Page 138

The quiet honesty of the answer restrained Baines more effectively than any order might have done. He drew a breath. “Then I want every approach to Blackthorn watched.”

“Already arranged,” Stuart said. “Two men are stationed near the north road, and another pair will observe the service entrance.”

“Chum?”

“He will watch the route towards Berwick. If the packet passes north, he will follow it.”

“And Mallory?”

“Fielding and I shall accompany him as far as the high street,” Stuart replied. “He will make the delivery without appearing to be under escort.”

Renforth turned towards Baines. “You will remain here with Manners. I want you to examine every connection between the jewellery repairs and the guests who arranged them. Whoever has been directing Mallory may be using a separate network to transmit the more sensitive information.”

Baines nodded reluctantly. “Very well. We must not forget the traitor could still be within Blackthorn’s walls.”

Renforth allowed the warning to settle before continuing. “Which is precisely why none of us can afford to be seen returning to Blackthorn without good reason. As far as the household is concerned, our visit there concluded last evening. Baines, you will continue your investigation under the arrangements already established, but I want no unnecessary meetings at the Hall. We shall confer here until we know whom we are dealing with.”

Manners looked out across the wet fields. “Then we ought to consider how long Mallory can remain indisposed before Cranford demands that someone attend to his boots. I have never encountered a gentleman more dependent upon his valet for the preservation of his dignity.”

“Cranford has survived without dignity for years,” Stuart observed. “I doubt another day will prove fatal.”

“His boots may suffer irreparable harm,” Manners replied. “We must not underestimate the consequences.”

Baines ignored them and returned his attention to the report Fielding had placed upon the table. “There is something I do not understand,” he said thoughtfully. “If Mallory has never met the person employing him, how does he know his reports reach their intended destination?”

“He does not,” Fielding answered. “He leaves the packet at the appointed place and collects his payment when instructed. The arrangement is sufficiently simple that he has never thought to question it.”

“Maybe he has been paid well enough not to care,” Manners suggested.

“Mallory insists that he believed himself engaged in confidential government work,” Renforth replied. “Whether that belief was genuine or convenient remains to be determined.”

Baines examined the folded paper. Whoever had devised the arrangement understood the advantages of employing a man who considered himself cleverer than his master but lacked the experience to recognize how thoroughly he was being used. Mallory had access to Cranford’s correspondence, his private conversations, and the movements of the household. He could observe matters which might escape the notice of a guest, yet his unknown employer had apparently taken care that he never learned enough to identify the person receiving his reports.

“What do we know of the jewellery?” Baines asked. “Have we established whether Mallory carried any of the repaired pieces?”

“He has not done so knowingly,” Fielding replied. “He remembers collecting parcels, but none contained anything he was instructed to examine. He claims that some were passed to other servants before leaving Blackthorn.”

“Which servants?”

“He could not identify them all.”

Manners turned from the window. “An unfortunate failing in a man who has made a profession of observing everyone else’s business.”

“Not necessarily,” Baines replied. “If his employer wished to keep the two methods of communication separate, Mallory may have been deliberately prevented from knowing who handled the jewellery.”

Renforth nodded. “That is my suspicion. We shall follow the delivery and determine whether it leads us to the same people who arranged the repairs.”

“And if it does not?” Stuart asked.

“Then we shall have confirmed that we are dealing with more than one means of communication.”

Baines studied the dates and names scattered across the table. The evidence suggested careful planning, considerable familiarity with the household, and access to conversations which had taken place in rooms where no obvious suspect had been present. He could not dismiss the possibility of a servant’s involvement, although he had begun to doubt that any single member of the household possessed the influence necessary to direct the entire affair.

Someone had arranged for information to be gathered, concealed, and transmitted without exposing the person responsible. Whoever that individual might be, the scheme required a degree of patience which Baines would ordinarily have admired.

He found himself considerably less inclined to admiration when he remembered Judith’s name in the intercepted instructions.

Renforth closed his dispatch case. “We have discussed everything we can accomplish here. Stuart, Fielding, you know your instructions. Manners, I want you to examine the earlier reports for any reference to the repaired jewellery. Baines, return to Blackthorn and continue as though nothing has happened.”