The Clever Strumpet Read online

  “I know who my father would rather give the reward money to,” Said said, then stepped away. “Newman’s carriage was just spotted in the line to drop guests at the house for the night,” he said, then winked and marched off into the swirling crowd of dancers, sweeping a woman in a sopping wet dress into his arms.

  “Did he just suggest what I believe he did?” Caro asked in awe.

  Rufus turned to her. “That if we can find the diamond before Newman completes his sale with Hazelton, we might secure the reward money?”

  Caro flushed a shade of pink that was so alluring that under any other circumstances Rufus would have whisked her immediately off to a private room to have his way with her. “Oh, but this is brilliant,” she said, beaming. “Between the reward money and—” She snapped her lips shut, her grin even more impish. “I am quite certain it would be more than enough.”

  Rufus took her hand. “We’d better hurry our search, then.”

  Caro’s heart beat so hard as she ducked and dodged through dancing, laughing, flirting couples in the ballroom that she was certain her breasts would pop right out of her bodice due to the force.

  “I wish we had more time to think about where the diamond is hidden,” she said breathlessly over her shoulder to Rufus. “It’s a shame the house is so large.”

  “And filled with so many places to hide,” Rufus answered.

  He was right. The entire house had been designed and arranged for assignations and clandestine meetings. There were a thousand places and more to hide a diamond.

  “We should start by looking in the room where Rebecca first saw Mr. Newman with Miss Dobson,” she said as they neared the doorway. “And any other room where Mr. Newman is known to have been in the last two months.”

  “That could be anywhere,” Rufus said. “The upstairs room, the room where the exchange nearly happened, the refreshment room, here.”

  Caro opened her mouth to weigh in on his list, but she was stopped as none other than the Duchess of Cavendish stepped into her path.

  “My dear Lady Caroline,” the intimidating, older woman said, a knowing grin lighting her expression. “May I be the first to congratulate you on your most recent triumph?”

  Caro and Rufus were forced to stop in their tracks. One did not dismiss a duchess in order to search for a diamond.

  “My triumph, my lady?” Caro asked, dropping into a short, awkward curtsy as protocol dictated. She glanced to Rufus, wondering if Lady Malvis’s rumor had somehow twisted its way into people believing she was the one to whom Rufus had become engaged.

  But no, the duchess laughed and said, “Perhaps I should refer to it as Mrs. Vickers’s triumph?”

  Caro’s heart dropped into her dancing shoes. The duchess looked entirely too pleased with herself for Caro to stop what she feared the fine lady would say next. Worse still, a pair of younger ladies who appeared to be accompanying her at the night’s festivities turned away from the flirtations they had begun to listen in on the conversation.

  “Oh,” Caro stammered, scrambling for some way to break through the wall of admirers who looked ready to pounce. “I could hardly take credit for something so grand, your grace.”

  She sent a sideways look to Rufus. Perhaps fortunately, he looked more confused than anything else. If there was a way she could rush on without the duchess saying more….

  “And you must be the inspiration for our dear Mrs. Vickers’s books,” the duchess said, turning to Rufus with a saucy wink.

  “I beg your pardon?” Rufus said, genuinely baffled.

  “Mrs. Vickers,” the duchess said, blinking rapidly. “Surely, you must know who Mrs. Vickers is.”

  Rufus looked more confused than ever, but said, “She is the authoress of the books that have become so popular of late, is she not?”

  The duchess laughed, and her companions laughed with her. “How very droll of you. Lady Caroline is Mrs. Vickers,” she said as though explaining to a child that the sky was filled with clouds.

  Puzzlement lingered for a few more moments in Rufus’s expression until, all at once, he understood. The moment the truth came to him, his brow shot up to his hairline and shock lit his green eyes. He turned to Caro with a quickly-spreading grin.

  “No,” he said, shocked and amused at once.

  “A lady never spills her secrets,” Caro answered, her smile coy.

  “A wise answer, Lady Caroline,” the duchess said with an approving nod.

  “Thank you, your grace,” Caro said, bobbing another curtsy.

  She stood and was about to say more when, past the duchess’s shoulder, she spotted the portly figure of Lord Hazelton arriving in the front hall. With a gasp, she reached back and grabbed Rufus’s hand, praying he would see what she saw without her having to bring further attention to Lord Hazelton or to herself.

  Rufus’s hand closed around hers, and he took a small step forward. “If you will excuse me, your grace,” he said with a gracious nod for the duchess. “Now that I have discovered Mrs. Vickers’s identity, I believe I have a few suggestions to impart for her next publication.”

  Blessedly, the duchess and her friends burst into tittering laughter. “By all means, Lord Herrington. I have been informed that parties hosted by Mr. Khan are designed for such assignations.”

  In other circumstances, Caro might have been embarrassed by the duchess’s overt statement. As it was, the clock in her brain was ticking. She curtsied one more time and blurted some sort of nicety that was forgotten the moment Rufus slipped an arm around her waist and whisked her out into the hall.

  “Mrs. Vickers?” he asked in a low voice as they rushed away from the ballroom and the front door—where Lord Hazelton appeared not to have noticed them yet—and as far away as they could get.

  “There isn’t time,” Caro whispered in return, taking the lead and rushing ahead of him.

  In a trice, she realized the error of the direction they’d taken in their flight from the front of the house.

  “We won’t be able to search upstairs,” she said, stumbling to a halt at the end of the hall. “Not without risking Lord Hazelton noticing us as we make our way to the stairs.”

  “Perhaps we could use the servant’s stairs?” Rufus suggested. “Or the secret passageway,” he added in a hush, even though no one was around them.

  Caro chewed on her lip. “We could use the secret passageway. There is an entrance through here.”

  She took his hand and marched into the closest room, closing the door behind them.

  “Hold on,” Rufus said, tugging her to a stop halfway across the room to where she thought the hidden door was located. Caro stopped, and when she glanced to Rufus in question, he said, “This is the room where they nearly sold the diamond before.”

  “It is,” Caro agreed with a nod.

  Rufus shrugged. “Why not begin our search here?”

  Caro glanced around, her heart sinking. The room was massive. Not only that, it contained several cabinets, tables, chairs, and sofas. There was a narrow table along one wall that held several carved boxes and a golden statue of the Hindu god Ganesh with a large ruby in his forehead. Beyond that, the ornate wallpaper could have concealed any number of doors or secret nooks. A giant, oriental carpet might have covered any number of trapdoors. The tall windows along one side of the room were hung with thick curtains which could have had secret pockets sewn into them.

  “It will take hours to search this room alone,” Caro said, letting out a disappointed breath. Perhaps Saif Khan hadn’t done them much of a favor after all.

  “True,” Rufus agreed, looking far more enthusiastic than she felt. “But we must start somewhere.”

  “If you say so,” she said, giving his hand a squeeze.

  When she let go, they split apart, each moving to opposite sides of the room to search for the diamond. Caro moved toward the fireplace, running her hands along the sides and the mantel to feel for any sort of latch or hidden compartment. Five minutes of searching brough
t nothing. She even took one of the fire irons and poked around the hot bricks in back of the fire.

  “It’s not here,” she called softly across the room to Rufus.

  “It doesn’t appear to be in this cabinet either,” Rufus said, shutting the cabinet he’d been searching.

  Caro moved on to check a second cabinet beside the fireplace while Rufus began pulling out small drawers that were set in an elaborate writing desk in the corner. The second cabinet had just as many tiny drawers, but all Caro found were papers, quills, packets of ink, seals, and a large variety of other items that were decidedly not diamonds.

  “It’s not in the desk,” Rufus called from across the room.

  “Nor is it in his cabinet,” Caro said, her frustration showing in her voice.

  “Is it worth checking the furnishings for concealed pockets?” Rufus asked as he moved to the largest sofa in the room.

  “I don’t see why not,” Caro said with a sigh.

  She tried to bolster her enthusiasm by moving to the table with the statue of Ganesh. There was something both fascinating and soothing about the elephant-headed god, and she could use a deity to help in her search. It seemed far too obvious for the diamond to be hidden in any of the carved boxes on the table, but she checked each one all the same.

  She was about to move on when an irregularity in the wallpaper behind the statue caught her eye. It looked to her like one of the latches that opened the doors to the secret passageway. Could it be a secret compartment in the wall? Hope soared as she leaned closer to get a look at it. She bit her lip, and when she was convinced it might be something, she grabbed Ganesh to move him to the side.

  Her efforts nearly knocked the god off the table. She expected the piece to be solid gold and therefore too heavy for her to lift. But, in fact, the statue was far lighter than she expected it to be. She abandoned the oddity in the wallpaper and stared at the statue instead. It was made of gold and painted enamel with the ruby prominent on the elephant’s forehead. Sense told Caro she wouldn’t be able to lift it, but when she tried all the same, she was able to raise it several inches. And as she did, something rattled in the god’s belly.

  “No,” she gasped. “It couldn’t be.”

  She tried to turn the statue over, looking for some kind of hinge or clasp or way to open it, but even though it was hollow, it was still heavy. She set it back on the table, ready to tip it to the side, but a mad thought struck her. Purely on instinct, she pressed the ruby in the god’s forehead.

  Instantly, his belly popped open and a fat diamond that would have fit perfectly in a large soup spoon rolled out. Caro’s mouth dropped open as she stared at the diamond in shock. She scooped it up, a shiver passing down her spine at how heavy and how cool the diamond was.

  “Rufus.”

  She turned to him, but as she did, voices sounded from the room adjoining the one they were in.

  “Hide,” Rufus hissed, rushing toward her.

  Caro had no time to do more than grab the Ganesh statue, slapping his belly shut and praying that whatever mechanism kept it closed would hold. Rufus grabbed her hand a moment later and jerked her toward one of the windows. His motion was a little too abrupt, though, and before she could think, the diamond spilled out of her hand and rolled under the table.

  Rufus dragged her behind the curtain mere seconds before the door at the side of the room opened and two sets of footsteps entered the room.

  “This better happen this time.” Lord Hazelton’s stern voice filtered through the curtain.

  Caro caught her breath, every nerve in her body bristling in panic. The curtain didn’t fully cover her and Rufus. A gap of about six inches flapped open immediately beside her. Through it, she could just barely make out the table, the statue of Ganesh, and the diamond, which sat in plain sight under the table, touching one of its back legs.

  “The diamond is yours if you have my money,” Mr. Newman answered Lord Hazelton’s statement. “Hand it over and I’ll tell you where it is.”

  “Tell me where it is and I’ll give you the money,” Lord Hazelton replied.

  Mr. Newman answered with a frustrated growl. “We don’t have time for this. There are Bow Street Runners all through Manchester Square, and I have no doubt there are agents in the house as well.”

  “Then tell me where the diamond is and we can leave this place and never come back,” Lord Hazelton insisted.

  “Only after you give me the money,” Mr. Newman said in a raised voice.

  “Dammit, man,” Lord Hazelton bellowed. “You told me you had a priceless diamond to sell that would be the centerpiece of my collection. Did you lie to me? Is this merely a plot to rob me of tens of thousands of pounds?”

  “If I had known you would be such a shit about it, I never would have offered you the diamond in the first place,” Mr. Newman snapped in return. “I risked my neck to steal that diamond. I could sell it to anyone, but I was given to understand that you were a serious collector with the blunt to purchase.”

  Caro slapped a hand over her mouth to stop herself from gasping at Mr. Newman’s confession. He had admitted to the theft in so many words, plain as day.

  As it turned out, she needn’t have stopped herself from making any sort of noise. No sooner was the confession made then several loud thumps echoed in the room, followed by the sound of boots and the clicking of pistols being cocked.

  “Stay right where you are,” Saif Khan’s voice shouted.

  A moment later, Rufus pushed aside the curtain, revealing him and Caro. “I heard him,” he said. “I heard Wallace Newman confess to stealing the Chandramukhi Diamond.”

  “I heard it as well,” Caro added, stepping out from behind the curtain with him.

  The contents of the room had changed drastically within a matter of seconds. The same fussy collection of furniture and decorations filled the space, but along with Rufus and Caro and Mr. Newman and Lord Hazelton, half a dozen Bow Street Runners, including Saif Khan, crowded the room.

  “I didn’t do anything. It wasn’t me,” Lord Hazelton blubbered, holding up his hands.

  “We heard you confess to attempting to buy the diamond,” Saif told him, a look of pure contempt in his eyes.

  “You heard nothing,” Mr. Newman said.

  “You confessed to stealing the diamond,” Caro reminded him.

  Mr. Newman sneered at her. “Foolish chit. You heard playacting, that is all.”

  “Yes, yes,” Lord Hazelton agreed, a wildness about him as he tried to keep up with what was happening. “We were rehearsing a theatrical performance, that is all.”

  “I don’t believe it,” Saif Khan said, his pistol pointed straight at Mr. Newman.

  “You have to believe it, you stupid colonial,” Mr. Newman said. “You have no diamond, therefore you have no theft.”

  Caro’s glance shot to the diamond as it sat passively under the table, unnoticed by all.

  “Ah, but that’s where you’re wrong,” Saif said, marching toward Mr. Newman, pistol still raised. “I know exactly where the diamond is.”

  Mr. Newman shifted away from him, looking anxious. “You’re lying.”

  “Would you like to test me on that point?” Saif said, grabbing Mr. Newman’s arm even as he pressed the barrel of the pistol into the side of his head. “Would you like to test what this stupid colonial knows?”

  “You don’t know, you don’t know anything,” Mr. Newman wailed, squeezing his eyes shut and shrinking away from Saif.

  “I will give you until the count of three,” Saif said. “One—”

  “I don’t have the diamond,” Mr. Newman wailed. “I swear I don’t have it.”

  “Two—”

  “It’s not on me. It’s hidden. I hid it. I don’t have it.”

  Caro squeezed her eyes shut and plugged her ears with her fingers as she waited for the final, deadly “Three.” But instead, Saif lowered his pistol and pushed Mr. Newman away before releasing the hammer.

  “Take him a
way and lock him up, boys,” Saif said, turning to the other Runners. “Lock both of them up.”

  “But you cannot prove anything,” Mr. Newman insisted. “We are merely acting. You cannot prove anything.”

  Saif turned back to him. “You just said that you hid the diamond. It is necessary to steal a diamond before one has the ability to hide it, no?”

  Mr. Newman stared at him in horror, his mouth flapping. But all too soon, he knew he’d given himself away. He burst into a sob, slumping against one of the Runners who grabbed his arms. He put up no resistance as the Runners marched him out of the room, Lord Hazelton in tow.

  “That’s the end of that,” Saif said, walking over to shake Rufus’s hand. “Thank you for your help, friend.”

  The relief Caro felt at the end of the caper quickly tightened into a new sort of excitement. Two Runners were still left in the room to witness what might happen next.

  “It’s not the end,” she said. “The diamond is still missing.”

  “I wasn’t lying when I said I knew where it was,” Saif told her with an apologetic look. “I’m sorry that I couldn’t give the two of you more time to find it.”

  He walked over to the table holding the statue of Ganesh, bowed to the god, then pressed the ruby in his forehead as Caro had. But when the statue’s belly popped open, it was empty. Saif’s expression dropped to alarm. “It’s gone,” he said, sounding genuinely surprised.

  Caro nudged Rufus hard. It took Rufus a few seconds and a few more nudges to give her his attention.

  “How can you give away the reward if the diamond is not found?” Caro asked, jerking her head toward the bottom of the table.

  Rufus frowned at her in confusion.

  “Could Newman have removed it before meeting with Hazelton?” one of the other Runners asked.

  “Would your father be willing to double the reward for whoever finds the diamond?” Caro asked.

  Saif glanced to her, his eyes narrowed. As he did, Caro tugged hard on Rufus’s sleeve with one hand, pointing to the diamond under the table with her other hand.

  “I suppose he might,” Saif said, studying Caro carefully. He must have known she was up to something.