‘But that’s confidential!’
‘Why?’ asked Jane in her reasonable tone. ‘What have you to hide?’
‘Why, nothing! It is only that… in business, you can’t go sharing secrets as to how you make the magic happen.’
‘It’s nothing to do with trade secrets, let alone magic,’ said Dora. ‘He wants to keep the books private because he doesn’t pay everyone equally but only what he thinks they will accept.’ She knew full well this was how the entertainment world worked. She had been paid less than her male colleagues despite being the bigger draw at the box office. The Mr Pierces of the world were everywhere in the profession.
‘Well, yes!’ He didn’t even look ashamed by that fact.
‘When it comes to attempted murder, I think such niceties should be abandoned, don’t you?’
‘Attempted murder? No one said anything about that!’
‘They soon will be. If you want to keep out of this, you’d better tell us what you know and be rid of us. If we must sit here and summon a Bow Street runner to explain our case, then things will get a lot more complicated.’ She had no intention of calling on the runners, but he wasn’t to know that. Gently bred ladies would think the runners were allies, not the obstacles that she usually found them to be.
He stared at her, gauging her resolution. Finding she wasn’t to be moved until she got what she came for, he groaned and threw up his hands. ‘All right, all right. But this goes no further, agreed?’
That suited her. They didn’t want the person in question to get wind that they were on their trail. ‘The contract?’
With no good humour, he pulled a file out of his desk drawer and leafed through the pages until he came to the right one. ‘John Smith of Barnes Terrace.’ He frowned. ‘My clerk filled it out but that doesn’t sound right. I thought he was German or something foreign.’
‘Then it is safe to assume that was an alias. Who suggested you hired him?’
‘Madame Catalani, of course.’
Dora could not see the world-famous soprano behind this plot. ‘And who recommended him to her?’
He grimaced. ‘The Russian woman, Yekatarina Petrovna. She said she knew someone who could fire a gun.’
‘I bet she did,’ said Dora.
Chapter Thirty-One
Downing Street
In his cupboard of an office, Thornbury was practically dancing on the spot as he read the report.
‘We are going to win!’ He bumped into a pile of papers but didn’t care as they cascaded to the floor. ‘Did you read this? Of course you did!’
Jacob watched him with amusement as the Second Senior Clerk to the minister capered. ‘If you read on, you’ll see that the latecomtedid caution that the American War might endanger that outcome, tying up the armies when we need them most, that we might not win that engagement.’
‘Yes, yes, but picture the map of Europe, once Napoleon’s for the taking. He has pushed his rule to almost every corner of the continent and now he is overreaching. Look how he is neglecting the Peninsular Campaign where Wellington is making headway in Spain and Portugal while he concentrates on the north, aiming to reach Moscow to teach the Tsar a lesson. Napoleon’s grand army will not be so grand once he marches it into the Russian countryside. We had thought as much ourselves. Manyof us believe Bonaparte will do the prudent thing and halt once the winter arrives and wait for spring, but the latecomtethinks he won’t be able to resist chasing after the retreating Russians like a hound on a scent that takes him tumbling over a cliff. Wily old Kutuzov knows this and has the guts to bank on it.’
‘That’s about the sum of it. Thornbury, may I ask why you put so much store in thecomte’s view? If others are speculating this might be the outcome, why is this report worth killing for?’
The Foreign Office man finally sat down and reverently spread the report out before him. ‘It is all to do with his reputation. Have you ever known a man who can predict the rise and fall of the market, the one who makes you thousands and saves you from great losses?’
‘If I knew such a man, I’d be much richer than I am today.’
‘Wouldn’t we all? But D’Antraigues was like this for events on the continent. At first, we were sceptical that this émigré blown in from Germany could know anything, but time after time his opinion proved correct. Why else did we pay him his pension and put up with his ways, calling on the Foreign Secretary as if they were old school friends?’
‘Did you know he was shopping this report around and looking for another paymaster?’
Thornbury looked a little uncomfortable. ‘The First Senior Clerk did mention something like this to me a few days ago when I asked to see the file. There would’ve been ructions in the department if D’Antraigues had gone ahead with his stupid auction, calls for his pension to be cancelled, so I doubt he would’ve done so when push came to shove.’
A gust of irritation blew through Jacob. ‘And you only mention this now?’
‘It never happened and was only a rumour. I didn’t want to slander the dead.’
