Page 33 of The Gift of Patience
Ashley stood and walked over to Armstrong. “I will take it. There is only one person who would be sending something to him here.” He broke the seal and opened it. “As I suspected, it’s from Lord Upton.”
There is extremelylimited access to the knowledge of these arms shipments. I’ve taken the liberty of listing the committee members’ names for you. Even those who are shipping themunitions are unaware that they are doing so. This particular shipment that went missing was en route to India. As you would suspect, it was on board one of the East India ships.
There was no known attack. In fact, it was sometime before the arms were discovered to be missing. All further shipments have been halted until this investigation uncovers whether or not this is a continued threat.
“No one would have thoughtto check again once the goods were loaded,” Westwood remarked.
“But were the arms loaded? Or something else in their place?” Ashley countered.
“An excellent question to investigate.”
“Someone knew there would be arms on that ship and likely substituted something in their place.”
“And what’s the connection to the Greenwich docks and Taywards? Or is there one?”
“It could simply be an excellent place from which to watch.”
“But we found nothing on an exhaustive search.”
“There has to be a link. We are just missing it.”
“I think the key may be discovering who had the knowledge and who is passing messages to Devil. What names are on the list?”
“Lord Marsh, Henry Cavender, and Sir Percival Layton, in addition to Lord Upton,” Ashley read.
“None of which he can think of any reason they would have to betray the information. All of them understand the necessity of secrecy with such shipments.” Westwood frowned. “Then one of them must have unwittingly revealed the information.”
“So we need to investigate connections. Manners is the best man for that. I will speak to Renforth about it. But I’ve heardof Layton. He has a younger son with quite a reputation as a gamester,” Ashley said. “Perhaps he was desperate for funds.”
Westwood frowned. “Still, I would not think Layton would leave that sort of information lying around.”
“Some parents are blind to their children’s faults. Certainly, it’s a theory that bears looking into.” Ashley stood. “I must report to the colonel.”
“Do not forget to mention the dinner,” Westwood called after him as he left the room.
Ashley shook his head. He had every intention of fobbing that off on one of his friends. He made his way towards the clearing, deciding to walk this time. He found Renforth sitting in the lookout tree with the spyglass to his eye.
“Report.”
Ashley read the missive from Lord Upton, then conveyed his and Westwood’s thoughts.
“I know Layton well, he served in the regiment with me when we were both green lieutenants. But his son is a wastrel. Still, it’s hard for me to fathom him leaving any information around that his son might compromise.” He pursed his lips. “I have a connection that could look into this for me. I cannot spare to send any of you back at this juncture. We need to see if the others have discovered anything by following them. Go and see if they’ve got anything to report.”
“Very good, sir. Also, there is a dinner at Sir Horace’s. I think it might be worthwhile for us to see if there are any other local connections that we might’ve missed, as we suspect someone of high standing is involved.”
Renforth angled his head. “I suppose you could be spared, but I cannot afford to lose eyes on the rest of the gang.”
Ashley wanted to protest, but he’d had the very same thought himself. He’d hoped that Renforth would not want to spare him either. The thought of that harpy, Lady Fagge, made hisskin crawl, and that was without consideration of her insipid daughters. Ashley groaned, then smiled. If he had to suffer through it, then so did Patience.
CHAPTER 9
Patience smiled when she heard Colonel Renforth direct Major Stuart to attend the dinner that night. If she had to suffer, then it was only fair that he did as well.
He would have her head if he knew she was out there alone—well, not alone as Xander was by her side—but without a male escort.
However, she was restless and needed to do something so she decided to investigate the pathway between Taywards and the Fagge estate. When she’d seen Major Stuart, she had followed him to the clearing. She’d been afraid Xander would give her away, but he’d remained quiet by her side.
Now, Major Stuart was off to see if his colleagues had discovered anything and she would not be able to go into the village, dash it all. No one would believe her if she said she wanted to shop. Those words would taste like venom on her tongue and would be known for the lie they were.
