“Sweet suffering Jesus.”
The pale-eyed man chuckled. “Hope the royal couple prayed to him before bedtime. They sleep on the same side of the house.”
Danny said, “But I thought the queen was our—”
“The Osborne plot came to nothing.” He shrugged. “Still, Victoria has nine children. Lots of tempting sport.”
Danny’s knee jumped like a piston. He drummed his boot heel against the oak platform, shifted in his seat, and scanned the pavements, side to side.
The driver shot him a look. “You’re nervous as a cat, boy-o.” He turned left onto Marlborough Road, pulled on the reins, and stopped the cart in the dark expanse between two pools of lamplight.
Danny looked around. “Why have we stopped?”
He cocked his thumb. “Time to slip into the back. The soldiers at the side gate expect one deliveryman, not two.”
“What if one of them searches the cabin and finds me?”
“No worries, mate.” He slid out a knife and returned it to the sheath hidden in his boot. “Let’s go.”
The driver led Danny to the wagon’s rear door and unlatched it. A mustachioed man’s dead eyes stared back at them.
“The unfortunate ‘son’ of Downey and Son,” the driver said. “Let’s move him aside, shall we? Make a little room for you.” He shoved the body back a foot. “Careful of the four cans on the right. Mustn’t spill the paraffin yet.” He bolted the door behind his passenger and returned to the driver’s seat. The wagon jolted forward and then rattled to a stop at the gate.
The driver let loose a rheumy, rattling cough. “Morning,” he wheezed to the guardsman on duty.
“You need a hot toddy, mate,” the soldier said, stepping back a pace. “You sound like death warmed over.”
“Funny you should say that.” The driver turned his face away, hacking. Then he jerked the reins and drove on. Another turn and the wagon rolled to a stop. The pale-eyed man’s boots crunched on the gravel as he rounded the wagon to open the cart’s back door.
“Right, Danny boy. Now, move two of those cans to where I can reach them.”
Danny shifted the galvanized containers to the door, andthey each hauled a can down the path and up the steps to the side door of the mansion.
“Dump it so the stream runs over the doorjamb and inside the house,” the driver whispered. “But be careful. Don’t get any on your boots.”
Danny removed the bunghole stopper, tipped the container, and stepped back. He repeated the process with the second can.
“Two more to go,” the driver said, inches from his companion’s ear.
Danny unloaded the last two containers from the back of the wagon.
“Stop here a minute,” the driver said, halting halfway to the door.
Danny set his can down and swiped his forehead with the stiff fabric of his sleeve.
“Funny thing about that plot against the queen.” The driver took off his milkman’s cap and clapped on his bowler. “There never was one.” A match illuminated his pale blue eyes as he applied the flame to a cloth-wrapped stick. “The chief peddled that fairy story to one person only. You.”
Danny turned to run. When the driver tossed the flaming stick, Danny’s paraffin-soaked smock ignited, and he lit up like a dried-out Christmas tree. The driver tipped the last can with the toe of his boot, and the stream fed the flames. Then he tossed his milkman’s cap and mustache into the fire and scrambled for cover.
Ghastly shrieks brought the guardsmen running from Marlborough’s gates. The driver slipped behind bushes surrounding the garden maze. The rail-thin man ripped off his jacket, exchanging his white outer smock with the overcoat he wore underneath. He made his way silently along the inner brick wall. He waited in the shadows at the side gate, listening for the coppers on the Marlborough House beat. A minute later, he heardthe crunch and spray of flying gravel as they dashed through the entrance and along the carriageway.
He adjusted his bowler, slipped through the gate, and turned right on Marlborough Road.No worries about being spotted,he thought, walking away at an easy clip.
The sentries only had eyes for the human torch writhing in agony.
CHAPTER 9
“Wake up, Doctor Julie.” Kate shook the doctor’s shoulder and then dragged open the drapes.
