Page 29 of Season of the Scoundrel
What she did see, however, was that the opposite side of the crate had a different name stamped across it that was marred and barely visible, as if an attempt had been made to scratch it out. But it had been a poor effort because the words were simply faded but still quite legible: Merrick and Sons Export Co.
She crouch-walked down the entire row of stacked crates. On many, the name had been fully scratched or sanded off the wood, but she made out one other name, Albion Mercantile, faded but still readable on another crate.
Digging into her pocket, her fingers curled around an object shaped a bit like a pocket watch. She pulled it out and then opened the face to extend the tiny lens barrel. Then she stood, making sure no one spotted her and moved back as far as she could from the crate’s faded label. She snapped a photo of one label and then walked down the row to find and photograph the next. Ivy prayed she was far enough away and that there was enough light to actually capture an image. Too close or too dark and the photograph would be blurry.
“Thank you, Mr. Harvey.”
Ivy heard Ross’s voice, louder than his usual tone, as if alerting her. She stood, dusted herself off, shoved her hands into her pockets and strolled out to join him and Mr. Harvey. Together, they continued their circuit around the warehouse.
“Are Penrose or Grainger ever in the office?” Ross asked, still continuing with his barrage of questions.
“On occasion, Your Grace. But I or our office clerk manage the office most days.”
“You’ve been most helpful, Mr. Harvey.”
The foreman seemed pleased by the praise and a little awestruck by Ross, hardly noticing Ivy’s presence at all.
“I’ll be sure to let Lord Penrose know you were accommodating. You’ve all but convinced me to invest, sir.”
With that, Ross shot a look her way that she knew meant he was ready to depart.
They left the warehouse together as the sky darkened from dusk to nightfall, but Ivy still kept her head bent until they found a hired cab and were settled inside.
“He was cagey,” Ross admitted as he removed hat, then his gloves, tucking them inside the well of his top hat. “Refused to take me anywhere near the office. And I asked dozens of questions, yet most of his replies were maddeningly vague. He even dodged repeated inquiries about what exactly it is that they ship.”
“I think I might know why.” Ivy removed her bowler too and was eager to get all the pins out of her hair.
“Oh?” He turned a look her way.
“I believe they may be stealing cargo from other companies and remarking it as their own.”
“What makes you think so?”
“Crates relabeled.” She lifted her clever photographic device out to him in the flat of her palm. “I took photographs with this.Ifit works as expected.”
Ross took the small disc-shaped device into his hand and held it up for inspection. “This is a camera?”
“Ingenious, isn’t it? It’s called a waistcoat camera and can be hidden beneath, well, a waistcoat,” she told him with all the enthusiasm she felt when she’d first read of the device.
“For use by detectives, I take it,” he said, looking up at her out of the corner of his eye.
“Or busybodies with an interest in photography.”
He laughed at that, and the sound was low and delicious. She could feel it reverberate in her middle. When he returned the camera, their fingers brushed. At that simple slide of skin against skin, her pulse began dancing in her veins.
From the intense way he looked at her, she suspected he felt something too.
Then he reached up and swept a strand of hair back behind her ear. The graze of his fingers against her cheek sent a shiver cascading down her spine.
“You’re rather remarkable,” he whispered.
“Because I brought a camera?” Ivy whispered back, her throat suddenly dry, her senses fully attuned to his nearness and how much she wanted him closer still.
He smiled in the darkness. “Not the camera. Your fearlessness. Your determination.”
“My recklessness?” She couldn’t help but tease him with his own words to her the day they met.
“I also admitted you were heroic.” One of his dark brows winged up. “Did you forget?”
