[Berkeley Brigade 10] - Shadow of Murder (12 page)

“Thing to do,” Coffen said, “ask Reg if she made two visits, and left a note for Corbett, and when. If it was after you turned her off, then p’raps she was just telling him she was leaving.”

“Prance is so angry with us for suspecting Corbett that I doubt he’ll speak to me,” she said.

“I’ll have a word with him,” Coffen said. “He’ll want someone to complain to.”

Prance was too upset to settle down to any work that day. He sat in his little salon with Villier, who was serving as someone to complain to until Coffen arrived. When Villier slid out the door with an air of relief, Coffen figured Prance must have been prosing his ears off.

“You’ve heard?” Prance demanded. Coffen had been out in the yard searching for clues when Luten spoke to Prance in the library that morning.

“About the robbery? Yes, of course.”

“About suspecting Vance. It’s ludicrous, utterly ridiculous. He is one hundred percent concentrated on his career. He’d no more steal that rubbish than I would.”

“I daresay. What I’ve been wondering, Prance, is whether Miss Lipman had a hand in it.”

Prance leapt on this like a dog on a hambone. “A much more likely candidate, in my opinion. Who is she anyway? Where did she come from?”

“From Bath, but the interesting bit is that she is, or was, a friend of Fell, that fellow that runs the gaming hell with the bad name.”

“Really! Well, that looks suspicious I must say.”

“You haven’t heard the cream of it yet. She lately came into some money, enough to get out from under Lady Melbourne’s wing and hire a set of rooms for herself. That smells to me as if she didn’t want decent folks knowing just who she was seeing.”

“This is wonderful! I could tell she was no better than she should be by the way she’s been throwing her bonnet at Vance, when I didn’t give her a tumble. Shameful the way she hounded after him.”

“She’s one of them girls that will take up with anyone. Loves widely but not well.”

“Loves not wisely,” Prance corrected automatically.

“Exactly, widely but not wisely.”

Prance ignored him. “She came rushing over here this morning when she heard her ladyship had kicked us out.”

“And you told her about the robbery, and Vance being suspected?”

“It came out, certainly. We were all talking about it.”

“You think she was surprised?”

“She
acted
surprised, of course, but then she wouldn’t let on she knew, if she’s involved. That is only common sense.”

“Did she come back later and leave a note for Corbett?”

“As a matter of fact, she did. One visit a morning wasn’t enough for her. That’s exactly what I mean about her. One of those tenacious females. I had left word with Soames that we didn’t wish to be interrupted, and he gave Corbett the note as he was leaving. So they now suspect her, do they?”

“I don’t know that they
suspect
her exactly, but it seems to me it hits you right between the face that she’s in on it. She knew all the in’s and out’s of protecting the donations. Her being a stranger in the house, Corrie was just checking up on her. They have to suspect anyone they don’t know that’s been in the house lately.”

“Especially Vance,” he said with a sniff.

“Chloe and Sean as well, though they was never in the library, and wouldn’t know about the library door and the guards and all.”

“Chloe could very well be in on it. She was certainly eager to get into the library. She was courting Mrs. Ballard most assiduously, trying to get a tour of the house. I know she was visiting Mrs. Ballard in her rooms abovestairs more than once. I found it odd that those two hit it off so well. Chloe is just a little too sweet and complimentary to me to be genuine. She’s the one came running to tell me that Vance was handling the missing T’ang horse.”

Coffen had learned what he came to learn. Miss Lipman had left off the note for Corbett after Corinne turned her off, so likely the ‘something awful’ was just that she was leaving. He listened to another ten minutes of Prance’s complaints. As no wine was offered, he then arose to leave.

Prance walked with him to the door. “Of course the Berkeley Brigade is looking into the theft?” he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

“Oh certainly. I daresay Luten will have one of his meetings tonight to talk it over.”

“
I
have not received an invitation.
I
harbour dangerous criminals, you must know.”

“Harbour? Do you think the goods were towed away on a barge.” Prance just gave him a withering stare. “No, of course not. They used a wagon from Newman’s Stable.” Prance had to hear about that, then Coffen said, “So how about the meeting tonight, Reg? Are you on?”

“A gentleman never intrudes where he is not wanted.”

“That’s rubbish. You’re making a tempest out of a mole hill.”

“I was not invited, you recall.”

“Neither was I. The thing is, do you want to come?”

“Only if they want me. If I can do anything to prove that Vance is innocent I shall be happy to do so.”

“Right, I’ll tell them you’ll come,” Coffen said, and escaped, glad that the Berkeley Brigade was still intact.

Prance breathed a sigh of relief. He adored being in the Berkeley Brigade. It lent a cachet to his reputation, and gave him ideas for his novels. He was already busy conjuring with the fictional possibilities of this case.

Miss Lipman would be a beautiful, daring adventuress, ensnaring men in her toils. He would call her some wicked, evil name from the Bible, or Greek drama. It was hard to envisage turning Vance, whom he actually disliked, into his hero, but who else? Sean was a nonentity. His rawboned face had all the beauty of a phiz by Hieronmymous Bosch. And he couldn’t act for toffee either. He must jot down a few notes while his muse held him in her thrall.

Luten had returned and been brought up to date by his wife when Coffen went to report on his visit to Prance. “I’ll let him know we’re meeting here tonight at eight,” Luten said. “He might be able to help us, if he can get over the indignity of our suspecting his actor.”

“He jumped at the notion of suspecting Miss Lipman,” Coffen said.

“Then he’ll be happy to know she’s being watched. If she goes out tonight, she’ll be followed. You’ll tell Black about the meeting?”

“You couldn’t keep him away. We’ll both be here.”

He scooted across the road to tell Black about his visit to Prance, and about the meeting that night.

“Good,” Black said. “We’ve got to act fast, Mr. Pattle. Just two days till the ball and the auction. We’ve got to find the goods, get them back to Berkeley Square, and get them taken to Elgin Hall, and do it without anyone knowing. Her ladyship’s most particular about that.”

“Aye, we’ll be busier than a bee’s bonnet,” Coffen said, in his usual way of mangling the King’s English.

* * *

The group met in Luten’s study at eight. Prance had not notified them whether he would attend, but when at ten after eight he had still not arrived Luten said rather grimly, “We’ll have to go on without him. Now about this rented wagon, Black.”

There was a tap at the door and Prance came in, hiding his uncertainty under a veneer of disinterest. “Sorry I’m late,” he said, but gave no excuse as he slid onto the empty chair. “Have I missed anything?”

“Glad you could make it, Reg. We’re just about to begin,” Luten said and turned to Black. “I’ve been thinking about that rented wagon we think was used to haul away the donations. If it was returned at dawn, the goods must be stored closeby, or not far away in any case.”

“Aye, unless they were just put on to another wagon to fool us, and taken out of town.”

“That’s possible,” Luten agreed, but they’d only have to be hauled back to town. London is the obvious market for them.”

“Now if it was Father heading up the job, I’d think that,” Black agreed, “but with Mother in charge, I hardly know what she might do.”

All this was new to Prance, and had to be explained. He was happy to hear some gang was suspected, “That clears Vance, does it not?” he said, looking around for agreement.

“Well, except that the gang needed someone inside the house to learn the details,” Luten said. “They knew the goods were in the library, they knew about the guards, they knew the library door into the garden gave easy access without alarming the rest of the house, and they knew there was a gate to the street, where they had the wagon parked. Miss Lipman certainly knew all that, but as she and Vance were close, we have to include him in our suspicions.”

“I daresay that makes sense,” Prance allowed. Luten didn’t mention Vance’s keen interest in valuable objects. He didn’t have to, they all knew it.

“Coffen suggested the other two actors might be involved. Now Sean would know nothing of the setup here beyond the gold salon, but Chloe made a great friend of Mrs. Ballard. She visited her upstairs and said more than once that she would love to have a tour of the house.”

“I didn’t know she was actually in Mrs. Ballard’s sitting room,” Corinne said, frowning. “She would have an excellent view of the back garden from there — the gate, the bushes. Yes, and from Mrs. Ballard’s bedroom she could see the glass doors of the library.”

“Why don’t you have a word with Mrs. Ballard before she retires,” Luten said. “Try not to upset her, but just find out if Chloe showed any particular interest in the view from the windows.”

“I’ll do it this minute,” Corinne said, and ran upstairs. Mrs. Ballard was in her sitting room, stitching nightshirts for a boys’ orphanage her church supported. She jumped up. “Oh milady, did you want something?”

“I just came to see how your headache is doing,” Corinne said, motioning Mrs. Ballard back to her seat, taking up the other chair and tidying her skirts, while considering how to broach the important subject.

“You needn’t have done that. I took a powder and feel much better.”

“I don’t like to think of you spending so much time up here alone. I daresay you miss Chloe, now that the rehearsals are not taking place here,” she said.

“I do miss her. A lovely little girl, really sweet and shy. Not what I imagined an actress would be like at all. She used to come up here and sit with me when she wasn’t needed for a scene now and then. I was teaching her to knit. She is certainly a fast learner. She couldn’t believe I lived in such grandeur,” she said, casting an eye around at the fine carpet, the window hangings, the pair of bergere chairs, the table and desk. “Just like a lady, she said. And even a canopied bed in my bedroom. She made me realize how fortunate I am.”

So she had got into the bedroom as well! “We are fortunate to have you,” Corinne said. To get to the point without wasting time, she rose and went to the window, where the curtains were not yet drawn. “The view from here is pleasant in the day time, the little back garden.”

“Yes, Chloe loved it. She used to stand there and gaze out. She asked me what the bushes were, with the pink flowers. Imagine, milady, she had never seen a rose actually growing! She thought the flowers came up each on its own stock, like lilies. I explained to her what all the flowers and bushes are. You can see the forsythia by the gate from my bedroom, though they were no longer in bloom. She wanted to go down and pick a rose, but I had to tell her she couldn’t at this time. Of course she knew why and understood. I said that perhaps she would be allowed to go a little later on. She didn’t
push
at all. She’s not that sort.”

Corinne could hardly control the urge to rush downstairs with the news. “So she was very interested in the little garden,” she said, wondering if there was more to learn before leaving.

“Oh very much. She said she wished Mr. Corbett could see it, for he has great ambitions, you must know. He always asked her what she had seen when she returned below, so he’d know what to do when he bought a mansion. She said he is very ambitious. I thought him rather a proud fellow, but then I hardly spoke to him, so I shouldn’t judge.”

Corinne didn’t resume her seat. She said, “Can I get you anything, Mrs. Ballard, some tea perhaps?”

“Kind of you, but I usually go down to the kitchen and have a cup of tea with the housekeeper about this time. I’ll just finish hemming this little nightshirt before I go.”

Corinne darted back down to Luten’s study to report what she had learned.

“There you are then,” Prance crowed. “Chloe is your insider.”

“She said Vance always asked her what she had seen when she went back to the rehearsal. And you remember, Reg, Vance was the only one who was actually in the library. And he was poking about the door leading to the garden.”

“And plus he had marked them valuables of Lord Luten’s in his book,” Black reminded him.

“He explained all that. Are you having him watched?” Prance asked.

“Nossir,” Black answered. “A waste of time and manpower, for if he
was
the inside man, and I’m not saying he was, but
if
he was and knowing he’s suspected, he’ll not go next or nigh the gang till it’s time to get his share. Mother Maccles ain’t as fly as Father, but she’d know that much, not to let him lead us to her gang.”

“But you mentioned you’re having Miss Lipman watched, Luten,” Prance said. After an uncomfortable pause, he added, “I see. You think Miss Lipman was Vance’s unknowing tool. You want to see if she goes to meet him.”

“No, we figure that leading role in your play is enough to hold him. Considering Miss Lipman’s friendship with Fell and her recently coming into money, we’re watching her as the person working inside,” Luten explained, “So what is our next move?”

He drew out a map of London and area. “If they didn’t transfer the goods to another wagon, then they are stashed somewhere within a fairly small area. They left here before three a.m., and the empty cart was returned to the stable at dawn. This gives them about three hours to get to the destination, unload the wagon and return it. A wagon loaded with fragile valuables would have be moved slowly, so they can’t have taken the load far. I make it within this radius,” he said, sketching out a circle of a few miles on the map. They all examined the map. “They didn’t go south unless they had a barge waiting,” he continued.