square, around the corner from Warrilow’s lodgings. The home’s three stories rose to a series of dormer windows, again reminding me of Parisian residences.
The door was opened to our knock by a handsome, black-skinned woman with large dark eyes, whom I guessed to be in her thirties. She wore a trim gown of blue-and-white cotton stripe with a white lawn cap.
“Good evening, madam.” I greeted her with a bow. “I was told I’d find Major Eden here?”
“You must be Captain Lacey.” The woman exhaled in relief and opened the door wide. “Yes, please, come in.”
She spoke with the liquid accent of the West Indies, one I’d always found musical and soothing. At the moment, the woman showed much distress as she led us into a sitting room in the back of the house.
“He’s here,” she announced.
Eden rose from a chair near a cheerful fire. “Ah, thank God. We’re in a bit of a dilemma, Lacey. I see you found my note, Mr. Grenville. Excellent.”
“Grenville?” The woman looked Grenville up and down then pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, my heavens. You are Mr. Grenville. I’ve read all about you in the newspapers.”
Grenville, nonplussed, removed his hat and bowed. “At your service, madam.” Though Grenville had traveled as hard as I had from Gloucestershire, he was dressed impeccably in a well-fitted suit and a brilliant white cravat, unsoiled gloves on his hands.
“Forgive my manners,” Eden said. “I am too distracted for formal introductions.” He swept his hand around the room. “Captain Lacey, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Brewster. Mrs. Davies.”
Mrs. Davies curtsied. “Pleased you have come, gentlemen. Major Eden says he relies on you. I’ll hunt up some tea. Won’t be a tick.”
Charmingly blending her West Indies accent with London cant, she moved smoothly out of the room.
“Lovely woman,” Grenville said. “Who the devil is she?”
“Er, well …”
“I was right,” I said in triumph. “You did spirit her away across the seas.”
“Not exactly. I am ready to confess, Lacey. No, not to murder.” Eden laughed breathlessly. “But all my sins. The trouble is, I’m afraid I’m about to be arrested.”
“By Pomeroy?” I asked in alarm. “Does he want to pin Laybourne’s death on you as well?”
“Eh? No, not the Runners,” Eden said. “Customs and Excise.”
“Customs and Excise?” Grenville broke in. “Can they arrest people? For what?”
“Smuggling, of course,” Eden said.
“What were you smuggling?” I asked sternly. “Artwork?” Had he been in league with Fitzgerald all this time?
Eden started. “What? No, no.” He swept his hand to a shadowy corner next to the fireplace. “Him.”
I gazed to where he gestured and saw a pair of eyes about three feet from the floor staring out at me, glittering in the thin light.
“Don’t be afraid, Robbie,” Eden said. “These are my friends. Come and say good morning.”
A small boy peeled himself from the wall and hurried to Eden’s side. His clothes were new and fashionable—trousers, shirt, and coat—though like most boys, including Peter, he’d already managed to wrench them awry. He had black skin and the same round eyes as Mrs. Davies.
“Cor,” Brewster said. “You smuggled ’im?”
Mrs. Davies returned bearing a tray, which Grenville instantly took from her to set on the wide tea table.
“He did.” Mrs. Davies sent a glowing smile to Eden. “Just as he promised.”
Eden’s flush rose. I recalled now that he not only blushed when he lied but also when caught out doing a good deed.
“Perhaps we should have that story now, Eden,” I said sternly.
“Not much to it.” Eden waved us to chairs as Mrs. Davies sat and poured tea.
“Major Eden doesn’t like to talk about his kindness,” Mrs. Davies said serenely. “I worked on his plantation, you see.” She poured with grace and handed us delicate porcelain cups with a steady hand. “He bought the place with everything in it and everything on it from a gentleman who was selling up and going back to England. When Major Eden took over, he freed all of us. There was nowhere in Antigua for me to go, so he made arrangements and sent me here, legally, finding me respectable work so I could pay my way.”
I recalled Eden telling me that if he had rescued a woman from Antigua, he’d free her first and have her ride a ship as a legitimate passenger. He’d already done so, damn the man, admitting to his actions without betraying himself.
Mrs. Davies’s mouth turned down in sadness. “The only thing I could not do was bring my son.”
Robbie was about ten if I were any