T.F. Banks - The Thief-Taker

“Thank you.”

“And I am to answer your questions. If you have any.”

“I do.” Morton smiled encouragingly. “Your mistress,” he said, “lodges the most complete trust in you.”

“She has known me long.”

“It reflects very well on you, I think. When did you begin with her?”

“When she was but a slip of a girl. I have served her near all her life.”

Morton nodded appreciatively.

“Do you remember a Colonel Rokeby, who might have visited your mistress at one time?”

Nan nodded, saying nothing-unless one took into account her manner, which said a great deal. These things were none of Morton's business .

“Can you tell me anything of the nature of their…acquaintance?”

“Surely, sir, you realise that-”

“Let me be clearer: Was their acquaintance such that Colonel Rokeby might have cause for jealousy after the fact? Did he regard your mistress in a way that would lead to this?”

“The workings of the mind of a person like Colonel Rokeby are a mystery to me.” She said it with a certain bitterness, Morton thought.

“And to me. But would he have felt an implied promise had been broken? Did Miss Hamilton's rejection of him raise his ire?”

“I wouldn't know, sir. I am hardly in the man's confidence.”

Morton sighed under his breath. But she was in Louisa Hamilton's confidence, or was supposed to be. He changed his tack.

“You carried the note to Bow Street that warned the officers of the duel?”

Nan nodded again, regarding him warily.

“How did you first learn of the duel?”

“From the servants. Master Peter's man had let it slip.”

“And you told Miss Hamilton?”

She nodded again.

“When was this?”

“When was what, sir?”

“When you learned of the duel?”

“The evening before it was to take place.”

“And Mr. Glendinning had not come to your mistress's house at all that day?”

“No, sir. He had not.”

“What did Mr. Hamilton have to say of the affair afterward? I trust you heard something from his servant.”

“Only that Runners from Bow Street had interfered where they should not have. That they had no regard for a man's honour, but only their pockets.”

“He was angry, then?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do you know, Nan, if Mr. Glendinning was proficient with a pistol?”

“I don't, sir, but it would surprise me.”

“Why is that, pray?”

“He was not inclined to sport, sir.”

“Tell me about Mr. Glendinning. Did you approve of him?”

“Indeed, sir, he was very kind and respectful of Miss Hamilton. A gentleman from heart to head.”

“Then you thought them a good match?”

“It is not my place to hold opinions, sir.”

Morton almost laughed aloud at the notion of the woman sitting before him being without opinions, on this or on any other matter. Perhaps he ought to ask for her views on Bow Street and the men who toiled there.

“Do you know what caused this duel, Nan?”

She shook her head.

“Mr. Hamilton's manservant knew nothing?”

“He would not speak of such a matter to us, sir, nor would we ask.”

Morton rather doubted that, but decided to let it pass. Instead he set to work to find out as much as possible about Glendinning and Miss Hamilton. In this, Nan was forthcoming. The particulars of the Sussex circle, which both families were part of, the names of Glendinning's servants, his solicitor and his London friends, and the details of his habits were soon committed to Morton's comprehensive memory. Everything she told him served to support the picture Louisa had provided of her dead fiance. When he tried to probe his possible dissipations, Nan's response was little different from that of her mistress.

“I know nothing of his private doings, Mr. Morton. But the maidservants in the Glendinning houses, both town and country, reported nothing amiss of him in the way of improper familiarities. I asked them particularly, when it began to seem Miss Hamilton might regard him with favour.”

“You take good care for your mistress's welfare, I think. If you had heard that he had in fact behaved in…an indiscreet or reprehensible way, would you have reported this to her?”

Nan's response was unhesitating. “Indeed I would. And to Master Peter.”

Morton made an approving sound, then posed the question that had been nagging at him.

“Do you know if Mr. Glendinning's familiars called him ‘Richard’?”

Nan responded slowly. “Not that I ever heard.”

“Who is ‘Richard,’ then, Nan?”

She looked steadily at him, considering. “I can't think of anyone by that name who could be relevant to this matter, sir. But it is a common enough name.”

“I suppose it is. Did Mr. Glendinning have any detractors?”

“I would hardly know, sir,” Nan said. “He was very mild in his manner and congenial to all, so far as I knew.”

When she was gone, Morton examined the banker's draught with more care and found, to his own amusement, that his pulse sped up slightly as he did. How often did even the great John Townsend receive a sum like this? But once before, a letter of this sort had proven fraudulent, and in the end Morton had only been able to dispose of it for a few pence on the pound. He'd best cash this one before he invested too much time and energy in the matter.

Then he sat, tapping the paper on the arm of his chair, and thinking out his strategy. By rights, he ought to report to Bow Street now. But he felt, as he had told Arabella, that he might do well to keep himself out of Sir Nathaniel's view till the Chief Magistrate's ire had cooled. Let him think he was searching for the Earl of Elgin's stolen antiquities.

In fact, as regarded that matter, there really was nothing he could do but wait. He had mined all his sources of information in London and uncovered nothing. Whoever had stolen that particular swag was being very quiet.

Not for the first time, Morton wondered who the thief was. Elgin had enemies, and his plundering of the Parthenon was controversial-Byron, for one, had spoken out bitterly against it. Were the Greeks trying to recover their heritage? Or had a wealthy collector commissioned the crime-that would at least explain why the goods weren't being fenced. But, no, the most likely explanation was still some opportunist amongst the flash crowd. He'd make his move soon enough.

Wilkes came in then bearing a tray with Morton's usual morning fare, as well as a second bowl of cafe au lait .

“Ah, Wilkes, you are a rare treasure, I must tell you.” Morton took up the bowl. “Well, we were right about Nan. She was not about to offer much knowledge to the likes of you and me.”

“This man Glendinning, sir…”

A bit despite himself, Wilkes had begun to find himself attracted to his employer's profession. Morton smiled.

“Yes?”

“Was there a reason for someone else to kill him? Someone, I mean, other than Colonel Rokeby? I don't suppose there was a convenient will and an indebted nephew?”

“To be honest, I know very little as yet. But it's true that the reasons for murder are seldom subtle. Do you know what Townsend says? ‘When you hear hoofbeats, assume horses, not zebra.’ Someone tried to kill Mr. Glendinning in the morning-I hardly think it was someone else who managed it later the same day.”

Wilkes continued to ponder the thing, however, hovering halfway between the table and the doorway to the kitchen, the tray with Morton's empty bowl on it trembling precariously. “Even so, sir, the manner of it does seem odd. Why the Otter? But then, if someone in the flash house murdered him in the usual way, why was he not robbed and his remains dumped into the river Thames? Why would they poison a man and then put him in a hackney-coach?”