"I love you, Harry," Augusta said.
"Augusta." Harry instinctively reached out for her, but she had already turned and stepped into the waiting coach.
Harry stood watching as the black and silver coach rumbled out into the street. For a long while he simply stood there, repeating Augusta's parting words over and over again in his mind. I love you, Harry.
It was, he realized, the first time she had ever actually said the words aloud. He knew now that a part of him had been waiting to hear them for a very long while.
I love you, Harry. The locked door hidden deep inside him opened wide and what lay behind it no longer appeared so bleak.
Dear God, but I love you, too, Augusta. I had not realized until this moment how much a part of me you have become.
Harry waited until the black coach was out of sight and then he went on up the steps and into his library. He sat down behind his desk and unfolded the list of names Sally had found. It did not take him long to decode them.
When he was done, he studied the eleven names. Some of the men on the list he knew had died in the war. Some he knew simply did not have the intelligence or temperament to have been the Spider. A few of the names he did not know at all. Peter no doubt would recognize them.
But it was the last name on the list that caught and held his attention.
He was still sitting there, staring at the last name, when Peter was shown into the library.
"Well, they're off, safe and sound," Peter announced as he sprawled in a chair. "I just came from putting Claudia into your coach. Meredith said to say good-bye to you again and to remember that in addition to Vauxhall, she would very much like to go back to Astley's."
"And Augusta?" Harry tried to keep his tone cool and restrained. "Did she have any further words for me?"
"Said to tell you again that she would take care of your daughter for you."
"She is very loyal," Harry said softly. "She is a woman a man can trust with his life or his honor or his child."
"Yes, she certainly is," Peter said with a knowing look. He leaned forward. "What have you found? Anyone interesting on that list?"
Without a word, Harry turned the decoded list of names around so that Peter could read them. He saw Peter's mouth thin as he reached the last one.
"Lovejoy." Peter looked up quickly. "Good God. It fits, doesn't it? No family, no past, no close friends. He has realized we are making inquiries. He tried to deflect us by making it appear Richard Ballinger was the Spider."
"Yes. He must have discovered that the list of members of the Saber Club had fallen into Sally's hands."
"He went to search for it. She was awake, waiting for us, and no doubt surprised him. So he killed her." Peter's hand closed into a fist. "The bastard." Peter sat back. "Well, sir? What is our first step?"
"It is past time I paid that second late-night visit to Lovejoy's library."
Peter cocked a brow. "I shall go with you. Tonight?"
"If possible."
But it was not possible. Lovejoy spent the evening entertaining male friends at home. Harry and Peter kept watch from a darkened carriage as the lights in Lovejoy's library stayed on until nearly dawn.
The next night, however, Lovejoy went out to his club. Harry and Peter entered the library through the window shortly before midnight.
"Ah, there is the globe safe you mentioned," Peter murmured, starting toward it.
"I think we can forget the globe." Harry peeled back the edge of the carpet. "Lovejoy made no secret of it when I came here to speak to him the morning after Augusta and I discovered her vowels in it. He probably uses it chiefly as a convenient storage place for minor valuables and perhaps as a decoy. The Spider will doubtless have a second, better-hidden treasure chest."
"I see what you mean. Nothing much in here." Peter had gotten the globe open and was peering inside. He closed it again and began systematically going over the paneling at the far end of the room.
Twenty minutes later, Harry found what he was searching for when he tripped the hidden lock mechanism in a floorboard.
"I think this is what we want, Sheldrake." Harry lifted a small metal box out of the flooring. He went still, as a footstep in the hall announced a servant who was probably sneaking in late after a visit to a tavern. "We had best examine this elsewhere."
"Agreed." Peter was already halfway out the window.
An hour later, sitting comfortably in his own library, Harry got the metal box open. The first thing that caught his eye when he looked inside was the glitter of gems.
"The Spider appears to have taken his traitor's pay in jewels," Peter mused.
"Yes." Harry fished impatiently through the heap of precious stones that littered the bottom of the box: His fingers closed around a packet of papers and he lifted it out.
He flipped through them quickly and paused when a small notebook fell into his hand. He opened it and saw that for the most part there were only a few short, cryptic entries for dates and times that could have meant anything or nothing. The last note, however, was far more interesting. And far more disturbing.
"What have you got there?" Peter leaned forward for a closer look.
Harry read the note aloud. "Lucy Ann. Weymouth. Five hundred pounds for month of July. "
Peter looked up. "What the devil does that mean? Is the bastard keeping a ladybird in Weymouth?"
"I doubt it. Not to the tune of five hundred pounds per month." Harry was silent for a moment as he followed the logic of the situation. "Weymouth is not above eight miles from Graystone and it has an active harbor."
"Well, of course. Everyone knows that. So?"
Harry looked up slowly. "So the Lucy Ann is undoubtedly a vessel, not a wench. And the Spider appears to have paid someone, perhaps the ship's captain, the enormous sum of five hundred pounds for the month of July."
"That's this month. Why on earth would he have laid out that kind of blunt on a ship?"
"To assure that it be kept in readiness for an immediate departure, perhaps? The Spider was always fond of slipping away via a water route, if you will recall."
"Yes. He was, was he not?"
Harry closed the notebook, a cold feeling in his gut. "We must find him. Now. Tonight."
"I could not agree more, Graystone."
But Lovejoy had covered his tracks well. It took Harry and Peter most of the following day to discover that the Spider had already left London.
The first night back at Graystone, Augusta lay awake for hours, staring at the ceiling. She was conscious of every creak and squeak in the great house.
Earlier she had followed the footman around and watched closely as he locked every door and every window. She had checked to be certain the dogs had been bedded down for the night in the kitchens. The butler had assured her the house was secure.
"His lordship ordered special locks years ago, madam," Steeples had told her. "Very stout locks."
Nevertheless, Augusta could not sleep.
She finally shoved back the covers and reached for her wrapper. Picking up a taper, she lit it, slid her feet into a pair of slippers, and went out into the hall. She would just look in on Meredith one last time, she decided.
Halfway down the hall, she saw that the door to Meredith's room was open. Augusta broke into a run, shielding the fragile flame with one hand.
"Meredith?"
Meredith's bed was empty. Augusta forced herself to remain calm. She would not panic. Meredith's window was still securely locked. There were several logical explanations for the child's absence. She might have gotten up to get a drink of water. Or perhaps she had gone downstairs to get something to eat from the kitchens.