Ghost of Christmas Past (27 page)

“
Who?”

“
The man you shot in Mayfair,” he refused to expand on his
explanation. He knew from the look in Fornier’s eye that the
Frenchman knew exactly who Rupert was talking about.

“
It was a warning to you that we French are far stronger and
more capable than you think. You took one of ours so we will take
one of yours.”

“
We took all of yours,” Luke argued. “Beaulieu, Petit, Moreau,
Legrand, Laurent, Dubois and Guerin are all now dead. Bernard is
answering lots of questions in jail at the moment but he will soon
be dead too.”

“
Let’s not forget Rousseau. He is also answering questions at
the moment,” Rupert added. “So, along with all of your assorted
employees, we have outmanoeuvred each and every one of you. Now
that we have you, we can all start to enjoy ourselves a little more
knowing the country is safe from foreign invasion.”

“
You know nothing,” the Frenchman snorted disparagingly.
“There are far more people involved in this than you realise. You
English, with your wealthy aristocrats and ridiculous empires, what
do you know? Your aristocrats cannot run their estates and their
businesses by themselves. They need us French to invest their money
in, and those who have chosen to support such a worthy cause as
ours have enjoyed the money we have earned them. They would be
nothing without us. They are so greedy in their big, empty house
and posh gentleman’s clubs that they will accept any proposition we
put to them. They don’t care about king and country. Nobody does.
This is England. You are idiots if you think that this is the end
of it,” Fornier scoffed. “Your man in Mayfair was shot because of
his association with you.”

“
He isn’t with us.”

“
He is Star Elite,” Fornier argued. “I have seen him talking
to Sir Hugo Dunnicliffe, that boss of the War Office. On several
occasions, my men have watched him.” One long finger pointed in
Rupert’s direction. “You. You were talking to him only the other
night. He is a colleague of yours.”

“
Not that it matters, but he isn’t. John Weatherby is a very
popular man in the upper echelons of society and he has a lot of
connections in high places but, as far as I am aware, is nothing
more than an acquaintance of Sir Hugo’s. You shot the wrong man.”
Rupert’s eyes met and held the Frenchman’s for several long
moments. “You shot an innocent bystander. Not that I should think
for one moment that it would mean to anyone like you, Fornier, but
I am the one you should have aimed at. If you seriously rely on
your men providing you with information, I think that you should
have paid them a bit more. Maybe then they would have done a proper
job and given you information that would support your so called
clause and not hinder it. As it is, you have made more than enough
foolish mistakes to prove that you are no match for us. We have now
cornered you and there is no way out.”

“
If you think that you are going to take me alive then you
have another think coming,” Fornier declared proudly.

“
Before you go,” Rupert replied sternly. “Why did you try to
abduct the woman off the street? I mean, what is she to
you?”

“
For a bargaining tool, why else? I know you have been
watching us. I have my people out and about on all street corners.
We have been watching you watching us, but you are too stupid to
realise it. If we wanted to hurt her we could have shot her at any
time, but we wanted to use her as leverage to buy us some time to
move our operation away from this filth,” he glared disparagingly
around him in disgust as though even he couldn’t quite believe just
how bad his life had become.

“
So you shot John thinking he was Star Elite, and then found
out that he wasn’t?”

“
I don’t care if he is Star Elite or not. He was shot as a
warning. We were going to abduct the woman to use as a bargaining
tool and then leave you to your wretched country.”

“
We?”

“
Me,” Fornier smirked. “I have no intention of taking any of
the pick-pockets with me.”

“
How have you been able to pay them though? I mean, if you
don’t have any money. How have you got them to help you?” Jacob
demanded with a drawl. He knew that the vast majority of London’s
pick-pockets were a feral lot who would slit their own mother’s
throat for a few bob and think nothing of it.

“
They were easy to convince. I told them that you had all
stolen my wealth and I wanted it back. I gave them a place to hide
their stolen goods so they weren’t caught with anything that didn’t
belong to them and, in exchange, I promised them at as soon as I
had my house back I would furnish them with many gold coins. The
ignorant oafs fell for it.”

“
They would skin you alive if any of them heard you,” Harry
warned.

“
Jail is the safest place for you, only for God’s sake don’t
tell anyone that you are French, or the other prisoners will skin
you alive instead,” Lucas added with a frown. He knew that his
words had struck home by the way the Frenchman’s eyes widened and
he swallowed harshly.

When the
Frenchman lifted a hand toward his gun, Rupert kicked him hard on
the forearm. Fornier let out a pained shout and was distracted for
a moment. To everyone’s surprise he tried to lunge for the window
but was grabbed by Lucas who took him down in a tackle that left
them in a heap on the floor. The resulting scuffle was brisk. It
took very little time to overpower the spy who swore and kicked as
he was carried out of the house by the men who each carried a limb.
Once outside, they carried him to the waiting group of men led by
Sir Hugo himself where he was quickly ironed and pushed roughly
into a waiting jailer’s cart.

“
Well, well, if it isn’t the last of the traitors,” Sir Hugo
drawled with an air of satisfaction. “Well done, men.” He shook the
hand of each man in turn and lifted an arm to signal to the jailers
that they could remove the prisoner. The Frenchman swore and spat
at Sir Hugo but could do little else while he disappeared from
view.

“
So, that’s the spy out of the way,” Rupert sighed as he
watched the cart turn out of the end of the road. “What about the
financier? I have asked John and, as far as he is aware, there is
nobody of his acquaintance who would turn traitor to the country.
What do we know about the financier?”

Sir Hugo
sighed. Although the jubilation was still evident, it dimmed a
little with the knowledge that their work wasn’t quite over just
yet.

“
The financier is definitely a wealthy snob called Van Heisen.
He is of Dutch origin and extremely arrogant. He is up to his ears
in debt but, when he had money, he chose to invest it heavily in
false wineries that were purported to be in southern France. The
French used it as a way of getting people to invest in the supposed
business. The financiers put money in expecting to have part
ownership in a thriving winery. What they actually got were a few
barrels of valuable French brandy that in no way repaid them the
huge sums they invested. When Van Heisen didn’t get the barrels of
brandy that he was promised he refused to give Fornier any more
money. When Fornier returned to London, he contacted Van Heisen for
money again but was turned away. Van Heisen didn’t tell Fornier
that he was up to his ears in debt because he had lost what was
left of his wealth in gambling dens.”

“
So what about Thea? I mean, why try to abduct her?” Harry
frowned at his boss, but it was Rupert to answer him. They had
followed the carriage but had lost it around Covent Garden. How it
had gotten to Thea, heaven only knew but it was irrelevant
now.

“
Van Heisen was the last of the investors. Thea was going to
be used for ransom because Fornier desperately needed
money.”

As the
prison cart turned out of view at the end of the road, a thoughtful
silence settled over the group of men. To Rupert it felt like the
end of a very long saga of confrontation, brutal battles, lies,
subterfuge and deceit, which he was very glad to see the back of.
Although he enjoyed the work he did, he was looking forward to
being able to enjoy some of the comforts life could offer. He
glanced at his colleagues who looked relieved and jubilant, yet
concerned at the same time.

It was
Jacob who broke the silence. “Do we bother with the
pick-pockets?”

Sir Hugo
shook his head. “Let the locals deal with them. We have bigger fish
to fry. The next person we need to arrest is Van Heisen. He is not
going to go down lightly and has friends in high places, so we need
to be swift but discrete.”

“
Do you want him to vanish, boss?” Harry queried. He looked
forward to being able to bring the man to justice so that he could
enjoy a couple of days off.

“
Yes, but quietly, and he needs to go to stay at His Majesty’s
pleasure in Bodmin with the others.”

“
You don’t want him in London?”

Hugo
shook his head. “With his contacts, I cannot risk anyone applying
pressure on anyone in order to gain his release. At Bodmin there is
no conceivable way he can get word out about his
whereabouts.”

Rupert
turned his head to study Sir Hugo. “What about John Weatherby?
Fornier said he thought he was one of the Star Elite because of his
association to you and me. He seemed to know quite a bit about
us.”

Hugo
looked at him steadily. “Like I said, Fornier knew Van Heisen, who
moves in the same circles as John. My acquaintance with John
Weatherby goes back several years and is no secret. John Weatherby
is by far the finest and most dependable man in London. He is clear
of any crimes, I am certain of it, so you need have no worries
there. I can only assume that my association with John, and of
course yourself, was enough to link everyone together. The house
was being watched by Fornier and his pick-pockets as you know, and
any one of them would have seen Thea enter or leave Ridings.
Unfortunately, her presence in the house made her a
target.”

Rupert
nodded and felt a heavy weight lift off his shoulders now that
Fornier was off to jail. He had no idea what he would have done if
John had proven to be untrustworthy and involved in financing the
French spies in some way.

“
I am placing my trust in you and Marcus, Rupert, to ensure
that nothing else happens to John Weatherby or his niece. I
understand that you two have a prior acquaintance?”

Rupert
nodded, aware that his colleagues were curious. “We were to have
been married several years ago but a carriage accident took her
away from me. There are several reasons why the marriage didn’t go
ahead and, well, I ended up in the army.” He smiled at Sir Hugo and
flicked a glance at the others. “You know the rest. Thea moved to
Leicestershire to recover from her injuries and we lost contact
with each other. Her uncle, John, is her guardian how.”

“
You won’t get a finer family than the Weatherbys,” Sir Hugo
assured him but accompanied his statement with a warning look.
“John Weatherby also has people in very high places, far higher
than Van Heisen’s. It is imperative that absolutely nothing happens
to him under our watch.”

“
When do you want to move in on Van Heisen?”

Sir Hugo
sighed and moved closer to his men. He lowered his voice and waited
until he had everyone’s attention before he relayed the plans he
had drawn up to close this case once and for all.

“
He will be at his gaming house tonight. I will take Luke and
Jacob and intercept him on his way home. You and Marcus need to
remain on watch at Ridings for the next few days, at least until
everything settles down again and John is back to full health. I
will send word to you when it is alright to leave.” Hugo’s eyes met
and held Rupert’s. “Come and see me after this is all done, and we
will have that chat.” He didn’t add that he had a few ideas of how
Rupert could continue to be involved in the Star Elite without the
need to be living for weeks on end in disguise and in considerable
danger, but couldn’t discuss it in front of the others, who were
silent and watchful as they studied the area around them with
cautious eyes.

Half an
hour later, Rupert and Harry turned into Mews Road, where Ridings
was located. Rupert turned his thoughts to Thea’s reaction when he
told her that Fornier, the coachman in the top hat, were now firmly
behind bars, along with the two men who had helped try to abduct
her.

“
Good God, Rupert,” Harry whispered, and grabbed Rupert’s
forearm with hard fingers, but Rupert’s attention was already
locked firmly on the thick plume of smoke that billowed steadily
out of the shattered front room window of Ridings.

His feet
began to pound the pavement before he even realised that he had
moved. He was vaguely aware of Harry calling to him, but he
couldn’t absorb anything except for the horror that threaten to
engulf him. He raced toward the large group of people who had
formed a human chain that went from the rear of the house directly
across the road, across the road, right up to Ridings front door.
He didn’t even glance at the buckets that were passed backward and
forward. His eyes scanned the line of people and the crowd that had
gathered nearby but he couldn’t see Thea, John, Marcus or even
Argus for that matter.