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Myers spat the word ‘wealthy’ as though it was deeply offensive which warned the Star Elite he did what he did because he hated people who were well off.
“His wife wore them I think. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “They have certainly been noticed by someone. Bamber described them to me and told me to get someone to lift them. He said they are kept in a dresser in the master bedroom. I don’t have a clue how he knows that so don’t ask.”
Jeb looked at Barnaby. They were both thinking that an insider, someone who was aristocracy, was feeding information back to Sayers, or Bamber, or the burglar responsible for the thefts in London, about which items to take and where to find them. It was all brilliant but now left Jeb with one problem.
Why were the jewels not in a safe?
He rather suspected Myers wouldn’t know so made a mental note to remember to ask Bamber once they caught him.
“What Bamber wants Bamber gets,” Myers added morosely.
“So you went to Delilah Carney, and told her to take them for you because she is friends with the Squire and would get an invitation to his summer ball.”
Myers snorted. “I have seen them together. They are as thick as thieves.”
For some reason, he seemed to find this very funny and spent several moments chuckling.
“Delilah has said she isn’t doing it for you so you are going to come unstuck,” Jeb warned him darkly.
“Oh, she will do as she is told,” Myers replied knowledgeably. He seemed to realise then that he had said too much and suddenly slumped back in his seat in silence.
“What do you plan to do?” Jeb asked. “How do you plan to force her?”
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p; “I don’t know.” Myers shrugged.
“You, sir, are a liar,” Jeb challenged. “I know there is a plan so I suggest you tell me what it is.”
Myers looked sullen. “They plan to take her sister.”
“Pardon?” Jeb went hot then cold. He knew that the ‘sister’ Myers mentioned was, in fact, Sophia.
“What do you mean ‘take’ her?”
“Bamber plans to take her and keep her until Carney does the job. As soon as she hands the jewels over she can have her sister back. Simple. As long as she does as she is told, there will be no harm done to anybody.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Jeb snorted at that. “This, coming from a man who has already killed two innocent people in the village.” He lifted his brows when Myers looked at him. “I think Bamber has no intention of allowing Delilah’s sister to go home once he has his grubby hands on the jewels. She would go straight to the magistrate to report what she happened, and that is something Bamber won’t allow. After all, he has proven to everyone that he doesn’t like witnesses. You said so yourself just now. Bamber won’t let people walk away and individuals who stand in his way, or pose a threat to him, get removed permanently. It is as simple as that. She wouldn’t be allowed to go free, and you know it.”
“When and where does he plan to try to snatch her?” Barnaby’s voice was cold and hard.
Jeb’s heart clenched at the thought of Bamber hurting Sophia. He realised then just how much of a risk he had taken in leaving her in the village alone while he followed Bamber to London. Anything could have happened to her while he had been gone. The thought that she might have ended up like Tabitha, or Mrs Banks, just made him want to punch something, or someone – namely Myers given that he was the only person available right now.
“When does he plan to kidnap her?” Jeb bellowed. He slammed his fist down on the table and lunged out of his seat so swiftly that Myers tried to throw himself under the table to get away from him.
Jeb grabbed him by his shirt and hauled him forward until their noses were almost touching.
Panicked, Myers began to babble. “He plans to snatch her from her house in the village, but I don’t know when, just sometime before the night of the ball. That’s all I know. I swear.”
“What do you know about Joshua Samson, or a man called Balgravia?”
“Who?” Myer’s confusion was so instinctive that Jeb suspected the man had never heard of them before. If he had been living away from London, though, he probably wouldn’t have.
“Hasn’t Bamber ever mentioned them to you?”
“Not to me,” Myers replied with a shake of his head. As he spoke, he tried to prise Jeb’s hand off his shirt but wasn’t robust enough to loosen the tight grip.
