Gervase nodded. “So not them. What about the girl?”

“Alia?” Del paused, then allowed, “Normally I would count her as a likely prospect, but she’s an orphan, and her only living relatives are Mustaf and Amaya. And Amaya keeps a very close eye on her-she’s very protective, worse than any mother hen. It’s part of their culture to keep girls close, almost cloistered.”

“So no obvious chance there,” Richard concluded. “What of Deliah’s staff? Do you know much about them?”

Del opened his mouth to reply just as the double doors to the library were sent swinging wide.

Honoria stood in the doorway, eyes narrowing as she surveyed the gathering. “So this is where you’re all hiding.”

The other ladies ranged at her back.

Devil smiled. “Just in time. Come and join us. Developments have occurred, we have questions, and would value your sage counsel.”

Honoria humphed, bent a steely, disapproving look on her spouse, but consented to lead the ladies in.

“We weren’t hiding,” Demon said, shifting his legs so Flick could sit on the sofa beside him.

Flick poked his shoulder. “Of course not. You’d just forgotten your appointment to entertain your children in the nursery. But never mind. You can fill in the time after their afternoon naps.”

The fond papas exchanged glances, but didn’t dare moan.

“Now.” Honoria had settled in an armchair by Devil’s desk. She fixed her imperious gaze on Del. “What are these developments?”

Gabriel caught Del’s gaze. “Allow me.” At Del’s nod, Gabriel swiftly and succinctly summarized the recent happenings.

The ladies were predictably horrified, none more so than Deliah.

She stared all but openmouthed at Del. “You left it in a drawer?”

He shrugged. “It seemed safe enough.”

Before Deliah could respond, Tony smoothly cut in. “We’ve been considering whether any of the staff might have been subverted.”

Del leapt in to explain the Black Cobra’s usual tactics. “Could any of your staff have been pressured like that?”

“They would have to have been approached either at Southampton, or after we left there,” Tony said. “Before then, the Black Cobra couldn’t have known that you might be traveling with Del.”

Deliah was already frowning. “Bess is English and has been with me most of my life. She’s very patriotic, too. I don’t think there’s any likelihood the Black Cobra could persuade her to anything-she’d be much more likely to report any approach to me, or Del, or you two.” With a nod she indicated Tony and Gervase. “As for the others, Kumulay has been with me since I landed in Jamaica-my uncle recommended him as my bodyguard.” For the benefit of the others, she explained, “My uncle is the Chief Magistrate of Jamaica. He’d be unlikely to recommend anyone whose integrity wasn’t beyond question.”

She looked at Del, still standing before the hearth. “Like Kumulay, although they’ve only been on my payroll for the last few years, Janay and Matara were in my uncle’s household for over a decade. They left India long ago and have no family left there.”

“Ferrar created the Black Cobra sometime after he landed in India. The cult first surfaced in ’19.” Del shook his head. “Hard to see how there could be any connection.”

“No. I’m sure there’s not.” Deliah forced herself to consider all the possibilities, no matter how far-fetched. The scroll-holder was too important, not just to Del but to England, too. “The girls-Essa and Muna, Janay and Matara’s daughters-would be easy to threaten, but I’ve seen them both over the last days, and they’ve been their usual, giggling, bright-eyed selves.” She met Del’s gaze, then glanced at Tony and Gervase. “You’ve seen them-you know what they’re like. If there’s anything the least bit wrong in their lives, no matter how inconsequential, it instantly shows in their faces, in their demeanors. Of everyone here, they’d be the last two to be able to carry out any secret or subversive mission.”

She looked at Del. “So in answer to your question, no, I don’t think any of my people are involved.”

Del started to nod, then stopped. “What about the boy?”

“Sangay? What about him?”

Del frowned. “What’s his background? Where does he come from? What do you know of him?”

Deliah frowned back. “I don’t know where he comes from-I know nothing about him. He’s your staff, not mine.”

Del froze. “He’s not mine.” When Deliah blinked, he added, “I-and my people-thought he was yours.”

She stared at him. “My people thought the reverse.”

“Aha!” Devil rose and, grim-faced, crossed to the bellpull. “It sounds like we’ve identified our thief.”

Webster answered the summons remarkably quickly.

“Tell Sligo and Cobby to report here,” Devil said.

“And Mustaf, too.” Del glanced at Devil. “He might know more.”

“And please ask Janay and Kumulay to come up, too,” Deliah added. She met Del’s gaze. “They’ve all been talking to him.”

Webster bowed and departed on his mission.

“When did you first notice the boy?” Gyles asked.

Del and Deliah looked at each other.

“He was with us in London,” Deliah said.

Del nodded. “I can’t recall seeing him before then, but he might have joined us at Southampton.”

“That would make more sense,” Deliah pointed out. “Our respective households knew each other by the time we reached London. But we left Southampton in a rush-if he was suddenly among them then, they would have assumed, as they did, that he belonged to the other household.”

Devil raised his brows. “Quick thinking on his part, if that was so.”

A tap on the door heralded those summoned. Sligo led the others in. “Y’r Graces.” He bowed, and the others followed suit.

“Colonel Delborough has a few questions about the boy, Sangay.” Devil arched a brow at Del.

Briefly, concisely, Del explained the situation-the missing scroll-holder, and the recent realization that Sangay did not belong to either his or Deliah’s household.

“He doesn’t?” Cobby gave voice to the astonishment lighting his, Mustaf’s, Janay’s, and Kumulay’s faces.

Sligo growled, “The little beggar.”

“Wait before you judge, Sligo,” Del recommended. “The boy’s likely to be a victim in all this.” He glanced at Cobby and Mustaf. “You two know how the Black Cobra operates. Any thoughts?”

After a moment, Mustaf volunteered, “I did think he-Sangay-seemed…” He waggled a hand, pulled a face. “Oddly quiet for a boy of his years, his background.”

Kumulay nodded. “I originally thought he must have been an orphan-that he’d lost his family. He seemed…re served, you would say, and quietly sad. But then I heard him praying for his maataa.” He glanced around the company. “His mother.”

Del and Deliah exchanged a glance.

“Could the Black Cobra be holding Sangay’s mother as a hostage against him stealing the scroll-holder?” she asked.

Del frowned. “I can’t see how Ferrar might have arranged that-to be already holding her-not unless, foreseeing a need he couldn’t possibly have foreseen, he brought Sangay with him from India.” He looked inquiringly at Cobby.

Cobby shook his head. “No Indian boy on the ship Ferrar and Larkins arrived on. Not in any capacity.”

“So Ferrar-or more likely Larkins-must have picked him up in Southampton, or even in London. Plenty of East Indiamen in the Pool of London on any given day.” Del’s face hardened. “And just because the Black Cobra recruited Sangay here in England doesn’t mean that Sangay doesn’t believe his mother is in dire and imminent peril back in India.”

Cobby was nodding, his expression grim. “Young, impressionable, and well out of his league-not even in his own country. Sangay’d be an easy target for anyone who knew what levers to pull.”

“Indeed. And the Black Cobra certainly knows.” Del looked at Mustaf. “Where is Sangay?”

“He was in the servants’ hall when we left to come here.”

“I’ll go and bring him up,” Cobby said.

Del nodded. He dismissed the others with a word of thanks, and they all trooped out on Cobby’s heels.

A murmur of light voices filled the silence as the ladies asked questions, seeking clarification on the Black Cobra’s heinous tactics. Minutes passed while they listened, then, shocked, exclaimed.

Del inwardly grimaced, and paced before the hearth.

After a while, he frowned, halted, and looked at Devil. Caught his eye. “Perhaps-”

A tap on the door interrupted his suggestion that they ring to find out what was going on. Cobby had been far too long.

At Devil’s “Come!” the door opened. Sligo and Cobby walked heavily in. Sligo met Del’s gaze, then Devil’s, and nodded grimly. “You’ve guessed it. He’s gone.”

“Where?” Devil asked.

“That’s just it.” Cobby looked at Del. “We don’t think he’s left the house.”

Twelve

Verbal pandemonium ensued.

Ignoring all the questions and exclamations, suppositions and speculations, Devil dispatched Vane and Demon, along with Cobby and Sligo, to the tower.

Vane and Demon returned ten minutes later, confirming that the blanket of snow surrounding the house remained unbroken.

“No one’s come in, and no one’s left.” Vane dropped back into his chair. “Cobby and Sligo have gone down to do a quick reconnoiter of the nether regions.”

The pair of erstwhile batmen returned fifteen minutes later to report. By then, the rest of them had beaten all the suppositions to death and been left with a large handful of unanswered, and as yet unanswerable, questions.

“Have to say it’s dreadful outside,” Sligo said. “Not fit for man nor beast. Freeze your…toes off, it would, and Sangay wouldn’t be used to cold like that, would he? Any roads, the scullery maids said they’ve found him looking out the scullery window on and off since yesterday morning. That window looks onto the rear yard, and the snow is undisturbed out that way.”