“Surely he’s not one of the leaders,” said Wrexford.
Sir Darius pursed his lips. “He has charm and guile.”
Wrexford took a moment to absorb what he had just heard. “I still say he’s not one of the leaders. I have witnesses who say Copley put him on an East India merchant ship, and I would guess it was to keep his mouth shut.”
Sir Darius raised a questioning brow. “Are you sure Mather actually departed?”
A grim silence was his only answer.
“Whoever is heading it, this illicit consortium needs to be stopped,” pressed Jiang. “Else it threatens the relations between our two empires, and at a very delicate time, considering Parliament’s recent Charter Act.”
“I think I have a way of accomplishing that,” replied the earl. He shuffled the documents back in order and slid them across to Sir Darius. “However, I may have to bend a few legalities to do so.”
“There are times when it’s necessary for legalities to be flexible,” came Sir Darius’s measured answer. “The Foreign Office is aware of your previous help in eliminating a betrayal that would have greatly embarrassed the government, and would welcome your assistance once again.” A cough. “But this time, do try to avoid burning down half of London.”
* * *
Raven squirmed as Charlotte tucked an unruly tangle of hair behind his ear. “I’m not going to take tea with His Majesty, m’lady. I’m simply acting as the errand boy.”
“Nonetheless, you must look like a proper servant of an earl,” she retorted. “Show me your hands—and they had better be well scrubbed.”
He mumbled a word that earned him a sharp rebuke from McClellan. “Say that again in m’lady’s presence and you’ll be eating soap for supper for the next month.”
Their nerves were all on edge, thought Charlotte, forcing herself to draw a steadying breath. It was Raven who was tasked with putting their plan in motion. And while she conceded that the idea was clever and posed little risk for the boy, she couldn’t entirely put aside the knowledge that a man lay dead for daring to oppose their enemy.
“Sorry,” said Raven, holding out his hands for inspection. His fingernails were shockingly clean, considering what unmentionable substances were usually embedded beneath them.
Charlotte smiled. “Excellent. Do try to arrive at the earl’s townhouse without them coming to grief.”
He rolled his eyes, impatient to be off.
Death had been a frequent visitor to the slums in which the boys had spent their early childhood, and they possessed an unruffled acceptance that his shadow was part of everyday life. To Raven, this was an exciting adventure, but she felt as if she was sending him into the maw of a monster.
She pulled him into a fierce hug. “Be careful.”
McClellan flashed her a sympathetic look. “Aye, Weasel. You arenotto stray a step from His Lordship’s orders. Let us hear them once again before you go.”
The boy made a pained face. “Be assured, every word is chiseled into my skull.”
The maid crossed her arms. “Then it will only take you a moment to recite them.”
A sigh. “When I arrive at Lord Wrexford’s townhouse, I will dress in the bootboy’s fancy livery—no matter that I’ll look like a street fiddler’s monkey—and then His Lordship’s carriage will take me to East India House . . .”
Charlotte repressed a shudder.
“Where I’ll wave a note festooned with the earl’s impressive wax seals under the nose of the head porter and demand to be taken to Lord Copley’s office, as His Lordship has given me strict orders that it must be handed to the director’s private secretary.”
That would get the boy into the bowels of the building. And then...
“And then?” prompted McClellan.
“And then, as the minion starts to escort me back to the entrance hall,” recited Raven, “I’ll begin to squirm and whine that I desperately need a pisspot, else I might have to relieve myself on one of the precious marble statues lining the corridors.”
Wrexford had come up with a clever ruse, admitted Charlotte. She doubted any of the attendants would dare risk the wrath of a superior by allowing the boy to befoul the Company’s decorative art.
“Once I’m directed down to the basement . . .” Tyler’s inquiries among his various friends had provided them with an accurate layout of East India House. “I’ll find the first storage room that faces out on Lime Street, unlock the window, and put a wooden wedge under the frame, so that the earl can get inside the building later tonight.”
“What if the attendant insists on escorting you to the basement?” asked Charlotte.
