“We cannot simply bid them lock their possessions away,” she said. “Things have been proceeding so well thus far; it would appear strange to alter our course so suddenly.”
Marcus nodded slowly.
“And it would certainly put Harold—or whoever is responsible—on his guard,” he said.
Rosalind shivered.
“He has access to nearly everything now,” she said. “He knows the household routines. He knows which rooms are unguarded.”
Edmund nodded solemnly.
“I believe that, with all of you apprised, I can take additional measures to ensure that certain belongings are monitored more carefully,” he said. “However, with the need for me to document anything Harold does as soon as I am aware of it, that might still be far less than what is required to keep everything safe.”
Rosalind chewed her lower lip.
“Is there a way to request that everyone bring all their items with them at all times?” she asked.
Catherine took a breath and met Marcus’s eyes.
“Perhaps,” she said. “The difficulty is telling them it is necessary without arousing suspicion.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, and the room was silent again.
Catherine let her gaze move over the faces before her, her heart aching. They had all believed the symposium to be proceeding admirably, that it might prove a triumph. Yet beneath her very eye, a grievous crime had been committed. Thus far, only she and Marcus had been touched, but she could not promise their guests immunity from such ill fortune. As hostess, the duty was hers—to safeguard both their persons and their treasured possessions. But how was she to fulfil it, with a thief moving so near among them?
Rosalind’s face lit up, and Catherine dared hope she had found a solution.
“Could we ask them to allow the servants to clean the pieces?” Rosalind proposed.
Catherine shook her head.
“That would make it far too easy to lay blame elsewhere should any other item disappear,” she said. “And once that has happened, what is to stop Harold from slipping away in the night with what he has already taken?”
Silence followed. It began to seem they might never secure their peers and their precious artefacts. Then Catherine thought of the cabinets in the drawing room.
“There are locking cabinets in the drawing room,” she said. “We could recommend that everyone place their items within them—present it as though we believed we had almost mislaid one of our own. The difficulty remains ensuring Harold does not grow suspicious.”
Marcus considered her for a moment.
“That is not a bad notion,” he said slowly. “A ruse that appears innocent might keep him from scenting alarm.”
Hope stirred in the room. Even Edmund inclined his head, though doubt lingered about his features.
“In theory, it is sound,” he admitted. “But I am uneasy at openly claiming we nearly lost an item. Harold might find that oddly convenient—given what we know. Perhaps a subtler contrivance: invent some scholarly exercise that requires all pieces to be gathered in one place at one time. Not a game in the trivial sense, but a mock display or catalogue that would appeal to learned pride.”
“It might serve as a mock museum display,” Catherine said, the plan taking shape. “We could set up the items in the drawing room and label them as one would in a gallery, to test and share the knowledge gained here.”
Edmund’s eyes brightened. “Brilliant,” he said. “It will inconvenience Harold without arousing suspicion—an exercise in scholarship, nothing more.”
Catherine rose. Her mind was already arranging the details.
“I will instruct Mrs Thornberry that no staff allow anyoneunaccompanied access to the upper cabinets,” she said. “Rosalind and I will move selected items to the steward’s strongbox under the cover of ordinary reorganisation. A servant shall be posted at the drawing-room door at all times.I will offer any willing to work through the night an increase in wages by half. And I will ensure the utmost secrecy.”
Marcus watched her.
“You will do all that without raising suspicion?” he asked.
She met his eyes with the smallest smile.
