You are here voluntarily are you not?"The two girls nodded."Please," I said, "I would prefer it if you spoke in response to my questions where possibl.... It avoids the risks of confusion between us. It would be most unfortunate if I mistakenly thought I had your consent when I did not." Yes, Sir," Estelle volunteered."Sorry, Sir. Yes," Amanda agreed."Good. In which case, you will accept what is done to you here. You will also accept that, in the event of poor performance, I may need to take. Nevertheless, I had determined to spend as little time in the capital as possible, and intended to return to Brighton at the conclusion of this tour.As soon as we had traveled far enough outside the capital to be assured that there were no assassins lurking in ambush, Billy and I disembarked from the carriage and took the mounts of two dragoons. It was snowing lightly, but the brisk riding mostly made up for the cold. Nevertheless, we were slightly chilled by the time we arrived at Windsor, so. Always, until this morning. This morning, for the first time in his life, Carl Fenton was reading a news story with his name in it that he didn’t like, in fact it was very upsetting. The last twenty-four hours had been very upsetting for Carl Fenton. Only yesterday he had been informed that his son, his only child had been brutally murdered. He had been forced to meet with his first ex-wife, to whom he’d not spoken in eight years, for the sole purpose of identifying their son’s body. Needless. The man who’d rescued her sat down. ‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘I’m just glad I was here to help.’ The waitress came over. ‘I can’t believe you got Eddie to leave her alone like that,’ she told the man, ‘Eddie, he’s pretty much of a jerk when he’s drunk, and he’s mean, too. Most people let him alone.’ She looked at Lori. ‘You OK, hon?’ Lori nodded. ‘Why don’t you bring us some coffee?’ the man asked. ‘Be happy to,’ the waitress said, grinning. ‘And it’s on the house. I sure did like the way.