Death on Blackheath

by Anne Perry

  “Nothing will happen to her,” he said firmly. “I have no intention of arresting you. That’s not what I’ve come here for. I know you have been passing secret information to Ailsa, which she then passed on to Edom Talbot, who sold it to Sundstrom, incidentally the father of Ailsa’s first husband. Perhaps you don’t know that?”

  Kynaston stared at him, eyes hollow. He gave a minute shake of his head.

  “You are going to go on passing naval information to Sundstrom,” Pitt continued. “We will find a way for you to do it. Clearly he will know that Ailsa has died, but we will say that Edom Talbot killed her in a lovers’ quarrel. Seems she rejected him, and he couldn’t cope with it. He will be tried for murder and found guilty.”

  “But …” Kynaston stammered.

  Pitt smiled at him. “Sir John Ransom will give you the information we wish pass on, and you will be given a new contact, now that Ailsa is no longer available. It will come through Jack Radley. I know that he shall accept the position you offered him after all, because I have seen to it.”

  “But he’s totally loyal!” Kynaston protested. “He wouldn’t—”

  “Yes, he will, if instructed to,” Pitt told him. “I know him very well. He’s my brother-in-law, remember. He’ll make a very good job of sending all kinds of information to Sundstrom.”

  Kynaston blinked. “You mean misinformation?”

  “Precisely. You have done much damage. You will now do much good. That is how you will repay your debt.”

  Kynaston sat back in his chair, tears filling his eyes. “Thank you,” he said so hoarsely the words were hardly distinguishable. “Thank you, Pitt.”

  To Ileen Maisel

  BY ANNE PERRY

  FEATURING WILLIAM MONK

  The Face of a Stranger

  A Dangerous Mourning

  Defend and Betray

  A Sudden, Fearful Death

  The Sins of the Wolf

  Cain His Brother

  Weighed in the Balance

  The Silent Cry

  A Breach of Promise

  The Twisted Root

  Slaves of Obsession

  Funeral in Blue

  Death of a Stranger

  The Shifting Tide

  Dark Assassin

  Execution Dock

  Acceptable Loss

  A Sunless Sea

  Blind Justice

  FEATURING CHARLOTTE AND THOMAS PITT

  The Cater Street Hangman

  Callander Square

  Paragon Walk

  Resurrection Row

  Bluegate Fields

  Rutland Place

  Death in the Devil’s Acre

  Cardington Crescent

  Silence in Hanover Close

  Bethlehem Road

  Farriers’ Lane

  Hyde Park Headsman

  Traitors Gate

  Pentecost Alley

  Ashworth Hall

  Brunswick Gardens

  Bedford Square

  Half Moon Street

  The Whitechapel Conspiracy

  Southampton Row

  Seven Dials

  Long Spoon Lane

  Buckingham Palace Gardens

  Treason at Lisson Grove

  Dorchester Terrace

  Midnight at Marble Arch

  Death on Blackheath

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ANNE PERRY is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including Death on Blackheath and Midnight at Marble Arch, and the William Monk novels, including Blind Justice and A Sunless Sea. She is also the author of a series of five World War I novels, as well as eleven holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Hope, and a historical novel, The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Ottoman Empire. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.

  WWW.ANNEPERRY.CO.UK