Page 54 of Murder at Somerset House (A Wrexford & Sloane Mystery #9)

C harlotte shifted the parcel of books from Hatchards in her arms, smiling as she watched the four Weasels race each other over a swath of Hyde Park’s meadow grass to a nearby plane tree.

“You have an unfair advantage!” huffed Eddy as she finished last. “I’d like to see you three try to run in skirts!”

“Ugh!” Hawk gave her a sympathetic grimace. “They look awfully awkward.”

“Next time we’ll give you a head start,” offered Peregrine.

It did Charlotte’s heart good to see them so carefree, especially Raven, whose work with Cordelia and Ricardo was, as of twelve days ago, mostly ended, save for the waiting.

The whole family had been bearing a frightful weight of responsibility over the last few months. Charlotte found herself wishing …

“Let’s not dally,” called Raven. “It’s past teatime and I’ve worked up an appetite for ginger biscuits!”

“Good times will come,” she assured herself as they scampered off in an impromptu game of tag.

Wrexford was sitting at the escritoire in the drawing room, sorting through the afternoon post, as the Weasels made their noisy entrance.

“Did you find some interesting books?” he asked Eddy.

“Oh, yes!” she exclaimed.

“On the Montgolfier brothers and their aeronautical balloons!” added Hawk.

Charlotte smiled. “That you’re interested in flight is no surprise.”

“Would you like to soar through the sky?” asked McClellan as she carried in a heavily laden tray and set it on the tea table.

“Very much so,” answered Eddy. “Imagine how the world would look from such glorious heights!”

“A very thrilling point of view,” agreed Wrexford. “But even from ground level, the news of the last few days certainly appears encouraging.”

He turned in his chair to face the room.

“Ricardo somehow managed to have his group continue to maintain consol prices, ruining the short sellers and allowing Chancellor of the Exchequer Vansittart to ask for bids six days ago in an attempt to float the loan. Only Ricardo’s group—Baring and Angerstein came in as his partner—made a bid. ”

A smile twitched on the earl’s lips. “Ricardo told me Baring and Angerstein only came in because he had made them a fortune in the past—and that, according to Ricardo, substitutes for loyalty in the world of business.”

“Mr. Sheffield told me that the Omnium has apparently been trading at a strong premium since the loan closed on June 14,” piped up Raven.

“Yes. And according to what Kit told me, that premium, plus the discounts the syndicate got from the government for floating the loan, means that Ricardo and his friends likely made a huge profit. How much is known only to him, but if the war news turns out to be good on top of all this, Ricardo and a few other brave souls who floated the loan will end up owning—”

A sudden, agitated rapping on one of the leaded windowpanes startled the earl into silence.

“Zephyrus!” Eddy shot up from the sofa. “It’s Zephyrus!”

“Why is your pigeon acting so oddly?” asked Wrexford, as the bird continued beating its beak against the glass.

“Because …” Eddy wrenched open the casement, allowing Zephyrus to fly in and circle around her head before taking a perch on her shoulder. “Because he has just returned from a long journey, and I think …”

She coaxed the bird onto her finger and examined its legs. “Yes, yes! He’s brought you an urgent message! It’s from Herr von Münch!”

The earl stared at her in mute disbelief.

Seeing his expression, Eddy’s smile turned tentative. “H-He said you would be expecting it.”

“Did he?” said Wrexford in a carefully controlled voice. Had von Münch been present, he would have been tempted to bloody the rascal’s beak.

“Y-Yes.” Eddy swallowed hard. “The last time he was here, he said he was going on an urgent mission and asked to take two of my pigeons with him so that he could send you vital updates on matters concerning our country.”

She looked around uncertainly. “But he told me that because it was such a sensitive matter, you instructed him to tell me not to discuss it with any other members of our inner circle.”

Hearing a growl rumble in the earl’s throat, Eddy blinked in confusion. “D-Did I do something wrong?”

“Not at all,” Charlotte assured her.

“Herr von Münch wasn’t on the list of trusted inner circle members,” whispered Raven.

“Let us deal with all those particulars later,” counseled Charlotte. To Wrexford, she added, “If there is indeed a message, you need to read it without delay.”

Eddy had already unfastened the tiny metal capsule from the pigeon’s leg and passed it to the earl.

Grabbing a penknife, he scraped off the wax seal and carefully extracted the roll of paper inside it. The room was silent as a crypt as he unfurled it and read over the contents.

“Holy hell, don’t keep us in suspense,” whispered McClellan.

“We now know what nefarious plan Le Loup had created, and it wasn’t an assassination after all,” intoned Wrexford, looking grim.

“A long-winded message is impossible for a pigeon to carry, so the note is exceedingly brief. It appears the traitor within our government has stolen a highly confidential—and incriminating—letter to the prime minister that will give Napoleon a potent bargaining chip with Britain even if he loses the upcoming battle against Wellington’s army. ”

“What sort of letter could give him that power?” asked Charlotte.

He shook his head. “It doesn’t say. Le Loup is meeting his co-conspirator tonight—exactly two hours before midnight—at the ruins of an ancient Cistercian monastery just past the town of Swanley, in order to make the exchange.”

He paused. “I know the place. It’s a little over an hour’s ride south of here on the road to Dover. The note says that from there, Le Loup will head to the port and board a fast smuggling cutter that is waiting to whisk him to France.”

“What—” began Charlotte, only to be cut off by Eddy.

“Look, Wrex!” His sister suddenly crouched down on the carpet. “Another bit of paper fell out of the capsule while you were unrolling the note.” She held up the tiny scrap.

“Good heavens, is that a bloodstain?” said Charlotte, seeing a smudge of rusty red on one edge.

Wreford held it up to the light, trying to decipher the pencil scrawl. Frowning, he swore under his breath—and then began to laugh.

“Stop shilly-shallying and tell us what it says!” demanded Raven.

“It’s dated June 18, seven in the evening,” announced the earl. “The message says— A momentous battle has just ended …” He looked up. “ And by the by, we won .”

“W-We won?” stammered Charlotte.

“We won,” confirmed the earl.

“So that means this hellish nightmare is over?” ventured McClellan.

“No,” responded Wrexford. “what it means is that it’s absolutely imperative to keep Le Loup from getting hold of that letter. For all we know, Napoleon is still at large, and his only hope of retaining his throne is having something powerful with which to bargain.”

“Wrex—”

“I know what you are going to say,” said Wrexford. “Have no fear—I’m taking no chances of letting the varlets slip through my fingers again. I know just the man to ride out with me. He’s battle-hardened and steady as steel in a fight.”

Charlotte bit her lip, looking as if she was trying to muster an argument.

“It’s too dangerous to take the chance of letting him escape, for any number of reasons,” pressed the earl. “If the letter allows Napoleon to cling to his throne, God only knows what terrible assignment Le Loup will be given next and what disaster will follow for all of Europe.”

When she didn’t respond, he turned to Hawk. “I need you to take a message to the Home Office.” He paused to write a note and seal it with his signet ring. “Tell them that the Earl of Wrexford insists that you hand it personally to Simon Norwood.”

To Peregrine he said, “Tell Jem to have Sombra saddled in an hour.” Catching Eddy’s questioning look, he added, “I was in need of a hard gallop, so I took Lucifer out earlier this afternoon while you were at your lessons. What I require now is Sombra’s speed.

I need to make several stops before meeting with Norwood.

The prime minister and his privy council need to know about the battle. ”

He turned to Raven. “Run and give Kit and Cordelia the momentous news. Then Ricardo must be told.”

“Eddy, come help me take the tea things back to the kitchen,” said McClellan, earning a grateful look from the earl for giving the girl a tangible task.

“Be careful,” said Charlotte softly, reaching out and pulling him into her arms once everyone had rushed off.

“Always,” he murmured.

They stood entwined for a long moment. Further words were unnecessary. The steady thrum of their hearts beating together as one said all that needed to be said.

Drawing back, Wrexford brushed a kiss to her brow. And then, in the space of a heartbeat, he was gone.

Raven paused in the doorway of the schoolroom, where his three fellow Weasels were trying to keep themselves occupied with a game of cards.

“Where’s m’lady?” he demanded. “Don’t tell me that Wrex allowed her to—”

“No, no, she went to inform Aunt Alison of Wellington’s victory,” answered Hawk. “Though I heard her muttering something about taking shooting lessons from Joe Manton, so that Wrex can’t keep using the excuse that she’s a mediocre marksman to keep her from accompanying him.”

“We ought to speak with him about that, too,” said Raven. “I think it’s high time that we get some training with firearms.”

“It goes without saying that we includes me ,” piped up Eddy.

“Of course,” replied Raven. “You’re a Weasel.”

“One for all and all for one,” chorused Hawk and Peregrine.

Harper punctuated their words with a woof .

“Would you like to join us in playing cards?” asked Eddy.

Raven shook his head. He moved to the bookshelves and chose a volume on Euclid’s geometry.

The soft shuffle and slap of the pasteboard cards were soon the only sounds resonating through the room. And then …

Rap-rap. Another pigeon was suddenly beating a furious tattoo on the windowpane.

“It’s Boreas!” said Eddy, flinging open the window and letting the bird inside. “He, too, was with von Münch,” she explained, cradling the clearly exhausted bird in her palms.

“He has a metal capsule attached to his foot!” exclaimed Peregrine.

Hawk gently worked it free and pried it open. After extracting the note, he offered it to Eddy.

She handed the pigeon to Peregrine, and as she read the message, her face turned white as a ghost. Raven was up in a flash. “What does it say?”

Eddy swallowed hard and passed the note to him.

“Hell and damnation,” whispered Raven, letting the paper slip through his fingers and fall to the table. “We need to get word to Wrex.”

“B-But how?” Hawk looked up after reading what von Münch had written, his eyes glassy with fear. “If only it was possible to send him a pigeon.”

“There’s only one way,” said Eddy. She shot up. “I need to change into my breeches and boots.”

Raven rushed to catch up with her as she hurried into the corridor. “I’m coming with you.”

“First of all, no other horse in the stables can match Lucifer’s speed,” she countered. “And second, you can’t ride worth beans.”

“I don’t have to ride,” he retorted.” I just have to cling to your back like a cocklebur.”

“Why would you do that?” she demanded.

“Because time is of the essence.” Raven checked that his pocket knife was sheathed inside his boot. “You’re a neck-and-leather rider and I know all the shortcuts and hidden byways through the city down to the road to Dover. So if we want to keep Wrex out of danger, we need to work together.”

“D-Do you think Mac will try to stop us?”

“Not if she doesn’t hear us sneak out to the stable,” replied Raven.

Eddy gave a grim nod. “Better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission.”