Chapter 21 #2
“There’s a comb of tunnels off the river.
” He sketched them in. “Five that go east here, above Holborn. When I was smuggling, we used them to bring goods from the Thames, especially barrels, because we could boat them or float them instead of carrying them on our backs. There are passages all underneath that part of the city, from back when tea and opium were smuggled in, with trapdoors in the floors or the alley behind. There were at least a dozen shops that took in shipments, accepted their cut, loaded the goods into carts out the back, and pushed it inland.”
I stared. “Simonson’s?”
His eyes glinted. “Aye. At one time, that building had a trapdoor we used. But the jewelers split the building, and I don’t know which side the trapdoor falls on.”
“Simonson’s moved from Clerkenwell only two years ago,” Amelia said.
“Likely Willingham’s moved in around the same time, once the building was partitioned,” James said. “Did you see any sign of a trapdoor in either jeweler?”
“The floors were wooden planks, covered by a carpet in Simonson’s,” I said slowly, picturing them. “But I noticed something odd.”
James’s look was expectant.
“The inside walls of the two jewelers might have a gap of a few feet between them.”
“Cor,” James said. “I didn’t notice. How did you figure that?”
“The windows.” I turned to Amelia. “Do you have a pencil?” Amelia handed me one and I took out the paper with my note and Sarah’s reply, flipping it to the blank side.
I drew the building, with the doors and the plate glass windows.
“When you’re inside the shop, the edge of the window meets the counter, which is perhaps two feet deep and three feet from the wall.
But from the outside, it’s at least fourteen feet—around five paces, perhaps even six, between the two windows. ”
“That leaves at least four feet,” Mary said.
“So if there’s a trapdoor, it could be between the two,” James said. “And then there’ll have to be a door into each shop—or at least one of them—for the trapdoor to be of any use. But you said you didn’t see one in the plaster on the inside walls.”
“It could be behind a mirror. Or what about inside the stairwell?” I asked, sketching the jeweler’s shop in a bird’s-eye view. “To the side of the steps here?”
“That would work,” James agreed.
“We need to be sure the tunnel still reaches the building,” Mary said.
I looked at James. “I can’t swim.”
“Nobody’s swimming,” he assured me. “I’ll get a lighter from one of the boathouses, and we can row until we reach the side tunnels.
Unless it’s a full moon or there’s been a heavy rain, water levels are shallow enough to wade most nights, and full moon was last week.
” He refolded Amelia’s map. “After the ebb tide tomorrow, I can try.”
“I can go with you,” I said.
“No need,” he replied. “It’s easier if I do it myself.”
“So that may get you to the jeweler,” Mary said.
I looked across the table to Amelia and Mary. “Do you know a cracksman you can trust?”
Mary shook her head. “Only Castle men.”
Amelia replied, “I know someone, and I think he’ll do it. Especially if I explain why.” She said it as if she expected me to accept this addition without question.
But I couldn’t.
James sensed my reluctance and saved me from asking: “Who is he, Amelia? Is he anyone Maggie could reach?”
“No. We’ve been friends for years. I broke him out of prison.”
James turned to me, to see what I thought.
It still wasn’t enough to reassure me.
“Kit.” Amelia’s eyes held mine. “Do you remember I told you a friend of mine risked his own neck to save Adam last week?”
I nodded.
“That’s this man.”
If she trusted him with Adam’s life, I could trust him, too.
“All right,” I said. “How much will he ask?”
“I think he’d do it for sixty or seventy,” she replied.
Sixty or seventy pounds. Nearly half my savings, but I was grateful it wasn’t more.
I withdrew the two pouches of money and held them out to James. “Can you keep these here?”
“Aye.” With a steady look, he set them, softly clinking, on the table. “I wish we could bloody double-cross Maggie, but we can’t until Sarah’s safe. Maggie must get what she wants and think she got away with it.”
“Yes. Sarah must be safe before anything else,” I said sharply.
“Of course,” Amelia said.
“Your safety comes next,” James said to me. “Think about Sarah if you’re not here, how she’d feel if anything happened to you.” He didn’t say a word of how he’d feel, but I heard it in his voice. Amelia’s eyes darting from James to me and back told me she heard it, too.
I swallowed. What would he say if he knew I was planning to leave London? The thought put a pinch near my heart, but I couldn’t think of that now.
“Once we’re safe, then what? For everyone’s sake, Maggie needs to be put away, for good.” I turned to James. “Can’t we turn her over to the Yard?”
He looked dubious. “How can we, without telling your part in the dodge? No Yard man will let that go. They can’t.”
“Oh, the papers would love that,” Amelia said drily. “The Yard covering up a jewelry heist—involving a titled peer no less. They’d feed off it for weeks.”
The newspapers.
“Maggie needs to see the story in the papers before she’ll let Sarah go,” I said slowly. “Once that’s done, she’ll have what she wants and might lower her guard.”
“We need to have the police find the diamonds on Maggie,” Mary said.
“But she’ll conceal them somewhere. We need to plant one, somewhere we can tell them to look,” I said.
“I can do that,” Mary said.
“That means stealing four stones instead of three, and when the story breaks, Maggie’ll know something’s wrong,” James said.
“She won’t know I’ve taken four, if the story breaks that it’s three stones.” I turned to James. “Would your newspaper friend help us, if we gave him a story?”
James’s eyebrows rose. “Printing false information isn’t going to get him back in the Yard’s good graces.”
“It isn’t really false information,” I said. “Three stones will have been stolen.”
“Because three is less than four,” Mary added. “He could just say ‘a few.’”
James ran his hand into his hair. “I’d like to say he would, but I don’t think so.”
“Would he do it,” I asked, “if I could also give him the names of two Castle men who were seen in Mayfair the night of the murders at Fairleigh House? And give him an eyewitness?”
Mary and Amelia both turned to stare. “God’s sake, Kit. Truly?” Mary asked.
“Yes. Sarah was on her way home that night and saw them.”
“Who?”
“Billy and Tommy.”
Mary turned to James and saw by his face that he already knew, and her head swiveled back to me, her eyes full of worry. “Did they see her?”
“We don’t think so,” I said. “The light was dim, and she stayed out of their way with her bonnet pulled up.”
“And I haven’t heard her name mentioned,” James said. “I’ve been listening.”
“A double murder in Mayfair’s a bigger story than a burglary,” Amelia said. “And according to the papers, they have no leads yet.” Amelia turned to James. “But do you trust this friend of yours? What’s his name?”
“Fuller.” James bit his lip, considering. “He treated me fairly, I’ll say that much for him, and he cares about people getting what they deserve.” He touched my arm. “With information about the Fairleigh murders as bait, you might not have to say much about the dodge.”
I was already assembling what I might tell him.
By the end of the night, we had a plan. We’d talked through it three times, combing through the details, stitching bits and pieces into place, and while we knew we’d have to be ready to improvise, it could work.
With a bit of luck.
“You’re in charge of that part,” I told James as he helped me into my coat. “Finding the luck. I never find it on my own.”
James replied, “I’ll go into the tunnels tomorrow night. Unless it rains again, the water level should be low enough. Let’s hope the trapdoor is where it needs to be.”
“I’ll take a bracelet to Simonson’s for repairs, so I can see how they return it to me,” I said.
Mary’s part required perfect timing, but she didn’t hesitate. “I’ll manage it.” Mary’s voice was quiet but her expression was as determined as Maggie’s had been. “She took my mother from me, Kit.”
The hard brightness in her eyes, so unlike her usual warmth, made me shiver. Maggie doesn’t have the corner on revenge, I thought.
Amelia said, “I’ll speak to my friend about the locks and safe.” Her gaze dropped to my hands. “You practice, so you’re quick. You should aim for switching out four stones in thirty minutes.”
I nodded in agreement.
But I had already decided that I would be taking a fifth one, for reasons of my own.