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He turned to look back at the men and was unsurprised to find them both still watching them.
“How old is he?”
“Smithers?” Jess huffed. “About five and twenty.”
“He is older than Ben then.”
It wasn’t a question, but Jess nodded.
“Ben is one and twenty now, but sometimes I think he is just a young boy. He doesn’t seem to want to grow up at all. Most of the young men in this area his age are working at the tin mine. Ben said he would help me run the house instead, but of late is gone more often than not. I think he is with Smithers.”
Marcus thought about the wad of cash he had just watched disappear into Ben’s pocket. Had Ben got a network of thieves established in the area? It made him wonder if the gem box Bamber had stolen had something to do with Ben and Smithers’ secretive behaviour. While it wasn’t definite, it began to look increasingly likely that any goods they stole were hidden in the lodging house somewhere. Until he could search the house more thoroughly, he couldn’t just assume that Ben had already delivered it to his contact. He may still have it on him.
Was Smithers that contact? Did the local thug work as one of Sayers’ network? He certainly had the credentials for it. The criminal background, the looks, stuck in an out of the way backwater like this. Did Smithers have the gem box?
“Look, I need to go and arrange a new horse. Mine became lame on the journey here. I left it at the tavern but need to speak to the people there about a new one. I will catch up with you later,” he said to Jess.
“Are you going to go after him?” she gasped.
She had seen that furtive gaze of his studying Smithers, and knew him well enough to suspect Marcus had doubts about something he had witnessed.
“No, I am not going to go after him,” he whispered. “Not today. The man we passed on the way to the posting office is my colleague. He was there because he has some news for me. I need to go and find out what he knows, and will tell him about Smithers. I won’t be long.”
He was about to turn away but then hesitated.
“I will escort you home first,” he offered.
“No need,” Jess assured him.
She needed some time alone to herself. Whenever he was around, all she could think about was whether he was going to kiss her again or not. It was disconcerting to be so obsessed with kissing him, but she was. At the moment, she needed to think some more about what she had just witnessed, as well as the speed of her new association with the handsome lodger.
“I can find my way home. I will see you later?” she asked hopefully.
Marcus nodded, winked at her, and left.
Jess watched him go and sighed longingly. It was a little disconcerting to witness just how quickly he had abandoned her. But nowhere near as disconcerting as witnessing just how swiftly her brother had abandoned his conversation with Smithers and disappeared.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Three days later
Marcus and Joe watched Smithers disappear into the cottage Joe had been watching.
“Well, we have our contact,” Marcus murmured.
“He is too round in the gut to be the one we followed,” Joe drawled.
“Ben Parkinson looks to be it.” Marcus sighed, and closed out all of the worries that possibility brought forth. “I think we may have the courier in Ben. He has some money under the bed, yet the family is living quite frugally. Not only that, but his sister doesn’t know he has it. They are barely making enough to make ends meet, but he is leaving her to struggle.”
Joe looked at him. “She would want to know where it came from.”
Marcus nodded. “Yes, she would. She would also insist on it being spent on the house, or something.”
“It is understandable if he wants to keep some of it for himself,” Joe reasoned.
“I know, but this is a lad who is stealing to feed everybody. If Ben has the money to buy food why is the lad risking everything by stealing meat, especially with the magistrate threatening him? It just doesn’t make sense.”
Joe nodded. He had to agree with him. “Is there any sign of the box?”
