The Royal Scamp (22 page)

Joshua turned Fletcher over to the runner and rushed to Esther. He grabbed her by the arms first, then pulled her tightly against his chest, one hand stroking her back.

“Are you all right, darling? Did he hurt you?”
He looked down at her, and she saw the love and fear glowing in his eyes.

“No, I’m all right,”
she assured him.

Josh’s fear gave way to relief and was soon finding an outlet in anger. “Why did you go bumbling upstairs? We had everything set! You might have been killed,”
he scolded. The sting of his words was softened by a reassuring hug.

“You should have told me!”
Esther exclaimed.

“I didn’t want you involved.”

“Not involved? He was staying at my inn! I was more involved than anyone.”

“Yes, you were happy to involve yourself with a blasted criminal. Running off to London with him. Why do you think I had this ball? To get him away from your inn for the capture!”

“I knew you weren’t having it for me.”

“I had it to get that creature out of your inn. I didn’t want to have him arrested there, and shoot up half your customers.”

Clifford nudged Joshua with his elbow. “My lad’s taking Fletcher into the roundhouse. I’m going after Meecham and the sister. Are you coming with me? Not that I need help to arrest a woman. The sly minx. I know what face I’ll see under her mask. The same blond lightskirt who gave Johnnie an alibi at the Black Knight. I knew when Miss Lowden told me she was a blonde who she was. That’s why she’s been at such pains to avoid showing herself—never leaving her room unless she had Fletcher run downstairs first to see I wasn’t around.”

“I doubt she is his sister,”
Joshua said. “His bit of muslin is more like it.”

Esther remembered the loving laughter from Cathy’s room, and Beau’s treatment of her, which was more uxorious than anything else. “The wretch! I wager he has no intention of buying the inn.”

“I should hope not!”
Joshua exclaimed.

“Are you coming or no?”
Clifford demanded.

“I’ll take Miss Lowden into the house.”

“I’m going with Clifford,”
Esther said.

“That you are not, missie. One debacle a night is enough,”
Clifford told her. “Take her away,”
he said to Joshua, in much the same tone he had used to his minion for the removal of Captain Johnnie.

Clifford shook his head as the young couple went toward the Abbey, arguing like a pair of fishwives.

It was four o’clock in the morning before the ball was over and the guests retired. Other than Lady Altrane and Lady Sumner, no one was aware of what had happened in their rooms and outside the Abbey. Those stalwart dames had volunteered their services, with the proviso that paste replicas of their treasures be used for the deception. They had no fear for their lives, as they were instructed by Officer Clifford to hand the jewels over without an argument.

Clifford’s hirelings posed as their footmen for the visit. The ladies also submitted to being tied and gagged, on the understanding that Joshua would send a servant to untie them as soon as the Scamp had left the house. The rooms on either side of theirs were occupied by listening helpers. Lady Sumner had some hopes of a kiss from the midnight bandit for a reward, but was disappointed. Captain Johnnie used some discrimination in that matter.

Buck took Lady Brown and Lady Gloria back to the inn with him, and Esther remained behind to await Meecham’s return.

“Joshua will drive me home soon, Auntie. Don’t wait up for me,”
Esther said

This unusual procedure found no objection from the hopeful matchmaker. She wouldn’t have objected if Esther had said she meant to move into the Abbey as a laundress. Joshua could do no wrong. “Don’t be too late”
was her only warning.

It was already four-thirty before Meecham and Clifford came back to relate the final outcome of the affair and straighten out a few details. Joshua called for coffee, in an attempt to keep everyone’s eyes open another half hour.

“How long have you known Fletcher was Captain Johnnie?”
Esther asked Clifford.

“He was the prime suspect from day one.”

“But he had an alibi for the time of the Higginses’
attack.”

“That one wasn’t Captain Johnnie’s work,”
he told her. “There are plenty of scamps on the heath, many of them using Johnnie’s tricks. The minute he conned you into showing him all the nooks and crannies of your inn, Fletcher rose to the top of my list. He pulled the same stunt at the Black Knight and hid his loot in the attic. The girl he calls his sister, Cathy Barker, gave him his alibi at the Black Knight, which put me off a little. Actually she was his accomplice in the gold robbery.”

“She isn’t his sister?”
Esther asked.

“She is Fletcher’s light-o’-love and, sometimes, his accomplice. London is her usual ground, but she follows Johnnie about here and there. She knew I would recognize her, so kept her phiz hidden when he brought her here. Her papa was the famous highwayman, Black Barker. She comes by her calling honestly.”

“She won’t hang,”
Meecham said, “but she’ll do a stretch at Bridewell. It was Fletcher who shot the guards on the gold wagon. The night he went to London, ostensibly to fetch her, they met at the Black Knight and went after the gold. I fancy she is the one who learned it was moving at that time.”

“The likes of Johnnie and his woman have helpers in critical places,”
Clifford said. “They could have been in league with one of the guards he shot. The man would tip him the clue as to when the gold was moving, planning to get his share. That is the likeliest thing—then Johnnie got rid of the weak link and kept all the gold for himself. The girl confessed they hid it not far from where he ditched the carriage in the Thames. She’s giving evidence to save her own skin. No honor among thieves, whatever they may say.”

“Is Fletcher an ex-navy man?”
Esther asked.

“The Admiralty has no record of a Captain Fletcher. There was a seaman of the name, posted to Canada.”

“He did seem to know something about Canada,”
she remembered.

“As Seaman Fletcher is a deserter, I figure he’s our man. That would explain why he planned his getaway by boat tonight. He had a tidy skiff anchored at the bottom of the Abbey cliff, manned by his groom. I had him followed when he took you to London, Miss Lowden. He made a visit to the docks.”

“He said he had some importing business to look into.”

“That is when he arranged for the boat, so we knew how he planned his getaway,”
Clifford continued. “Young Meecham tethered his mount in the park to go after them if they evaded us here at the house. We were set to pounce on them as they crawled out the window, but of course when we saw they had you with them, we had to improvise.”
A glint of annoyance from his brown eyes was the only chastisement Esther received.

She returned the glint with interest. “I wouldn’t have been with them if you had told me what was going on!”

“We wanted you to behave normally, as you had befriended the couple,”
Meecham explained. “We didn’t want you to reveal, involuntarily, that you knew.”

“Normal behavior in abnormal circumstances can prove a trifle hazardous,”
Esther pointed out.

Clifford resumed his explanation. “You will find, when you get home, Miss Lowden, that the pair of them cleared out their rooms. Had their things smuggled into his carriage and taken to London, pretending the carriage needed repairs. They had no intention of even paying their shot at your inn, but if you submit your bill, I’ll see it’s paid from his funds. He has plenty of them here and there. He’d planned to leave his white mount behind. A small price to pay for what he might have gotten away with this night.”

Esther nodded. “He has a gold locket of mine I’d like to recover. It belonged to my mother. I still don’t know who was sleeping in my attic. That wouldn’t have been Fletcher, when he had his own suite and Cathy hers.”

“Surely it was him, throwing a few red herrings in our path. He never slept a wink there, but only made up a mattress and tossed a few wine bottles about to make us think it was some outsider. And the cigar butt, as he don’t smoke. He’d have picked it up around the hotel somewhere. He’s full of twists, that one. He stuffs his lanky shoulders with wadding when he goes out robbing, to make his victims think he’s a big lad, and of course the cape and hat add a touch of drama.”

“I wonder where he got the capes and hats tonight.”

“I was keeping an eye on him,”
Meecham said. “I noticed he and the woman went outside, and after they went back in, I had a look around. Two capes and hats were hidden in the shrubbery. The pistols must have been wrapped up in the capes. I daresay their man from the boat—Fletcher’s groom cum valet—smuggled those items up to the Abbey.”

Esther was aware that Meecham’s laughing eyes were often trained on her as they talked. “I’m sorry I accused you, Mr. Meecham,”
she said. “Your timely arrival at the inn and rather suspicious behaviour led me astray.”

“I told you why I went creeping into Fletcher’s room—to see if he was there.”

“I heard you were making inquiries in the taproom when you first arrived, and suddenly you and Joshua were old friends,”
Esther prodded.

“Our friendship is much older, actually. Josh and I discussed my coming in London. He’s been trying to capture Captain Johnnie for a year now. I have no official capacity, but he thought a pair of ears at the inn might be helpful, and of course another rider with him on the heath at night. He thought my army experience might be useful. It was a venture after my own heart. As an old army type, I miss the excitement of the chase. Josh thought his importing an officer might alert Johnnie to what he was up to, so we decided we were new friends.”

Esther looked at Joshua, no longer surprised that this stalwart gentleman was accustomed to taking to the heath.

“Don’t ask why I didn’t tell you,”
Josh said. “You spent half your time in Fletcher’s pocket. We didn’t want you dropping any hints. Paul was posing as a connection of mine to account for our necessarily being together, but we didn’t want it known that I had sent for him specifically to trap the highwayman. In fact, I would have preferred it if his army past could remain unknown as well, but you soon ferreted out that secret, Esther, and rather than raise a mystery, we decided to admit to it."

Esther decided not to take offense and turned again to Meecham. “I did wonder, you know, when I saw you down at my old abandoned barn and learned of your secret tours of the attic and cellars.”

“I was merely trying to see what use Johnnie planned to put them to. The evidence suggests he used the barn for some of his early work. I think the wine, however, was not stolen from your inn, but from the Black Knight. Clifford checked it for us, and they use the same sort. Once you set a guard on your stable, he had to abandon it and had mounts forwarded from the Black Knight. Half the horseflesh in the stable there is his. Your cellar was no good, as it had no outside door, and Buck was so often in his office, guarding the secret passage.”

“He seemed more interested in the attics. I recall he asked several questions about whether I planned to use them during the coming boxing match. Why did you go to the heath when I set my poor trap?”
Esther asked. “Surely you didn’t think such an obvious trick would trap the Scamp?”

“It was his trip to London—that is, to the Black Knight to meet his ‘sister,’—that decided us he might tackle your imaginary Wrothams that night. It was worth a try at least,”
Meecham explained.

“And why did you barricade your room door against me?—doing considerable damage to the door frame, I might add.”

“Not against you! Against the Scamp. My room was searched the day after I arrived.”

“That was Buck!”
Esther said, and turned pink at the admission.

Meecham ignored it, like a gentleman, and continued. “I had a few bits and pieces I didn’t want him to see. Well, the cape and mask for one thing. Josh and I wore them when we went patrolling the heath. Josh is such a modest fellow, he didn’t want his neighbors recognizing him.”

“Yes, indeed,”
Esther agreed ironically. “He is so modest, he didn’t even want you to know the masquerade party was in your honor, Mr. Meecham, and let on it was for me.”

“When Mr. Clifford found those items suspicious, we came up with the idea of a masquerade ball,”
he said.

“I still found it suspicious,”
Clifford exclaimed.

“Yes, and that is why we finally had to take you into our confidence,”
Josh explained. “We would have done so sooner, but I know the runners’
view on civilian interference. You would have forbidden us to ride out after Johnnie on our own.”

“There’s one thing I still want to discover from you, Meecham,”
Esther said. “Why did you enter your room by a ladder the first night you were at the inn? That is what initially set you up as a suspect.”

“And it was designed to do just the opposite.”
Meecham laughed. “Josh rode out to meet me as I came from London. We saw the Higginses straggling toward town and assumed they had fallen victim to Johnnie. I mentioned to Josh that if I landed in at the inn two steps behind them, I might be suspected. I was a newcomer to town and rode a dark mount. I had left the inn at a time that made me the possible perpetrator. Josh suggested I slip in the window and pretend I had been in my room for some time. I do like the fresh air and leave my window open when I’m a safe distance from the ground. The ladder was there....”

“And you hadn’t yet discovered the trick of using the quoins as stairs.”
Esther smiled.

“True, I only learned that after I knew it was ineligible to leave a rope hanging. It wouldn’t normally be seen at night, but with the sharp-eyed Miss Lowden on guard, it was unwise.”

Clifford rose and stretched his arms. “Any further details can wait till morning. I don’t know about the rest of you, but this old carcass is for the feather tick.”

“This one as well,”
Meecham added, and they left together.

Esther sighed and said to Joshua, “This aging parcel of flesh and bones is about ready for bed as well. Shall we go, Josh?”