Page 54 of The Trick of the Treasure
He rose to his feet, his fearless gaze moving between the three watchers. “Does that help?”
“Ask my investigators,” Lloyd said vaguely. He appeared to be deep in thought.
“I rather suspect it does,” Constance said. “It looks as if this chest was put together in a deliberate copy, as we suspected, and by a carpenter who knew what he was doing. Your ship’s carpenter, perhaps. I believe his name was Samuels.”
Lloyd’s face spasmed. Beneath his sun-bronzed skin, he seemed to have paled. “He would not have dared!”
“Did you know him well?” Solomon asked.
Lloyd waved a hand. “Of course not. He was just one of the crew. A sad old man who’d made nothing of his life.”
“And yet he probably stole your treasure,” Solomon said. “Or at least contributed to the theft. How well do you know Captain Tybalt? Do you trust him?”
“Implicitly. He has never let me down.”
“Have you ever lethimdown?” Constance asked.
Lloyd flared his nostrils. “The man is always paid his worth. We have always had a successful partnership. Why else would he keep accepting my commissions?”
“Why indeed?” Solomon murmured. “Thank you, Mr. Lloyd—I believe we have seen enough for now. Oh, that sad old carpenter, Samuels? You don’t happen to know where he lives when he’s ashore, do you?”
“Of course not,” Lloyd said with distaste. “Ask Tybalt. He knows them all.”
In which case, Tybalt had lied to them.
*
Jemimah, who wassupposed to be supervising the studies of her younger sister for the afternoon, was quite happy to let Rachel run off and spy on Papa’s investigators. Jemimah had seen them arrive with a workingman in tow and mentioned the fact to Rachel, who had immediately dashed off about her own investigations.
Very little happened in this house without Rachel’s knowledge, and she was always willing to share—which proved useful when she needed to know if Ben Devine had called. Not that he had. Papa’s return appeared to have cooled his ardor, which Jemimah took as a personal insult.
When he called next, she would definitely be very cool toward him. No more assignations in the garden for him! She might grant him one dance at Mrs. Grafton’s party next week, but she would be very offhand about it and talk mostly about other admirers—while looking so beautiful that he would ache for her to be as warm as she had been toward him before. She wondered where Mrs. Silver bought her gowns.
Perhaps she would pop down and ask—just when the investigators were leaving, of course.
She refocused on the needlework in front of her, spotting innumerable misaligned and clumsily large stitches. Mama would not be pleased. For a little time, she wondered whether or not she cared, then gave a resigned sigh and unpicked what she had already done.
She had almost redone it when Rachel whisked back into the room.
“They’re looking at the chest. Again.”
“Why? If it’s not the original treasure chest?”
Rachel shrugged. “Maybe they’re looking for false bottoms and hidden compartments? Though Sydney says there was too much to be hidden in such a place.Theysuspect it’s a good copy, made by someone who knows carpentry.”
“Well, that lets all ofusoff the hook. Though we’d have to have been quick anyway, to knock it up during the night. Even if there were a point, which I can’t see.”
“No, they know it wasn’t made here. They think it was made on board the ship, and switched there with the treasure. Remember?”
“Well, neither Papa nor Sydney know anything about carpentry!”
“They could have paid someone.”
“Why on earth would they do that?”
“Actually, I can’t think of a reason, unless it was some complicated ruse to save the treasure from thieves and it went awry.”
Jemimah stared at her sister, frowning. “It’s possible, I suppose. Papa would never admit it. Sydney might. Why don’t we ask him?”
