“Well, it isn’t her cousin’s baby, it’s hers.” Ursula paused, letting the words land. “She wasn’t going to come back to work—she was going to stay home, looking after her daughter and telling everyone it was her cousin’s baby. But it all went wrong. Her mother took the baby as soon as she was born and gave her to baby farmers.”

“You mean like the ones in the book?” Theo said, sickened. “How could she? Why?”

“Ruth is a very religious and troubled woman, not of sound mind. She believed it was in Alice’s and her baby’s best interests.”

He felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach, a real physical pain. They held each other’s gaze for a few moments.

Friend at Hand had grown busier, tables filling with lunchtime workers and tourists who had sought out one of Fitzrovia’s oldest pubs. Theo stared into his tumbler, trying to imagine the despair Alice must have felt. And the courage that she’d shown. He ran his fingers along the edge of the glass, thinking about the pain she must have been in, trying to conceal it while still working on the book—now he could see it was partly a contrivance to help her find her baby.

“What’s the baby’s name?”

“Eadie.”

A smile flickered across his face at the name inscribed in the zoo book. Then he grew serious again as another question came to mind—although he was sure he already knew the answer. “Is Rupert the father?”

Ursula pressed her lips together as she stared at the tabletop, rolling her tumbler between her hands. Then she looked up at him, and he saw the answer in her eyes.

“Did she love him?”

“No! No, she didn’t. I mean, she may have once . . . but he coerced her, and he deceived her.” Ursula looked upset. “She never told him about the baby.”

Theo realized he didn’t feel disappointment or jealousy, only anger at this man he’d never met, at the pain he’d caused the woman he loved. He also felt a burning desire to protect her, the sensation so strong that it wrenched at his core. She’d been a victim—of Rupert, Ruth and the baby farmers—and whatever had been between her and Rupert didn’t matter anymore. The important thing now was her and Eadie’s safety.

“So where is she?” he asked.

“With Olive’s informer. They’ve tracked down someone they think was involved in taking Eadie. I’ve got a name—the same one that another source gave us. And she told me to go to Marylebone Lane Police Station if she wasn’t back by four.”

“What time did she say she was meeting the informer?”

“Midday.”