The Traitor's Club: Ford

by Laura Landon

  “You’re correct, Admiral. There is a problem with the shipping office.”

  “Are you going to pussyfoot around like my granddaughter has done all morning, or are you going to be blunt and tell me what’s going on?”

  “I’m going to be blunt, Admiral. As you, a former naval officer, would expect of your men.”

  “Then get on with it, Captain.”

  “Yes, sir.” Ford took a breath. “Your granddaughter has discovered a loss of income in the shipping company.”

  “I thought as much,” the admiral said, turning his gaze to where Callie sat beside him. “I’ve known for weeks by the way you’ve been acting that something was wrong. Why didn’t you tell me?” he said, then held up his hand to stop her words. “Never mind, I know why you didn’t say anything. You didn’t want to upset me.”

  “For a while I thought I might be wrong,” Callie said, “but now I realize I wasn’t.”

  “Wrong about what?”

  “About the fact that something illegal is going on, Grandfather.”

  “Thievery, you mean? Do you know who is stealing from us?” he asked, turning his angry glare back to Ford. “And how?”

  “We believe we know how they’re managing it,” Ford answered. He focused on the admiral. He knew that Callie would find it difficult to provide the details without mentioning Lord Grantly, so Ford intended to explain what they knew.

  “Go on, Captain. Out with it.”

  “We believe that when the Night’s Lady and the Wayward head to the Orient, they make an unscheduled stop.”

  The admiral’s eyebrows narrowed, and deep furrows lined across his forehead.

  “They follow their usual route south, then around the Cape of Good Hope, and north across the Indian Ocean. But instead of sailing to Canton or Foochow, they sail north to India or Bangkok. There, they sell a portion of your goods at cut-rate prices, then fill the empty space in the clippers’ holds with chests of opium.”

  “Opium!”

  The admiral started to rise to his feet, but Callie placed her hand on his arm to keep him seated.

  “Go on,” the admiral ordered.

  “The opium is smuggled into China and the partial load of exported goods sold. In return, tea is purchased with proceeds taken in from the sale. The reason it was so difficult to discover was that the thieves were not stealing from the shipping office directly—they were simply showing poor prices on the sale of the exports. They always returned with a full cargo of tea.”

  “They were using our clippers—the Queen’s clippers—to smuggle opium.” He could not have been more horrified.

  Ford nodded. “Yes.”

  “Who’s behind it? Who would dare?” The admiral focused his furious look at Ford.

  “We’re certain Captain Fletcher is involved in the opium smuggling, and we assume Captain Palmer is also involved.”

  “Four days ago, Captain Remington asked questions that made Captain Fletcher realize he was on to the operation,” Callie said. “He tried to stop Ford.”

  “How?”

  “They shot Captain Remington in an attempt to kill him.”

  This time even Callie’s hand on her grandfather’s arm couldn’t stop him from bolting to his feet. “They what?”

  “As you can see, they didn’t succeed,” Ford said.

  “But they could have,” the admiral finished. He paced several steps. “Have you sent for the authorities?”

  “Not yet,” Callie answered.

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s unlikely that Palmer and Fletcher are the main people behind the smuggling ring. There has to be someone else.”

  “Do you know who?”

  “No,” Ford answered before Callie felt inclined to tell her grandfather who they suspected. There was no reason to implicate Lord Grantly until they knew for certain that he was involved.

  Admiral Barclave walked to the fireplace and braced his outstretched arms against the mantel. “I want to see them hang.”

  “They will, Admiral,” Callie said to her grandfather.

  He turned. “You think I want to see them hang because they stole from us.” He shook his head. “That’s not it. I don’t care about the money.” He shifted his gaze from Ford to Hugh to Callie. “Have you ever seen anyone addicted to opiates?”

  Callie shook her head, but Ford and Hugh remained still. Ford had seen soldiers under the influence of opiate drugs. Their bodies wasted away from lack of food and nourishment. Their minds were devoid of rational thinking, and there was nothing left of the vibrant men they had once been. They withered away until they died.

  “Well I have,” the admiral answered. “It’s the cruelest form of death one man can inflict upon another. And all because of greed.”

  When the admiral recovered, he returned to the sofa and sat beside Callie. “What are your plans? What do you want me to do?”

  “We can’t allow Palmer and Fletcher to captain the Night’s Lady and the Wayward on another journey.”

  “Absolutely not!”

  “We’ll need you to contact two able-bodied seamen you’re acquainted with to captain the clippers. But it’s important that word doesn’t get out that Fletcher and Palmer are being replaced. If they find out, they might go into hiding.”

  The admiral nodded. “I know who to sign on. Is there anything else?”

  “Lady Calinda has organized a dinner for tonight. It will just be a small affair.”

  “How small?” the admiral asked.

  “Your family. And Lieutenant Wythers and myself.”

  The admiral paused for a few moments. “You suspect someone in my family, don’t you?”

  “We’d like to use the dinner to eliminate everyone in your family. And to inform them of what is going on before they hear about it from some other source.”

  “Who?” the admiral asked. “Who do you suspect?”

  Even though the admiral was getting along in years, his mind was still as sharp as it had been when he was younger. Ford should have realized that there was nothing they could put past him.

  Ford hesitated, then looked to Callie. If she indicated she didn’t want her grandfather to know, he wouldn’t say anything. The choice was hers to make.

  Her eyes closed as if she were weighing her options, then she reached for her grandfather’s hand and held it.

  “Grantly,” she said.

  CHAPTER 14

  Everyone seated at the Earl of Dunhurst’s table seemed to be enjoying themselves, although Ford noticed Callie’s mother, the Countess of Dunhurst, seemed confused by the strange selection of guests her daughter had invited. Whether or not she believed Callie’s explanation that she’d invited Captain Remington and Lieutenant Wythers at the request of the admiral seemed questionable.

  The meal was superb, the conversation enjoyable, and even Callie’s father, the Earl of Dunhurst, and Callie’s brother, Viscount Carmody, seemed interested in the tales they coerced the admiral to tell. Of course, Hugh’s humor and good looks attracted the attention of the females. Ford found it amusing to note how Callie and her two sisters hung on his every word.

  “You didn’t really release several horses into a formal dinner, did you?” Callie’s sister Maggie asked Hugh when he told them about the time he and Ford were nearly captured behind enemy lines near the end of the war.

  “I’m afraid we did, Lady Grantly. We had no choice, did we, Captain?”

  Hugh tried to hide his laughter as he locked eyes with Ford, although at the time there hadn’t been anything humorous about the situation. They’d nearly been captured, and if they had been, they would have been hanged as spies.

  “Lieutenant Wythers is correct, my lady. But what the lieutenant failed to mention was that he was responsible for us nearly getting caught.”

  “That was simply a minor miscalculation on my part.”

  “What did you miscalculate?” Lady Nora asked.

  Ford took it upon himself to answer for Hugh. �
�He miscalculated which door would take us to the rear of the house to make our escape. Instead of turning left down the hall as I suggested, he turned right, and we rushed headlong into a dinner the Russian commanding officer was hosting for his staff.”

  “But I managed to get us out of there,” Hugh said with a grin on his face.

  “Yes,” Ford had to admit. “While I was left to fight off a half dozen Russian soldiers on my own.”

  “I had to leave you to untie the horses and stampede them through the villa. So, truth be told, I actually saved your life.”

  The people around the table burst out in laughter.

  “What I want to know,” Lady Dunhurst asked, “is what you were doing in the villa in the first place.”

  From the look Hugh gave him, it was obvious Ford was going to have to come up with an explanation that avoided the truth.

  “That, my lady, is a tale for another time.”

  There were a few more giggles, then the admiral called for his family’s attention. It was time for the evening to take a more serious turn.

  “I asked for this dinner because I wanted all of you to meet Captain Remington and Lieutenant Wythers. They have not only served as officers in Her Majesty’s dragoons, something you know I admire and respect, but they have also been of invaluable assistance to me in something that is quite troubling.”

  “Has something happened, Father?” the Earl of Dunhurst asked.

  “Yes, I regret that something has. But before I explain what it is, I require your word that what is said here tonight will not leave this house.”

  The answer was almost in unison. “Of course.”

  “I have recently discovered that someone is stealing from Crown’s Shipping.”

  Ford kept his gaze focused on the people at the table, but mostly on the Earl of Grantly. The earl had suddenly lost a great deal of color.

  “Stealing?” Lord Dunhurst asked.

  The admiral looked at his granddaughter, and Ford saw that there were tears in Callie’s eyes. He wanted to reach across the table and take her hand, but that wasn’t possible.

  “Actually, the culprits aren’t exactly stealing, are they Callie?”

  “No, Grandfather.”

  The admiral let his gaze pass over everyone at the table, but at the end, he stopped to focus on the Earl of Grantly. “I hate to have to tell you that the Night’s Lady and the Wayward are being used to smuggle opium to China,” the admiral continued.

  A hushed silence filled the room. Everyone knew how important honor and a good name were to the admiral, and looks of shock and disappointment etched the faces of all.

  All except the Earl of Grantly. He sat frozen in his chair as if he’d been turned to stone. His complexion was as pale as if he were made of alabaster. The only noticeable movement was the trembling of his hands.

  Grantly reached for his glass of wine but couldn’t hold it steady enough to bring it to his lips. The dark red liquid sloshed over the rim of the crystal goblet and spotted the linen tablecloth, but he didn’t attempt to conceal it. Instead, he struggled helplessly to his feet and clung to the back of his chair. When he gained enough composure to move, he staggered from the room.

  “Randolph?” Lady Grantly said. She moved to go after her husband, but the admiral’s harsh voice stopped her.

  “Leave him be, Margaret.”

  “But—”

  The silence was deafening as everyone watched Lord Grantly exit the room.

  After a few seconds, the admiral, Ford, and Hugh rose to follow. Ford knew Callie would join them, and he couldn’t blame her. She was the one who’d first realized that someone was stealing from the company and that her brother-in-law conveniently visited each time one of the clippers docked and when they set sail.

  “Perhaps you could ring for tea, Mother,” Callie said. “I’m sure Maggie and Nora would appreciate a cup of tea.”

  “Yes. Oh . . . yes.”

  Callie turned from her mother and walked toward Ford. He took her arm and escorted her to the study.

  When they entered the room, they found Grantly standing near the fireplace with an already half-empty glass in his hand.

  The admiral entered first. After Hugh and Ford and Callie entered, Callie’s father, the Earl of Dunhurst, entered. Lastly, Viscount Carmody stepped into the room and softly closed the door behind him.

  The Earl of Dunhurst walked to the sideboard and filled several tumblers with brandy. Callie’s brother gave one to each of the men. He gave Callie a goblet of wine.

  “How did you get involved in this, Grantly?” the admiral asked after all but Grantly were seated.

  Instead of answering, Grantly lifted his glass to his mouth and took a swallow.

  The admiral refused to let Grantly go long without answering. “Was stealing from the company and smuggling opium your idea?”

  Grantly’s head shot up. “Bloody hell, no! I would never do anything like that.”

  “Then how did you get involved?”

  Grantly took several wobbly steps to the nearest empty chair and sank down onto the cushion as if the air had left his body. “I’m being blackmailed.”

  “What does someone have over you?” the Earl of Dunhurst asked when the admiral seemed at a loss for words.

  Grantly raked his hand down his face and braced his elbows on his thighs. He kept his eyes focused on a spot at his feet. “Before I met Maggie, I had a . . . a mistress. I broke off our relationship before Maggie and I married, and I haven’t seen the woman since. Then three years ago, I received a letter from her informing me that she’d given birth to a son. And that the child was mine.”

  Grantly took another swallow of the whiskey in his glass. “She wanted money.”

  “Did you believe her?” Ford asked.

  “No. She wasn’t with child when I stopped seeing her. I’m sure of it.”

  “What did you do?” Ford asked.

  “I went to see her. I wanted to see the child. I needed to make sure that he wasn’t mine.”

  “Was he?”

  “No. It had been more than three years since I’d seen Marlene, and it was doubtful that the child she had with her had even reached his second year. I told her I knew she was lying. I offered to give her some money to get by. Then I made sure she understood that there would be no more after that.”

  Grantly rose from his chair and went to the sideboard to refill his glass. “I thought that was the end of it. But a short while later, the first blackmail letter came.”

  “From the woman?”

  “No. It was from someone who said they represented Marlene. They said they were going to publish an article in the London papers and tell Marlene’s story. They were going to announce that I’d been unfaithful to my wife and had fathered a child I refused to support.”

  Grantly took another swallow of his whiskey. “I couldn’t let them do that. Not to Maggie.” Grantly turned to Lord Dunhurst. “I love your daughter, my lord. I couldn’t hurt her that way. And, she’d just told me she was expecting our first child. I couldn’t bear the thought of her being humiliated like that.”

  “What did the blackmailer want you to do?” Ford asked.

  “I was to go to the shipping office whenever the Night’s Lady or the Wayward docked. I was to collect a small chest Captain Fletcher or Captain Palmer gave me.”

  “What were you to do with the chest?”

  “I was to take it to Hyde Park. I was to go to the third bench on the main path. There I would find a rock beneath the bench. The rock covered a hole. I was to remove the chest and packet that had been left there, and place the chest I’d brought with me into the hole.”

  Grantly took another swallow from his glass. “I’m sure the chest contained gold coin. And the packet, too.”

  “What were you to do with the packet and the chest?” Hugh asked.

  “I was to take it to either Captain Fletcher or Captain Palmer. Whichever captain had given me the first chest and was about to se
t sail.”

  Ford rose to his feet and paced the room. He needed to make sense of what Grantly had told them. Put the pieces of the puzzle together in a way that did not incriminate any innocent parties. Or leave the guilty free to pursue their illicit venture.

  Lord Dunhurst was the first to speak. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Why was Grantly instructed to remove a chest of money from the hiding place and replace it with another chest of money?”

  “Do you know why, Grantly?” Hugh asked.

  Grantly shook his head.

  “I . . . maybe I . . . that is . . . ,” Callie stammered.

  All eyes turned toward her, and she cleared her throat.

  “This may or may not be of value,” she said quietly.

  “Go on, Callie. What is it?” Ford gave her a glance of support and a nod of his head to encourage her to speak.

  “Well, Grandfather, one of the changes I’ve made is to require all payments from the Orient to come in bank notes. I felt we needed to be able to recover our funds if a ship were lost. So none of Crown’s ships bring payment back in gold. It’s all in paper bank notes. The only gold is sent on the trip out, to pay for the purchases we make in India and China. If . . . if they’re bringing gold off the ship, it’s from something other than the sale of our goods.”

  A slow smile crept across Ford’s face. “You brilliant girl,” he whispered. No one in the room challenged his familiarity with Lady Calinda. They were thinking the very same thing.

  “Jolly good, Granddaughter,” the admiral laughed. His eyes shone with new respect for his young partner.

  Ford ran through the scenario again, and suddenly the pieces came together. He stopped, then faced everyone in the room. “I think that settles it,” Ford said, sifting through the information Grantly and Callie had revealed. “We have three pieces to the puzzle: the chest Grantly got from the captain, the chest he removed from beneath the rock, and the packet that was with the chest. His instructions were to give the chest and the packet to whichever captain was about to set sail. Which leads me to believe that the chest hidden beneath the bench contained the gold coins the captain would need to purchase opium when he stopped in Bangkok or Calcutta.”

  “And let’s assume,” Hugh said, following Ford’s logic, “that the packet contained the captain’s share from the sale of opium.”