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“He walked around some when I first saw him,” she answered. “Like as if he was looking for something in the hedge. Whatever it was, I don’t think he found it. Nobody else came.” She frowned. “Though, I suppose they could have come when I went to get Mrs. Sloane.”
“Thank you, Sarah.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to Jacqueline. “Well, he’s gone now.”
Her eyes were worried but her voice calm as she addressed the children. “Yes, and no harm done. Now you may all—including you,
Sarah—go back to bed. I want no grumbling.”
She spoke this last over a chorus of disappointed voices, and Will watched as the girls trudged away to their respective rooms. He had serious doubts as to whether they’d actually sleep. Patting Sarah’s hair and wishing her a good night, he followed Jacqueline out into the hall.
The creaking of floorboards behind the next door along their path prompted her to open it and shoo the children back to their beds. Her look was resigned as she bade him follow her once more. “Disturbances in the night here invariably spread beyond the room in which they originate,” she told him. “There are few secrets among us.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, she turned to him, worry in her eyes. “Do you think it was one of Boucher’s men out there?”
Though she was covered from neck to toe, seeing her in a state of such delectable dishabille was the realization of many recent dreams. The warm, amber light of her flickering candle caught like a thousand tiny sparks in the dark tumble of her hair. Her face, lovely by day, was luminously beautiful in the gentler light.
“What else is there nearby that could possibly draw interest at this hour?” he at last answered, unable to stop staring. “A thief would not have come near the street lamp at all. He was waiting for someone, someone who knew to look for him in that particular spot. He wanted to be sure they could see he was there. The fact that he fled just after you opened the curtains tells me he was watching this place. A connection exists between him and someone here.”
Her lips thinned in that look he was beginning to know so well. “When I inquired of Agnes this evening, she said Sally is always first to volunteer to go to the market to fetch provisions. I was told the girl had even asked once or twice, claiming a need for ‘fresh, free air.’”
The pieces were beginning to fall into place. “Sarah said he searched the hedge,” he told her. “I cannot but wonder what he was looking for. I doubt he was hoping to find fairies. A message makes sense. Or, that failing, he was lingering, waiting for someone to come out and meet him in person.”
She shook her head. “This building was modified specifically to prevent clandestine comings and goings. The key-restricted exits and lack of ground level windows are quite deliberate. Mrs. Sloane keeps the front door. The rear gate is always locked at night. Mr. Young sleeps above the carriage house and its doors are also secured at night. There is no way Sally or anyone else could get out without someone knowing.”
“Might she have stolen a key?”
“Mrs. Sloane, Agnes, and I are the only ones with keys—the outer doors require one to open from the inside as well as from the outside. We keep them on our person at all times throughout the day, and we all sleep behind locked doors at night. There is no possible way she could have obtained one even for a short time.” A strained chuckle escaped her lips. “It sounds like a prison, no? But it’s for the sake of their security that I maintain this place as if it were a cloister.”
Indeed, in that respect, it did seem rather like a nunnery. There had to be a way for messages to travel back and forth between Boucher’s man and someone inside this place. “Does Sally’s window face the same street as the common room?”
A frown marred her brow. “It does.”
“In the absence of a written message hidden in the hedge, our shadow-loving friend might have been looking for a signal from within.” He explained how a group of thieves he’d helped apprehend had coordinated to communicate across distances in such a manner, using shuttered lamps to relay a sequence of flashes that could be interpreted only by those with the proper code.
Jacqueline gave a helpless shrug. “But the only way to know if this is happening would be to have someone we know watch the school from out there where our friend is.”
It would require asking for outside assistance, and he wasn’t ready to do that just yet. “There might be another way,” he ventured. “During my search of her room, I’ll look for evidence of such communications. If I find anything, we’ll know it’s her. Then we’ll let slip some misinformation in her presence—you could say you’re expecting a new arrival in two days’ time.”
“Do you think such information will be of interest to Boucher?”
He grinned. “It will if she thinks the new arrival is to be personally delivered by the Archangel. If we see activity that night, we’ll know it worked, and we can use it against her.”
Chapter Thirteen
Jacqueline had to admit it seemed a solid plan. At this point, anything was preferable to doing nothing. Taking action would be satisfying. “I agree. In the morning, I shall tell Mrs. Sloane—”
“Don’t tell her it’s a ruse,” he cautioned. “Her reaction must be genuine. Sally must believe the Archangel is coming or it won’t work.”
Nodding, she acquiesced. Deceiving Prudence felt wrong, but he was right. Certain preparations commenced when they had advance warning of a new arrival. “You believe Boucher will act?”
“She’d be a fool not to take advantage of such an opportunity, considering the personal danger your friend represents. I only wish our visitor had not been alerted to our knowledge of his presence.”
Again, she experienced chagrin over her rash reaction. “I should have thought better before acting. The idea that a voyeur might be watching my girls…”
“I don’t blame you, but now that he knows he’s been seen, our visitor will be more cautious. I doubt we’ll be able to spot him again.”
“Had Sarah not been restless we might not ever have known he was there to begin with.” A shudder ran through her. “I wonder how many nights he has been watching us?”
“Try not to dwell on it. Until this is resolved, I would assign people to stand watch throughout the night—in shifts of no more than a couple of hours’ length so no one person is overburdened.”
