The Devil's Thief (9 page)

She
placed her reticule in her lap, and she could feel the heavily wrapped pearl
inside. With each passing minute that she waited, the bundle became heavier,
burning right through the layers of her skirts until she was again awash with
guilt.

She
felt a great deal of relief when, through the thin walls of the shop, she heard
the faint sound of the front door open and close. Within minutes, the
proprietor returned to the office.

“Sorry
to keep you waiting, Miss Harte,” he said smoothly, as if she were an esteemed
patron. “How may I help you today?” He sat down across from her, offering her
an encouraging smile. “I haven’t received any items from your father for some
time. I assumed with his recent marriage that he was retiring from his former
business.”

Julianna
gulped nervously. “Yes, well, this isn’t from my father,” she said firmly,
covering her uneasiness with bravado.

His
eyes narrowed slightly. “No?” His voice was still pleasant but his features looked
just a bit sharper, or so Julianna thought.

She
shook her head. “No. You see, he doesn’t know that I’ve . . . I’ve taken up the
family business.”

This
time his eyes sparked with amusement. “May you find it very lucrative,” he responded
with a smile. He pointed to her reticule. “Is your
inheritance
in there? May I see it?” He rubbed his hands together.
“Let us see if we shall do this business together.”

“Oh,
yes,” Julianna said, as she fumbled to get the pearl out. He watched avidly as
she began to unwrap it in her lap.

“Your
father always brought me very fine pieces,” he told her. “He has an excellent
eye.”

Julianna
smiled up at him. “Yes, he does, thank you.” She finished unwrapping the pearl
and held it up between her thumb and forefinger.

“Damn
me,” he muttered, as he tilted his head to look at the pearl. “It must be at
least forty grains. I’ve never seen the like.” He reached for it and Julianna
handed it over with a slight hesitation. He laughed. “Don’t worry, Miss Harte,
I shall return it. To do otherwise would not be advantageous for business.”

He
gently rolled it around on his palm,
then
whistled.
“It’s very nearly perfect.” He looked at her suspiciously. “Where did you get
it? There are very few of its kind.”

 
“It took a bit of work, I assure you. The
Stewart Pearl did not come cheaply.”

He
nearly dropped the pearl,
then
he thrust it back into
her hands. “The Stewart Pearl? You foolish girl.” He was angry, and stood to pace
his office in agitation. “I cannot sell it. It is useless to me. I’d wager that
the authorities are seeking it even now.” He shook his head. “What were you
thinking? A pearl as distinct as this one would be
recognized
immediately if I were to put it out in my shop. And I do not have private
customers who would buy it, either. They want to show off their treasures.”

Julianna’s
heart sank. It was just as her father had predicted. “But, are you sure? There
must be some collector who would be willing to pay for it. Please, you must buy
it from me.”

He
shook his head. “No, my dear, I cannot.” He waved at the pearl in her hand.
“Wrap it up, if you please. I have no wish for someone to walk in on us and
discover the Stewart Pearl in my office.” He walked over to peer out the door
into the deserted passageway, waving at her impatiently behind his back. “Hurry
now.”

Julianna
rewrapped the gleaming pearl, disappointment weighing her down. She put it back
in her reticule, and the receiver nodded in approval as he watched her tighten
the strings about the opening. “Very good.” He grabbed her by the upper arm and
gently but insistently pulled her from the chair and out into the passageway.
“You need to leave immediately. No one followed you here, did they?”

“No!”
Julianna said in alarm. “No one knows I stole the pearl.”

He
winced. “We do not refer to the retrieval of objects as ‘stealing,’ my girl.
That is just asking for trouble.” He opened the door to the shop just a crack,
holding his finger to his lips to indicate that she should be quiet. After a
moment he opened the door wider and ushered her through. He led her across the
now empty store so quickly that she needed to run to keep up. “You should talk
with your father about what is and isn’t appropriate in this line of work, Miss
Harte. Until you do, I do not think we shall be doing any business together.”

They’d
arrived at the shop door, he opened it, and with a smile and a slight bow he
pushed her out onto the street. The door closed in her face with a resounding
thud,
and she heard a lock turn as a
little sign reading
Closed
appeared
in the window.

“Well!”
Julianna had been rushed out of the shop so fast she was out of breath. The
sign in the window was a not-so-very-subtle message that she should think twice
before returning. She turned and held her hands to her flushed cheeks for a
moment while she considered her options. She was embarrassed over her naïveté,
and quite mortified that
she had been scolded by a criminal
.
She ignored the hypocrisy of her feelings. She was not a criminal. It wasn’t as
if she was planning on embarking on a life of crime. Truly, this was the first
and last time she would ever resort to it. And drat
it,
the man hadn’t even given her time to ask him for the name of another receiver.

“Miss?”
her maid, Tessa, inquired. Julianna had instructed the younger girl to wait
right outside the door, and now her eyes were wide with surprise. “Are you all
right?” She was looking behind Julianna at the closed door.

“I’m
fine, thank you,”
Julianna
told her, straightening her
shoulders. “Come on, then.” Tessa fell into step behind her as she walked
aimlessly for a quarter of an hour. Normally she was able to leave Tessa at
home when she was on business for the foundling home, but her nerves were still
on edge after last night, and at the last minute she’d grabbed the timid girl
and brought her. Now, of course, she was wishing she hadn’t, since her simple
plan had not worked out.

As
she walked she was trying to work up the courage to follow through on her contingency
plan. She hadn’t been privy
to
much of her father’s
business. He had always tried to shield her from his transactions. As a result,
she couldn’t think of any other respectable receivers. The logical solution was
to pay a visit to the most unsavory ones. She needed to be rid of the pearl as
soon as possible, so it was time to do business with one of the unscrupulous
receivers her father had told her about at breakfast. She stopped on the
pavement, vaguely aware that other pedestrians were walking around her. The
Black Rose in Tottenham Court Road. Yes, that was it. The Black Rose.

She
walked to the corner to hail a hackney. As the carriage pulled up, she looked
at the horse.
The Black Horse.
Yes, of course—it
was the Black Horse, not the Black Rose. She’d better get her wits about her if
she hoped to be successful today. If all went well, she would be able to sell
the infernal pearl that was burning a hole through her reticule and her
conscience. She gave her direction to the driver.

“Are
you sure, miss?” he asked skeptically. “The Black Horse, Tottenham Court?
That’s no place for a respectable lady.”

“Yes,
well, I have business to attend there,” she replied briskly, inwardly quaking.
“My maid will accompany me. Will you be able to wait for us?”

He
nodded cautiously. “For a bit, but not too long. Can you pay me for it?”

Julianna
reared back in shock. She’d never been asked that before in her life. No one
questioned the solvency of well-bred young ladies. “Of course I can pay,” she
said sharply. “Why would you ask?”

The
driver shrugged. “This business sounds dodgy, miss. I’ve got me own family to
think about, after all.”

Julianna
took a deep breath. “Of course, I’m sorry. Yes, I can pay your fare, never
fear. Will you take us? And wait outside?”

He
nodded. “Yes, miss.”

“Thank
you.” She climbed inside—Tessa a silent, frightened, disapproving
presence beside her. Now that she had embarked on this most dangerous scheme,
she was actually glad for the presence of a familiar face, even one as unhappy
as Tessa’s, at the moment. Julianna clasped her hands in her lap as the
carriage jerked and moved into traffic.

The
ride down Oxford Street was comforting and familiar. But when the carriage
turned on Tottenham Court Road, Julianna felt her stomach lurch. What did she
think she was doing? She was decidedly ill equipped to deal with a hardened
criminal, and the receiver no doubt fit that description. She’d heard tales of women
who had met with awful fates at places like the Black Horse. Her poor father
would never know what had become of her. She would become naught but a few
lines in the
Times
: “Miss Julianna
Harte, spinster, missing. Last seen in London, Bond Street,
Friday
,
June 6, 1817. Whereabouts unknown.” Poor Tessa would hardly get a mention.

She
wondered idly if Alasdair Sharp would care, and then remembered that he didn’t
know her real name. She felt a stab of regret—he wouldn’t even know to
mourn her.

On
the verge of ordering the driver to turn around, Julianna was surprised when he
rolled to a stop in front of a rather nondescript building on the main
thoroughfare. She’d imagined that a disreputable receiver’s shop would be on
the darkest and most sinister side street possible. This building was gilded in
afternoon sunlight, and a small group of people, men and women alike, idled
about the entryway.

The
driver climbed down and opened the door, holding up his hand for her. As she
emerged, the noise of the group tapered off. She looked around nervously, and
noticed that they were much younger than she had expected—boys and girls
rather than men and women. They were all dressed in shabby clothes that were
far too mature for them.

“What
ya doin’ ’ere, Miss Fine?” one of the girls called out. “Got lost on the way to
Almacks?” The rest of the youths laughed uproariously, as if she’d made the
greatest joke they’d ever heard.

Julianna
raised her chin in an effort to disguise its quivering. “I have business here.
This is the Black Horse, is it not?”

“ ‘Is it not?’ ”
the
same girl
mimicked, eliciting more laughter. She was clearly the ape leader among them.

“The
lady has business,” the driver called out sharply, as he helped Tessa from the
carriage, too. “Blackman won’t be happy to hear you’ve driven her away before
she could see him.”

That
quieted the group. A young man who had been leaning against one corner of the
building stepped forward. He was thin, but in a youthful, wiry way, without the
hungry look of the other street urchins. He looked oddly familiar to Julianna,
with his clever face and intelligent blue eyes. He tipped his battered hat as
he swatted the rude girl who’d mocked her. “Quiet down, Bess.” He bowed
slightly. “Miss,” he addressed her politely. “Ain’t you the lady what runs the
foundling ’ouse over in Ludgate?”

Julianna
blinked in surprise. “Why, yes,” she answered with a smile. “Have we met?”

He
shook his head. “Not proper like, ma’am. But you’ve got two of me chucks
there,” he replied with a grin.

“I
beg your pardon?” Julianna frowned in confusion.

“Chucks,
little ones,” he said. “Babes. Two of me babes.”

“Good
Lord,” she exclaimed. “You have two children?”

The
group erupted in laughter again. “ ’E’s got his self more than two,” the
mocking girl named Bess replied. “ ’E’s a good provider, too. Got a gang
of his own
to do the work. Blackman gives him a nice cut to
take care of his girls, he does.”

Tessa
stiffened next to her, whether in anger or shock Julianna wasn’t sure.

The
boy beamed with pride. “Yes, ma’am. I ain’t leaving
none
of me baggage wantin’, that’s for sure.” He tipped his hat again. “But the two
you got, well, their mum’s in Newgate prison, and I’m no good at taking care of
babes, you see.”

Julianna
was stunned speechless. Many of the children in the home had been left there on
the doorstep, abandoned, and
some had been sent by the
hospitals and prisons
. But she’d always imagined the children were
without parents of any kind. To find out that this young father had abandoned his
children was shocking. But the logical side of her understood his motives for
doing so. And he was right in thinking that they were likely better off where
they were.

“Ma’am?”
he asked cautiously, as she just stood there and gawked at him.

Julianna
shook her head. “I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “It’s just that I’ve never met the
parents of any of the children before.” She stuck out her hand to shake the
young man’s. Tessa made a disapproving sound, but Julianna ignored her. “How do
you do?”

Looking
startled, he wiped his hand on his pant leg before gingerly taking hers and
shaking it. “How do, ma’am,” he said formally. “Me
name’s
Wiley.” He stepped back quickly. “Been keeping an eye on the boys at your
house. You’re doing a fine job. Ma’am.” He tipped his hat again.