on patrol.”
“Was that all he asked? Where your room was located?”
“Now that I think of it, I suppose he asked other questions as well.”
Ethan and the commissioner shared a look.
“What sort of questions?” Ethan asked.
“I didn’t think anything of it.” She turned to Paxton. “I swear to you, sir, I thought he was … he was only talking to me, because … because maybe he thought I was pretty. He’d prattle on about his fellow soldiers and the things he saw in Halifax before coming to Boston.” A tear slipped down her cheek. “I’ve never been anywhere, so I had no stories to tell him. So I thought his questions were intended to let me talk, so that it wouldn’t be him talking all the time.”
“What sort of questions, Louisa?”
She faced Ethan again, her tears flowing freely now. “He asked about … about the rooms. Whose they were and where. I’ve never been in any house as grand as this one, and so I told him a lot. I suppose I wanted him to be impressed.”
“Were there others?” Paxton asked, his voice flat. Ethan wondered if Louisa would still be employed here come nightfall. “Maybe one of the men from the rope yard?”
“No, sir,” she said, shaking her head so forcefully that tears flew from her cheeks.
Clearly she thought that she was reassuring her master. Ethan thought it more likely that her response only deepened Paxton’s anger. The commissioner would not want blame to fall on a British soldier.
“Is there anything else, Mister Kaille?” Paxton asked, sounding impatient for their interview to end.
The thrum of a conjuring kept Ethan from answering. It was a powerful spell, and it seemed to come from beneath Ethan’s feet. Reg emerged from the shadows beside him, glowing with the color of dried blood. Ethan wondered if the soldiers and journeymen would be fighting again when he left the mansion.
Paxton leaned forward, peering into Ethan’s face. “I said, is there anything else.”
Ethan shook himself. “Aye. Yes, sir.” To the young woman he said, “Can you describe James for me?”
She offered a watery smile. “He’s about your height,” she said, regarding Ethan with a critical eye. “He has red hair and brown eyes, and freckles across here.” She ran a finger over the bridge of her nose. “And he also has a red birthmark here.” She pointed to her temple.
“Thank you, Louisa. That’s very helpful.”
She looked at Paxton.
“You may go,” he said, his tone and expression severe.
She curtsied and left them, dabbing at her tears with the cuffs of her sleeves.
“Foolish girl,” Paxton said, when she was gone.
“She didn’t know she was doing wrong.”
“You needn’t defend her, Mister Kaille. She can keep her job.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I suppose then that you’ll go and speak with this man.”
Ethan hesitated. He didn’t like the idea of entering the barracks while he had so little control over his conjuring power. He liked even less the notion of neglecting his job because he was afraid.
“Well?”
“Yes, sir,” Ethan said. “I intend to speak with Private Fleming as soon as possible.”
“Good.”
Ethan reached for his coat and hat. “I should be on my way, then.”
“I should think,” Paxton said. But he didn’t lead Ethan back to the front entrance. “Did you learn anything yesterday? As I recall, you were going to visit some disreputable tavern.”
“Yes, sir. I was there. The proprietor has not yet seen any of your lost items.”
“So he says. Do you trust this man?”
“As much as I do anyone who associates with thieves.”
“That’s hardly reassuring, Mister Kaille.”
“It’s been but a few days since the theft. And if Louisa’s friend was responsible, he won’t have had much time to sell what he stole. If forced to guess, I would say that your watch and your wife’s jewels remain hidden away in Green’s Barracks even as we speak.”
“I’ll take your word for it, as I profess to have no knowledge of such things.”
The commissioner led Ethan back to the foyer, but as he reached for the door handle, they both heard raised voices from out on the street.
“You shouldn’t go out there yet,” Paxton said.
They walked back into an adjacent room, the windows of which looked out upon the rope yard.
Three soldiers and an equal number of journeymen faced each other at the entrance to Gray’s establishment. Once more, the regulars were armed with clubs, while the rope workers held woldring sticks. One of the journeymen said something, eliciting laughter from his companions. The soldiers leaped at them, and in seconds they were brawling