Patrick reeled as the implications sank in. The redheaded man was the lead assassin, and it looked like he and Edwin were hunting partners. Edwin had been short of cash lately.

“Where’s Bertie’s jade flask?” Patrick asked. “He’s been asking about it for weeks.”

“What’s the redheaded guy’s name?” Liam demanded. “He almost killed me in front of my mother, and if I have to beat his name out of you, I will.”

Liam and Patrick stood shoulder to shoulder as they closed in on Edwin, who continued retreating until his back was against the railing of the yacht. His nervous glance darted around the others who congregated around them, but no pity was to be found.

One of the bodyguards looked at Liam. “Do you want us to take him down?”

The color dropped from Edwin’s face as the semicircle of men closed around him. He swallowed hard, turned around, then dove into the bay.

Edwin’s mother screamed. “Somebody save him! My poor boy, he’s got a broken leg and won’t be able to swim!”

A pair of deckhands scrambled to lower a tender to the water below.

“Bring along plenty of men,” Oscar ordered. “Desperate men do desperate things.”

“I’ll go,” Liam said, his voice a combination of anger and anticipation.

“Not you,” Patrick said. Given Liam’s furious mood, Edwin might not survive the rescue, and they needed him alive. He glanced at Joshua, a healthy man who looked keen on getting to the bottom of this. “Joshua? Care to join me?”

Joshua nodded and shucked off his coat.

Edwin was making progress swimming toward shore despite the cast on his leg. He swam toward the Jersey coast in long, overhand strokes.

Patrick, Joshua, and three crew members boarded the tender, then the deckhands began lowering the boat. Patrick looked up at the people clustered along the railing and spotted Gwen watching Edwin in shocked surprise. She liked Edwin. She bragged about his world travels and knowledge of antiques. This was going to hit her hard, but she had to learn that her wonderful, eccentric family had at least one truly rotten apple.

The boat wobbled as it hit the water. Crew members detached the ropes, and Patrick took his place beside Joshua, both of them rowing after Edwin. It didn’t take them long to pull alongside him. Edwin had resorted to a breaststroke, still heading for shore but barely making any progress as his strength faded.

Patrick leaned over to talk to him. “We can take you aboard now or do it on shore. Either way, you’re not going to escape.”

Edwin spit out a mouthful of water and kept struggling toward shore. “I was broke,” he said, panting and barely able to keep his head above water. The cast on his leg was probably getting heavier by the second.

“You ordered a hit on Liam because you were broke?”