promise he won't get into trouble,"
"He's always getting himself into trouble," she scoffed… then looked up and the two men, between them, and finally rested on Tom, who was worn out, tired and she could tell, hurting.
"Alright," She said, and while she stared down at her own daughter, she told them where they could find the missing Bennett.
"Bennett residence, Lizzie speaking," she answered the phone, once the officer on duty had started recording the phone line.
"Miss Bennett? This is Detective Ryan…" the woman paused, leaving Lizzie on the precipice of panic.
"We have her Miss Bennett, Katherine was recovered safely. She's coming home."