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Chapters (44)
  1. Title Page
  2. One: Into the Storm
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Two: London Calling
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Three: The Malignant Seven
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-One
  26. Twenty-Two
  27. Twenty-Three
  28. Four: Squirrels and Cats
  29. Twenty-Four
  30. Twenty-Five
  31. Twenty-Six
  32. Twenty-Seven
  33. Twenty-Eight
  34. Twenty-Nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-One
  37. Thirty-Two
  38. Five: Revelation
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. About the Author

“I’m sure he’s a fine provider,” Matthew replied. He rubbed the grainy coal dust between his fingers. “Coal dust on both sets of clothing.”

“That tells you something?” Elizabeth prodded.

“Possibly that the constables were brought here on a coal wagon, and I doubt they didn’t have to be knocked senseless and covered over. But it would be a risk for Lash. A little screaming and commotion if one of the men happened to break free, and this quiet, privileged neighborhood would be looking askance at the vice admiral. If indeed they came in a coal wagon they were taken off somewhere not too near the house just in case of such mishap, but not too far away either.” Matthew realized he was basically thinking aloud, for he had no surety of any of this. “I doubt that Lash would like his neighbors to know what goes on in here,” he said. “He might be booted off the park.”

“Samson would be the one doing the booting,” she replied, with a haughty air. “He owns the park. Now, I don’t believe I can help you any further. What you’re asking is out of the question.”

“Two things you can help me with,” Matthew said. Again his mind was racing, trying to solve the problems that lay before him. It seemed that Julian was right, and everything was left up to the whims of Fate. “Number one, tell no one what we’ve been talking about, and number two—” and here was the real risk at hand, “—make sure that when I’m taken away in the coach, the door to which that key is suited is unlocked.”

That gave her pause. She frowned and her mouth twisted. Whatever she was about to say, it would have to be left unsaid because the chamber’s door suddenly opened and two of the Owl’s toughs were there.

“Come along,” one said to Matthew. “He wants you.”

“Am I presentable enough for a chat with the vice admiral?” Matthew asked Elizabeth as, smiling tightly, he brushed the last of the coal dust from his fingers.

“Not Lash,” said the guard. “Cardinal Black. Come on, he’s waiting.”

Twenty-Two

Twenty-Two

“You interest me,” said Cardinal Black, fully three minutes after Matthew had been escorted into what had to be the library at the rear of the house, for all the books on the oak shelves and two large wooden models of naval frigates mounted on stands. Wood crackled in a fireplace of rough gray stones. On the floor was a dark blue rug with a golden pattern at its edges. To the right, an oval window showed curtains of snow flying in the wind.