they recommend.”
He rose from his seat, setting his cup and saucer on the corner of his desk. “You may as well go home, Miss McDonnell.”
“What about my uncle?”
He seemed to consider this. At last, he nodded. “You’ve fulfilled your part of the bargain. I’ll have your uncle released in the morning.”
“Then … that’s it?” I asked, trying not to let the disappointment creep into my voice.
“As far as I can see, yes. You’re free to go.”
For some reason, I didn’t like the easy way he dismissed me from all of this. I knew perfectly well I was nothing more to him than a tool in this plan, but I was a useful tool nonetheless. Not something to be cast aside.
“I’m in it this far,” I said before I could think better of it. “Isn’t there something else I can do to help?”
He looked down at me. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and it was a moment before he spoke. “It depends, I suppose, on where we go from here.”
“If there’s anything I can do, I’d like to see this through.” It wasn’t until I said the words that I realized how true they were. I wanted to be a part of this, not because I had to, but because, for the first time in a long time, I felt as though I was doing something good.
He studied me for just a moment. Then he moved to the door and pulled it open. “It’s been a long night. Go home and rest. I’ll be in touch.”
I rose from my chair. It wasn’t exactly promising, but I knew there was no use arguing. He was right; it had been a long night. And strong tea or no, I could do with a rest.
I paused as I reached the door, wondering what I should say. Nothing clever came to mind. “Good night, Major Ramsey,” I said.
“Good night, Miss McDonnell.”
CHAPTER NINE
True to Major Ramsey’s word, Uncle Mick was home by breakfast.
I was at the house when he arrived, having just finished eating a bowl of Nacy’s delicious porridge with eggs and bacon. I had been too shaken up by the night’s events to sleep much after getting home in the early hours of the morning, and now, as Nacy cleared away the dishes, I sat at the table lost in thought.
The matter of the murder and the missing documents was still very much on my mind. I didn’t know why I should be so concerned about all of it. It wasn’t my problem to solve, after all. But there was a strange, unsettled feeling that hung over me anyway. A traitor had killed a man in cold blood and was giving our secrets to the enemy, and it made me angry.
The major had been so tight-lipped about it all, but surely there was a way around his cageyness. Perhaps an avenue or two I could pursue on my own.
“Penny for your thoughts, lass.”
I looked up at the sound of a voice in the doorway.
“Uncle Mick!” I jumped from my chair and hurried to him, embracing him tightly. Though I prided myself on being a capable and independent woman, there was no denying that the sight of him was a weight lifted off my shoulders.
Releasing him at last, I stepped back to look him over, just as I had done to Felix when he had appeared at my door. Uncle Mick was a bit bedraggled and in need of a shave but none the worse for wear, all told. It had only been a few days, of course, though it seemed much longer.
“I’m so glad you’re home,” I said.
“You oughtn’t fret so, Ellie girl,” he said, patting my head, an affectionate gesture that had carried over from my childhood. “It’s not as though I’d have languished away there. It was almost like a fancy hotel, lass! Had a gourmet chef, I’d expect, for the food was excellent—though not up to Nacy’s standards, of course—and a bed so soft it might as well have been made of clouds.”
I smiled. How like him to find the silver lining. “That all sounds rather luxurious,” I said, “but it might have ended in a serious charge. We’re lucky things worked out as they did.”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t worried. It’ll take more than something like that to keep your old Uncle Mick down. Is that breakfast I smell?”
That was also very like Uncle Mick. He never took anything as seriously as he ought. It was a charming trait