Did that mean she didn’t mean to ever come back? Surely not.

“You’ll think I’m dancing around our topic”—Gemma lowered her voice even further—“but there’s a man across the way who has been watching what’s happening here. He was doing that when I first arrived, and he don’t look the least pleased.”

“It isn’t someone you recognize?” He wanted to make certain it wasn’t anyone in her family.

She shook her head.

Slowly, with as casual a demeanor as he could manage, he looked in the general direction Gemma had indicated. There was, indeed, a man across the way, watching. Not Mr. Snelling, the newspaper-carrying man who’d watched him once before and then dropped in at his surgery. Nor was it any of the London macks or rough-and-toughs Barnabus had encountered from his years of rescue work.

Brogan was nearby, so Barnabus subtly motioned him over. “Take a peek at that man across the street just over your right shoulder and tell me if you know him.”

Brogan managed to look without appearing to be doing anything but chatting amicably with his friends.

“Manky huff,” Brogan muttered. “That’s him.”

“Who?” Gemma and Barnabus asked in almost perfect unison.

“The Mastiff,” Brogan whispered. “I saw him before the mangy bloke blew up the print shop. That’s him and no mistaking.”

Gemma had frozen on the spot.

Barnabus took her hand. She held fast to his in return.

“And he’s not alone.” Brogan subtly motioned Ana Darby over. “I’m not the expert you are, so I can’t be certain. Tell me, the woman across the way, talking to that fierce-looking man. She’s someone we know, yeah?”

Ana glanced, then sucked in a quick breath. It was testament to the years she had spent as London’s most successful sneak thief that her expression didn’t change at all. “That’s Serena, the one the Mastiff has been holding against her will.”

Under the pretense of checking the progress of the cleanup efforts, Barnabus watched the scene across the street.

The Mastiff said something to Serena. She shook her head, the movement jerking and tense. Her captor was still talking, anger in his eyes and expression. She watched him intently. The next instant, the Mastiff walked away. Serena remained behind, alone.

“We have to help her,” Ana said. “If you’d seen the fear in her eyes at the gambling den where Hollis and I first met her, you’d know how much danger she is in.”

Barnabus had seen it more recently than that. “She’s still terrified. And trapped. I saw her recently and tried to convince her to take the escape I offered her, but she was too afraid.”

“Let’s you and I see if we can talk her into coming with us,” Barnabus said to Ana. “She might listen to you, or at least give it more thought.”