‘I feared my heart would burst from its chest,’ Lady Pickering confided to her husband, ‘when Jenna examined their jewellery.’ She tapped Jenna on the knee with her fan. ‘Where did you learn such a skill?’
Jenna reluctantly turned away from the window. ‘My parents spent their evenings looking at what they had stolen throughout the day. They had an instinct for what was valuable and what was not. It is hard not to pick up the tricks of the trade when it forms a large part of your childhood.’
Lady Pickering was horrified. ‘Your parents were thieves? I thought you were jesting.’
Enoch patted his wife’s hand. ‘I thought it best not to tell you Jenna’s background as you were reluctant to tutor her in the first place.’ He nudged Jack, who had also spent much of the journey looking out of the opposing window. ‘We can be certain it is Buller now that Jenna has seen the paintings in his possession. I did not suspect that Tilbury was his nephew. We are building a case that will eventually lead to Buller’s downfall. We have seen progress and there is much to rejoice in.’
Jack returned his gaze to the window. His reluctance to celebrate threatened to dampen Enoch’s spirits.
‘Come, Jack, we are finally getting somewhere. It is a felicitous discovery that Tilbury has such a connection. Don’t you think?’
‘I feel Edgar is a reluctant partner,’ Jenna interrupted. ‘He showed a dislike for his uncle and seemed pleased to tell him, in front of all the guests, that he was being transferred. It was as if he enjoyed seeing his displeasure.’
‘You feel he has been coerced into informing his uncle of the dragoons’ plans?’ Enoch considered the suggestion. ‘It’s a possibility. What do you think Jack?’
Jack wiped the condensation from the window with a single stroke of his hand. ‘If anyone got to know Edgar this evening, it is Jenna,’ he said quietly, with an edge to his tone. He did not speak again for the rest of the journey, preferring to stare through the window at the shadows of the night, than converse with the occupants inside.
‘Open the door.’
Jenna slipped the nightgown, loaned by Lady Pickering, over her head and let it fall down around her to cover her naked body. After refusing the servant’s help to undress, she had struggled to rid herself of the elaborate silk dress. Now, finally free to relax and get some sleep, Jack was at her door and he did not sound pleased.
‘I’m in bed,’ she replied curtly, gathering her clothes from the floor.
‘Open it,’ he commanded with the same edge to his voice he had earlier. ‘We need to talk.’
‘We have nothing to say to one another,’ she replied, knowing he would not go away. She picked up a blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders in readiness for him to ask again.
Jack, however, was done asking. ‘If you don’t open the door now, I will break it down.’
Jenna hesitated. Having received no immediate reply, Jack shouldered the door and broke its lock. The door burst open to ricochet against the wall as a splinter of wood flew across the floor. Jack ignored the damage and stepped into the room.
Where Jenna was not prepared for this meeting, Jack had planned it since they left Judge Buller’s home. His body, taut with frustration and anger, slammed the door behind him, closing her only route of escape.
‘The servants will hear.’
‘I don’t give a curse what they hear.’
‘They will come.’
‘And I will send them away.’
He took a step nearer and looked at her through heavy lids.
‘Did you betray me?’
Jenna pulled her blanket tighter around her. How could she pretend she did not plan to, when her behaviour towards him had been so cold?
‘No,’ she said confidently as she attempted to meet his gaze. She failed and began to fuss with her blanket instead. ‘How did you know?’
‘I didn’t know for sure … until now.’ She saw a flash of disappointment in his eyes before he turned away and began to pace the room. ‘Why would you want to betray me?’ he asked, bewildered. ‘Was it because you were angry I did not tell you of my profession? Did you want to hurt me because I had not been truthful to you? I did not tell you because I wanted you to be no part of it. It was your safety I wanted to ensure.’ He paused in his pacing and faced her. ‘I told you this! When someone hurts you, you must consider the intention, not the deed itself. My intention was good.’ Anger and confusion was etched on his face as he struggled to understand her. Finding no satisfactory answer, he began to pace again. ‘Was it to have me punished or to have me killed?’
‘Never killed!’
‘Then you trust Buller too much. He would not have forgiven and forgotten that I intended to find him out. Within four and twenty hours I would have been at the bottom of the sea.’ Jenna watched him struggle to contain all the pent up anger inside him.
A servant arrived to enquire if all was well.
‘Leave us!’ barked Jack. His order, and the angry look upon his face, was enough to send the servant scurrying away. He turned back to Jenna. ‘I thought I knew you, but to consider changing sides at such a late hour,’ he looked at her suspiciously. ‘Unless you were working with them all along.’
‘I have never worked for them.’
‘Did he offer to pay you for information? Did Tilbury’s flirting change your mind so easily?’
‘It had nothing to do with Edgar.’
‘You were cosy enough together. To watch you simper at all his jokes made me want to retch.’
‘It is because I remained truthful to who I am that I did not betray you in the end.’
‘And not because you cared for me?’ The new revelation stopped his pacing. Each new hurt showed in his eyes and pained her. It forced her to realise the truth.
I lie. I lie. It was my love for you that stopped me, despite what you have done. I should hate you. I want to hate you. Jenna turned away, but Jack’s hand caught her arm and spun her around to face him.
‘Why did you want to betray me?’ He shook her arm roughly. ‘Answer me!’ he demanded.
‘The day before I held Silas’s badly beaten body in my arms! That is reason enough!’
‘You were in shock – is that what you are telling me?’ She turned her back on him. ‘I know distress can send one mad. Seeing a loved one suffering is enough to turn one’s mind.’ He touched her arms and turned her to face him. ‘I experienced the same with my father. I watched my father being dragged along the ground behind a horse because he dared to stand up to the smugglers. I watched him die in my arms. I listened as he drew his last painful breath. His untimely, brutal death stayed with me, and still does to this day. When it happened I had so much anger inside me at the injustice of it all that I wanted to hurt anyone who came near.’ It was a valiant attempt to convince himself that it was distress that turned her against him, but the more he remembered, the less he felt it was possible. He let her arm go. ‘In the end I channelled it into revenge and became a thief-taker. I did not, however, take revenge on those that I cared for. It makes no sense that you would want to hurt me. Was it because I arrested him?’
‘No. You were doing your job and he was in debt. I hold no grudge for that.’
‘But you hold a grudge for something.’
‘I saw his body. I saw his suffering,’ said Jenna, turning away from him again. Jack followed her.
‘He ran the risk when he sold information on the smugglers. I warned him. I told him he should leave before something bad happened to him.’
Jenna swung around to face him. ‘You warned him and when he didn’t leave, you punished him!’
‘Punished him for what?’
‘For selling information knowing that you would be on the beach that night. If it had not been for Silas you would not have been shot.’
Jack dismissed her accusation with a wave of his arm. ‘That is not true. When I visited him it was to warn him. He was well when I left.’
‘Why would you warn him? W
hy would you visit him at all? You did not care for him.’
‘But I cared and loved you.’
‘Cared and loved?’
‘Yes, cared and loved – not care and love, for the woman I thought I knew is someone very different.’
‘You warned him for me?’
‘The fool that I am. I should not have bothered. He is not worth it and now I wonder if you are.’
His barb hurt. She shouldn’t care, yet to have lost his affection felt more painful than she anticipated. Wanting to validate her actions to herself, as much as him, she retorted.
‘Silas is dead.’
His tone softened. ‘I’m sorry to hear it. I know you cared for him far more than he deserved.’
‘His dying wish was for me to tell the judge about you.’
Jack looked at her incredulously. ‘And you considered it?’
‘Of course, I considered it. I hate you for what you did!’
‘What did I do?’ he said, taking her by the shoulders again. ‘What did I do?’
Deep furrows marked his brows and the hurt and confusion remained in the depths of his eyes. He does not know that his beating was the cause of his death, thought Jenna.
‘Your beating killed him. He told me it was you.’
Jack did not answer straight away. She felt his fingers loosen slightly, before they fell away.
‘And you believed him?’
His shock did not seem the same as the shock of a guilty man being found out.
‘Not at first … but then …’
‘You believed him enough to consider betraying me.’ She did not need to answer; her silence said it all. ‘And even when you thought better of it, you still believe I am responsible for killing your brother.’ He stepped back from her. ‘You think I am capable of murder.’
‘Who would tell a falsehood when he is about to meet his maker?’
‘Your brother would,’ said Jack, resting his hand on the dressing table, as if for support. ‘Your brother was no better than the rats in the sewer that spread their diseases to the good people in this world. It was only in your eyes he held some importance.’ Jenna opened her mouth to say something but Jack was not ready to listen. He raised his hand to stop her from speaking. Voicing his thoughts, Jack said, ‘It must have come as a shock to hear that you were building a new life with me – a life that did not include him.’ He looked down at the polished wood of the table and saw his reflection looking back at him. ‘He had no affection for me as I had none for him.’ He gave a short hollow laugh, marking the wood with his finger to obliterate his face within. ‘What better way to destroy his sister’s affection for his enemy than to accuse me of his murder.’ He looked up at her. ‘I credit him with a touch of genius to leave a dying wish that would not only destroy me but any love between us.’
Jenna moved towards him. Although each thought he expressed made sense, Silas was her brother.
‘Why would he not tell me the truth?’
‘If he told you who the real culprits were, and you reported it, they would come after you. It stands to reason it would be the Blake brothers taking their revenge for Silas selling information to Henley.’
‘Silas would not lie to me.’
‘Your brother has spent his entire life lying. People like that convince themselves that their own lies are true.’ Jack held out his fists. ‘Look at my knuckles, no bruising, no grazes. Do I look like a man who has been in a fight?’
Jenna looked at them before he snatched them back again. He was right, there was nothing.
‘Silas has no moral compass. Even after I warned him to leave for his own safety, he picked my pocket as I left. Lord knows how he managed to survive as a pickpocket. He was so clumsy that I caught him red-handed.’
Jenna’s stomach dropped as she felt her face drain of its colour.
‘My brother has never been caught before.’
‘Well, I caught him. I gave him the money anyway, emptying my purse onto him so the coins fell onto the floor.’ Jenna remembered the landlord’s eager hands collecting coins at her feet. ‘I hoped your brother would reconsider and leave, but it now appears that he didn’t and he has paid with his life.’
‘My brother has never been caught,’ she muttered to herself, ‘unless he intended it as a distraction.’ Jenna felt as if her eyes were opened for the first time. Silas had lied and Jack was innocent of the charges he laid at his door. She stepped towards him. Her relief that Jack was innocent almost overwhelmed her. Excitement bubbled up inside her. ‘You did not do it!’ she said, reaching for him.
As she touched his arm, he parried her away. ‘Don’t touch me, Jenna,’ he said menacingly.
‘I’m sorry. Silas told me you had done it.’
‘And you believed your viper of a brother over me.’
‘He was my brother.’
‘Who thought nothing of dragging you down to his level!’
‘He cared for me.’
‘He asked you to break the law for him!’
Jenna reached for him again, but this time he did not move away.
‘I’m sorry, Jack,’ she pleaded. ‘Forgive me. I did not believe he would lie on his death bed.’
He looked down at her hand and took it in his. ‘I was afraid he would corrupt you one day. When I woke and saw you in my bed, sleeping soundly with your legs tangled in the sheets, I wanted to protect you from him.’ He reached out and touched her cheek, brushing away a stray hair so it lay with the rest behind her shoulders. ‘I could not wait and left before you woke so that I could speak to him. I asked him to leave so he would be safe, but I knew his leaving would also mean that you would be away from his influence.’ He wrapped her hair around his fist like a rope. ‘I wanted to protect you,’ he said, pulling her gently towards him. ‘I loved you.’
Jenna willingly came towards him. ‘And now?’ she asked, through shallow breaths. She wanted the hurt between them to end. She wanted to be held in his arms and be forgiven for not believing in him.
‘Now,’ he said, letting her hair fall from his hand, ‘I don’t know any more. You thought I was capable of killing your brother and that is a bitter pill to swallow.’
Chapter Nineteen
‘So we know he has the paintings,’ said Enoch, offering Jack a glass of port as he entered the drawing room.
Jack, taking a seat by the fire, declined. ‘The hour is late, I do not want a drink. I have broken one of your doors. Send me the bill when you have it repaired.’
Enoch raised an eyebrow, but seeing Jack’s expression he thought better of pursuing the matter.
‘What is the next step that we should take?’
Jack sat back in the chair and stared into the fire, as he massaged his right temple with two of his fingers.
‘His wife mentioned that they visited museums during their grand tour of Europe. Perhaps enquiries should be made as to whether they have had any thefts or orders.’
‘You could get a ship from Dover to Calais and follow the grand tour route. I understand Paris, Rome, Naples and Venice are the main stops. I could arrange a letter of credit from my London bank so you could present it in the major cities. It is too risky to carry too much money on your journey.’
‘Me? I have no wish to leave at this moment. Our agreement was to find the person who finances the gang. My work here is ended. It is time for me to move on.’
‘We know who it is, but we do not have the proof to have him convicted. Our contract ends with his conviction. I need you, Jack. My son used an interpreter when he travelled in Europe. Julien, I think his name was. I can provide you with his details.’
‘I am sick with it all.’
‘You are lovesick, that is all.’
Jack pushed himself to standing and stood in front of the fire. The warmth from its flames gave him the comfort he craved.
‘I don’t know what you have fallen out about, but she played her part well and provided us with the information we need. It will be fooli
sh to not pursue what we have discovered. If Judge Buller is convicted of possessing or soliciting stolen art, we can be rid of him.’
‘And you will be rid of a man you detest.’
‘True, I have never liked the fellow, but we cannot have a judge who breaks the law himself. Smuggling is not a victimless crime. The Indian Tea Company wants the free trading to end. They will pay handsomely for any help they receive.’
‘There is nothing that can tempt me to cross the water. Do I have to remind you that France has taken the side of America in the Revolutionary War? The French may not take too kindly to a British man crossing their land.’
‘The French have troubles of their own. They will not concern themselves with you.’
‘Troubles?’
‘There is frustration brewing against their own aristocracy. Some years back there were bread riots. The peasants have had a taste for making themselves heard and they will do it again if their lives do not improve.’
‘Even so, I have things to sort out here.’
‘Sometimes time apart can help put matters into perspective.’
‘I know what you are doing, Enoch. Nothing will persuade me.’
‘Name your price and I will arrange it.’
Jack looked up. ‘Your determination is making you loose with your tongue.’
‘I mean it, Jack. Name your price and I will agree. I want Buller to fall.’
‘Buller’s involvement has turned it into a personal vendetta for you, Enoch.’
‘He is a dangerous man to have in power. If his political ambitions are realised, it won’t be just a poacher suffering at the end of a rope, it may be all of us.’
Jack thought for a moment. ‘Perhaps time away is what I need.’
‘It can do a man good.’
‘There are two things that will persuade me to leave.’
‘What are they?’
‘I do not know if there is a future together for Jenna and myself. Too much has been said, too many lies and betrayals. However, the first thing is that I want her to be cared for while I am gone. I want her to be able to stay in the Captain’s Cottage if she should choose.’
Enoch did not need to consider his terms for long. He wanted Jack in France and he wanted him there soon.
The Thief's Daughter Page 23
