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“Tahlia,” Connor protested. He tried to stop her, but she shrugged him off.
“We cannot change events of the past. What is done is done. Raking it up again will solve nothing but resurrect things that are better left in the past.”
She said the words so calmly, so matter-of-factly that Connor didn’t doubt them. He was left in the silence of the room to ponder what he was supposed to do next. One thing was blatantly obvious; it was going to be difficult trying to persuade the woman he knew he loved to take another chance on him.
First, though, he had to find out who Joseph was and what he meant to her. The softness on her face whenever his name was mentioned annoyed the heck out of him.
CHAPTER TEN
Later that night, Connor slumped into a chair in the study and shifted his gaze to his boss when Barnaby let out a blistering curse.
“Bad news?” he murmured eyeing the broadsheet clutched in Barnaby’s hand. “Your na
g not won at the races again?”
“It’s the evening edition,” Barnaby snorted in disgust. He thrust the paper at Connor. “Take a look.”
Connor glanced at the headlines. His resultant curse was equally ferocious as Barnaby’s. Silence settled over them while Connor read the article Barnaby pointed to.
“Another set of jewels have been stolen from the home of Lord Jonah Fortescue, owner of Fortescue Gardens on Crombie Street, sometime during the night of the 4th and the morning of the 5th of the month.”
“Yesterday,” Connor sighed.
“Diamonds, rubies, and a sapphire broach reportedly worth a small fortune were taken,” Connor murmured. “They certainly do like their gems, don’t they?”
Barnaby nodded and studied the thoughtful expression on his colleague’s face.
“You seem pensive.”
Connor described the meeting with Mr Tate, and raised his suspicions about the man’s true identity. He also described the mysterious pouch of gems Henry was purportedly keeping safe for the Gem Society.
“Sounds suspicious,” Barnaby murmured. “Do we have a list of the gems that have been stolen so far?”
“I think Ambrose has it,” Connor studied his colleague’s frown. “I cannot see that Henry would be involved in the buying and selling of them.”
“It is a bit odd that a veritable horde of gems appears right in one of London’s most burgled times,” Barnaby mused. He read the objection in Connor’s eyes and sighed. “I am not saying that they are connected, but don’t discount it.”
Connor had to admit that his boss had a point. He knew not to ignore any possibility without evidence. “There is more.”
Connor explained what had happened with the muggings, and the strange jewels that had been delivered to Tahlia.
“Do you have them?”
Connor nodded. “Tahlia put them into the safe with the gems her uncle had supposedly gathered.”
“Where has this Tahlia been while she has been out of London?”
“Rutland,” Connor replied.
“Can this be confirmed?” Barnaby demanded.
“Relatively easily enough, I think,” he replied confidently.
Barnaby shook his head. “I can ask Toby to keep his ear to the ground and find out if someone new has been working the area, specifically searching for jewels.”
Connor grinned at the mention of the young lad whose pick-pocketing ways, and rather questionable contacts, had been employed by the Star Elite some time ago. Toby had proven a valuable source of information in fighting Sayers, and the older gang of thugs Sayers had working the area thieving and mugging. With the aid of his sidekick, Lucy, Toby had proven himself to be a valuable, if not somewhat unusual, member of the team.
“Tahlia got mugged twice in one day, and on the same day that both sets of jewels arrived,” Connor sighed.
