an unbroken blanket of white.
“The snow fell the night before last.” Devil stood at the windows facing south. “Anyone see any tracks, footprints, signs of a horse?”
“None to the east,” Demon said.
“Nor the west,” Gabriel said.
“The north is untrammeled, too.” Vane glanced at Del. “Whoever took the scroll-holder, they arrived before or on the same night you did, and, most importantly-”
“They haven’t left.” Devil swung to meet Del’s eyes, and smiled in wolfish anticipation. “Buck up, lads-the scroll-holder’s still here, and now we get to go hunting.”
They repaired to the library to consider the suspects and plan their strategy.
Del paced before the fire. “It has to be one of the staff. The Black Cobra is inventive, relentless, and entirely without morals-the thief might be someone we would normally trust, but they’ve been threatened, or, as is more frequently the case, their family has been threatened. That’s the Black Cobra’s style.”
“Let’s start with the obvious,” Gervase said. “How well do you know Miss Duncannon?”
Del stopped pacing, stared at Gervase, then shook his head. “No-it can’t be her. Her part in this, her appearance in Southampton, had to have been in train, passage booked at least, before MacFarlane even found the letter.”
“But are you sure she is in fact Miss Duncannon?” Tony asked. “The lady you were supposed to meet?”
Del thought of all the snippets of their past lives they’d shared, her intimate knowledge of Humberside and the Wolds. “Yes, it’s her. I’ve known her family since childhood, and I even recall her, albeit distantly, and everything about her fits my picture of what she should be like too closely for her to be an imposter.”
“Very well. Not her, then,” Gervase said. “If she is who she’s supposed to be, then the enemy couldn’t have had any knowledge of her before you met her in Southampton, and so couldn’t have had any chance of subverting her.”
“By the same standard of when the opposition would have known about people currently under this roof,” Tony said, “we can exclude all those who traveled here with the vari ous Cynster families-” He broke off, looked at Devil. “But that assumes there was no chance our enemy could have learned the role Somersham Place was to play in Royce’s plans earlier-in time to arrange to bring pressure to bear on someone here, or someone who has traveled here. How sound is that assumption?”
“What you’re effectively asking,” Devil said, “is how secure Wolverstone’s plans are, and you’d know that better than I.”
Tony grimaced. “More secure than the Crown jewels.”
“And in organizing all this”-Devil waved at those gathered around-“nothing was written down. Wolverstone rode over with Minerva-outwardly one of the occasional social visits we exchange when they’re in residence in Suffolk. Nothing to alert anyone, even had they been watching, but how the Black Cobra could have guessed what was going on months ago…” Devil looked at Del.
Who shook his head. “That’s drawing an altogether-too-long a bow. Wolverstone communicated with me by letter, but that was long before we found Ferrar’s letter.”
“And as for Royce’s security,” Gervase said, “while he’d be the first to tell us not to count on anything, he was the one we-all his operatives-constantly relied on for absolute secrecy, and he never let any of us down. Why his security would be breached now, by someone who, no matter how brutal, is really not in his league experience- wise…” He shook his head. “I really can’t see it.” He met Del’s eyes. “We’ll have to look elsewhere for our thief.”
“I agree.” Tony looked at Del, too. “That leaves your staffs-yours and Deliah’s. Let’s take yours first. How can you be sure none of them have been subverted?”
Del’s impulse was to shrug the question aside, but the matter was too grave. He forced himself to consider what to him was the unthinkable. “Cobby…he’s been with me for years, from long before Waterloo. I don’t think anyone here could imagine him being subverted by the enemy, in this case an enemy of England.”
He started pacing again. “Other than him, there’s only Mustaf and his wife, Amaya, and Mustaf has been carrying the scroll-holder for much of our journey here. If he’d wanted to, he could have opened the holder, seen the letter wasn’t the original, and reported that to the enemy long ago-in which case I seriously doubt the Black Cobra would have been chasing us through Cambridgeshire. The same applies to Amaya-she would have had opportunity aplenty to act before now. No reason for either of them to wait until we’re trapped here. And in terms of the cult’s usual means of bringing pressure to bear, namely through family members, Mustaf and Amaya hail from a region of India entirely free of the Black Cobra’s influence.”
Gervase nodded. “So not them. What about the girl?”
“Alia?” Del paused, then allowed, “Normally I would count her as a likely prospect, but she’s an orphan, and her only living relatives are Mustaf and Amaya. And Amaya keeps a very close eye on her-she’s very protective, worse than any mother hen. It’s part of their culture to keep girls close, almost cloistered.”
“So no obvious chance there,” Richard concluded. “What of Deliah’s staff? Do you know much about them?”
Del opened his mouth to reply just as the double doors to the library were sent swinging wide.
Honoria stood in the doorway, eyes narrowing as she surveyed the gathering. “So this is where you’re all hiding.”
The other ladies ranged at her back.
Devil smiled. “Just in time. Come and join us. Developments have occurred, we have questions, and would value your sage counsel.”
Honoria humphed, bent a steely, disapproving look on her spouse, but consented to lead the ladies in.
“We weren’t hiding,” Demon said, shifting his legs so Flick could sit on the sofa beside him.
Flick poked his shoulder. “Of course not. You’d just forgotten your appointment to entertain your children in the nursery. But never mind. You can fill in the time after their afternoon naps.”
The fond papas exchanged glances, but didn’t dare moan.
“Now.” Honoria had settled in an armchair by Devil’s desk. She fixed her imperious gaze on Del. “What are these developments?”
Gabriel caught Del’s gaze. “Allow me.” At Del’s nod, Gabriel swiftly and succinctly summarized the recent happenings.
The ladies were predictably horrified, none more so than Deliah.
She stared all but openmouthed at Del. “You left it in a drawer?”
He shrugged. “It seemed safe enough.”
Before Deliah could respond, Tony smoothly cut in. “We’ve been considering whether any of the staff might have been subverted.”
Del leapt in to explain the Black Cobra’s usual tactics. “Could any of your staff have been pressured like that?”
“They would have to have been approached either at Southampton, or after we left there,” Tony said. “Before then, the Black Cobra couldn’t have known that you might be traveling with Del.”
Deliah was already frowning. “Bess is English and has been with me most of my life. She’s very patriotic, too. I don’t think there’s any likelihood the Black Cobra could persuade her to anything-she’d be much more likely to report any approach to me, or Del, or you two.” With a nod she indicated Tony and Gervase. “As for the others, Kumulay has been with me since I landed in Jamaica-my uncle recommended him as my bodyguard.” For the benefit of the others, she explained, “My uncle is the Chief Magistrate of Jamaica. He’d be unlikely to recommend anyone whose integrity wasn’t beyond question.”
She looked at Del, still standing before the hearth. “Like Kumulay, although they’ve only been on my payroll for the last few years, Janay and Matara were in my uncle’s household for over a decade. They left India long ago and have no family left there.”
“Ferrar created the Black Cobra sometime after he landed in India. The cult first surfaced in ’19.” Del shook his head. “Hard to see how there could be any connection.”
“No. I’m sure there’s not.” Deliah forced herself to consider all the possibilities, no matter how far-fetched. The scroll-holder was too important, not just to Del but to England, too. “The girls-Essa and Muna, Janay and Matara’s
