‘You mean for assassinations,’ said the Portuguese woman coolly, sounding like someone who knew exactly how that world worked.
Petrovna nodded. ‘I would’ve screamed but nobody could know I was there. The diplomatic repercussions were too horrible. Lorenzo left me in the room and the next thing I knew he was back, telling me he had removed the problem of thecomtessetoo in case her husband had told her what he planned to do with the report. He’d even brought oil with him to burn the place down. I was shocked– horrified. They were my friends.’
Julien spat at her feet. ‘That to your friendship!’
‘Then you killed him,’ prompted Jacob.
‘Of course! It was the only thing I could do. He was out of control, rabid like a dog, so I shot him and made it look like suicide. Then I left.’ She looked down at the ground, but then the righteousness of her actions came back to her. ‘I did what was necessary and we must do the same now. We must stop Percy. Napoleon must invade Russia.’
‘What is going on?’ murmured the countess. ‘What is everyone talking about?’
‘Murder, ma’am,’ said Jacob. ‘I’m afraid we are going to deprive you of your companion. Your husband has arranged for the arrest of Miss Petrovna and her two accomplices at the embassy on the charge of high treason against the Russian State. Her desire to protect Russia may have been laudable to her paymasters but the means were not. She was party to the killing of a valuable source of information and then tried to kill her superior when he started asking questions about her mishandling of the affair. It was your husband she tried to kill at Vauxhall Gardens, in order to cover up her mistakes. She will leave here in chains. I hope that is enough?’ he asked Julien. ‘It avoids further scandal for your family and your friends.’ He gestured to Henry. His bank should now be safe from further rumours.
Julien nodded. He looked sick at heart, unable to find the words to express his loss.
‘But I’m a patriot!’ protested Miss Petrovna as three burly men from the Russian delegation entered.
‘What are Igor, Alexei and Dimitri doing here?’ burbled the countess.
‘They are here to take Miss Petrovna away and charge her with treason,’ repeated Jacob.
‘He is more patient with her than I would be,’ murmured Jane in Dora’s ear.
‘I did it for Russia!’ shouted Miss Petrovna.
‘When did trying to kill us, the investigators looking for thecomte’s report, become patriotic?’ asked Jacob.
‘When you looked like you would do what you have done tonight– let Napoleon know his mistake!’
‘If you had left us alone, Count Vorontsov would not have grown suspicious. Ask yourself this: when you fired on your own senior officer at the concert on Vauxhall Gardens, did you do it for Russia or for yourself?’
Her expression shuttered. ‘I saw the opportunity to take out many of my enemies, so I seized it. In war one must make sacrifices.’
‘And it had nothing to do with the uncomfortable questions the count was asking about the activities of your two servants? He had begun to get suspicious when I told him about the hidden report and he’d started watching you, hadn’t he? You knew he was going to expose you as an accomplice to the murderers, didn’t you?’
She folded her arms but found these seized from behind and her hands tied at the wrists, a cloak put over her shoulders to conceal that she was under arrest. Her usually attractive face was now twisted with an expression of cold fury.
‘You are all traitors– all of you! The few lives I have taken are nothing to the thousands that will be lost in the war, thanks to you!’
‘That’s my cue,’ Dora said to Jane. She then moved to the front of the gathering. ‘You are mistaken, Miss Petrovna. You have not been paying attention. You heard Dr Sandys swear on his honour that the print contained a copy of thecomte’s report in his own handwriting. That is true. What he did not say is that I made the copy using an aptitude I have for… er… replicating the handwriting of others if I have a sample before me. I copied the report. Mr Percy will think it the genuine article. I may, however, have made a few changes in some important areas, like the fact that Napoleon will win if he invades now and that the Tsar will sue for peace before hereaches Moscow, little things like that.’
‘The devil is in the detail,’ said Jacob, coming to stand beside her.
Miss Petrovna sagged in the grip of her Russian guards, much of the fight leaving her. ‘At least you did that.Bien. I do not regret what I have done, and I am sorry for your loss,’ she said to Julien as she was led away.
Thornbury went to the front of the room and held up a hand to stop the chatter of the delegates left behind. ‘As you see, my dear colleagues, you have been party to a sleight of hand that will hopefully change the course of the war. Miss Petrovna was right about one thing. Utmost secrecy is paramount, at least until Napoleon is too far committed to turn back. I would suggest you keep this information on a strict need-to-know basis and consider twice if you should share it with anyone beyond this room. Hint, if you must, to your capitals, but keep the Comte D’Antraigues’s name out of it until his prediction is proved true or false. Do I have your agreement?’
Jacob bent down to Dora’s level to say in a low voice. ‘I think we can leave the diplomats to their wrangling. Our work here is done.’
She nodded, grateful that the highwire act they had plotted with a faked report and a trick to get the French to buy it, had gone off with no one plunging to their death. ‘Will she pay?’
‘For thecomteandcomtesse? Probably not. However, the count will not look so kindly on her shooting at him and his wife. That will earn her a severe penalty, if not death.’ He looked serious, contemplating the aftermath. ‘I think it likely there will be no trial, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she has an unfortunate accident at sea or a fall from a high window in the Kremlin. Regrettably, the Russians can be ruthless.’
‘She was ruthless in her turn,’ said Dora.
‘Yes, she was. The boy’s death at Vauxhall Gardens is on her tally, and it could have been much worse.’
They rejoined the party, the other guests oblivious to the drama happening downstairs. Jacob went off to thank theother performers as well as his friend Knighton, leaving Dora alone with Jane for a moment. The two women stood together watching the people milling around, the flirting, the whispered arguments, the cuts direct, and the teasing.
