Page 64 of Kiss Me Lady One More Time
“I did, Miss, but she’s asked to see you.”
Her stomach fluttered. “Please, show her in.”
She stood as Mrs. Caradec strode in. “You found something?”
“We’ve foundhim.You were right. Asking about the two large brothers from the north did the trick. Lycett is at the Pelican in Wapping, with the pair of them.”
Penelope wrung her hands. They moved to sit, and Mrs. Caradec leaned in. “What do you want to do about it? I can have him taken up by the constables and left with a magistrate, if you want to press charges.”
“I want to speak to him,” Penelope told her. “And if I’m right about his involvement with the theft, I don’t wish to tip his compatriots off.” She lifted her chin. “If he’s with the Curtis brothers, then that makes it even more likely that I’ve been right. I want to knowwhy.”
“Tensford and the rest don’t think the money he could make would offset the risk.”
“I know. But I keep going back to something that Lady Tresham said. She said it felt like a personal affront to Tensford.”
“And does Lycett have something personal against the earl?”
“No. Not that I know of, but someone who does might have convinced him to do it.”
“It might have been Stillwater. In which case, you are all right and we’ll find the fossil at the event tonight, most likely.”
“That is possible,” she agreed. “But what if it is wrong? Shouldn’t we cover both possibilities?”
Mrs. Caradec thought it over. “I cannot fault your logic.” Her tone turned candid. “But I doubt you will convince any of the rest of them.”
“I’ve convinced you, though.”
“Yes, and I think it would be a bad idea to wait to act on our new information. There’s no guarantee that Lycett will stay at the Pelican.” She frowned. “We need a plan. And a bit of help.”
Penelope stood. “Would you mind coming upstairs? I’ve something to show you.”
In her room, she opened her wardrobe and hung a gown on each open door.
Mrs. Caradec stared. “You had two different costumes made?”
“Yes. It was a notion that struck me. The girl that followed us—the blonde who reported to Lycett—she saw me in the beginnings of the peacock gown. I just could not shake the idea that it might be handy to have one that couldn’t be so easily identified.”
“It was a canny notion.” Mrs. Caradec narrowed her eyes. “You can turn the idea around, as well. Someone else can wear it and pretend to be you.”
“Oh,” she breathed.
“Let me think a moment,” the other woman commanded.
Penelope nodded and watched the woman pace.
“Listen,” Mrs. Caradec said eventually. “We can do both, working together. But we’ll need one more. One of the men. I’m not letting you gallivant about, alone. Will Sterne step up, if you ask him?”
Her heart shrinking, she shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know. But I might convince Whiddon to do it. He’ll think it’s a lark.”
“I’ll need a few of my people, as well. Let me go and make some arrangements, then I will be back.” She looked sober. “We have a chance to handle this quickly and quietly. I would rather keep Hope out of it, though. I know it will be hard not to tell her, but I don’t want to risk her. Not now.”
“I agree, wholeheartedly.” She reached for the woman’s hand. “Thank you, so much. For your help. And for your willingness to listen.”
They conferred a moment longer, then she penned a note to Whiddon and gave it over to a footman as she walked Mrs. Caradec downstairs to bid her goodbye. Her steps were slow as she went back up the stairs to her room, though her mind was whirling. Still lost in thought, she was standing in the middle of the room when a knock came at the door.
“I’m sorry to disturb you again, Miss, but this was left for you. I thought you would like to know, right away.”
Inside the package was a book, with a sprig of dried heather tucked inside.The Old Norse Invasion: A Myriad of Ways the English Language Adapted to Political Strife.
