He is also charming, and socially at ease. In fact his only disadvantage is that he is already married. And, since she does not love him — in fact she hates him — that is no disadvantage at all to her.’
Stoker stared at her, then at Pitt, then lowered his eyes.
‘I think you are perfectly right,’ Vespasia agreed. ‘The question is, what are we going to do about it? And I believe we may not have an unlimited amount of time in which to decide.’
‘We need proof, sir.’ Stoker looked at Pitt. ‘If he did it for revenge, I don’t know what proof there would be of that. But if Mrs Pitt is right, and it was at least partly for money, then there will be proof. Once you know what you’re looking for, there are always tracks of money changing hands, especially if it comes from another country. And if he’s spent anything above what he earns, we can find it.’
‘He implied he’d inherited money,’ Pitt recalled conversations with Talbot in Downing Street.
‘We can check that too, sir,’ Stoker said quickly. ‘I’ll do it straight away, if you wish.’
‘Yes,’ Pitt agreed, looking around the table, first to Narraway, then to Vespasia. A flicker of amusement crossed his mind that she held no office at all, official or otherwise, and yet he quite naturally sought her opinion, even in front of Narraway, who was his most trusted adviser.
He thought he saw an answering flash in her silver-grey eyes, but it was so quick he was not sure.
Narraway nodded and stood up. ‘I will look more closely at Ailsa Kynaston and her past, and other possible connections, consulting the friend I spoke to earlier. Pitt, I don’t doubt you will follow up on Dudley Kynaston and his associates, on the small possibility that we are wrong. Mr Stoker …’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘I would rather you did not give us details, but I trust you have Miss Ryder somewhere very safe indeed?’
Stoker blushed. ‘Yes, sir!’
‘And her statement in writing, and signed?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Witnessed?’
There was a short hesitation, less than a second. ‘Yes, sir.’
Narraway caught it. ‘But you are not sure if the witness is … unbiased?’
Stoker gulped. ‘Yes … sir.’ He had forgotten how quick Narraway was. He had worked with him for years, but had adapted his thoughts now to working with Pitt. Already Narraway belonged to the past.
Pitt felt vaguely uncomfortable for it, but there was no time to indulge emotions. Stoker had hesitated because no doubt the witness was one of his own family, his sister or her husband. He found himself smiling, but at how much care Stoker had taken, and at his rigid honesty, not any lapse of judgement.
Narraway must have seen Pitt’s face, because he did not pursue it. They parted company, each to set about their own task.
Vespasia arrived home with her mind in turmoil. This complete lack of emotional discipline was ridiculous. She was not eighteen, or anywhere near it. She could do a great deal better. As soon as she was through the door into the hallway where the long window at the top of the stairs shed sunlight like a pathway upward, she was met by her maid.
‘M’lady, Mr Carlisle called to see you. He seemed to feel it was urgent.’ She took a breath, uncertainty in her eyes. ‘I told him I didn’t know when you’d be back. It could be hours, or even all day, but he was determined to wait. So I asked him to make himself comfortable in the sitting room. I hope I didn’t overstep myself …’
Vespasia glanced at the long-case clock to her right. ‘You did exactly the right thing, thank you,’ she said ‘It is rather too early for tea; perhaps he would like something else. If so I shall ring for you. Otherwise I would prefer not to be disturbed.’
‘Yes, m’lady.’ Relieved not to have been told she was mistaken, she hurried away.
Vespasia went into the sitting room, her mind racing as to what she should say to Carlisle.
Carlisle stood up. He was immaculately dressed as usual, but he looked anxious, even distressed, and as if he had not slept.
‘I apologise for troubling you,’ he began, ‘especially at this hour in the morning, but I think the matter is urgent.’
‘Then you are probably right,’ she agreed, reasserting the composure for which she was so much respected, sometimes even held in awe. ‘In all the years we have known each other, I have not seen you panic.’ She sat down, so that he might also. ‘What has happened?’
His quirky face still held its usual humour, but also a shadow of pain.
‘I have had time to think very hard about what I have done in my outrage at Kynaston’s treason,’ he replied. ‘And I realise that part of my reaction was fear. We have not so very long to go before the turn of the century. Much will change. The Queen is old and, I believe, very tired.’ His own voice sounded weary as he said it. ‘She has been alone for too many years. Because it has been so long in coming, I think the new reign will be very different.’
She did not interrupt him. She had had these thoughts herself.
‘Powers are shifting,’ he went on. ‘I see shadows in many directions. Perhaps it is just they that are frightening me, but I don’t think so. We cannot afford treason now. The world political situation is growing more tense. Nevertheless, I acted …’ he looked for the right word, ‘… I acted without foreseeing some of the results of what I was doing, or how they might affect others. Pitt did not charge me, and he easily could have.’ He looked very directly at her, his eyes deeply troubled. ‘I owe him a debt that I need to repay.’
She wished very much to help him, but there were bounds she could not cross. ‘If you are looking for information, my dear, I cannot help you,’ she told him. Her voice was gentle, but there was steel in it. She could not allow him to think that she would relent.
Humour flickered across his face and vanished. ‘If you did, I would hate it more than you can imagine,’ he replied. ‘You are a fixed part in a constantly eroding universe. We have to have a Pole Star, one true north.’
She blinked rapidly to hide the tears that sprang suddenly to her eyes. ‘That is quite the oddest compliment I have ever received,’ she said a little huskily. ‘But unquestionably one of the best. What is it that I can help you with, if not information?’
‘Tell me of something I can do to help?’ he replied.
‘What could you do that they are not already doing?’ She was puzzled. Did he have something in mind, or was he searching as discreetly as it seemed?
‘Many things,’ he said with a gesture of his hands as if to encompass a vast space. ‘I am not restricted by the law. I know it quite well, but there are areas of it for which I have little regard. And if I can take risks when it suits me, I can make it suit me now.’
She looked at his face, the desperation in his eyes, and believed him. ‘Please do not steal any more corpses and put them in dramatic and important places,’ she said wryly. ‘There are other ways of attracting people’s attention.’
He gave a very little smile. ‘You must admit, there are very few that work as well!’
‘I do admit it, but I doubt any judge would dare to, whatever he actually thought. Not many of them have a lively sense of the absurd. How could they? But regardless of that,’ she continued before he could answer. ‘It will not work again for some time!’
‘Please?’ he begged. ‘Something …’
What could she tell him, without breaking Pitt’s trust?
Carlisle leaned forward a little in his chair, his face grave. ‘Kynaston is selling our country’s secrets to the Swedes, and God knows to whom they will then sell them on. Lady Vespasia, it matters too much to indulge in emotional self-protection. I don’t know why he is doing it! But I do know he is, and I imagine his sister-in-law is involved, and possibly that rather rough lover of hers, Talbot. Although I have no idea whose side he is on. Possibly his banker’s. And I apologise if I malign the man.’
‘Do you think so?’ she asked quickly. ‘That he lives beyond his means? A judgement, not merely an impression.’
He looked at her very steadily, unblinking. ‘Would you like to know? More than just out of … curiosity?’
She knew what he was asking. She hesitated only an instant. It was like jumping off a cliff into an ice-cold sea, far below you. If you hesitated, actually looked down, you would never do it.
