After several seconds’ absolute silence, Rose commenced enumerating the card games she’d intended to offer.
Between them, Drake, Louisa, Toby, and Christopher drew from Rose every last logistical detail of her planned card parties, down to the arrangement of the tables; it was plain her organization for the three evenings was already well advanced. Ellen contributed by questioning how the household managed the events, eliciting the information that in order to cope with the anticipated larger number of guests, Rose had intended recruiting extra footmen and dealers from certain gambling houses in London.
“But I haven’t sent them the signed agreements.” She glanced at Drake. “I would have signed them first thing this morning and sent the papers off. It’s too late, now, to get extra staff for Tuesday.”
Drake smiled. “Not too late for us—we’ll have the extra staff, and I assure you they’ll be very well-trained.”
Ellen glanced at Drake and wondered from where he planned to source such people, although she didn’t doubt he could and would.
Once they’d extracted all the relevant information, Drake returned to his earlier point. “You said that once you’d exchanged all the counterfeit notes in this upcoming major run, you would be contacted regarding how to pass on the genuine notes. How was your contact to know when you’d completed exchanging such a large number of notes?”
Rose shook her head. “I don’t know.” After a moment, she shrugged. “Perhaps unbeknown to me, one of the young men who attends reports to someone.”
Christopher suspected that was the most likely explanation.
Drake appeared to agree. He nodded and went on, “So, let’s say after the third card party, when it might be thought that you’ll have passed off the majority of notes in this latest shipment, your expectation is that you’ll receive a note telling you to bring the money to some particular spot.”
When he paused and arched his brows, Rose dipped her head in agreement.
Drake smiled faintly, but the gesture held no humor. “One trait we’ve established in those behind this scheme is unrelenting attention to every detail. You can’t expect us to believe that a simple note from anyone at all would be enough to have you deliver what will amount to a small fortune in cash.”
Rose stared at Drake as if wondering, again, just how much he knew. Eventually, she opted for caution once more and grudgingly revealed, “Millais gave me a seal—it’s actually half a seal, with a design based on a playing card. The note I receive will bear the stamp of the other half of the seal, which should match up with my half perfectly to create the complete design—that’s how I’ll know the message comes from my contact, whoever that proves to be.”
“Where is this seal?” Drake asked.
“I keep it in my jewel case.” After a moment, she added, “Millais insisted that I made no effort to befriend the person who delivered the notes to me and that I took steps to conceal my identity from him. I’d been told that, on seeing the signal in the graveyard for the first time, I was to leave a message in the same place, nominating a time and place to meet, but that I should not seek to identify or otherwise meet and speak with whoever turned up with the notes. As it happened, I recognized Hardcastle when he arrived for our first midnight tryst, but I adhered to Millais’s orders. I doubt Hardcastle recognized me or realized where I lived.” She paused, then looked up and met Drake’s eyes. “However, while I wasn’t informed that it would be Hardcastle who brought me the notes, whoever contacts me over passing on the notes will have to know who I am.” Her lips quirked in self-deprecation. “So they’ll know my identity, but I don’t—and presumably never will—know theirs.”
Drake nodded. “Those organizing the scheme have been extremely thorough in concealing their identities. Consequently, we’re having to follow the trail of the notes back to the originator of the scheme. Our need for your cooperation is the sole reason I’ve offered you a chance to secure leniency with respect to your sentence. I would suggest that, through the next week, you hold that point uppermost in your mind.”
Her brows rose. “I take it Hardcastle was swayed by your arguments?”
“I offered him the same deal I’ve placed before you.” Drake held her gaze. “He took it.”
Drake waited for a second more, then nodded to Christopher, who rose and went to the door to summon Radley and the footmen.
Rose glanced over her shoulder as the men approached, then stood and looked back at her interrogators, sitting comfortably before her—a calculated reflection of her fall in status.
“Think carefully,” Drake advised. “We’ll speak with you again shortly.”
With an almost haughty nod and a glance that included Toby, Louisa, Ellen, and Christopher as he reclaimed his armchair, Rose turned and, with Radley leading the way and the footmen flanking her, walked out of the room.
After Pendleby shut the door, Louisa said, “She’s definitely thinking of self-preservation. As long as she can’t escape us, she’ll cooperate.”
“So I think,” Drake said.
The door opened again to admit Pendleby, who announced that a cold collation was awaiting their attention in the dining room.
They repaired to the dining table and settled to eat in unusual silence as they each reviewed what they’d learned from their captive.
At the end of the meal, Drake pushed aside his plate, leaned back in his chair, and looked around the table. “While the secrecy the mastermind has instituted between his pawns makes following the trail to him difficult, such secrecy is also a weakness in that one rarely feels loyal to an anonymous being. That’s allowed us to gain the necessary cooperation from his pawns thus far.”
The other four nodded, and Drake went on, “In addition to what we need to do to lure him into the open, we should also turn our minds to what evidence we’ll require to bring him to justice.”
Ellen bent a questioning look on Drake. “You speak of the mastermind as one man—as the tonnish gentleman who hired the counterfeiter. Are you and your people certain it’s only one man? Rose doesn’t know—all she knows is that there’s someone who will fetch the notes from her. There’s nothing to say that person will be the mastermind, nor that the mastermind won’t prove to be a group of people.”
Drake tipped his head her way. “A valid point, but from what the counterfeiter told us and also from the discussions among the European crime families to which we’re privy, we’re fairly certain there is only one man at the head of the scheme—the gentleman who contacted the European crime lords and subsequently hired the counterfeiter. If there’s anyone who pays or directs that gentleman, we haven’t caught even a whiff of their existence.”
Christopher nodded. “So to the best of our knowledge, we’re after one man. Will he be the person who comes to fetch the notes from Rose?”
Drake grimaced. “That would be nice, but I’m not counting on it.” He paused, then, his voice hardening, said, “However, we can’t disregard the possibility.”
“Surely,” Toby said, “putting more steps—more people—between him and the real notes doesn’t fit his cautious style. More steps, more people—more opportunities for things to go wrong.”