went back to work. The others paid no attention.
The pugilist who'd led me inside was large, a little taller than my six or so feet, and I put him at least eighteen stone. He'd once held me back when I'd made to lunge across Denis's desk, so I knew he was incredibly strong.
'Sir,' the man said, giving me his hard stare. 'What did the brigadier take away with him?'
Not the question I'd expected. 'Take away with him?'
'You helped Brigadier Easton get away to the Continent. What did he take with him when he went?'
No anger, no outrage that I'd thwarted his master. A simple question in an even tone. 'Very little,' I said. 'A change of shirt and a few necessities.'
'How large a bundle did it make?' the man asked. 'These necessities?'
I measured off about a foot by a foot with my hands. 'That large.'
'You're sure he had nothing else?'
'Quite sure. He got into a boat with barely enough room for the fisherman and his nets. The brigadier did not have time to pack a trunk nor the room to take it with him. You can be certain that by now, Mr. Denis knows exactly what boat Easton boarded and where he disembarked.'
The lackey shook his head. 'Mr. Denis don't know he's gone, not yet.'
I stopped in surprise. 'Why are you here, then, if he doesn't know?'
The man looked uneasy. I'd seen him look so once before, during the affair at the Sudbury School, when he'd offered up information he'd kept to himself, not realizing it was important. Under Denis's stare, this big, mean- looking man had wilted.
'We came last night, as instructed. I was to visit Brigadier Easton and bring back what he took from Mr. Denis. But when we got here, the brigadier had gone off, and there's no sign of the stuff. If you took it, sir, best give it back. Mr. Denis, he likes you, and he might go easier on you if you 'fess up right away.'
Took what? 'I am afraid you have me at a loss, Mr… I don't believe I've ever learned your name.'
'Cooper, sir. Martin Cooper. I know you didn't take the things for yourself, sir. You're not that kind. But you might have done to help the brigadier. It's misguided, sir. The man is a thieving bastard.'
Now, I was completely in a fog. 'I assure you, Cooper, I have no idea to what things you refer. I sent Easton away, I admit. I had no wish to see the man receive what Denis sent you to do to him. I took him to a boat and got him away. That is all. I did not help Easton pack or take anything from this house. He never told me his business with Denis-there was not time.'
Cooper regarded me with skepticism. 'That so, sir? You did not make him tell you? You're an inquiring sort of man, I've noticed. '
'True, but this time, I did not have a chance.' It had been more important to get Easton away, and quickly. 'You look worried, Cooper. What do you think Denis will do when he discovers that I spirited Easton out of the way? You are not to blame for the actions of the impetuous Captain Lacey.'
He rubbed his forehead. 'It's not so much Easton flying the coop, sir. It's the things. Mr. Denis will want them back, and I can't put my hands on them.'
'Now you have stirred my curiosity. What sorts of things?'
'Paintings, sir. From the Netherlands, mostly. A few from the Italian states and from Russia, even.'
I began to understand. 'The brigadier kept these painting for Mr. Denis?'
'Brought them back to England for him, with no one the wiser. The brigadier likes to travel.'
'Ah.' So, Brigadier Easton had smuggled stolen artwork into the country for James Denis. The brigadier, well respected and with many connections, might not be questioned about the bits and pieces he brought back from the Continent.
I recalled the picture I'd often seen in Denis's house, that of a young girl standing by a window in a pool of sunlight, the painting small, quiet, and serene. I wondered if Easton had obtained that for him as well.
'And the brigadier decided it might be lucrative if he held on to one or two of these?' I asked.
'More than one or two. A bucketful, more like. Claimed he had to leave the last load behind in Amsterdam, as they were too difficult to move, but Mr. Denis figured Easton had them here.'
Mr. Denis was rarely wrong. No wonder the brigadier had looked so terrified. Denis had a long reach-only a fool would try to steal from him.
Not that I hadn't gone against Denis's orders myself in this instance. I'd been sent to frighten the brigadier so that he'd give up the paintings to Denis. Instead, I'd gotten him away, leaving Cooper unable to put his hands on either Easton or the artwork.
'I am sorry,' I said. I truly was. Denis would vent his wrath not only on me, but on Cooper. 'I had no idea about the paintings, or I would have made Easton tell me about them before he went.' Whether I would have passed such knowledge to Denis was another matter.
'As you can see, I'm in an awkward patch,' Cooper said.
'I do understand. The least I can do is help you look.'
I did not need to ask him to describe the paintings Easton had stolen. I'd know them when I saw them. The artwork on Easton's walls were original watercolors of the house and grounds, likely done by Easton's wife, daughter, or a local fledgling artist. Any painting Denis acquired would be old, famous, and painted by a master.
I went upstairs, past two men taking out the paneling on the staircase, and to Easton's study. The room looked much the same as when I'd left it last night, Cooper's men not having reached it with their sledgehammers.
The room was long and narrow, with Easton's desk in the exact center of the carpet. The windows did not let in much light-though the rain of yesterday had abated, the sun was hidden by a thick bank of clouds.
I found spills in a jar on the mantelpiece and lit candles about the room. The painting above the fireplace was a rather dull one of the house surrounded by the flat green of Norfolk. Again, if not painted by Easton's wife or daughter, probably done by a local lad wanting to sell his services.
A good place to hide a painting was behind another painting. I took down the picture of the house, found a paperknife in the drawer, and cut the painting out of the frame.
I found nothing behind it but wood to hold the canvas in place. I searched every inch of wood, frame, and canvas, but concluded there was nothing else there. I laid the picture aside and started on the next one.
The room had five paintings, but each frame held only the picture that had originally graced it. The tops of all the frames were thick with dust, which told me they hadn't been disturbed in a long while and that Easton's maids were less than diligent. I doubted that a mote of dust would be allowed to linger in one of Lady Breckenridge's houses.
I set the paintings aside and started looking behind furniture. The furniture was better dusted, but even so, I found nothing.
After a thorough search of every visible place, I resorted to what Denis's men were doing. I started pulling up the carpets. Easton's study had three carpets-a large woolen one with an oriental design on it, on which the desk sat, and two smaller, much finer ones on either end of the long room. The smaller ones had come from the Near East, woven in a tent among hot desert sands.
None of the rugs concealed paintings or loose floorboards under which paintings could be hidden.
I finished in the study and returned to the hall. I took down a painting there, laid it facedown on a table, and carefully cut it out of the frame. One of the men tearing up the paneling dropped his tools and yanked down another painting-a shaky watercolor of the sea at Blakeney Point. Denis's man plunged a knife straight through the painting and ripped it from its frame.
'Have some respect,' I snapped.
Cooper came up the stairs. 'No time, Captain. Have you found anything?'
I shook my head. 'The study looks empty of fine artwork, but I did not rip out the paneling.'
Cooper snapped his fingers at the second man on the stairs and pointed to the study door. The second man shouldered his sledgehammer and trudged up the stairs and into the study. A few seconds later came a thud and the splintering of wood.
'They could be anywhere,' I said. 'Rolled up and sewn under a chair or sofa, flattened between boards in the ceiling, inside a window seat, folded behind books-although I hope he did not fold any priceless masterpieces.'
'If the paintings are in this house, sir, we'll find them,' Cooper said.
