Cécile, next to the chair where the muff had been. “Schnitzel, I imagine.”
“It’s the best in Austria,” Rina said, taking the chair next to Jeremy. “I didn’t think you would want to eat.”
“It is rather late,” Jeremy said, meeting her eyes. “But I assumed that you were sending us somewhere worth the wait.”
Cécile looked at me and raised an eyebrow.
“Is Herr Schröder here yet?” I asked.
Jeremy gave me a questioning look and Rina glared at Herr Schröder, who took not the slightest notice of her. I flashed an uneasy smile to Jeremy before sitting at a table near enough that he could keep an eye on me.
“I feel lucky to have tracked you down,” I said in German.
“I’m not pleased Rina told you where to find me. I didn’t think we had anything else to discuss,” he answered in English.
“You’re wrong.” I did not switch to my native tongue. A waitress deposited tall glasses of beer in front of us. “I know about your plans, and so does the British government.”
He laughed and replied in German. “I do like you, Kallista. You’re full of spirit. Misguided, but entertaining nonetheless.”
“So you’re not hoping to assassinate the kaiser in spectacular fashion and blame England for it?” He did not reply. I’d spent no short time planning what to say to him, how to trick him into confessing something, and bluffing seemed my best—if not only—option. I’d decided it was reasonable to surmise that if anarchists were planning something during the kaiser’s visit, a dramatic murder would be at the top of their agenda. “I need you to help me find out who warned Fortescue. In exchange, I will provide you with England’s plans to thwart your attack.”
“You have no way of learning such a thing.”
“Do not underestimate women, Herr Schröder. You’d be shocked how loose a man’s grip on his secrets becomes when he’s with his mistress.”
He laughed louder and slapped the table with his palm. “I’m to believe that you’re stealing state secrets from a lover?”
“Yes.” I looked at him with a level stare.
“A lover or your fiancé?”
“Does it matter?”
“It might.” He drained his glass with astonishing speed and motioned for the waitress to bring another.
“I’m aware of much more than you give me credit for. You undoubtedly know about Mr. Harrison’s escapades at Beaumont Towers? That he stole papers from Lord Fortescue’s room? I believe they had to do with your plans?”
He flinched, and I knew my deduction was correct. How I wished I’d been able to see the papers! I was beginning to enjoy this.
“Did you know that Fortescue accused me of taking them?” I asked, swigging my own beer and trying to ignore its bitter taste. “You would do better to ally yourself with me than Harrison. Harrison sought my assistance in England, then double-crossed me. What makes you think he won’t do the same to you?”
“I’m beginning to think this isn’t all fantasy on your part. Harrison—”
“Harrison attacked me this morning. He wouldn’t do that if I didn’t threaten him.”
“He’s not concerned about you, it’s Hargreaves who worries him.”
“I have access to everything my fiancé knows.”
“And I’m to believe you’d double-cross him?”
“The Countess von Lange is his mistress. He’d sworn to me that he’d broken it off with her.” I paused, bit my lip, and lowered my eyes, hoping that I looked wounded. “I learned this morning that he has not.”
“Kristiana?” The familiar way her name tripped off his tongue and the flash of anger in his eyes were telling.
“I’ve been told you know her well, but it seems your acquaintance is…closer than I realized. I do hope you’ve been careful. She’d be all too willing to share your secrets with Mr. Hargreaves.”
“That is none of your concern.” He drained his second beer.
I shrugged. “Everything she does is my concern so long as he’s betraying me with her.” My nerves were beginning to lose the steel I’d tried so hard to inject into them. Acknowledging in a semi-public fashion that Colin had been unfaithful to me stung, even if it was not true, and I realized that this was partially due to my suspicion that Kristiana was doing everything in her not inconsequential power to tempt him.
My cheeks grew hot, and I feared that my companion would catch my lie. Instead, he misinterpreted what he saw.
“You’re angry, aren’t you? Can you prove to me that you have access to Hargreaves’s information?”
“Of course I can,” I said, filled with uncertainty, hoping upon hope that Colin would help me with this.
He pulled a piece of paper and a pencil out of his jacket pocket and scrawled something on it before handing it to me. “We must do this privately. I can be found at this address every afternoon between two and five. Bring me something as soon as you can that will prove you’re telling the truth.”
This time he spoke to me in German.
C. Bromley
Chapter 16
Mr. Harrison’s presence everywhere I turned had become more and more unsettling. Cécile and I were
