Page 61 of The Truth Serum
“So what have you discovered about the rifles?”
That was Lord Benedict. His mind leaped from one topic to the next faster than lightning. It was up to the rest of the world to keep up.
“Nate?” the man pressed.
“I’ve barely started investigating. Madame Joguet isn’t involved.” He’d learned that from Frid this morning. “Something is happening between Monsieur and Baron Courbis, but I don’t know what. I have my contact looking in the obvious places, but I’ll need to do a thorough search of his office soon. He has that locked drawer in his desk and the hidden safe in the floorboards.”
“Do you think it’s him?”
“Courbis has easy access to the weapons, but he needs a way to smuggle them out. We know Monsieur has had bad gambling losses lately.”
“He has? I haven’t heard that.”
Nate flashed him a smug look. “That’s what I’ve been doing since the ball. Been compiling a list of people abruptly in difficult financial circumstances.” He’d visited nearly gaming hell in town. Fortunately, lounging at a table did not require him to do anything on his feet. Though damn, it had been hell on his ribs.
“Show me,” Benedict said.
Nate fished a piece of paper out of his pocket and passed it over. Benedict scanned it, then secreted it away on his own person.
“You never cease to amaze me,” Benedict said. “I cannot understand how you get this information.”
Nate shrugged. “People like talking to me, and they trust me not to tell.” Which, for the most part, was true. He didn’t tell anyone but Benedict. And Benedict didn’t care…unless the information involved gun running or any other form of treason.
“Very well,” Benedict said with a satisfied nod. “You think Baron Courbis and Monsieur Joguet are joining forces.”
“It’s a possibility. Monsieur needs money, and I don’t like Courbis.” But that had more to do with the man’s interest in Becca than anything else. “Either way, we need to know what Monsieur’s new venture is.”
Benedict set aside his empty stew bowl. For a man who generally had refined tastes, he did enjoy plain fare sometimes. They both did because they both remembered times when there’d been no food at all.
“When can you search his home?” Benedict asked.
Nate sighed. He needed to rest. He’d been pushing his ribs and feet lately. But he also needed something to occupy him beyond brooding over Becca.
“I’ll go tomorrow night,” he said.
“And I’ll keep a couple people watching the docks. Maybe they’ll find something.”
“And maybe they’ll be knocked on the head and thrown into the Thames.”
Benedict shrugged. “They’re street boys, Nate. Quick and easily overlooked. Unlike a nob in his thirties loitering where he doesn’t belong.”
“I wasn’t dressed as a nob.”
“Either way, you’re too valuable to lose because you’ve caught a chill in the dark. Or had to go swimming in the Thames to save your life.”
Nate wanted to object, but he knew Benedict had a point. He’d survived that dockside attack by sheer luck. He could have died in several ways that night. And he was still feeling theeffects of it three weeks later. Full health would likely take a month or more.
“Think about marriage, Nate. You could step out of the shadows and into an official position.”
“With a wife.” It wasn’t a question. Benedict had said as much.
“They’re useful creatures. For both of us.”
Nate shook his head. He’d given up on Becca. She was in his past now. But that didn’t mean he was ready to embrace another woman.
“It’s a lifetime commitment,” he said. “I’m not going to do it just to get a job.”
“You’ve been invaluable to the war effort, but we are going to defeat Napoleon eventually. Sooner or later, we won’t need you to skulk about getting us information on troop movements. What will you do then?”
