Huckvale grinned hopefully. ‘You have other work for me?’
‘I will have in due course. Meanwhile, go back to helping Gully.’
‘Anything is better than what I have been doing. Where’s Paul?’
‘He’s doing exactly what he did before,’ said Peter, ‘and that’s trying to find those men by trawling through Irish communities. Since they’re being led by Dermot Fallon, it’s more than likely that they’ll find refuge with some of his countrymen so Paul will have an opportunity to try out his Irish accent again.’
‘It worked,’ said Huckvale. ‘That’s how he tracked Fallon down the first time. You had to rely on evidence given by Nason to get you to that tenement behind Orchard Street but Paul sniffed his way there first.’
‘He has a knack of doing things like that, Jem. While he’s taking one route, I’ll be exploring others because I think we’re dealing with a shrewd man in Dermot Fallon. He might actually avoid Irish communities now,’ argued Peter, ‘because he fears that those are the very places that the Runners will start to look. I fancy that he’ll take the two Americans somewhere else altogether.’
‘How will you find them, Peter?’
‘As ever, it will be by a combination of luck and instinct.’
‘What about the search for that missing woman? Has that been forgotten?’
‘On the contrary,’ said Peter. ‘While you were away, I made some progress on that front. At least I now have some understanding of why she was abducted.’
‘And why was that?’
Peter was frugal with the details. Having assured David Beyton that he would act with discretion, he kept the man’s name and position out of the account he gave to Huckvale. He merely told him that Anne Horner was being held by people who were demanding a ransom for her release.
Huckvale was amazed. ‘But the woman is only a cleaner.’
‘She fulfils a vital function, Jem.’
‘I thought ransoms were only demanded for people of importance.’
‘Mrs Horner is clearly of great importance to someone.’
‘Will the money be paid?’
‘It would appear so,’ said Peter, enigmatically.
The sound of gunfire from above made Huckvale look upwards.
‘Gully is giving instruction to someone,’ he said. ‘He’s going to be angry with me because I didn’t have time to whiten the target.’
‘Tell him that Paul sent you off on an errand.’
‘I will. Oh, I meant to tell you that, on my way back here, I came past Paul’s house and that man outside has gone.’
Peter laughed. ‘I must have frightened him when I crept up behind him. He thought I was Paul and I didn’t disillusion him.’
‘That’s two of us who’ve been taken off a tedious duty. You have to give the fellow some credit, though,’ said Huckvale. ‘When you get pushed into the Thames for watching someone’s house, you’ve got a good reason to stay well away from it.’
Chevy Ruddock was delighted by the message to report to The Peacock. Any break in routine was welcome and he hoped he’d be assigned to other duties. When he got to the inn, however, he was kept waiting a long time because Micah Yeomans was deep in conversation with Alfred Hale and clearly didn’t wish to be disturbed. Ruddock hovered in their vicinity. When he was finally noticed, he came in for a rebuke.
‘I expected you earlier,’ complained Yeomans.
‘I’ve been here all of twenty minutes.’
‘Why didn’t you say so?’
‘You and Mr Hale seemed to be busy.’
‘You should have made your presence felt, man.’
‘What do you have to report?’ asked Hale.
‘Very little,’ replied Ruddock. ‘I spent hours watching the house in the certain knowledge that Paul Skillen was inside it then he turned up behind me.’
‘How do you know it was him?’
‘Who else could it have been, Mr Hale?’
‘It might have been his brother, Peter.’
‘But he gave me the impression that he was Paul Skillen.’
‘Then I’ll wager that he was playing tricks on you,’ said Yeomans, irritably. ‘You’re being taken off that particular duty, Ruddock.’
‘Thank you, sir.’
‘It hasn’t exactly been a task at which you’ve shone, has it? The fact is that Paul Skillen somehow got to that tenement before we raided it. If you’d shadowed him properly, you could have followed him there then warned us.’
‘You told me that I was needed for the raid.’
‘Why didn’t you use your initiative?’ scolded Hale.