“God’s truth. She obviously has a hell of a personality along with her other charms, because she wouldn’t let him touch her till they were legally wed, Anne Boleyn style, then agreed to keep the business quiet as long as she got set up in a very nice townhouse. Furs, jewellery, no expense spared. She’s been living high off the hog while not having to see him too often, but now the boys are growing up, and she wants them acknowledged. Chingford’s been throwing money at her in an effort to keep her quiet.”

“How long did he think that was going to work?”

“Your mistake lies in the word ‘think’,” Kim said. “He was focused on preventing Father finding out. Instead, Fairfax did, and decided to use that for a big pay-out before he fled Knowle’s new Greek-tragedy version of Zodiac. And, God bless his blackmailing heart, he mentioned something about an earl with a secret marriage to Florrie Jacobs, who trotted it out as special gossip on the girls’ visit the other day. Maisie put two and two together, and here we are.”

“Blimey. And his sons—”

“Legitimate heirs. Three of them. I’m off the hook for good, even if the bastard hangs.”

Will tipped his head back, feeling Kim’s relief as his own. “About that...”

“We’ll have to see,” Kim said. “Knowle killed Fairfax, but Chingford must have at least suspected it, and aided and abetted his escape. There could yet be a charge of conspiracy to murder. Not to mention everything else for which he’ll have to face the music.”

“And what are we going to do about it?”

“Watch from the stalls.” Kim leaned his shoulder against Will’s, his thumb gently brushing Will’s palm, a soothing stroke. “Chingford can take his consequences, and Father can take his grandchildren, and I hope he does a better job with them than he did with us. The mother sounds like a power-house, which should help. Maisie found her rather impressive.”

The coast was a lot closer now. Aurora was speeding through the waves, the up-and-down starting to feel like a reasonable sort of motion. It was bright and clean and fresh out here, and blessedly free of people.

“I’d like to do this again,” Will said abruptly. “Sail, I mean. Only not on a ship full of bastards.”

“It’s more fun on smaller craft anyway. We could go out just the two of us, if that doesn’t go against your stipulation. I could teach you.”

“I’d like that.”

“So would I. You can swim, yes?”

“No.”

Kim’s hand went still. “You can’t?”

“Is that a problem?”

“You climbed over the side of a yacht in full sail!”

Will shrugged. “He had a gun on you.”

“He had a gun on my father.”

“Whatever. You’d have shot him yourself if you didn’t care.”