Page 84 of The Devil in Oxford
Reaver exhaled at the question, grateful for a starting point to a conversation that was long overdue. “Better than expected. He’s at the hospital. Surgeons say that he should recover within a few weeks. He’s a good lad with a bright future ahead of him serving his majesty, should he choose to continue on.”
Good. At least one less drop of blood stained my hands. “And your other friend.… What about him?”
He folded his hands upon his desk. “I do not know who you mean.”
“Thecaptain. That fellow who arrived at the house last night at the perfect moment. The same one whoblew upthe canal boat.”
He stared at me unblinking.
“Charming scar beneath his eye. Took Jack to the hospital,” I added dryly, as if there could be any confusion of whom I spoke.
Reaver drummed his fingertips on the tabletop, visibly debating whether to admit the captain’s existence in the light of day. Finally, he nodded again, half to himself. “He is well, thank you for your concern.”
I exhaled loudly through my nose and shot to my feet, pacing the room. It was good to move, to do something. “Whois he? I’ve met him before, during the war about the time he received that scar of his. Every time I cross his path, my recollection of the event does not concur with the official record of the same and last time that occurred, things did not go so well for me.” I laid the morning’s paper down on the table between us, tapping the fictitious headline lamenting Laurent’s death ofnaturalcauses. “Hopefully no one will try to lock me in an asylum this time.”
Reaver chuckled half to himself. “Why am I not surprised? That was how I first met him too. The captain has had many names over the years, he is brilliant at his work—that was until he was nearly captured. After that he was sent back to the home front to hunt domestic spies rather than foreign ones.”
I blinked, not quite believing my ears. “He believed Professor Laurent to be aspy?”
“I do not know whathebelieved, but the crown certainly did. That’s why he was sent to Oxford. There were concerns that Laurent had been keeping the wrong sort of company. Theseditiouskind.”
I opened my mouth, then snapped it back shut again.
“Come now, Miss Vaughn. You cannot think that the threats against our country ended with the armistice?”
Of course not.“So you would allow the world to believe a lie—that Laurent died peacefully in his sleep—rather than to know the truth about him? If what you say about him is true, and Britain is not fully safe, even now…”
“Safety is an illusion even at the best of times,” he said with a deep frown. “And the lie is better than the truth in any event. Emmanuel Laurent has been dealt with and paid for his crimes. Does it matter what the truth is?”
“But no one knows he committed any crime at all. There will likely be some absurd plaque installed, lauding his achievements when he ought to be pilloried.”
Reaver furrowed his brow. “Would you prefer that the entire country knew that the man poised to be a MP was a kidnapper and a murderer, funding his political aspirations and peculiar personal habits through the sale of intoxicants to the very people who elected him? Let us not even go into the whispers about dealings he had with the Germans. A traitor willing to sell his soul to the highest bidder being that close to the levers of power? It is unthinkable, Ruby. Unthinkable that the crown would let that stand when a simpler explanation ties things up neatly and with fewer questions. A plaque is a small price to pay.”
“Yes. Yes I would. At least if people knew, they would not be so easily deceived the next time it occurs. Because you know as well as I do that a fellow like him will come along again.”
Reaver frowned. “Then we are in disagreement.”
My nostrils flared. “Is it that simple then? A lie rather than an uncomfortable truth? Then you and that man… you both work for the crown?”
He shrugged. “I work for the museum.”
“You’re not as good at the vague answers as your captain friend from last night.”
The edge of his mouth curved up. “No one is as good as he. He was born to perform it, I was simply dragooned into his service, as were you. Be careful, Ruby Vaughn. He has taken a liking to you, and you may end up ensnared in his web again.”
My gaze shot to Leona. “Do you also work for the crown? For this…” My hands fluttered before me as I could not quite form the words. “For that man?”
Reaver’s expression darkened. “No. Leona’s involvement was an entirely unanticipated occurrence.”
I hugged myself tight to keep my hands from shaking.
“Harker and Leona had a deal unbeknownst to me.” Reaver’s voice was grim as he poured a glass of Scotch from a bottle and took a sip.
“What sort of a deal?”
“We were acquiring goods,” Leona interrupted. She looked well this morning, with no hints of the trauma from the days before. Her eyes bright, and hair loose and unbraided.
“What sort of goods?”
