A Bright Particular Star (40 page)

“
Well enough to say you
c
an trust him
c
ompletely
.
You are mistaken
in
thinking Sophie is at risk from Luc
—
on the contrary, he has been watching her most carefully.
”

Jealousy
blazed in Theo
’s
eyes
.
“
What
the deuce
for?
”

“
What we are about to tell you is in the strictest confidence.
”
Sir Seymour
pressed his fin
gertips together
and
paused,
as if contemplating
th
e best place to begin.
“
Have you ever heard of the Bath Fox?
”

S
till eyeing Lucius
Grey warily
,
Theo
said
,
“S
ophie mentioned him on the way
to London.
Some
thief who
is snatching diamonds from
dowagers and terrorising stretches of the
Bath Road.
S
ounded a hum to me
.
”

Dinny shook his head.
“
It is not a hum
.
The
Bath Fox exists an
d—
”

“
I am
extremely
interested in him
,
”
finished
Grey.

“
And why w
ould
a fellow like
you be interested in a petty thief
?
”
said The
o, taking a mouthful of wine.

“
Because
Luc
is at
tac
hed to Bow Street,
”
said
Dinny.

The
re was a moment
’s
silence before
Theo
, standing next to the table,
swayed like a saplin
g in the breeze and
succumbed to a
paroxysm of
coug
hing.
Sir Seymour
’s
build rendered him not ideally suited to
springing up from chairs, but the animation with which he
jumped
to his feet
almost amoun
ted to a leap.

He
administer
ed
a succession of generous thumps to Theo
’s
bac
k, a
pragmatic
gesture
which
helped Theo swallow
his wine, but also sent his
glass crashing
to the floor
.

D
abbing
his mouth
with his handkerchief, Theo
slumped
onto
his chair
and stared
at the man still
sitting
impassively
at
the head
of the table
.

“
Good grief
!
”
he
managed to croak
.
“
I knew there was more to you than met the
eye.
Are you
a Runner?
”

“
Not exactly,
”
said Luc
ius
.
“
Although
I
work for Sir Nathanial Conant
,
th
e Chief Magistrate
, unofficially
I report
to Viscount Sidmouth, the Hom
e Secretary.
It
’s
through
the Home Secretary that I became
acquainted with Sir Seymour.
”

There was a
nother
long pause.

“T
he more you
tell me, the less I understand
!
”
cried
Theo.
“
Just
w
ho
are you and how do
you come to be working for
Bow Street and
th
e g
overnment
?
You
’
re an educated man, not someone who
has worked
his
way up from
a C
harley
’s
shelter!
”

Grey
’s
mouth
twisted
into a
smile
.
“
I have a chequered history.
”

“
Luc will explain
later
.
T
here is no
time to go into
his background
now,
”
said
Sir Seymour.
“
All you need to know
presently
is
he can be trusted
.
I have liaised
with him on several government c
ommittees
and, as he has already explained, he has access to the highest offices of state
.
”

“
Why
didn
’t
you tell me this
before?
”
said Theo, giving Grey
an accusing look.

Grey
shrugged.
“
I was on the point of
doing so several times
, but
my orders did not
permit
it.
M
y hands were
effectively
tied
until I reached London
.
”

“
And
what about
Bowyer?
I fear you are going to tell me he is reall
y Lord Liverpool
in disguise
—
mo
st unusual valet I
’
ve
seen
in my life
!
”

“
Mr
.
Bowyer
is not the Prime Minister
,
”
said Luc,
his
eyes twinkling
with
sudden
amusement
.
“
He
is
a Bow Street Runner and
has been working
closely with me on the Fox case
.
”

“
At least I was right about him not being your valet
.
But
what does all this have to do with Sophie?
Surely you
’
re not suggesting she ha
s
any connection
with the Bath Fox?
”

“S
he has
, but she is
un
aware of it,
”
explaine
d
Sir Seymour.
“
Luc
’s
role is that
of a roaming
in
vestigator
, Theo
.
H
is background makes him eminently suited to
undertake
complicated cases that
are arousing disquiet at g
ove
rnm
ent level, especially those requiring
discreet handling
.
He was assigned to t
he Fox case as it had
bee
n s
uspected for some time that t
he
Bath
Fox was not a member of the criminal underworld, but someone of higher ra
nk
.
How else
, it was reasoned,
could he have detailed kno
wledge about the movements of his victims and the jewels he was stealing
?
The
provincial law officers were
unsuccessful in their
inquiries
and the robberies continued unchecked.
That
was bad enough, but
the attacks began to increase in frequency, creating a frenzy
of speculation and fear
among the local population
.
They
also beg
an to o
ccur further afield.
The Fox
’s
notoriety spread and
,
when the robberies became increasingly ambitious,
it was decided
something
more
had to be don
e.
A
ctivities seemed
centered
on
Bath
,
so
it was agreed
Luc
’s
investigations
should begin
there
.
”

There was a knock at the door and
Saunders came in.
He placed the new bottle of claret
on the table and, after
wordlessly
picking up the remnants of Theo
’s
glass and
asking
if anything else was needed,
bowed out of the room.

“
When I met you, I had been in the area
for several months
,
”
continued Luc
when they were once more alone
.
“
I moved
mainly
among
Bath
society
while
Bowyer made enquiries in the
l
ess salubrious areas
…
we were
watch
ing, waiting and listening
.
Snippets of information began to
come our
way.
T
hey seemed unconnected, but
after weeks of
painstaking work
, it became clear
the
information
pointed towa
rd a certain person.
I
t hardly seemed credible but
,
again and again,
we were led back to the same conclusion
.
T
o confirm our suspicions
and
obtain evidence that could be used in court, I began to inveigle
myself into Peregrine Sloane
’s
circle
—
”

“S
loane!
”
interjected
Theo, his eyes widening.

Grey nodded.
“
I gained his confidence, such as he was prepared
to indulge
me with
, and quickly suspected
he was
indeed
involved
.
The difficulty was to
find
out
precisely
what
his role was
and then
to
prove
it
.
”

“S
loane
’s
a
hal
f-flash,
ha
lf—
foolish fellow,
”
said
Theo, curling his lip.
“
I
doubt
he knows much of the business
.
”

“T
hen you would be
mistaken.
”
Grey picked
up the decanter and
refilled
his glass.
“
H
e
is at the heart
of it
.
”

There was
silence.

“
Are you telling me that Peregrine Sloane is the Bath Fox?
”
asked Theo at length.