T.F. Banks - The Emperor's assassin

The young lady struggled with a look of distress, then said in a slightly trembling voice, “Your recent legal triumph has proven you to be a man of unimpeachable integrity, Mr. Morton. And I was being entirely honest when I said I had long wanted to make your acquaintance.”

“Curiosity?”

“Perhaps. Was it not something like that that drew you here?”

Morton shrugged. “Something like.”

“Well, here we are, curious. The only way to satisfy our curiosity would be to have speech, I believe.”

Morton fought off the temptation. “I mean no offence, Miss Richardson, but I'm engaged in another matter of some importance, and my time is very short.”

“Ah,” she said. “And what foul crime calls the formidable Mr. Henry Morton today?”

“The murder of a lovely young woman, I regret to say.”

“Oh,” she said, “I'm sorry to hear it.”

“May I ask some questions?”

She nodded her assent.

“How many servants do you employ?”

“A good number. I will have a list drawn up.”

“And who else lives in the house?”

“Myself, the viscount, of course, my brother Lord Robert, and my aunt, Mrs. Eugenie Childers. I rather suspect Aunt Eugenie myself, though she is more than a little infirm and can't get around of her own-but she has an eye for a good painting.”

Morton smiled in spite of himself. “Might I see the room from which it was stolen?”

The viscount's study was shadowed by oak panelling and books. Morton was a bit abashed to find how widely his father read. The scent of pipe smoke emanated from carpet and furniture. Upon the desk were some neatly stacked papers beneath weights and an almost new blotter. All was perfectly ordered. Nothing was out of place but the missing painting, which was marked by a light rectangle upon one wall.

“Nothing else is missing?” Morton wondered.

“Not that we know of. The viscount would have to say, but the painting seems to be the only thing that was taken.” She stood tentatively by the door, as though this room were forbidden to her. She looked somewhat younger, hovering there so hesitantly.

Morton took a last look around the study. “I wonder how they got access to the house.”

“Through a service door that opens onto Whetstone Park, the street that runs behind. They broke a small window and managed to unlatch the door from there.”

“Would you have a servant show me?”

“I'll show you myself.”

They wound downstairs to the servants' domain, a world familiar to Morton. This was where his mother had been employed-perhaps where she had been seduced.

“Anyone new belowstairs?” Morton asked.

“No. Most have been with us forever. Charles, the footman who answered the door, joined us a little more than a year ago, I think. He would be the most recent addition.”

The glazier had already been by to repair the shattered pane, and all signs of the breakage had been swept away. Morton sighed. He looked briefly outside but found that the glazier's efforts had erased or muddied any signs of the burglary.

An hour was spent talking to servants, taking names and histories. None of them seemed the type, to Morton's practised eye, though he had been initially mistaken before. When done with the servants, he sat a moment alone. The afternoon was wearing on to early evening.

Caroline Richardson let herself into the room and took a seat on a divan.

“You look troubled,” she said.

Morton let his gaze wander over the opulent surroundings. He was troubled. What did this rather too perfect young woman want of him? “As you know, Miss Richardson, I am a Bow Street Runner in the employ of the Magistrate, Sir Nathaniel Conant. My livelihood is derived from rewards I receive for the conviction of criminals I have caught. I live alone in rooms I let-not uncomfortable, but not so lovely as this. I read, I attend the theatre, a small circle of friends takes up much of my time. I don't shoot-not at game, at any rate-nor do I spend summers in the country. I am a member of no clubs other than Gentleman John Jackson's Boxing Club, and I've only travelled abroad on one occasion, and I was, at the time, pursuing a murderer.” He looked at her, raising his hands a little. “That, in brief, Miss Richardson, is my life.”

“And you do a great deal of good within the city of London,” she said after a moment. “I'm told you are a friend of Lord Arthur Darley's.”

“We are acquainted.”

“He is a man well respected within prominent circles.” As she paused to consider, the look of trouble or distress passed over her face again, wrinkling her fine brow. But she took up his challenge, all the same. “I wish I could reveal something that would distinguish me from all the other young ladies of my station, but the truth is I cannot. I'm told that my conversation is adequate, my social graces barely so-I laugh at all the wrong things. My dancing is better, but I find it rather tedious. I play the piano with some artistry, though it is immodest of me to say so. My father despairs that I am not married, but I detest Almack's and the conniving seven dragons. Oh, and I paint-as does every other young lady of my acquaintance.” She looked at him rather directly. “I hope I have not imposed upon you overly, Mr. Morton. It is just that, since my mother passed away… well, I wanted to know who you were, and when I read in the Times of the recent events…” She shrugged.

“You read the papers?”

“Shh,” she said theatrically. “Of course not. What proper young lady would subject herself to the vulgar goings-on of the nation?”

Morton smiled. “It is most likely that the thief will advertise in the Morning Chronicle , describing the painting in some cryptic way that only someone who knows it well would recognise. This will allow him to deny possession should he be found. He will ask for a reward for the painting's return. I will look in recent editions of the Chronicle . Perhaps the thief has advertised his wares already.”

“Do you think there is any chance we will get it back?” she asked.

“There are some things that you can never get back, Miss Richardson,” Morton said. “But the painting? I think there is a good chance. Let me look into the matter a little more. I shall send you a note if I learn anything at all.”

They both rose of the same instant, then stood awkwardly. Their gazes kept sliding around the room, touching lightly on each other, then slipping quickly away.

“I'll see you to the door,” Miss Richardson said, so softly that Morton could barely hear. They went in silence to the entry hall.

Morton bowed as he left, then found himself out on the street. Behind him the lock ticked closed.

Arabella lounged on Morton's divan, her head propped upon a hand, the exquisite petals of her mouth hinting at dissatisfaction. Night spread over the city of London, a warm summer's night, close and dark and starless.

“If Madame Desmarches had merely been murdered, well then, I would suspect her lover, the Count d'Auvraye. But the thumbscrews-” She paused. “You know, Henry, there are men who gain pleasure from hurting women.”

“Yes, and if the count has this predilection, we will quickly uncover it. There are certain places in the city frequented by such men.”

“I suppose one must consider the countess: she might have found this woman a threat.”

“According to one of Madame Desmarches's domestics, the count had just cast off his mistress. She would not have been much of a threat.”

“But that could have been a ruse. Perhaps the count and his beautiful young mistress planned to return to France together and leave the countess and her children behind to suffer forever in… England .”