Page 74 of The Trick of the Treasure
Clearly it had never entered Sydney’s head that he could remove the items himself and put them in the attic or wherever such things were stored in this house. But he rose without fuss, went to the far side of his bed, and pulled a large trunk into the middle of the room. He opened it without being asked and spread his hands like a stage conjurer displaying the emptiness of his vessel. Inside were only a couple of empty, soft leather bags.
“How full was it?” Solomon asked, with the inkling of a possibility nudging his mind.
“About half, I suppose. My father wouldn’t let me take much, in case we foundmassesof treasure to bring home. I thought he was delusional at the time, and in fact, I came back with less than I’d started with. I threw out a coat and several shirts that were damaged beyond repair.”
“And the bags?” Solomon asked.
“Empty,” Sydney said wryly. “Again, my father insisted I take them.”
Was Sydney deliberately—or accidentally—pushing suspicion onto his father? Implying Lloyd himself had planned to hide the treasure elsewhere in the luggage?
“And they were equally empty when you unpacked here?”
“I can only assume so,” Sydney said. “The servants unpacked everything.”
“Your father had two trunks, according to the seamen I spoke to.”
Sydney’s smile was cynical. “A mark of status. Though, of course, his trunks were slightly smaller than mine. Tell me, how is any of this helping my aunt?”
“I’ll tell you when I know. Thank you for your time.”
*
Questioning the Lloyds’servants confirmed Solomon’s belief that Miss Lloyd had left the house almost immediately after dinner. Before he tried to untangle his thoughts and theories, preferably with Constance, if she was up to such discussions, he dropped into the study once more.
Lloyd scowled at him. “Good God, are you still here? You should be outthere, finding my poor sister!” He flung onearm toward the window, indicating, presumably, the rest of the world.
“I shall be, in just a few minutes. I have been collecting clues as to where she went.”
“She did not leave voluntarily, sir!” Lloyd exclaimed, clearly affronted by the very idea.
“There is no evidence of visitors or of any struggle,” Solomon pointed out. “In fact, she seems to have planned her exit quite carefully to give herself maximum time before her disappearance was noticed. It was probably her bad luck that your daughters chose that morning to go to her room early. Otherwise, it might have been this evening before anyone commented on her absence.”
Lloyd opened his mouth to deny any such claim, then bit it back and said only, “In which case, she must have been coerced in some other way.”
“Or misled, perhaps. To find her, I need to know something of her past. Particularly when you lived in the country. I think Samuels, who was then known as Clarke, came from your estate.”
“Good God man, it’s possible, but how can I be expected to keep track of such people?”
“Then you truly didn’t recognize Samuels aboard theQueen?”
“Of course I didn’t!”
“What about Captain Tybalt?”
“Of course I knew Tybalt—he’s captained my ship many times.”
“Did he aspire to your sister’s hand in marriage?”
Again, irascible denial glared out of his eyes. Then the anger died abruptly and they widened. “Good God. You think Tybalt is responsible for this outrage?Andthe theft?”
“Both are possibilities I need to look into at the very least. If Tybalt was denied the wife he wanted, he had a grudge against you.”
“We had an agreement,” Lloyd said roughly. “He would stay away from Audrey and I would continue to employ him. Without me, he could not support himself, let alone a wife. No one else would give him a ship. He lost one, you know—his fault. No one else would employ him.”
“But you were prepared to risk it?”
“I took a chance the first time,” Lloyd admitted. “But in fact he’s damned good, and though he has some difficulty getting crew, those that do sail with him respect him. If it wasn’t so, I’d certainly never have risked taking my son”.
