Page 36 of The Swan Detective (The Swan Syndicate #2)

Stella woke early, but not so early that Libby hadn’t left a coffee service.

Thank the heavens for that woman. She poured a cup and stumbled out to the balcony to let the caffeine do its magic while she enjoyed the view of the garden.

She missed their garden at Waverly, strolling through the flower beds with Beckworth, deadheading blooms along the way.

She pictured them digging their fingers in the rich soil as they moved plants around.

That was something they’d planned on doing before leaving for London.

Last night had been the second night in a row without Beckworth, and she missed him terribly. But she had plans today, and her tasks would be better accomplished without him snooping around. Although she hadn’t missed Barrington’s attentiveness to her activities.

Between Eleanor and Libby, most of his efforts had been thwarted.

Other than the careful planning the women did in the privacy of the outdoor garden where Stella could keep an eye out for snoops, they never spoke a word of the thefts or their plans.

Barrington knew something was going on. She could see it in the narrowing of his eyes whenever he watched her, and the slight frown he gave her whenever she greeted him with her bright, realtor smile.

She grinned at her recollections before returning her thoughts to her current dilemma.

The information they’d received about the stolen diadem had been discovered too late to speak with Chester before last night’s ball.

Nothing had appeared to have happened, as she’d expected, but she was curious if the thief had changed his pattern of stealing every couple of days.

Today, they would reorganize. Elizabeth, Mary, and Flora had a garden party to attend, and their job was to confirm whether the thief had taken the previous night off. Stella was supposed to go, but she asked them to make apologies to the hostess.

Lincoln had been eager to borrow one of the coaches to take her, Eleanor, and Libby to the East End, though as far as Barrington knew, they were simply going shopping.

He’d wanted to be the one to take them, but Elizabeth, being the high-ranking woman of the group, demanded that Barrington see them to the garden party and was unwilling to take no for an answer.

He couldn’t refuse, and it wasn’t lost on Stella that he’d been irritated by it.

She’d been surprised that Elizabeth was able to suppress her laughter through it all.

It wasn’t that Barrington minded taking the women to their parties.

No, he was annoyed that he couldn’t keep an eye on her and Libby.

She didn’t blame him. He was likely following Beckworth’s orders.

The meant one of two things: Beckworth was simply ensuring her safety, or, at worst, suspected she was up to something.

But if he’d been truly worried about the latter, he wouldn’t have gone off on his male bonding trip.

She finished her second mug of coffee and pushed thoughts of Beckworth aside. There was business to attend to. She selected one of her nicer day dresses, brushed her hair, and was placing a couple of clips in it when Libby waltzed in with a breakfast tray.

“You’re already up?” Libby walked through the room and out to the balcony, setting the tray on the table.

Stella followed her. “It’s either because I don’t like sleeping alone anymore, or I’m too anxious about meeting with Chester.” She sat and opened a silver lid, pulling out a piece of bacon to nibble. “We’re getting close. I can’t explain why I think that, but I feel it in my bones.”

“I know that feeling. Most of us in the crews do. Right before a job when you know it’s going to go well, and you get all jittery that you can’t stay seated for even a minute.”

“Exactly.” She scooped out eggs, more bacon, and a sausage. “Why are we eating out here?”

Libby filled her own plate and poured coffee from a fresh urn. “It’s a beautiful morning, and I thought we might want to plan our meeting with Chester.”

“Is Eleanor still coming with us?”

“Yes, but she got waylaid by Bart. She’ll meet us in the foyer in an hour.”

It was more like two hours by the time Eleanor and Stella calmed Bart, sitting him down in the library with several books that caught his interest. They were heavy tomes and should keep him occupied while everyone spent the day outside the manor.

The three women offered their well-wishes to Elizabeth, Mary, and Flora and climbed into the coach.

When Lincoln clucked to the horses, Stella glanced out the window to the front steps where Barrington watched them leave.

She was tempted to wave but decided that would only convince him they were up to no good, so she relaxed into her seat and people-watched as Libby and Eleanor discussed staff rumors.

The East End was bustling when Lincoln pulled the coach into the alley behind Chester’s house. A couple of the locals who’d met Lincoln at Chester and Katherine’s party gathered around the coach to keep him occupied while the women disappeared into the house.

“Oh, it’s so good to see you.” Katherine waved them into the kitchen, where she had coffee and tea waiting. “Chester had to run a quick errand, but he’ll be back soon. Can I get you something to eat?”

Stella rubbed her belly. “If I keep eating like I have been, I’ll have to beg Eleanor to loosen the stitches on all my gowns.”

“Not even a berry tart?” Katherine gave her a sly grin.

Stella gave Libby and Eleanor a quick glance, their gazes already turned toward the plate Katherine set on the table. She laughed. “I suppose one can’t do any more damage.”

Chester arrived thirty minutes later to find the women laughing so hard, they were crying.

“I’m not sure this is a meeting I want to be involved in.” Chester sat in the open chair at the head of the table and pulled out his pipe.

Katherine pushed the last of the tarts his way, along with a cup of strong coffee. “Don’t worry. We’ve already discussed it, and it sounds like they have a solid plan.”

Chester’s brow lifted. “Well, it sounds like you didn’t need me at all then.” He eyed Stella, who was picking crumbs off her plate with a fingertip.

When silence descended, she glanced up to find everyone watching her. “What? It’s Libby’s plan.”

They all laughed at that. Libby might have offered the suggestion on how the crew would handle the situation, but they all knew Stella was the ringleader of their little gang.

She sipped her coffee while she organized her thoughts.

“With the recent theft of the diadem from Lady Dorsey’s manor, that only leaves one item we believe would be difficult to snatch at a party—the earrings.

We don’t know if the theft at the manor was his plan all along, or if Lady Dorsey’s last-minute decision to stay home was a boon for him. ”

“Rather bold of him to go in while they were sleeping, but not unheard of.” Chester puffed on his pipe, and the aromatic scent of cherry and woodsmoke floated through the kitchen.

“I’d say.” Libby picked up empty plates and took them to the sink. “But I doubt there aren’t too many in our crew who couldn’t pull it off. There are just too many other easy marks to take the risk.”

“The other pieces are relatively easy to grab at a party.” Stella didn’t want to be a burden on Chester.

He was being good in helping them out when he didn’t have to, and a large part of it was due to his long friendship with Beckworth.

“We believe our original plan for using the urchins to watch the manor exits is still the right way to go. And if the thief works within his normal pattern, he should make another play tonight, or tomorrow at the latest.”

“And you don’t have a ball to attend tomorrow night,” Eleanor pointed out.

“So, we’ll continue with our plans for the urchins,” Stella said. “If there isn’t a theft tonight, Libby and I can join the urchins and be the watchers at one of the manors.” She feared it wouldn’t be enough, and the thief would get away with another piece of jewelry.

Chester shook his head, and Stella’s heart sank.

“Beckworth will be back by tomorrow. We need to get ahead of this chap. We don’t have any big jobs planned for the next couple of nights.

Give me the addresses of where the remaining items are located, as well as which manors are holding the parties where the marks will be.

I’ll put crew at all the locations. Four urchins at each manor—two in front and two in back.

We’ll do the same for each of the parties.

Watching one manor at a time could drag on for days, and we could still miss the thief. ”

“I can’t ask you to do all that.” Stella was thrilled with the offer, but she hated asking so much from him, especially behind Beckworth’s back.

Chester puffed out another billow of smoke and shook his head.

“I ran late this morning because I was meeting with two other crews. The constables and watchmen are putting pressure on us because of these thefts. We want this man caught or scared off as much as you do. If you provide the money for meat pies—” he winked at Stella, “—the urchins can find their hiding spots early. They’ll be happy to sit and watch while they eat their supper. ”

“I can have one of the kitchen lads deliver a message before dinner with the information you need,” Eleanor called from the sink where she was washing dishes.

Katherine had attempted to stop her while Chester had been talking but gave up quickly rather than make a scene.

Eleanor turned to Stella with a grin. “And we’ll send enough coin for a meat pie and a sweet tart. ”

Stella brightened at Chester’s idea. “Well, the only thing we have left to do on our outing is to go shopping.”

When everyone stared at her, she added, “There’s no way in hell I’m going back to the manor and face Barrington without a package or two.”