‘Lady Penelope. She does not love me, but if she marries me she will be tied to a man who will always have the image, the dream, of another woman close to his heart. I would do all I could to be a good husband, to treat her with respect, but she will sense it, I realise that now. She should have the chance to find a love of her own.’
‘And if you break the engagement she will be gossiped about, her worth would be lessened. It is not a very fair world for a woman, is it?’ Laura asked bitterly.
‘No. But I will not give up on this, Laura. Somehow I will find a way without ruining both of you in the process.’
‘What did Gerard Redfern call you? The cat who always thought of the solution in the end?’ She should not joke and it was madness to think there was any hope, but it was that or weep.
His smile was strained. ‘I will do my best, I swear it.’
‘I know. I know you will try.’ She turned and walked away because if she stayed she would be in his arms and she had no right to be there. Not now, perhaps never.
Theo waited until he heard the distant sound of Laura’s bedchamber door closing, then counted up to twenty and made his way to the drawing room where the others were sitting around a card table with two unopened packs of cards in front of them.
‘Can’t stop chewing over this business about the harbour,’ Perry said. ‘What we found in the crypt, that dried blood – it makes it all far too real.’
Theo forced himself to concentrate and caught hold of the wisp of an idea that had been troubling him for at least a day. ‘These agents who are vanishing without trace from Blakeney – surely their masters in London know which ships they are taking?’
Jared shook his head. ‘Apparently, as a security measure against leaks from within the Home Office, they have complete discretion over which routes they take and the ports and ships that they use. The missing men have been traced, in the most part, to Blakeney. But that has been by piecing together their journeys.’
‘If I were an agent who did not know the place and wanted a ship that would take me to France, where would I ask?’ Theo said, taking the empty place at the table between Will and Flynn and leaning his elbows on the baize.
‘An ale house, would be my choice.’ Flynn pushed a glass of brandy towards him. ‘Or an inn.’
‘There’s enough of those,’ Perry said. ‘As a magistrate I have to licence them.’ He shoved back his chair. ‘It’s a chore, but it does mean that I’ve got a list of them.’ He went out and returned ten minutes later with a file of loose sheets. ‘These are the parishes closest to Blakeney and Blakeney itself.’
‘The agents are going to arrive by stage or mail, I’d have thought,’ Jared said. ‘Hiring a horse or a carriage would mean leaving them somewhere and using a post chaise seems an unlikely extravagance for someone keeping a low profile. Besides, we have to start somewhere. The coaches come from Norwich. We need a map as well.’
After an hour they had marked all the likely ale houses and inns for someone approaching Blakeney from the south and those in the port itself because, as Flynn pointed out, some of the men might have travelled by coaster from London in order to confuse their trail.
‘Twenty four,’ Perry said in dismay when they counted the result.
‘You know, if I were doing this, I don’t think I’d ask in some harbour-side ale house,’ Theo said slowly. ‘Most people who take ship here have booked in advance: isn’t someone turning up in a crowded tavern and asking around for a captain who’ll take him off the main shipping route going to attract attention? An inn or ale house away from the waterfront sounds more likely to me.’
‘You know what I’m thinking?’ Perry said. ‘I’m thinking that the Mermaid is possible. The place just shouts smugglers, if you ask me. All as innocent as apple pie when you go in, but it is just a bit isolated, yet on the coast road. All the local fishermen use it. In Blakeney you’ve got the coastal trade and shopkeepers and so on, more mixed.’
‘What we need is someone to send in to start asking the questions.’ Jared looked around the table. ‘Perry and Theo are known locally and so are the male servants. Our grooms and coachmen will have been seen. There’s me, of course and Flynn.’
‘And Rob Pitkin,’ said Flynn. ‘No-one outside this house has seen him, have they? And we know he can act a part.’
‘I can’t ask that of him,’ Theo protested. ‘He’s my valet.’
Chapter Eighteen
Flynn narrowed his eyes at Theo.
‘I don’t mean he isn’t up to it because he’s a valet but he’s ne
rvous and unsure of himself.’
‘Still? He looks a lot more confident now, quite a change since I first saw him.’ Flynn got to his feet. ‘I’ll ask him.’
‘He won’t come to any harm just enquiring,’ Perry said confidently. ‘I mean, they must be murdering them at sea and dumping the bodies overboard.’
‘Sure about that? Remember the stains in the crypt? If that’s blood then it is more than a tap on the head to knock someone out.’ Theo said. ‘If I was involved I’d much prefer a nice tidy murder on dry land, then a bundle to take out to a small boat and drop over the side, rather than risk being seen getting someone onto a larger vessel and then coming back soon afterwards with no passenger. You can’t pretend to someone that you’re taking them to France in a rowing boat or a small skiff.’
The sound of a throat being cleared made him turn. Pitkin was standing in the doorway looking a trifle pale. Flynn gave him a friendly push into the room. ‘Come and sit down, Rob.’
‘I can’t, not with the gentlemen.’