Chapter 8 #2
Keriah was horrified. She thought of the paste on the tips of Phoebe’s arrows. Was she becoming like Jack, unleashing such violence upon innocents? She was so disturbed that she had to force herself to look at Lady Wynwood as she continued speaking.
“One of the women, Annise, has a regular client, Mr. Esra Banet, whose older brother is known to be … skilled at entering various places unseen.”
Keriah guessed she meant a burglar.
“Mr. Banet is normally tight-lipped about the jobs which he accepts, but he was excited enough to tell Mr. Esra that he had been offered a great deal of money to enter a certain nobleman’s house to acquire the arrangement of rooms.”
“What was the name of his employer?” Mr. Verling asked.
Her ladyship shook her head. “The Senhora does not know, for Mr. Banet never told his brother, aside from a comment that the man was quite strange.”
“Do you think it could be Jack?” Keriah asked.
“The Senhora wondered the same, but she has no reason to believe so.”
Keriah had uncovered that Sir Derrick was killed because the murderer stole the location of Jack’s prison. If the murderer was from the Citadel, they had likely already freed Jack from his cell.
However, she wondered why they had not done so weeks earlier, before Jack told the Ramparts about the bargain with the team, for the disclosure endangered Mr. Norton along with the rest of them.
“Was Banet ordered to steal anything?” Mr. Verling asked.
“No. He was ordered not to steal anything that would alert the family. Mr. Esra told Annise about this last night, which was the night his brother intended to break into the house. Annise told the Senhora immediately, but Mr. Esra had not revealed any information about the residence.”
Last night. Mr. Coulton-Jones, Mr. Drydale, and Phoebe had watched over the house all evening, so surely that could not be the nobleman of whom Mr. Banet spoke.
And Keriah’s sister and her husband had left town yesterday, so their home was empty last night. Anyone entering the Stoudes’ residence would have found nothing about where they had gone.
“Around midday today,” Lady Wynwood continued, “Mr. Esra appeared at the doorstep of Saffron House, bleeding and badly wounded. After leaving Saffron House last night, he had returned to his home, which he shared with his brother, and fallen asleep. He woke quite early and left to take breakfast at a tavern nearby, but when he returned, he surprised a man fighting with Mr. Banet. The man killed his brother and attacked Mr. Esra. The previous fight had caused the murderer to be injured, and so although Mr. Esra was wounded, he was able to escape. He hid and then made his way to Saffron House. He told the Senhora that the man who attacked him had extraordinary strength.”
The Citadel had sent a man on the Root to kill the thief, and possibly kill his brother as well.
“Mr. Esra insists that he only told Annise about his brother’s job. The Senhora was concerned that the Citadel may have decided to kill Mr. Banet because he boasted about the job to his brother. And they could only have discovered that if Mr. Esra had been overheard by someone in Saffron House.”
“That was why she wanted you to bring Phoebe,” Mr. Drydale said.
Lady Wynwood nodded. “One of her footmen had taken the Root, although a lower dose.”
“Like Doctors Lowald and Brady,” Mr. Verling said.
“Were there any others within her house?” Mr. Drydale asked.
“Phoebe could not sense anyone else—neither the women, nor the servants, nor the clients who had visited in the last two or three days.”
Keriah breathed a sigh of relief.
“Mr. Esra had heard that the Senhora would sometimes ensure that certain pieces of information were delivered to appropriate ears, and he had gone to her in hopes that someone could avenge his brother’s death.
The strong man who killed Mr. Banet makes Mr. Esra fear Jack is somehow involved, despite the fact he has been little seen in weeks.
But there is a great deal of gossip about the men who invaded the laboratory at the top of Lovey’s Boudoir theater and the laboratory at the back of Oliver Troy’s gentlemen’s club.
People are aware that Jack is not being allowed to conduct business unchecked. ”
“But you said that Mr. Banet did not mention the owner of the home,” Keriah said.
“Mr. Banet was instructed not to steal anything, but in fact, he took a silver candlestick from a shelf. He was unaware that it had a coat of arms stamped upon it. Mr. Esra saw the coat of arms and drew it as best he could for the Senhora.” Lady Wynwood took a piece of paper out of her reticule and handed it to Mr. Drydale.
Keriah was sitting close enough that she could see the image.
Normally, it might have taken her a few minutes to recall the family connected to the crest, but because she had been expecting to see it, she recognized within seconds that it belonged to the Coulton-Jones baronetcy.
Mr. Coulton-Jones was the nephew of the current baronet and heir presumptive to his title and lands.
Other distant cousins would perhaps also possess candlesticks with the coat of arms stamped upon them, but the Citadel would hardly be interested in them.
“But Phoebe, Mr. Coulton-Jones, and Mr. Drydale were watching the Coulton-Jones’s house all night,” Keriah said.
“I watched the house alone for several hours in the early morning after Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones returned here for some rest,” Mr. Drydale said bitterly. “I was switching my attention between the front and the back of the house.”
“It could simply be bad luck,” Mr. Verling said, “and Mr. Banet entered through a window or door which was not observed.”
“It was still my responsibility,” Mr. Drydale said, the lines deepening across his forehead in consternation. “If Mr. Banet had seen that I was watching the house, I am an utter failure as an agent.”
The door opened and Phoebe entered without knocking.
“Or Mr. Banet was as good as he claimed to be,” she said, obviously having overheard the conversation.
“His brother bragged that Mr. Banet had been paid an exorbitant amount for his highly regarded services.” She closed the door behind her and joined Keriah on the sofa.
Lady Wynwood glanced at Mr. Drydale. “I do not know the exact nature of their relationship, but Sir Derrick had previously bought information from the Senhora. She was already aware of Sir Derrick’s death and the tumult within the Ramparts, which was why she summoned me rather than sending a note directly to the Ramparts.
She also did not dare to send a note directly to the Coulton-Jones house, for fear that it would be given to Mrs. Coulton-Jones rather than the master. ”
“She could not have known that Mr. Coulton-Jones has been with his mother since this morning,” Mr. Drydale said.
“She also suspected that I was in hiding with the rest of you,” Lady Wynwood said, “and therefore you would receive the message quickly. She knew we had no time to waste—Mr. Banet entered the house last night. He was instructed to draw a map showing the location and owner of each room.”
Showing the locations of bedrooms, where the owners would be asleep at night. Keriah’s heart throbbed painfully, as if it were turning to ice and having difficulty beating.
“I am thankful that Mr. Coulton-Jones and his sister are already at the house,” Lady Wynwood said. “But the rest of us must prepare for our next actions. The Citadel will likely attack tonight.”