The Baffling Burglaries of Bath

by Leighann Dobbs

  Miss Newcomb had been dogging Pru’s heels the past few days. The cloaked figure wasn’t the thief at all, but merely Mrs. Burwick keeping a close eye on her daughter.

  Footsteps echoed down the alley, growing closer.

  The older woman’s gaze gleamed as she leaned toward Katherine to whisper, “I’ve seen the way Lord Annandale has been drinking in her every word and making every excuse to insinuate himself at her side! You’ve done very well, beyond my greatest imaginings. And in so short a time!”

  All this, because Pru had been determined to draw attention to herself that first night by acting in every way she shouldn’t. Who was to know that it would result in catching the eye of a wild-at-heart marquess?

  The footsteps paused abruptly. Katherine turned to meet the astonished gazes of Pru and Lord Annandale. Annandale rolled up his sleeves, balling his fists and stepping between Pru and the cloaked figure. His protective stance dropped the moment Pru spoke.

  “Mama? What are you doing here?”

  Katherine sighed and rubbed her temples. “Yes. I believe that will take some explaining, but not here. Let’s return to the hotel.”

  “Aye,” Lord Annandale agreed. “Why don’t we start by swallowing a wee dram, lest we start seein’ evils ’round every corner?”

  Lord Annandale had taken his leave with more aplomb and grace than Katherine would have been able to muster had she learned that the mother of her romantic interest had been spying upon her. Now settled next to the warmth of the hearth in the Sydney Hotel common room, Katherine faced Mrs. Burwick over a cup of tea and readied herself to hear the tale. Pru, glaring with her arms crossed, seemed much less willing to accept a rational explanation.

  Mrs. Burwick tapped her daughter’s arm. “Don’t scowl like that, dear. If Lord Annandale comes back, you’ll frighten him back to the highlands.”

  Katherine smirked. She didn’t think Annandale would be so easily frightened off given his adamancy over making the match, but she held her tongue on the subject.

  Pru’s scowl only deepened. “Why are you here? You promised to stay in London and allow Katherine the freedom to work her magic.”

  Mrs. Burwick turned to Katherine with a sheepish look. “It wasn’t that I don’t trust you—”

  Katherine suspected it was precisely that.

  “But this is my only daughter’s happiness we’re talking about. I wanted to see how she was getting on with Lord Annandale. Is that so terrible?”

  “Yes,” Pru said with feeling. “You promised you would let me decide my future this once. For heaven’s sake, you tried to marry me off to an old man with one foot in the grave!”

  “He is a duke,” Mrs. Burwick answered with a sniff. She fiddled with her teacup but didn’t drink.

  Pru rubbed her eyes, seeming weary of this same argument. “Did you ever think that maybe I don’t care to marry a duke?”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, dear. Everyone wants to marry a duke.”

  “Not Katherine.”

  Sard it, she was dragging Katherine into this argument now, too. She took a sip of her tea and tried not to be noticed.

  “Lady Katherine already has a title, of sorts. You do not.”

  “I don’t care about titles…”

  Mrs. Burwick wagged her finger. “You say that now, but when you’re my age with a willful daughter of your own, you might feel differently!”

  Pru clenched her jaw but didn’t respond.

  Smug at having won a moment of silence, Mrs. Burwick sipped from her tea before she added, “Of course, you refused the last duke, and there aren’t many to be found. A marquess will have to do. You do see the sense in marrying Lord Annandale, don’t you?”

  Pru colored, her cheeks turning the same shade as her teacup. “Perhaps I don’t care to marry at all. Like Katherine.”

  Tarnation! Pru’s mother was ruining all the careful work Katherine had laid down. Why did she have to come to Bath?

  Before the conversation devolved further and Pru became even more stubborn over the fact that she would not capitulate to her mother’s wishes, Katherine intervened. “How long have you been in Bath?”

  Mrs. Burwick tapped her fingers on the table. “I followed you straight away, of course. I’ve been here since the first night. I found lodgings near the outskirts of town.”

  “You were in the corridor of the Assembly Rooms.”

  “For all the good it did me,” Mrs. Burwick mumbled. “I didn’t so much as see Prudence’s shadow, and you nearly caught me then! If not for your companion…” She paused. “Were you trying to convince him to make an offer for Pru? I heard a rumor.”

  “I beg your pardon!” Pru bolted upright, dropping her arms to clutch the side of her chair. She turned her wide, fearful eyes on Katherine. “Tell me that isn’t true. I heard you were matching me with Captain Wayland, but I knew such an audacious rumor couldn’t possibly be true…”

  “It isn’t,” I informed her.

  She relaxed at once.

  “If you were at the Assembly Rooms, then you were at the King’s Bath when the thief struck.”

  “In a manner of speaking,” Mrs. Burwick answered, turning away. She looked guilty. “I was far too busy trying to elude you to have seen anything.”

  “And outside Mrs. Quicke’s townhouse? I saw you in the bushes.”

  “That was wretched timing,” lamented the older woman. She glanced from Katherine to Pru and back again, seeming a bit out of sorts. “I was trapped there for a time. I was following Prudence, but she left with Lord Annandale driving a carriage, of all things. Someone called out, and I feared I was caught! I hid just in time to avoid the Marquess of Bath as he strode down the alley to speak with someone else. He didn’t see me, but for a time I was too frightened to move, and then the scene swarmed with people soon after. I only learned later that there was a robbery there.”

  Katherine narrowed her eyes. “That places you at two robberies. Don’t you think that’s a tad suspicious?”

  “Three,” Mrs. Burwick admitted, seeming reluctant. She fiddled with her cup. “But I was only looking for Pru, honest! I was about to enter this hotel by the back door in the garden when I heard a frightful scream. I ran as soon as I did and later learned that Lady Dalhousie had been attacked and robbed!” She nibbled on her lower lip. “I do hope you’re able to convince Lord Annandale to come up to snuff soon, for I don’t think it’s at all safe here.”

  Unfortunately, Katherine was inclined to agree.

  “Mother,” Pru spat, her tone cautioning.

  The wheels in Katherine’s mind spun as she processed Mrs. Burwick’s confession. She opened the reticule on her wrist and removed one large floral button. “This wouldn’t happen to be yours, would it?”

  Mrs. Burwick’s eyes lit with enthusiasm. “You found it! I lost it off my favorite dress. See?” She pushed aside the cloak to show a gap on the bodice where one of the ornamental buttons was missing.

  Pru made a thin noise of despair. Katherine ignored her, the muscles in her body tensing with anticipation as she leaned forward.

  “If you were there, in the garden, when Lady Dalhousie screamed, then you must have seen the thief as he ran from the hotel. He escaped through that stairwell.”

  Mrs. Burwick’s eyebrows pulled together. “Are you certain? I didn’t see anyone emerge, though I admit I dashed away the moment I heard the scream.” Her frown deepened. “Although…”

  “Yes?” Katherine’s fingernails dug into her palms as she fought against a tide of impatience.

  “I saw Mr. and Mrs. Julien, the old couple who bring their grandson ’round in a bath chair, come around the corner of the hotel soon after. I had to duck behind the hedges to keep from being seen! I found it unspeakably odd that they moved away from the scream rather than toward it.”

  Mrs. Julien again. Tarnation! Katherine had been so close to omitting her as a suspect. Her heart ached knowing that the evidence pointed more and more toward the only woman left stand
ing.

  Although if the cloaked figure wasn’t the thief, did Katherine need to search for someone so tall? Her head throbbed with the onset of this new evidence.

  And Mrs. Burwick continued to speak, pouring out more information that Katherine wished she hadn’t heard.

  “Come to think of it, I also saw them while I was hiding from Lord Bath. They spent a good deal of time in the alley.”

  Mr. Julien couldn’t possibly scale those walls, nor could Mrs. Julien… though perhaps he could have lifted her high enough for her to pull herself over the windowsill…

  Katherine shook her head. What was she thinking? Mrs. Julien was an old woman! She wasn’t in her prime, like Wayland.

  “What were they doing?” Katherine asked.

  “I… I cannot say. I was trying not to be seen, but I’m certain I noticed them.”

  “How soon did you see them before Lord Bath arrived?”

  “Lord Bath?” Mrs. Burwick frowned. “No, I’m certain I saw him first. I was already hiding when I glimpsed the Juliens. Wasn’t I…?” She pursed her lips as she thought but seemed conflicted.

  “What does it matter?” Pru answered bitingly. “You were spying on me! You shouldn’t have been there. I’m old enough to mind my own future.”

  “Ah, but will you? I swear, dragging you to the altar is more difficult than wading against a current!”

  “I don’t need to marry anyone. Katherine, tell her.”

  Rather than get in the middle of such a bullheaded argument, Katherine excused herself and left mother and daughter to work out their differences in private.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  When a knock sounded on the door to Katherine’s room, Harriet opened it to reveal Pru. The young woman looked ready to tear out her hair. She stormed into the room.

  “My mother has revealed her presence here for one day, and I’m already hoping she will be the thief’s next target. Perhaps if he strikes her over the head hard enough, he will knock some sense into her.”

  She turned her gaze to the ceiling, blinking hard to shed the glimmer of tears now clinging to her lower lashes. When she lowered her gaze to find Lyle seated at the writing desk, she wiped her cheeks hurriedly and composed herself. She turned away from him, meeting Katherine’s gaze where she was seated on the edge of the bed.

  “Forgive my tardiness. You wanted to speak?”

  Katherine held tighter to Emma, who wiggled as she lunged toward the new arrival, hoping to beg for attention. At least Katherine could be reasonably certain that Pru wasn’t hiding crumbs in her sleeves, but the pug would undoubtedly find something else on her person and decide to relocate it. She had been busy over the past couple of weeks.

  “I wanted to discuss the investigation thus far and hope you or someone else might have some insight I’ve missed. I’ve gone through it a thousand times, and the only person I can point toward as the thief is Mrs. Julien.”

  Despite the fact that she couldn’t perform the same feats of athleticism as Wayland.

  Katherine added, “But if you’re preoccupied with other matters, don’t let me keep you.” She held herself straight, her shoulders thrust back as she hoped for Pru to opt to join the party.

  She was in luck. Pru blew a strand of hair away from her eyes before she strode forward and dropped heavily onto the mattress next to Katherine. Happy, Emma bounded onto Pru’s lap and begged for attention. Pru vigorously rubbed the dog’s stomach, which caused no end of joy. It was infectious and seemed to seep into Pru and lighten her mood.

  Softly, she said, “I’m free for the moment. My mother’s gone to ready herself for the dress ball tonight. She’ll be back by four o’clock to help me dress, but that should give us an hour to speak.”

  “Hopefully it won’t take that long. We’ve had three thefts occur since we’ve been in town. There must be something about them that I’ve overlooked.”

  Lyle leaned his elbow on the desk. “What are your clues?”

  Katherine held up a finger. “The sliver of silver, which I’ve been unable to match to anyone’s clothing. The stolen jewels — which we’ve now learned are not in Sir Hugh’s chambers, nor have they been sold to anyone in the area. But I did follow him the other day and find him digging along the perimeter of the King’s Bath, outside the building. I looked in the hole, but I didn’t find the stolen jewels, or much of anything, to be honest. An old coin that means little in regards to the investigation. I assumed he’d reclaimed the jewels he’d hidden there, but if he had, wouldn’t he have them in his room?” Shaking her head, Katherine pinched the bridge of her nose to stave off a headache. She was desperate to find a way to connect Sir Hugh to the thefts, but the evidence refused to cooperate.

  Lyle said, “Brewster and I are putting together his invention this afternoon in the square outside Bath Abbey. While I’m nearby, I’ll take a tour of the perimeter of the baths and check for more such disturbances. Perhaps he simply moved the jewels.”

  Katherine clung to that thread of hope. “Thank you. I appreciate your help.”

  Her friend gave a one-shouldered shrug. He mumbled, “I only wish I could have been of more help the last time.”

  “We don’t know for certain that the results were wrong. Perhaps the wielder of the sculpture had small hands.” Katherine turned to Pru, on her other side. “Have you noticed the size of Sir Hugh’s hands? You’ve seen him play cards.”

  “I recall them being rather large.”

  Her spirits sank once more. If Lyle’s invention had worked as designed, then Sir Hugh could not be the thief. However, Mrs. Julien still could.

  “That leaves Mrs. Julien.” Katherine sighed. She dropped her head into her hands. “I still don’t know whether she is keeping any jewels in her lodgings.”

  From the door, Harriet murmured, “They have no servants, or else I’d try to have them search the Juliens’ rooms.”

  “I know.” Katherine straightened. “If Wayland hasn’t done so, I’ll have to ask Scott.”

  She paused, thinking. Could there be another way to discover whether or not the Juliens were at fault? Mrs. Julien had told Katherine that she had been in a public coach bound for Bradford-on-Avon when the theft of Mrs. Oliver’s pearls had occurred. However, Pru had spotted her entering a carriage with fancy scrollwork along the sides, far too expensive to be a public coach. Not to mention, the cost of hiring such a vehicle would have been tremendous. Mrs. Julien purportedly didn’t have that money to spend.

  Had Pru recalled incorrectly? Had Mrs. Julien lied to her? Katherine couldn’t be certain. Tracking down the driver of the public coach might prove impossible, and Pru hadn’t seen enough of the carriage to identify it, preoccupied as she had been with Lord Annandale at the time. If Katherine confronted Mrs. Julien with her lie, would she tell the truth instead?

  The last time she had spoken to Wayland about confronting the Juliens, he had been furious. Even if they were… perhaps not enemies, but certainly not friends… Katherine wouldn’t feel right if she marched up to the Juliens’ doorstep and demanded to know the truth. If she had to pursue this avenue — and it appeared as though she had no other choice — then she first had to speak to Wayland. If he felt strongly enough about it, perhaps he could concoct an argument to sway her mind.

  With a sigh, Katherine stood. “Thank you for your help. I know what I must do next.”

  Pru scrambled to her feet alongside her. “Wait. I’ll come with you.”

  When Katherine hesitated, Pru’s eyes filled with tears. “You must let me help,” she begged. “I feel so…” She hesitated, searching for a word. “Decorative. There’s nothing to recommend me. I’ve done nothing this entire time but act in every way I should not, and although it’s distracted me for a time, I…”

  Katherine frowned. “Distracted you? From Annandale’s suit?”

  “No.” Pru looked down. “From Mary’s absence. She was my dearest friend in the world. I thought finding her killer as we did at Lord Northbrook’s
and bringing justice might bring me some measure of peace, but it hasn’t. She’s only been dead a few weeks, but it’s as though everyone’s forgotten her. Mama wants me to marry, but it feels as though I’m leaving Mary behind.” Her voice caught on a sob, and she wiped her cheeks.

  Katherine looked around the room. Harriet muttered an excuse about taking Emma for a walk and absconded with the dog. Lyle made his excuse as well, vacating the room so Katherine could speak with the grieving woman in private. The moment the door shut behind them, Katherine urged Pru to sit next to her on the bed once more.

  “I didn’t know you felt this way.”

  Without looking her in the eye, Pru shrugged and wiped her cheeks. “I thought you understood. Mary was your relative.”

  “Miss Rosehill was a distant cousin, yes.” Katherine squeezed Pru’s hand. “I didn’t know her like you did.”

  “I miss her.”

  Katherine said nothing, not certain how to mend the hole in Pru’s heart. Although she had lost her mother at a young age, nothing had truly happened to heal that wound and help her move on. She’d spent more time with Papa, who had helped her to understand when he remarried that his new wife was not meant to be a replacement for her mother. Merely another addition to their family, with more to come. Mama was still there, still a part of Katherine and her older sisters.

  “Falling in love and getting married was Mary’s dream, not mine.” Pru looked down. “She was always prettier than I was. The only reason I’m earning any male attention now at all is because she isn’t here to stand beside me.”

  “That isn’t true.”

  Pru scoffed.

  Katherine squeezed her hand tighter. “Lord Annandale is quite smitten with you. He asked me for your hand.”

  A fleeting smile curved Pru’s lips as she glanced up from beneath her eyelashes. “He did not.”

  “He did. He wants to marry you.”

  Pru’s smile faded. Her chin wobbled. “I don’t know if I can. I don’t know if I’m ready. If Mary were here…”

  “Have you spoken with him about how you feel? Have you told him about Mary at all?”