take a great deal more than a harsh word to shatter you, Miss McDonnell.”
“I shall take that as a compliment.”
“It was meant as one.”
He threw me a bit off guard with that statement, for I hadn’t expected him to so openly say something nice about me.
“Thank you,” I said at last. “It’s the way I was brought up, I suppose. There wasn’t much of an opportunity to be dainty or fragile. Which means you can tell me if I’m getting the sack. You needn’t find a diplomatic way to say it.”
“What I’m trying to say, Miss McDonnell, is that I still need your help.”
I stared at him. I hadn’t been expecting this. Between the safecracking bit being over and, perhaps, with the help of Felix’s overnight visit, I’d assumed they had decided that I could no longer be of use to them.
“You’ve proven that you have what is necessary to do this sort of work,” he said when I failed to answer. “Your background may be in safecracking, but that’s a job that requires more than skill … it takes nerve, especially under pressure. Anyone who can think like that, who has the patience and the resolve to accomplish a task under time constraints, can no doubt be an asset in other ways.”
I felt a growing suspicion. It seemed to me that he was buttering me up, which was definitely a bit alarming.
“In what sort of other ways?” I asked.
He paused. “I need you to go on pretending to be my … sweetheart.”
“Didn’t get quite enough on the sofa last night, Major?” I asked, before I could think better of it. As soon as I said the words, I flushed. It was the sort of joking thing I would have said to Felix, but Major Ramsey was definitely not Felix.
All the same, he didn’t appear to be offended. His eyes flickered ever so briefly to my lips, and I felt a flutter in the pit of my stomach.
“I trust there will be no further incidents where such a thing will be necessary,” he said.
“What’s the plan, then?”
There was another impatient tapping on the door. The major rose from his chair, an irritated expression on his face, before the door swung open.
A man entered, Oscar Davies hot on his trail.
“Kimble, what are you doing?” Major Ramsey asked.
“I’m sorry, sir,” Oscar cut in. “I tried to stop him, but…”
“It’s an urgent matter, Ramsey. Or I wouldn’t have interrupted.”
The intruder and I turned to get a good look at each other then, and I realized at once he was the grim-faced inspector-like fellow who had interrogated me the night Uncle Mick and I had been caught housebreaking.
He gave me a slight nod. “Miss McDonnell.”
I returned the nod with a cool one of my own. I had forgiven Major Ramsey for his behavior the night of my arrest, but this Kimble fellow was going to have to earn my approval on his own.
“You may go, Davies,” Major Ramsey said coldly.
“Yes, sir,” Oscar replied, closing the door behind him.
Without waiting for an invitation, Mr. Kimble came and took the other seat before the major’s desk. “Something’s come up, and I need a word with you. It’s urgent.”
“So you’ve mentioned,” the major said, returning to his seat behind the desk.
“Shall I go?” I asked.
“No,” said Major Ramsey at the same moment Mr. Kimble said, “Yes.”
Major Ramsey looked at me. “Kimble here is another of our freelancers, though we acquired him from the opposite side of the law.”
“A detective inspector,” I said immediately.
“Yes,” the major said. “Formerly of Scotland Yard. Dismissed from their ranks for ‘unprofessional behavior,’ which works nicely for us. How did you know?”
“He’s got that copper air,” I said, wondering, in spite of myself, what kind of behavior had gotten the man kicked out of the Yard.
“This is rather sensitive information, Ramsey,” Kimble said, ignoring me completely. “Are you sure…”
“What is it?” Major Ramsey said impatiently.
“It’s the bloke I’ve been watching,” Kimble said. “He’s gone.”
I happened to be looking at the major as Kimble said these final words, and I had the interesting experience of watching his eyes go from twilight blue to cold steel gray in the space of a second.
“What do you mean he’s gone?” he asked in a tone cold enough to freeze blood in the veins.
I had to give Kimble credit for not appearing much affected by the major’s change of manner. “He left his house, bag in hand, and made for the station.”
“Then you’ve lost him.”
“Oh, as to that,”