Venice

by Lynne Connolly

  When we heard the knock on the door, Gervase opened the long windows on to the balcony outside and stepped out. I heard him open the doors to the music room a little further along, so he could get away silently if he needed to. The sounds of Venice came in through the windows, the water lapping against the buildings, the calls of the boatmen. The door opened and a footman announced, “Lord and Lady Strang, my lady.”

  I stood to greet them and watched their faces closely as they came in. “Tell my husband, if you please,” I said to the footman, who bowed and left.

  I held out my hand and waited for the gentleman to bow over it. He did so after a mere second’s hesitation, enough for a swift glance around the room. The only item absent this time was the portrait of the twins. Either he hadn’t heard the footman’s announcement, or he chose to ignore it, for he said, “I trust we find you well this morning, Mrs. Locke?”

  “Perfectly,” I assured him. “Do sit down, I’m sure my husband will be in directly.”

  They sat down and looked around, taking in the things we had had removed or covered up the last time they had visited. “Have you undergone a change of fortune we are unaware of, Mrs. Locke?” asked Ravens. “There seems to have been a change in this room since I saw it last.”

  “It was my brother-in-law’s idea. He’s staying here for while. You may meet him soon.”

  “Your brother-in-law,” said Ravens. “Is he the instrument of this change?”

  I smiled. “Not at all. Quite the reverse, in fact.”

  “You’re looking extremely well this morning, Mrs. Locke.” Mrs. Ravens stared patronisingly at me under half lowered lids. Mr. Ravens appeared perturbed, worried, his hands clenched on the arms of the elegant chair he occupied. I was surprised to find I didn’t feel at all nervous or concerned. I was here on my own territory, better protected than the king, waiting for my husband, entertaining frauds. I began to relish the situation and enjoy myself.

  “You’re very kind,” I said in reply to her. “I gave orders for tea to be served when you arrived.”

  She bowed her head in a stately manner in reply, but didn’t look as put out as her husband. Such was her supreme air of superiority, I believe it would have carried her anywhere.

  I decided to have some fun of my own while we were waiting for Richard. I felt justified, there was only Gervase to hear and they had insulted us enough just by impersonating us.

  “Lady Strang, I heard you went to the Contessa Marini’s reception the other day, the first night we played cards at your house. Do you know her well?”

  The lady spread her fan. “Oh yes, she is an old family friend, you know.”

  Halfway through this speech her husband cleared his throat repeatedly, but the lady didn’t stop in her revelations and I was able to say, seemingly puzzled, “But I read you lived quietly in the country before your marriage. How could you meet the contessa in Devonshire?”

  “She’s an old friend of the family,” Mrs. Ravens repeated with dignity.

  “I see. I heard you created a sensation there.”

  “It is very kind of you to say so,” Mr. Ravens said before his wife could make any more faux pas. “It was a dazzling assembly. All Venice society was there.”

  “What did you wear, my lady?” I asked, full of interest. “I have always taken an interest in fashionable dress.”

  “Green,” she said, “with emeralds.”

  The door opened and a footman brought in the tea tray. He was closely followed by Richard, at his brilliant best, in fine blue broadcloth and a white waistcoat, immaculately and finely embroidered in blue and silver thread. The diamond glittered in the precisely creased folds of his neckcloth, in a negligent style Mr. Ravens could only echo. The Ravens had their backs to the door, so they didn’t notice his entrance. He waited behind their sofa as the servant arranged the tea on a table at my elbow. He smiled at me, although I tried to keep my attention on the lady opposite.

  Mrs. Ravens, obviously a fashion follower, was describing her gown, her confidence rising with every word. “Pomona green silk, with furbelows and embroidery, with the emeralds I had on my marriage. I received some flattering compliments, but I fancy I looked very well.” She preened.

  Richard walked around the sofa and took my hand. “Strange. I could have sworn you wore blue, with sapphires.” He kissed my hand and turned to bow to the Ravens, taking his time, letting them stare. “Just so,” he said gently, breaking into their thoughts.

  They came out of their reverie, tearing their gaze away from the vision before them. At least Mr. Ravens did, but his wife watched, fascinated as Richard disposed himself on the sofa next to me, elegance personified.

  Mr. Ravens seemed to pull himself together. However Richard was dressed, he was still as far as they knew under their control, their creature, although now surely they must be having doubts. “I cannot imagine what has caused this change in you, sir—”

  “My lord,” Richard corrected him.

  The man stared, but carried on “The fact remains, last night was a disaster for you and for us and we must study to rectify it.”

  Richard took his tea and I gave the Ravens’ tea to the footman, who passed it to them, bowing. Richard looked every inch the arrogant aristocrat, almost as haughty as the first time I had met him. “A disaster for you, perhaps. But then, we intended it to be.”

  Ravens stared at him, aghast. Richard put his tea dish down on the table by his side and picked up one of the notes of hand with elegant, jewelled fingers. “These are useless, as I’m sure you’re aware. So are the ones you hold belonging to us. We could perhaps make an exchange, but these add up to about twenty thousand pounds, so we might add other considerations to make the exchange even.”

  Mr. Ravens sighed heavily. “So your game was deeper than ours.”

  Richard allowed a small, frosty smile to cross his face. “If you hadn’t afforded my wife some assistance on the road to Venice, I might have made it a lot worse. As it is, there are one or two matters we require your assistance with and then we’ll call it even.” He leaned back, completely at his ease, one foot stretched out negligently before him, “The first requirement is that you must undertake never to use my—our—name again.”

  “I beg your pardon!” said Ravens, blustering for all he was worth. I didn’t like the expression on his face, angry and determined, as though he was truly in the right. “You may be in the same game as us, but please do not insult me by claiming to be Lord Strang. His lordship is at present by his wife’s bedside in Devonshire, waiting for her to recover from an attempt on her life. We ensured that before ever we decided on our course of action here.”

  Richard sighed. “So that one took, did it? It’s true, there was an attempt, but we were very lucky.” Only I saw the merest twitch of the finger on the hand that lay apparently at ease on his knee. “We decided to leave several smokescreens behind us.”

  He looked at them for a few moments in silence, picked up his tea and finished it in his own time, putting it down ever so gently afterwards. “Sometimes I could wish I were in the same game as you. Should you like it, Rose?”

  “No,” I confessed. “It would be most uncomfortable, not knowing where the next penny was coming from. And I haven’t any emeralds.”

  He regarded me, smiling. “You will have. You’ll suit them.”

  “You said I suited rubies.”

  “Those as well,” he added and turned back to the Ravens. “Whether you believe it or not, I am the man whose name you’ve been taking in vain.”

  They looked at him mute, waiting for his next move.

  I knew what he meant, so I raised my voice slightly and called, “Gervase, would you like some tea?”

  There was a movement from outside the open window. “I thought you’d never ask,” said Gervase.

  I hadn’t seen quite such a look of confounded chagrin as now settled on the faces of our visitors. Gervase stood behind me while I poured his tea for him. This allowed the Raven
s to see the twins together. Gervase came to take his tea dish from me with his good hand. He sat down in a chair at my side. His other arm was still in a sling and he was dressed in his own style—simpler, but with that same attention to quality that all the Kerres demonstrated. There was no disguising the similarity between the brothers and no attempt to.

  Richard spoke. “Yes, we are identical. Yes, we do think each others’ thoughts from time to time and, yes, my shoulder’s been stiff for a day or two.”

  Forgetting everything else, I turned to him. “You didn’t tell me!”

  He smiled at me and for one moment he let his arrogant expression slip. “There was nothing you could do. I was well aware of the reason.”

  I recalled the way he’d woken me that morning, concluded there couldn’t be anything really wrong with his shoulder and smiled back. “The perils of being a twin.”

  “Indeed,” Gervase added. “When I came off my horse and broke my leg in India Richard knew at once.”

  I was surprised at that. “So it works over distances?”

  “Over half the globe,” my husband replied.

  I suddenly thought of something and had to work very hard to prevent myself colouring up. “No,” said Richard quietly to me and I knew he was trying to reassure me that what we did together was totally private.

  I turned my attention to the Ravens now. They must have believed us finally. “I must beg your pardon, my lord,” Mr. Ravens said. He didn’t sound very contrite.

  Richard inclined his head graciously. “As long as you don’t do it again I forgive you.”

  The doorknocker to the apartment sounded and I heard it opened, then Freddy was announced. “Lord Thwaite, my lady.”

  Freddy stopped on the threshold and looked around. “Oh Lord, late again! I missed it, didn’t I?”

  “You did,” Richard agreed and made him known to the Ravens.

  Mr. Ravens rose and bowed deeply to him. “You, my lord have a true talent. It is a pity you were not born into slightly more indigent circumstances, as it would have been a pleasure to see you at work.”

  Freddy bowed in return, highly amused. “Thank you. I’ve only been at it a week, my—” he broke off and looked guiltily at me, “—friends think I’ve been abandoning them.”

  “Friend.” I corrected him and he bowed to me, smiling charmingly.

  Gervase lifted an enquiring eyebrow at Richard who explained; “He has Miss Outridge here.”

  “Good God!” Gervase flicked an appalled glance at me. “And Rose knows?”

  “She takes great amusement from it,” his brother told him. “She teased him about it at the contessa’s and Miss Crich was completely won over.”

  “Is the whole of London in Venice?” Gervase demanded, taking the view I had so often noted about these people, that their set constituted the whole.

  Richard smiled. “No, but when you set foot outside these doors, London will know as fast as the post will take it.”

  Gervase sighed. “At least in India that took half a year, if it got there at all.” He sipped his tea.

  Richard turned back to the Ravens. “By the way, this is how it’s done.” He drew an enamelled and bejewelled French snuffbox from his pocket, flicked open the top with one hand, all without looking and offered it to Mr. Ravens with negligible grace. Not one lace ruffle was disturbed. Mr. Ravens stared at his hand thoughtfully for one moment before taking some of the proffered snuff. Richard offered it to Freddy, but not to Gervase, who disliked it, then took his usual infinitesimal pinch. He applied it to his nose with one hand, clicking the box shut with a finger on his other hand and returning it to his pocket in one swift movement. He took his seat again.

  Mr. Ravens sighed. “I tried. I read as much as I could find and that movement was mentioned of you somewhere, so I did my best.”

  Richard bowed his head in acknowledgement. “Like your skills, it only requires practice. Now shall we discuss the business of the day?”

  “By all means, my lord.” The man was all obsequiousness now.

  “The man Squires,” Richard said then, getting down to business. “How well do you know him?”

  Ravens’ eyes opened wide and he looked with astonishment at Richard. Whatever he had been expecting from us, it wasn’t this. “Squires?”

  “Is he one of your creatures?” I asked.

  Ravens shook his head. “Certainly not, my lady. I met him here in Venice. He seemed to be the one person I couldn’t avoid, so it was a great relief to find he didn’t seem to know Lord Strang any better than I did. And then...” his eyes gleamed and he looked up to meet Richard’s perceptive gaze, “...I found he was a card player. He couldn’t get enough of the tables, kept on asking me when I planned to open my house properly. He didn’t seem to be short of cash, but I could find out nothing about him. I’m surprised you’re interested in him, my lord, he seems a nonentity, not at all your kind.”

  Richard smiled grimly. “Not at all my kind, Mr. Ravens.” He paused. “This man has tried to kill me twice—no, three times, if you count the yacht.”

  Gervase interrupted him. “Oh I should count the yacht. I’ve seen what’s left of it.”

  “And I saw it go up,” I added.

  He covered my hand with his own. “Three times then. I think he knows me much better than you do, but his addiction to the tables kept him with you. Do you know he cheats?”

  Ravens smiled expansively. “I do not flatter when I say he doesn’t do it nearly as well as your friends, my lord.” Freddy nodded, grinning. “I have been aware of it and while he thinks he has the upper hand I, in fact, have been controlling him. I was planning the final coup soon, in fact.”

  “I would strongly advise against it,” Richard told him. “The man is a killer.” Ravens blenched, the complete lack of colour making him appear unhealthy. “But I’m glad you’re seeing him again.”

  The dossier on Jeffries was lying on a table by his side. Richard took it up and opened it, although he didn’t really need to refer to it. “The man’s real name is Jeffries. He is known to the authorities as a hired man, who will kill anyone in cold blood for the right amount of money.”

  “My God!”

  Richard ignored the interruption. “When we turned up at your house, I don’t suppose he could believe his luck. He’s bided his time since then. Has he asked you for our direction? Have you given it to him?”

  Ravens stared in front of him and his wife gripped her hands together, looking at her husband anxiously. Then her attention went to Richard. “He has asked us, yes, my lord, but we haven’t told him, not yet. You see, it was obvious he set some store by the information, so we thought we would make him pay for it.”

  I felt, rather than heard or saw Richard’s relief and I heard Gervase’s sigh. “So he doesn’t know this address through you,” Richard said.

  “Certainly not, my lord.”

  Richard bit his lower lip, lost in thought. “Then we can go ahead. There’s danger from now on. If you’d rather bail out now, Freddy, we could easily manage without you.”

  Freddy’s heavy brows went up. “If you think I’d leave you alone now, especially with Rose to take care of, you’re a madman, Richard Kerre!”

  Richard smiled. “Thank you, Freddy.” Then he turned to me. “I’d feel happier if you were away from here.”

  My reaction was as emphatic as Freddy’s. “There’s no way I’m leaving you now, Richard.” I searched frantically in my mind, trying to find a way to persuade him. I was determined I wouldn’t leave him now, to sit in some out of the way place and worry myself sick about him. I would stay, one way or the other, but I would prefer it to be with his blessing. I met his eyes, cold and anxious. “I’ll never leave you again, I promised that. In any case, I’m safer here. I’m well cared for and we have no guarantee it’s only you he wants.”

  “I want to bring him here,” Richard told me.

  “I’m not leaving.” Then I added, “You gave me a share. I intend to be
a full voting member, so you need me here to cast my vote.”

  His expression changed at that and he smiled grimly. “Is there anything you won’t use to stay here?”

  I shook my head. “Nothing. And if our bodyguards have two people in two places to look after, it’s bound to weaken our defences. You need me here, I need to be here, so I’m staying.”

  For a long moment he didn’t move, looking at me straight in the eyes, then he sighed. “You won’t go whatever I say, will you?” I didn’t answer, knowing he required none. To my great surprise he leaned forward and kissed me gently on my mouth, his lips just touching mine. “Very well. You stay.”

  For a brief moment only the two of us were in the room. Then, with a deep breath, he addressed to the others. “As you no doubt heard, my plan is to bring him here.”

  Freddy shook his head, but Gervase waited for his next words, knowing from experience there would be a good reason. The Ravens sat still, watching him, fascinated. He spoke to them, now. “We will come to your house one more time as the Lockes and we will comprehensively strip him so he needs his kill and the money he can expect to collect afterwards. He won’t be pleased, he’ll be taken off balance, which is what we want and it will give me great pleasure to see him lose it all. Then, when he asks for our address next time, give it to him and send word by Patchett,”

  “My footman?” Mr. Ravens asked, confused.

  “My footman,” Richard corrected him. “He merely works at your palazzo. That’s all you have to do. After that, disband the house and come back to me in a few days. Ask for my man, Carier. We may have something for you. More than that you don’t need to know.”

  The Ravens were forced to agree with our plan.

  Freddy leant forward in his chair. “Can’t we intercept them at the palazzo?”

  “It’s much more certain here,” Richard said. “I have no intention of killing unless it becomes absolutely necessary, but if it does I should like to know my immediate geography very well indeed.”

  “Do you have to bankrupt him?” Gervase queried. “This man is dangerous, we know that. Angry and desperate, he could be even more dangerous.”