Page 14 of Keeping Kate
Chapter 5
“Good Jamaican rum, by God, smuggled in along the Solway Coast.” General Wade sloshed the liquid into a pewter cup and handed it to Alec. “We apprehended this lot before it disappeared inland. Reserved some and sent the rest south for taxation.” A tall man with a regal bearing, Wade clinked his cup against Alec’s. “Here’s to finishing these damnable Highland roads. May we see better weather and fewer Highlanders.”
“General, you are talking to a Highlander,” Alec said, then sipped, enjoying the rich burn as the rum slid down his throat.
Wade swallowed and grimaced. “Sorry. If your uncle were not chief of the Lovat Frasers, I wonder if you would be here at all.” He tipped a brow.
“When my uncle Lovat offered me an officer’s commission in this independent Highland company a few years back, my choice at the time was the dull life of a merchant or the dull life of a lawyer. I thought an officer’s challenges would be more interesting than sitting at a desk.”
“And now you sit at desks, a redcoat lawyer,” Wade said, and sipped.
“True. But I will not complain about the privilege of taking a dram with the commander-in-chief of the British forces in Scotland.” Alec raised his cup.
“I admit there is some benefit in having the nephew of one a powerful Highland chief in our ranks,” Wade said. “No matter your personal leanings, and Highlanders are wise to keep such things to themselves, you do a fine job in whatever I ask of you.”
“Sir,” Alec murmured, inclining his head.
General Wade folded his height into a leather chair behind a great mahogany desk littered with papers and maps while Alec stood on the thick Turkish carpet. The room was spacious and well-furnished. Inverlochy Castle, its garrisoned town renamed Fort William, was a comfortable spot for soldiers, though inhospitable for Jacobites.
The general peered at Alec through the brass-rimmed spectacles perched on his long nose. “So you have seen ourintriguante,Captain? Does she still refuse to talk?”
“Aye. I cannot blame her, seeing the cruel conditions of her incarceration.”
“Damned ungentlemanly of Grant,” Wade conceded. “But we need to know what she is hiding, and Grant has a grievance with her, I warrant. She is a stubborn chit. You do know that Grant was one of her victims too? The gel left him with an aching head and took a fine set of maps with her. Francis Grant does not tolerate looking the fool.”
“I read his account of that incident. He was quite foxed, so there is some doubt as to what happened. Frankly, we do not even know if this girl was the one in his quarters that night. We have not determined quite who she is.”
“She was in your quarters, too,” Wade said tersely.
“Aye, but...I was not quite myself, either,” Alec said. “She is one of the camp laundresses. We established that with the Highland locals. I rode out to the croft house where the laundry is done, but could not discover anything useful. She is a cousin, he was told, and not quite right in the head, puir lass.”
“Did they give a name?”
“Catriona,” he said. “Catriona Brown.”
“Either they are speaking the truth or she is a very clever lass indeed. And I would lay my life’s wages on clever.”
“Would you?” Alec smiled. So would he, come to that.
“We cannot trust most Highland sources these days. How many Highland girls are curious about military maps and documents? None, I tell you. She took papers from you and others. From you, she took a list of Highlanders in prison and a count of weapons confiscated from Highland men by order of the king. That is very deliberate.”
“Perhaps she was looking for news of a kinsman. Family loyalty means all in the Highlands.” Alec did find her behavior suspicious, and he intended to discover the truth even if the military could not. Instincts sharpened by a cautious nature and years of covert work taught him to keep his counsel close. ‘There could be another explanation.”
“She had the documents, and she is likely this Katie Hell, far as we know. Clearly, she was up to something.”
“Perhaps I mistook her actions, sir. My head was not clear that night.” Alec swirled the rum in the cup, stared at it. “At the time, I did take her for Katie Hell.”
“But now you are not certain?”
Oh, he was very sure the girl was the notorious Jacobite spy, Alec thought. And he meant to find out what she knew about certain matters of rebellion before the English could find out. He had an interest in such matters, which he kept scrupulously secret.
“I think she should be interrogated further. But her treatment here is vile. That is my chief concern just now, General.”
“I will leave the matter to Colonel Grant and to you. Both of you have been the uh, unhappy victims of this girl.” Wade tilted a brow.
Alec set down his cup. “General, if word gets about that a Scotswoman was ill-treated at this garrison, there will be an uproar among Jacobite and Whig gentleman alike. The blame will fall on the commander of the king’s army in Scotland. You, sir.”
Wade tapped his fingers on his desk. “That could be troublesome. We cannot lose the support of the aristocracy in Scotland or in England just now.”
