A Lily Among Thorns(58)

“So here’s my bargain. You tell me what resources you and the Arms can offer me to bring in his people, and maybe I’ll tell the Foreign Office it’s best if Sacreval’s not arrested just yet.”

“Do you know who his people are?”

Elijah looked away in annoyance. “Actually, we only know Sir Nigel Anchridge. And Elbourn.”

Serena gave him a superior smile. “Well, you’ve missed Lady Brendan and Lord Pursleigh. And a couple of clerks at the War Office and so on. Remind me to give you their names later. They aren’t rich, so you won’t need much proof to arrest them.”

Elijah looked enlightened. “Of course! Brendan’s in the War Office and Lady Brendan is French, isn’t she? And Pursleigh is on the committee in charge of supplies for the army.”

“Indeed,” Serena said smugly.

“Well, if you’re so clever, do you know how he gets the messages to France?”

“No, do you?”

Elijah shook his head. “We know his messengers sail from somewhere in Cornwall, but—”

“Cornwall’s a big place,” Serena commiserated. “And then, watching the entire coast would be such a threat to the lords’ brandy, wouldn’t it?”

Elijah sighed. “Just tell me how he contacts his informants.”

Serena nodded. “Except for Sir Nigel, whom I expect he meets secretly some other way”—she shot Elijah a significant glance, and he nodded uncomfortably—“I think he ran it through the Arms’ catering. Sacreval was always in charge of catering because I—well, I can’t go to people’s homes. The Elbourns, the Brendans, and the Pursleighs were always some of our best catering customers, but when Sacreval left, they stopped coming. And they used to spend the longest time closeted with him in his office, supposedly going over the menus. And—well, a host of reasons, really.”

Elijah nodded. “But Sacreval isn’t in charge of catering anymore, is he?”

“Of course not.”

“All right, so we’ll have to wait and see what they do.”

“Mr. Elbourn,” Solomon said. “Isn’t he giving a ball for his wife’s birthday on Friday? Uncle Dewington was trying to convince me to go last time I saw him.”

Serena met Elijah’s eyes. They both turned to look at Solomon, whose face fell comically. “I really don’t want to go,” he said. “Can’t you just go and pretend to be me?”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Elijah said.

“Don’t be an arse,” Serena snapped at him.

“Look, all he has to do is snoop around Elbourn’s study, maybe pick a couple of locks—”

“I can’t pick a lock,” Solomon pointed out.

Elijah waved his hand. “I’ll show you, it’s not hard.”

Serena didn’t like the way he acted as if he had the whip-hand of Solomon. She didn’t like how he took Solomon for granted. She didn’t like a lot of things about him. “It took me months to learn,” she said evenly. One of the other girls had taught her at Mme Deveraux’s. Serena had spent hours at it until she could do it with her eyes closed. It was almost as good as embroidery for not thinking of anything else.

“Then you go.”

She spread her hands in exasperation. “I was a whore! Don’t you understand that? They don’t want me there! Do it yourself.”

“They don’t want me either,” Elijah said. “I didn’t go to Cambridge.”

“You didn’t—you didn’t go to Cambridge?” Serena sputtered, thinking of all the times her old acquaintances had cut her dead in the street, of the boys who had once merely ignored her at parties and now thought they could say anything they liked to her. “You can take your Foreign Office and shove them—”

“They aren’t going to be happy I’ve taken you into my confidence anyway,” Elijah said, looking almost glad to have picked a fight. “They don’t trust you. This is your chance to prove you’re on our side and that you can be useful. Besides, Sol and I will hardly be able to slip away without anyone noticing. If you and he wander off, no one will think twice.”

Solomon, who had opened his mouth to speak, blushed bright, bright red. But he cleared his throat and said, “Don’t talk to her that way. This isn’t her job. She’s doing you a favor.”