Before he’d known that Childress was a smuggler, he’d wondered why the steps were there at all and had assumed that the lord had some plan or other to clear the beach of all the rocks and somehow make it pleasant. Once hehadknown about the smuggling, he surmised that this was where the goods had come and gone.
Farthmore blasted through the gate, and it had been clearly left unlocked for him to do so. Certainly, that was how the scoundrel had come in.
Charles gained on him, though he was not certain he would catch him. He was also not certain of who else he might run into. He’d heard Daisy’s warning to him that there might be others, though he’d pretended he hadn’t. He remembered well enough that some fellow named Jenkins had been involved all along. As well, if Farthmore had come by boat, which seemed likely, he could not have come alone.
Burke caught up with him as he reached the gate. There was a sloop offshore, big enough to do a safe channel crossing, and a rowboat with a man standing next to it beached on the shore.
Farthmore raced down the winding steps, the scepter in one hand, and a burlap bag that came from he knew not where in the other.
As Charles burst through the gate, he suddenly saw the cat appear on the steps in front of Farthmore.Hesaw her, but Farthmore did not.
The lieutenant tripped over her and crashed headfirst down the last of the steps.
As the cat scampered into the scrub bushes that lined the rocky cliff, the man who stood by the rowboat ran to Farthmore, who lay motionless among the rocks. He leaned over, grabbed the scepter and the burlap bag, and made for his boat.
Charles scrambled down the steps, which felt like they were nearly crumbling underneath his feet. He kept his eye on Farthmore, who had remained motionless.
“He’s getting away,” Burke said of the man with the rowboat.
Indeed, the man had already thrown the scepter and the bag into the boat and pushed it back into the water. He leapt on and grabbed his oars just as Charles and Burke reached Farthmore.
“We won’t catch him,” Burke said, as the man rowed furiously out to sea. The larger boat which sat in deeper water signaled with a lamp to guide the rowboat toward it.
Charles reached down to feel Farthmore’s neck for a pulse. There was nothing, the man was dead. As far as he could tell from the angle of Farthmore’s head, his neck had been broken on the impact.
He stood up and looked out to sea as the rowboat reached the larger sailing ship and the man and his goods were hauled up over the side.
“I will assume that is Jenkins,” Charles said. “The middleman who has outlived both his partners.”
“We’d better send for the magistrate,” Burke said, “though I hardly dare imagine what he will make of this tale. Should we carry the body back to the house?”
Charles considered it, then shook his head. “The tide is out, and will be for some hours. We’d best let the fellow see the scene of the accident as it is.”
“Will he even believe it, I wonder,” Burke said. “A stolen scepter, climbing out a window, a boat waiting offshore, and all that only to be done in by a cat?”
“She is an exceedingly clever cat,” Charles said, “but perhaps we might just mention that Farthmore fell of his own accord.”
Burke nodded and they began making their way back up the steps.
As they climbed back up, careful on the crumbling edifice lest they meet the same fate as the lieutenant, faces began to appear over the back wall of the garden.
Charles was at once aggravated that Miss Danworth had not stayed in the drawing room as she should have, flattered that she’d been concerned for his safety, and admiring that she did not wail in the face of a dead body as Miss Minkerton was just now doing.
Charles called up to Bellamy, who had joined them in looking down upon the gruesome scene. “Send for the magistrate and tell them if there are any naval ships at the docks, they ought to set sail and be on the lookout for a sloop that is just now making off with some French crown jewels.”
Bellamy nodded at the unusual request, a testament to his years serving a master who might be counted on to involve himself in all sorts of odd matters.
Burke was through the garden gate first and Charles was surprised to see Miss Minkerton throwing herself at him. Just a moment ago, he’d been certain she was on the verge of a swoon. Now, he was not so certain that the lady had been wailing over the dead body at all, as it seemed she was now wailing over Burke.
“Don’t you ever, ever put yourself in such danger again!” she cried, beating her little fists against his chest.
Burke took her in his arms and said, “I was never in any real danger.”
“You were, I know it,” Miss Minkerton said sobbing. “And well, I could never, what I mean is how could I go on…”
“Could you truly not go on?” Burke said.
Charles heaved a sigh of disgust, as he could see perfectly well where this was going.
