window. I hazarded a peek out of the window and blinked. There was a figure I recognized. Not Matthew Winthrop. Someone more familiar.
He turned then, and the name shot out of my mouth much louder than I’d intended. “Colm!”
* * *
I turned and rushed from the room and hurried back down the stairs, the major behind me. “Miss McDonnell…” he called to me as I sped ahead of him, but I paid him no mind.
Opening the front door of the house, I stepped outside to see Felix and Kimble standing near a car, alongside Colm.
“What the devil are you thinking?” I heard the major hiss at Kimble as I moved toward my cousin.
“Colm!” I cried again.
“Ah, Ellie, darlin’!” He swept me up into his arms, and I felt perilously close to tears. For a moment, I just enjoyed the feeling of his strong, safe embrace.
Then I stepped back. “What are you doing here?” I demanded.
“Felix found me,” he said, glancing at Felix, who stood smiling beside us. “Said you might be able to use some help.”
“You told me he was stationed in Torquay,” Felix said with a smile.
“But how…”
“Kimble’s a resourceful fellow,” Felix answered. “Had Colm located, recruited, and had commandeered a car within the space of an hour.”
I looked up at my cousin, trying to see if he looked any different than he had when last he’d been home on leave. I supposed I couldn’t expect to see much change in a month, and there wasn’t any that I could tell. He looked the same as always: solid and hearty and strong.
Nonetheless, I had a thousand questions I wanted to ask him. “How have you been, Colm? Is everything all right? Are you going to…”
My stream of inquiries was interrupted as the major strode up to us, his expression hard. He was wearing his commanding officer face again. Not the best of signs.
“Major, it’s my cousin, Colm McDonnell,” I said, unable to keep the cheeriness from my voice, despite his obvious displeasure. “Colm, this is Major Ramsey. He’s in charge of this operation.”
“Supposedly,” the major said, with a dark glance at Kimble.
Kimble shrugged. “You said to gather resources. As Lacey pointed out, he’s got a game leg, and I’m not as young as I once was. We figured we could use the big fellow. Never hurts to have a bit of extra brawn.”
I saw the major look Colm over. Colm was a big fellow, all right. They were about the same height, but, despite the major’s well-built frame, Colm was broader and bulkier. “A right bruiser,” he’d been called often enough. Indeed, I’d yet to see him lose a fight, and more than one man had backed down from one at the sight of him.
“Major,” he said, stretching out a hand.
The major shook it. “McDonnell.”
I wondered what Felix had told Colm about the major, for there was the same look in my cousin’s eyes that there had always been when I’d gone out for ice cream with a Hendon boy. The look that said he’d be keeping an eye on things.
“Did you think driving a car up here might call attention?” the major asked, turning his anger back onto Kimble.
Kimble, as ever, was unmoved.
“I sent a wire ahead and one of my men was waiting for Winthrop at the train station. They’ve followed him to a hotel, and he hasn’t left his room since he arrived. I didn’t suppose he’d arrive here before nightfall.”
It was logical enough, but I could tell that Major Ramsey wasn’t exactly pleased.
I remembered then what I’d discovered in the bedroom at the end of the hall. “Someone’s been staying here,” I said. “There’s an unmade bed and clothes in the wardrobe in the last bedroom upstairs.”
“Then whoever’s been staying here may return soon,” the major said. He paused for a moment and seemed to consider. Then, as usual, he began with the orders.
“Kimble, you and Lacey go back to the hotel and keep an eye on Winthrop. When he leaves, follow him back, but from a distance. Don’t let him see you. Mr. McDonnell and I should be able to detain him before he makes contact with the agent and make the replacement of the documents. When you and Lacey get to the cottage, he can complete the forgery.”
“I thought you wanted to make the switch undetected,” I said. “You won’t be able to do that if you capture Winthrop.”
The major shook his head. “There’s little chance of doing it surreptitiously now. But, if