Stealing Mercy by Kristy Tate Read Free Book Online

trusted. Mercy thought Georgina would at least understand, if not help, so she drew her about to be confidant to a bench, took her hand and told her of her experiences with Steele.
    Georgina watched the boats bobbing out on the Sound during Mercy’s story. Lucky Island didn’t look like an island, but rather an extension of a long strip of land protruding into the Sound. Local legend had it that a small fissure spanned by a draw bridge separated the two land bodies. When the petticoat and bridge were drawn, the girls of Lucky Island weren’t entertaining.
    “You may wonder how the girls come to Lucky Island,” Georgina said.
    Mercy thought of her own circumstances and frowned. “No, actually, I can see how easy it would be for a young girl to fall.”
    “It’s not a choice for every girl.”
    “No, of course not.”
    “I think you misunderstand. Not all of the girls made the choice, I’m afraid some were, shall we say, conscripted.”
    Mercy leaned forward, her suspicions confirmed and her heart beating rapidly. “Kidnapped and sold. Just as I thought,” Mercy said, her voice hushed, barely audible. “ I don’t know Mr. Steele’s involvement, but I’ve learned most patrons were admitted with a silver token- a four leaf clover, like the one Mr. Steele had given me.”
    She slipped the necklace from her bodice and showed it to Georgina. “Until I’d taken it, Mr. Steele had also had a key. I can’t use the key, of course. It’d been one thing to masquerade as a man in my father’s clothes on a ship where I could keep to my own quarters, but I couldn’t very well invade the brothel looking for my lost friends in my father’s cast offs.”
    Georgina nodded. “Lucky Island services only Seattle’s finest…or, rather, the wealthiest.”
    “Steele fits into the latter category, but I don’t know the significance of the key.” Mercy returned the token to her bodice.
    “It does seem rather more momentous than the lucky token.” Georgina looked grim. “Something must be done. Edmond Burke wrote that all that is necessary for the forces of evil to win in the world is for good men to do nothing. Or, in our case, women.”
    “That’s a rather lovely sentiment, but it would have been more useful if Mr. Edmond had provided an idea of what we could do.”
    “There’s always something we can do.” Georgina took a deep breath. “First, let’s rally all our thoughts around what we know of your Mr. Steele.”
    “Please, do not give Mr. Steele to me. He is not and never will be mine.” Mercy tapped her chin and began to think out loud. “Belle and Melanie, two girls, like myself, without family or ties in New York City, disappeared after a brief courtship with Mr. Steele.” Mercy paused. “What if they’re there? Just right there, on that peninsula, and I can’t, or don’t, do anything to help them?”
    Georgina asked, “Do you know any gentlemen you can trust, someone whom you can compel to visit, in search of your friends?”
    Trent Michael’s face flashed in Mercy’s mind and she shook him away. How could she trust someone she didn’t know? True, he knew and had kept her secret. Seattle was still a small town, prone to gossip, and Aunt Tilly was its largest monger. If a breath of her tangle with Wallace and Steele had been aired, her aunt would have heard. Mercy dismissed Trent Michaels and shook her head.
    “Pity. I do so need a man I can trust if I’m to shut it down.”
    “Shut down the brothel?”
    Georgina looked determined. “It must be done. If only we could prove him guilty of his crimes.”
    “Mr. Steele’s wife committed suicide,” Mercy continued, adding to their meager body of knowledge.
    “But what if she didn’t?” Georgina asked. “What if he killed her and staged the suicide?”
    Mercy inhaled and felt a sharp pain in her belly. That scenario bordered uncomfortably close to her own. “Would he do that?”
    “You did.”
    Mercy sucked on her lower lip. “Steele has