The Baffling Burglaries of Bath

by Leighann Dobbs

  Could he be going to the King’s Bath? It was closed at this time of day, and likely locked. Though as he slipped around the side of the building, Katherine had to wonder if he intended to sneak through one of those wide windows described to her near the alley.

  He did not. He stopped so suddenly that, for a moment, her shoe rang on the ground and she was afraid he might be alerted to her following him. She quickly hid in the doorway to the nearest building, pressed against the wood. She breathed shallowly through her mouth, straining her ears to hear whether or not Sir Hugh stepped nearer.

  Nothing. No sound. She chanced a glance around the wall to the King’s Bath, half expecting him to have disappeared. Instead, she found his body hunched over something on the ground. What was he doing? It almost looked as though he were digging. That couldn’t be right.

  Unless… Could he have buried the jewels he stole? She had to get closer.

  Katherine inched forward. The open square separated her from Sir Hugh. If he turned around, she would have nowhere to hide and a very poor excuse for having left the hotel. She concentrated on stepping swiftly and softly as she approached.

  Her toe dug into a raised cobblestone, and she tripped. The soles of her slippers clattered against the ground as she pumped her arms for balance. Sir Hugh snatched for his lantern. She dove for the nearest object, a wooden bench near one side of the square. She landed on her stomach behind it on the cool stone. Her heart raced, drowning out her hearing. Had he seen her? She craned her neck.

  He must not have. Instead of searching for her, he snatched up his lantern and bolted in the opposite direction. He was getting away! Katherine pushed herself to her feet and followed. Whenever he paused to look back — far too often for her comfort — she paused in the shadow of a doorway or alley. After ten minutes, she realized that he was leading her back to the Sydney Hotel. She stopped following but remained watching until he disappeared inside.

  Her hands were like icicles. She warmed them with her breath. What had he been doing at the King’s Bath? Curiosity overwhelmed her. With Sir Hugh likely too frightened to lead her to anything worthwhile, she returned to the spot where he had been digging. The sun had risen, providing her with some light as she bent over the hole.

  It didn’t look like anything special — an ordinary hole. Judging by the chipped piece of cobblestone lying inside, she thought he had been using the stone to dig. But why? Had he hidden something inside the hovel? Katherine knelt, using the cobblestone to work at the dirt. It was compact but easier to budge that she anticipated. The warm spring waters must have prevented the ground from freezing during these past few nights of frost.

  Nothing. Just as she was ready to give up, Katherine spotted something bronze. Bronze? That didn’t match any of the missing jewels. Katherine unearthed a small coin. Upon dusting it off, she found the worn stamp of a bust. It looked vaguely Roman. The coin itself felt old, far older than anything she’d ever seen…

  Save, perhaps, for the statue the thief had used to bash Lady Dalhousie over the head! Perhaps Sir Hugh had made his mistake, after all.

  Katherine palmed the coin for proof and returned to the hotel. As she reached the top of the stairs, she was met with an exuberant face and wagging tail. Tarnation! In her haste to leave, she hadn’t shut her door properly.

  Emma spat out a lady’s glove, one made for a hand much smaller than Katherine’s. She sighed, bending down to pick it up. Excited to play, Emma sank her teeth into the thumb, refusing to relinquish her prize so easily. As Katherine gritted her teeth and tried to wrestle the glove from the pug in order to find its owner and return it, she couldn’t help but think that she should perhaps have remained asleep this morning instead.

  Chapter Nineteen

  In spite of Lord Bath’s fears, the recent, more violent theft didn’t appear to have dampened any of the bacon-brained ladies’ enthusiasm for the subject. If anything, they were sensationalized. Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Quicke couldn’t compare to the thrilling tale of being attacked by the Burglar of Bath himself! Lady Dalhousie capitalized on everyone’s attention by recounting her tale for anyone willing to listen. Katherine noticed that it seemed to change slightly with each retelling.

  After church, the ladies eagerly congregated at the King’s Bath. In fact, they seemed to take pride in arranging their jewelry just so atop their clothes. The ninnies. Katherine lingered near the dressing room in case the thief struck once more, but she wasn’t optimistic that he would revisit the scene of the crime. He never had before.

  Therefore, she was likely the only woman unsurprised by the fact that the jewels remained untouched. As the women dressed, she slipped out of the building and breathed in the cool, fresh air. It granted clarity of mind. The other ladies in Bath ought to try it.

  This morning, Lyle had gone next door to examine his contraption still taking up a good portion of the floor space in the Pump Room. Katherine joined him, eager to see if he had worked out the trouble that had resulted in bungling the imprint on the sculpture used to strike Lady Dalhousie. As she reached him, he straightened from fiddling with the underside of the pipe that led from the furnace part of the invention to the place where he had set down the object.

  Sighing, he shook his head and rubbed his hands clean on a handkerchief. “I don’t understand it. Unless one of the additives I put into the water to make the minerals re-form from their soluble state somehow affected the sculpture as well, I don’t know why it didn’t work as expected. I can find nothing out of place.”

  Katherine patted him on the shoulder. “It was worth a try, if nothing else. I appreciate your willingness to test your device on the evidence.” Usually, he took an invention through an extensive number of tests before allowing her to use it while solving a crime.

  “I only wish I could have been of more use.”

  She caught movement from the corner of her eye as ladies and their escorts spilled into the room in order to partake in the refreshments served. Due to the odor of coal and rotten eggs clinging to Lyle’s invention, a table had been moved near the piano and laden with food and drink for the arrivals. Nevertheless, the ladies cast scathing, distasteful glances at Lyle and Katherine as they walked past.

  To Katherine’s delight, she witnessed Miss Newcomb laugh at something Sir Hugh said and brush her hand lightly over Prince Karl’s sleeve in the process. When she turned away a moment later without acknowledging him at all, his gaze followed her. She was halfway to the refreshment table — alone — when he hurried after her. He offered his arm as he reached her.

  Brilliant. Katherine smiled. It seemed her trick with Mrs. Fairchild had gone according to plan. Now that Miss Newcomb seemed to have caught the eye of the object of her affections, she would no longer be trailing after Pru and Lord Annandale. They would be free to spend time together and fall in love.

  If Katherine could manage to catch the Burglar of Bath, her work here would be complete.

  A tall, familiar figure entered the room, his wide shoulders seeming to devour the space as he paused to search for someone. When his gaze reached her, Wayland lingered. Their eyes met, the air charging between them despite the size of the room. Had he done as she had asked and asked Scott for insight into his grandparents’ actions? Katherine couldn’t approach Wayland and ask while in public, so she turned away, trying to banish the lingering thought in her head just as firmly.

  Lyle tapped her on the shoulder. “Katherine? I think Harriet is trying to get your attention.”

  He pointed to the other side of the room, where a narrow corridor near the piano likely led to a servant entrance. Harriet stood on the threshold, beckoning.

  “Thank you. I’ll see what it is she needs.”

  Fortunately, everyone in the room seemed much too preoccupied in speculation or recollection about the Burglar of Bath to notice Katherine as she skirted the perimeter of the room. When she neared Harriet, her maid turned and disappeared down the servants’ corridor. Katherine followed.

>   The noise and temperature dropped significantly down this narrow, plain hallway. Harriet halted halfway down and waited for Katherine. The moment she stepped within earshot, the maid hissed, “I have news from my friend.”

  Katherine had spotted Sir Hugh among those gathered. This must have given his valet the time needed to search his room! Eagerly, she leaned forward. “What news?”

  “Sir Hugh’s valet found none of the stolen jewels in his room.”

  Her hopes sank. “None at all?”

  Harriet shook her head. “The only jewels he has are the ones he brought with him to Bath.”

  That didn’t mean that he wasn’t the Burglar of Bath. All it meant was that he didn’t keep the stolen items in his room. Katherine had stumbled upon him digging a hole. She’d heard that antiquities were sometimes dug up here in Bath. What if Sir Hugh had dug up more than coins? What if he had dug up the statue and then used it to clobber Lady Dalhousie, knowing it could not be traced to him…

  “Furthermore, none of his silver items are obviously scratched in a way that could match the sliver of silver you found. Most of the items are too small to have been the cause.”

  Katherine swore. Although finding nothing didn’t mean that Sir Hugh was exonerated, without any evidence, she couldn’t arrest him. In fact, unless Scott had found a similar situation in his grandparents’ abode, the evidence seemed to be piling against the Juliens instead.

  Katherine didn’t want to discover that such pleasant, caring people were in fact criminals. However… She pursed her lips. What if Lyle’s invention hadn’t malfunctioned? What if the person who had attacked Lady Dalhousie was not a man but a woman? Mrs. Julien might have small hands. Katherine had never paid close enough mind to her hands to measure them. Could Mrs. Julien be the cloaked figure who Lady Dalhousie claimed had rendered her unconscious?

  Katherine bit the inside of her cheek as she struggled with that question. She needed advice. As much as she didn’t want to consider it, she had no choice. She had all but ruled out everyone else in the investigation.

  “You’ve suspected Mrs. Julien of the thefts from the start. Do you still?”

  Harriet lifted one shoulder in a cautious shrug. “Nothing has happened to change my mind.”

  “You think that we’ll find the jewels in her house.”

  Harriet raised her eyebrows. “They let go of their maid. Perhaps the reason wasn’t only lack of funds, but also because they have something to hide.”

  Would Scott search the house for her? Katherine had hoped he might listen to Wayland instead, but if she had no other choice but to ask…

  Hesitantly, she said, “Mrs. Julien is near the right height to be the cloaked figure I’ve been seeing around town.”

  “Indeed, she is. Have you ever seen her and the figure at the same time?”

  Katherine couldn’t recall if she had. Thinking on the cloaked figure made her wonder what the thief might be up to.

  After a moment, she pursed her lips together, thinking. “Mrs. Fairchild confessed to me that Miss Newcomb has been seeing the cloaked figure shadowing her. It makes no sense, seeing as she doesn’t have any jewels to steal.”

  “Makes perfect sense to me. That silly young woman has adhered herself to Prince Karl’s shadow the whole time she has been here. Prince Karl wears more jewels than any of the women here.”

  Blast, Harriet was right. The prince could be in danger!

  “I have to go.”

  Katherine turned on her heel, hurrying back to the Pump Room. She couldn’t sit idly by and allow someone to be robbed, even an idle, self-centered man like the prince. Pausing on the threshold, she searched the room for the glimmer of jewels. Unfortunately, there were far too many of those to be found, not one of them attached to a man. Where were the prince and Miss Newcomb?

  When she couldn’t spot them, she approached Mrs. Fairchild. If nothing else, the woman was known for keeping a strict eye over her charge. She might not part with the information willingly, but if Katherine expressed the direness of the situation… The thief was escalating. If they managed to catch the prince alone, perhaps they might even be desperate enough to resort to murder! Katherine had to stop them first.

  “Mrs. Fairchild.”

  The woman scowled. “Here to gloat, are you?”

  Katherine frowned. “About what? I thought I spotted your charge with the prince earlier.” Had they since parted ways?

  “Oh, Miss Newcomb has Prince Karl playing to her tune, as I knew she would. No thanks to you. Your Miss Burwick seems to have done her damage on the Marquess of Annandale. If he was your hope all along, why did you need her to draw the attention of every other man in Bath?”

  Katherine didn’t have time for this nonsense. “Where are Miss Newcomb and the prince now? I don’t see them.”

  Mrs. Fairchild sniffed. “They’ve got out.”

  Katherine’s heart skipped a beat. The pair, alone, where the thief might happen across them? “You let your charge into his presence unchaperoned?”

  Mrs. Fairchild drew herself up. “Hardly. They left to walk back to the hotel with Miss Burwick and Lord Annandale. It’s frigid out there, but I will give her a few moments before I follow in the carriage.”

  Would Pru and Lord Annandale be enough protection from the thief? If Miss Newcomb had managed to lose her chaperone, she might be clever enough to find herself in the prince’s company alone. No, Katherine had to find them.

  Without another word, she bolted from the Pump Room into the square. The brisk afternoon air had warmed from the sun. It wasn’t suitable for short sleeves, but with her long sleeves and pelisse, Katherine barely felt the autumn air. She grabbed handfuls of her skirt, lifting it above her ankles as she bolted through the streets in search of the prince. Her heart hammered in her ears. Would she make it to him in time?

  Halfway to the hotel, she spotted the foursome strolling ahead. Relief swept through her as she leaned against the corner of a building to catch her breath. They were unharmed and in so formidable a group, surely the thief wouldn’t strike. She had time to warn him so he might take the proper precautions.

  As she straightened, Katherine spotted movement from the corner of her eye. A figure skirted the shadows of the nearest alley ahead, slinking into the one just beyond. A cloaked figure. The thief!

  Katherine didn’t have the breath to shout, so she lurched into motion instead. The figure heard the slap of Katherine’s heels on the cobblestones and yelped. Their black hat fluttered to the ground as they bolted down the alley. Katherine smashed it beneath her slipper on the way past.

  As she did, the noise drew Pru and Lord Annandale’s attention ahead. Pru turned, calling Katherine’s name. She didn’t have time to answer. The thief was getting away!

  The black cloak ahead fluttered around the woman’s shoulders, lifting enough for Katherine to discern her skirts beneath.

  So it was a woman! Although the thief hiked them to her calves, she was too far ahead for Katherine to make out any identifying detail.

  Could an old woman like Mrs. Julien run so fast? Katherine ran full tilt after the figure, determined to catch her. When the woman darted down another passage, Katherine barely slowed to change her course. Footsteps pounding against the ground behind her drew her attention for but a moment; she didn’t have time to wait for Pru or Lord Annandale to reach her to explain. She dashed down the alley instead.

  By the end, she was nearly on the woman’s heels as she darted into the street. A carriage rumbled past, nearly clipping the thief as the driver cursed the air blue. Katherine stopped so suddenly, she nearly pitched forward into the black conveyance as it sped past.

  “Katherine!”

  She didn’t wait. The moment the road was clear, she grabbed her skirts and raced after the figure just as the cloak disappeared around another bend. This was the best chance she would find to capture and arrest the Burglar of Bath. If the culprit slipped away again, the prince — or someone else — might be
in danger. Katherine stumbled as if she’d staggered across Miss Young’s nearly dead body again. She couldn’t let that happen. Not while she remained on the case.

  She turned the corner and gained ground on the thief as they galloped down the narrow alleyway encased by tall buildings. Did the woman ahead seem to be flagging? Triumph surged through Katherine’s veins as she followed. A strand of gray hair escaped from the side of her hood as she paused to glance behind her. The contours of her profile seemed familiar. Who…

  The thief turned the corner. Katherine rounded it only to find that the woman had been cornered by the back of another building. She had nowhere to run.

  Katherine demanded, “Take off your hood and turn around slowly.”

  The woman did, revealing her white-threaded steel-gray hair. As she turned, she looked Katherine in the eye, fearless.

  “Mrs. Burwick?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Katherine couldn’t believe her eyes. Pru’s mother was the burglar? What was Pru’s mother doing in Bath? They had left her in London.

  But she couldn’t be the Burglar of Bath since she had been at Lord Northbrook’s party during the time of one of the thefts. Or could that have been when Lady Carleton had been robbed? Katherine couldn’t recall the order of the victims. The blood roared in her ears as she stared, unable to fathom why she’d found Mrs. Burwick here, of all places.

  “Why are you following the prince?”

  “What prince?” Mrs. Burwick pulled a face, her nose wrinkling with befuddlement.

  “Prince Karl of Prussia.” When the older woman’s face remained without any trace of recognition of the name, Katherine realized that, despite what Mrs. Fairchild had mentioned, the cloaked figure had never been following Miss Newcomb. “If not him, then who are you shadowing?” she asked, afraid she already knew the answer.

  Her suspicions were confirmed as Mrs. Burwick answered, “I was following Prudence.”