Lucasta (10 page)

At precisely 11.30 she made her way downstairs to the domestic offices of the house, her darkest pelisse pulled around her. She tiptoed past the housekeeper’s sitting-room and let herself out through the cold, damp scullery. The house Lady Symonds had hired for the season was one of a terrace of town houses, each with a small yard at the back enclosed by a wall, too high to see over but easily scaled by an agile man and hopefully, thought Lucasta, by a man recovering from a leg wound. She hovered in the shadows of the house and soon saw a figure scrambling over the wall. She stepped forward.

‘Jacob?’

‘Aye, miss, it’s me. What news is there?’

Briefly she told him of her meeting with the duchess and as she finished he muttered an oath, slamming his fist into his palm.

‘Beggin’ your pardon, miss, but it fair irks me to think o’ that rogue cutting a sham!’

‘You do not think he could be innocent, that it really was footpads? After all, we were accosted on the same common only a few hours earlier.’

‘Aye, but that was on t’other side of the common. I grant
you they could have struck again, but I don’t see them
travelling
that far. And that doesn’t explain Miesel’s describing my lord so perfectly, now, does it? Besides, having nothing better to do, I’ve been keeping an eye on Miesel and he seems to have a taste for low company. Keeps taking himself off to the seedy parts of the Town where he visits the
pop-shops
.’

‘What are they?’

‘Pawnbrokers, miss. But not your regular brokers: I don’t reckon the ones Miesel visits pay their dues to the
workhouses
. And Sarah – Mrs Jessop that is – his landlady, she don’t like him neither.’

‘But that is not proof that he is a villain,’ replied Lucasta.

‘No. If we could prove he had the emeralds that would be something.’

‘Perhaps we can,’ she said slowly. ‘He goes out a great deal, does he? What if we were to search his lodgings?’

Jacob Potts shook his head.

‘Very risky: he could return at any moment, then where would we be? Then there’s Mrs Jessop: she’s in her shop all day and would be bound to notice.’

‘Not necessarily. You could distract her, Jacob, and you could keep a lookout for Miesel at the same time while I search his room.’

‘No!’ Potts’ explosive whisper sent a prowling tomcat
leaping
away over the wall. ‘There’s no question of you doing such a thing, miss. Only think!’

‘I
am
thinking. With Adam and her grace being watched there is no one else to help.’

It took her some considerable time to persuade Jacob to go along with her plan and it was only when he realized that she was prepared to attempt it alone that he agreed to help.

‘Good. We must waste no time, Jacob. Have a carriage
waiting at the end of the lane here as soon as it is dark tomorrow night.’

It was not difficult for Lucasta to feign a headache the following day and her mama was easily persuaded to leave her at home when she took Camilla out to be the belle of another fashionable ball. Lucasta shut herself in her room with instructions she was not to be disturbed and, as dusk was falling, she pulled out the boy’s clothes she had worn on her journey to London, ready for her nocturnal adventure.

The noisy, narrow streets off Cheapside were a little
daunting
after the wide thoroughfares of the more fashionable part of town and Lucasta was glad she was not alone. Jacob Potts led her past crowded taverns and alehouses until they reached the bright windows of the cheesemonger. She could see a woman inside the lighted shop, piling up the large, muslin-wrapped cheeses. Lucasta observed with approval the clean windows and freshly scrubbed doorstep.

‘Mistress Jessop appears to be a proud housewife,’ she murmured, glancing up at Jacob. Something in his look made her add, ‘It’s enough to give a man a liking for fine cheese.’

She smiled inwardly when he looked a little
self-conscious
, but her momentary good humour was replaced with anxiety when she thought of what must come next.

‘Well, Jacob, we had better get on.’

‘Aye, miss. There’s no light in the upstairs window so I’m pretty sure Miesel’s gone out.

Lucasta breathed out slowly, trying to calm her nerves. She swallowed hard.

‘Very well then, if you go in and distract her, I will slip up the stairs.’

Potts hesitated.

‘I don’t like it, miss, deceiving a good woman like this.’

‘Perhaps you would prefer to tell her the truth.’

‘Well, that I would, miss, and that’s a fact, but I don’t suppose she could agree to it.’

‘Of course she could not. Come, Jacob, she’s alone now: let us get it over with.’

They crossed the street, Lucasta hanging back in the shadows as Jacob stepped over the threshold and hesitated at the inner doorway.

‘Oh, so it’s you come back again. Don’t tell me you’ve eaten a whole pound o’ cheese already!’

‘I’ve never known a mite with such a good range o’ cheeses as you have here, mistress …’

As Mistress Jessop turned her back to the door Lucasta slipped inside and up the darkened staircase. The pungent smell from the shop followed her as she crept up the stairs and she was glad when the clatter of a passing wagon helped to cover the slight thud of her boots on the wooden treads. When she reached the top she paused, listening, but the only sound was the soft rumble of voices from the shop below. She felt in her pocket for the tinderbox and with shaking fingers managed to light the small stub of candle she had brought with her. There was a sudden moment of panic at the thought that the rooms might be locked, but the candlelight showed her three plain panelled doors. Jacob had told her that Miesel was renting the room at the front of the house, over the shop. There was no light showing beneath the door, and when Lucasta held her breath to listen she could hear no noise other than the erratic thudding of her own heart. Wiping her sweating palm against her jacket, she reached out and tried the handle.

The door opened with barely a creak and she slipped into
the room. Everything was neat and orderly, the narrow bed made up and curtains pulled across the window. The odour of cheese permeated the room, where it mixed with the smell of soap and soot and hair oil. If it had not been for the clothes folded neatly over the chair and the brush and comb lying amongst an assortment of bottles on top of a chest of
drawers
, she would have thought it unoccupied. Carefully putting down the candle she began to look through the drawers. Her hands were shaking and she felt quite sick, sure that at any moment she would be discovered. Only her determination to prove Adam’s innocence kept her from running away. The top drawer contained only clothes, neatly folded, but in the second she found a silver-backed brush and matching comb. Closer inspection showed the silver to be engraved with the initials TB. Talbot Bradfield. Was it normal, she wondered, for a servant to be given such things when his master died, or had Miesel helped himself to these valuable objects? Buried further down was an enamelled card case, various tie pins and a gold pocket watch. She guessed these were the goods he was pawning and it explained the use of illicit brokers – Miesel would not want it known that he was
passing
on his dead master’s goods. She shivered, carefully placed everything back as she had found it and continued her search.

The drawers yielded nothing other than a few more
trinkets
and she turned her attention to the trunk at the end of the bed. A sudden burst of laughter from the shop below reminded her that Jacob was waiting for her. She must hurry; it would look suspicious if he was to tarry too long. Or would it? The thought became a little bubble of nervous laughter to mix with the fear inside her. It seemed there was a budding friendship between Jacob and the widow Jessop. She only hoped their exploits this evening would not
jeopardize
 
it. Swiftly she opened the trunk and searched through the contents, checking coat pockets, feeling between folds of material. There was nothing. Carefully she replaced the clothes and closed the trunk. She looked in desperation around the little room. She had no time to move the
furniture
, nor could she make any noise without risking detection.

In a final, desperate bid she took the stub of candle and knelt down to look under the bed. The flickering light showed her that there was nothing there except the
chamber
pot. She noticed an extended shadow where one of the floorboards was not quite flat. She reached out and pressed the corner: it felt loose. Carefully she moved the chamber pot to one side and closed her trembling fingers around the edge of the board. It came away surprisingly easily, for it was a very short length, recently cut. Her heart began to beat so hard she could not breathe. Fighting down very rational fears of mice and spiders lurking in dark places she reached into the space beneath the boards and almost immediately her fingers closed around a leather pouch. She pulled it out and sat back, hardly daring to believe what she had done. Untying the strings of the pouch, she tipped it up and onto her outstretched palm slithered a glittering emerald
necklace
.

‘… I sell cheeses from all over the country, many brought in by sea. Those truckles came in today from the north country.’ Sarah Jessop indicated the large cheeses stacked on the counter. Jacob nodded, impressed. He was leaning against the wall in the far corner of the room so that Sarah had her back turned to the door as she talked to him.

‘And your husband was a cheesemonger too?’

‘He didn’t start as a mite. He was a cheese maker. Aye, and he was good, too, God rest his soul. Finest in Hampshire, until he decided to come to London and open his own shop. His family still make cheese there, you know, and send it up for me to sell.’

‘Have you never thought of going back to Hampshire then?’

Her ready laugh burst forth again. Jacob admired the smooth line of her throat as she tilted her head back. She regarded him with a merry twinkle in her eyes.

‘What, go back to live with the family and lose my
independence
? Why ever should I want to do that?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. It must be hard, without a husband, running a business.’

‘Aye it is, but I can buy in labour when I need it: I don’t need to marry a man for that.’

From the corner of his eye Jacob glimpsed a slight figure slipping out of the door. Miss Symonds was done. He pushed himself upright and was aware of a slight feeling of regret mingled with his relief that the job was over. He picked up the package from the counter.

‘I look forward to having a taste o’ this for me supper. Thank you again, Mistress Jessop. Perhaps I’ll come back and try all your cheeses.’

Her laughing eyes rested on him for a long moment, appraising him.

‘Aye,’ she said, ‘mayhap you will.’

Jacob doffed his cap and limped out, looking neither right nor left until he came to the corner of the street, where Miss Symonds was waiting for him, hands stuffed into the
pockets
of her ill-fitting jacket and her muffler wound around her face.

‘I expected you to follow me immediately, Jacob. What kept you?’

‘I had to finish me conversation with Mistress Jessop. Wouldn’t do to make her suspicious.’ He smiled. And it had not been an onerous task to be pleasant to the widow. ‘Well, did you find the necklace?’

Even in the dim lamplight he could see the excitement shining in her eyes.

‘Yes, it was hidden in a bag under the floor.’

She turned to walk beside him.

‘Good. Let us find a cab and you can show me.’

‘I haven’t got it.’

Jacob stopped.

‘What?’

‘I left the necklace in Miesel’s room.’ She gripped his arm.
‘How would it look if we took it and said where we had found it? Miesel could deny it and say we were trying to put the blame on him.’

‘So what do you think to do now? If we tell anyone where it is Miesel is just as likely to say we put it there!’

‘Yes,’ she said, nodding vigorously. ‘That is why we have to be even cleverer than Miesel. We must set a trap for him.’

‘Oh? And just how do we do that?’

She did not appear to notice his sarcasm but continued to walk beside him, shoulders hunched and a frowning look upon her face.

‘Just at present I do not know, but once I have spoken to Lord Kennington—’

‘Heaven and earth, you ain’t going to tell ’im we searched Miesel’s rooms?’

‘But of course!’

‘Then you don’t tell ’im I was helping you! If his lordship knew I had let you put yourself in so much danger—’

‘Well he cannot do anything to you since he does not know where you are,’ reasoned Lucasta.

He gave a groan.

‘The sooner I get you home the better, miss.’

‘Yes, I think so, too,’ came the sunny reply. ‘The only thing is, well, would you mind coming to the back of the house with me? You see, I used an upturned pail to get over the wall, and I do not think I can get back in without help.’

‘It must be near midnight,’ whispered Lucasta, as they walked along the alley at the rear of Sophia Street.

‘I hope you are keeping count of these houses,’ grumbled Jacob. There’s no telling which one is which from this side.’

‘Oh you need not worry, I left a lamp burning in my bedroom window – look, there it is.’ She hurried on a few
more paces and stopped. ‘This is where I climbed over. Help me up, Jacob—’

‘Oh no you don’t!’

Lucasta gave a little scream as the strange voice boomed out of the darkness.

‘What the— Who’s there?’ demanded Jacob, moving closer to Lucasta.

‘More to the point, who have we here?’ demanded the voice and Lucasta gave another little cry as a heavy hand fell on her shoulder.

‘What in— Get your hands off me!’ cried Jacob, struggling with the dark figure.

‘Oh ho, don’t you try to resist arrest, my man. I’m taking you back to Bow Street.’

‘A Runner!’ exclaimed Lucasta. ‘But – but you cannot arrest us! We have done nothing wrong.’

‘That’s humbug, when I’ve seen you with me own eyes!’

‘You couldn’t have done!’ exclaimed Jacob wrathfully.

‘That’s where you are wrong. I’ve been following you from Cheapside where I saw
you
, me lad, cutting a sham with the widow lady while your young accomplice here did a spot o’ breaking and entering.’

‘That’s not true because there was nothing to break,’ retorted Lucasta, wriggling again to try to shake off the restraining hand. ‘The doors were not locked.’

‘Now don’t you try to get clever with me, my lad. I’m an officer of the law.’

Lucasta stopped struggling.

‘Who set you on?’ she demanded.

‘That, my lad, is none of your—’

‘Was it the Duchess of Filwood?’ asked Lucasta, ignoring him. ‘She said she would appoint someone. You may as well tell us, for it cannot be a secret.’

‘As a matter of fact, it was on her grace’s orders …’

‘I knew it!’ exclaimed Lucasta, clapping her hands. ‘So you can release us now, sir, for you are on our side.’ The heavy hand on her shoulder did not lift.

‘The law,’ said the voice impressively, ‘does not take sides.’

Lucasta gave a sigh of exasperation. ‘I am Miss Symonds and well acquainted with her grace – she may even have told you about me. And this is Lord Kennington’s groom.’

‘Ah. Now I recall there
was
some mention of a groom.’

At last the grip on her shoulder relaxed, but rather than showing gratitude, she demanded angrily, ‘So why are you here with us, instead of watching the true culprit?’

‘Well, miss, maybe that’s because I ain’t yet sure who is the real culprit. You see, I was down in Cheapside, keeping an eye on a certain Mr Miesel when I sees you two coming to his abode and acting most suspicious. So when you leaves, I follows you, see and finds you acting even more suspicious here.’

‘But I live here,’ explained Lucasta.

‘Then why don’t you go in by the front door, like any Christian lady?’

‘Well – well, I do not want anyone to see me dressed like this.’

‘And there’s another question.’ The voice was beginning to deepen again. ‘What is a young lady doing dressed in those togs?’

‘I think this is going to be a long story,’ put in Jacob. ‘Do you think we could find somewhere else to discuss this?’

‘Aye,’ growled the voice. ‘I think I had best take you both to Bow Street.’

‘No, I have a much better idea,’ said Lucasta, thinking quickly. ‘We should all go inside. I could order you a hot drink, or a jug of ale,’ she added persuasively.

‘And just how are we to get in, miss?’

‘Why over the wall, of course.’

The shadowy figure drew itself up to an impressive height.

‘It would not be conducive with my calling for me to be climbing over walls.’

‘Well, how would it be if I climbed over the wall and you and Jacob could call at the front door? By the time you have been shown in I will have changed into a gown and be fit to receive you. What do you say?’

‘That sounds like a very good plan,’ said Jacob, whose injured thigh was beginning to ache.

The voice was not too sure.

‘How do I know you will not run away again?’

‘Because I
live
here,’ she said patiently. ‘Besides, even if I did run away you would still have Mr Potts, now, wouldn’t you?’

‘No.’ The voice was suddenly decisive. ‘I don’t think I can do that, miss. I have only your word that you lives here: I might be helping you to commit a felony.’

She bit back a sharp retort.

‘Very well,’ she said, ‘we must all go to Filwood House!’