I felt a ripple of guilt. For all I know, the footman has already found him.
‘Were you listening to me?’ says Millicent, annoyed. ‘I said Donald Davies took off in an automobile. They’re cracked that family, every one of them, and that’s an official medical opinion.’
‘You’ve been talking to Dickie,’ I say absently, still thinking about Davies.
‘Been talked at more like,’ she scoffs. ‘Thirty minutes I spent trying to keep my eyes off that moustache. I’m surprised sound can penetrate it.’
That makes me laugh.
‘Do you actually like anybody at Blackheath, Mother?’
‘Not that I recall, but it’s envy I suspect. Society’s a dance, darling, and I’m too old to take part. Speaking of dancing, here comes the organ grinder himself.’
I follow her gaze to see Daniel approaching us from the opposite direction. Despite the cold, he’s dressed in a cricket sweater and linen trousers, the same outfit he’ll be wearing when he encounters Bell in the entrance hall for the first time. I check my watch, that meeting can’t be far off.
‘Mr Coleridge,’ calls out Millicent with forced bonhomie.
‘Mrs Derby,’ he says, drawing alongside us. ‘Broken any hearts this morning?’
‘They don’t even quiver these days, Mr Coleridge, more’s the pity.’ There’s something cautious in her tone, as if she’s crossing a bridge she feels certain will break. ‘What disreputable business brings you out on such a terrible morning?’
‘I’ve a favour to ask your son, and I assure you, it’s entirely above board.’
‘Well, that’s disappointing.’
‘For you and me both.’ He looks at me for the first time. ‘A minute, Derby?’
We step aside, Millicent doing her best to appear uninterested, while shooting us speculative glances from above her scarf.
‘What’s wrong?’ I ask.
‘I’m going after the footman,’ he says, that handsome face of his caught somewhere between fear and excitement.
‘How?’ I say, immediately taken with the idea.
‘We know he’s going to be in the dining hall tormenting Ravencourt around one,’ he says. ‘I propose catching hold of the dog there.’
Recalling those ghostly steps and that evil laughter is enough to raise goose bumps on my neck, and the thought of finally laying hands on the devil sets fire to my veins. The ferocity of the feeling isn’t far off what Derby felt in the forest, when we were chasing the maid, and it immediately puts me on my guard. I can’t give this host an inch.
‘What’s your scheme?’ I say, tempering my enthusiasm. ‘I was in that room alone, I couldn’t even guess at where he was hiding.’
‘Nor could I, until I got talking to an old friend of the Hardcastles at dinner last night,’ he says, drawing me a little further away from Millicent, who’s managed to sidle near the edge of our conversation. ‘Turns out there’s a warren of priest tunnels beneath the floorboards. That’s where the footman was hiding, and that’s where we’ll put an end to him.’
‘How?’
‘My new friend tells me there are entrances in the library, drawing room and gallery. I suggest we each watch an entrance and grab him when he comes out.’
‘Sounds ideal,’ I say, struggling to contain Derby’s rising excitement. ‘I’ll take the library, you take the drawing room. Who’s in the gallery?’
‘Ask Anna,’ he says, ‘but none of us is strong enough to tackle the footman alone. Why don’t you two guard the library, and I’ll round up some of our other hosts to help me with the drawing room and gallery?’
‘Magnificent,’ I say, beaming.
If I didn’t have a hand on Derby’s lead, he’d already be running towards the tunnels with a lantern and a kitchen knife.
‘Good,’ he says, lavishing a smile of such affection upon me it’s impossible to imagine how we could ever fail. ‘Take your position a few minutes before one. With any luck, this will all be over by dinner.’
He turns to depart, but I catch his arm.
‘Did you tell Anna you’d find a way for both of us to escape if she helped us?’ I ask.
He gazes at me steadily, and I quickly withdraw my hand.
‘Yes,’ he says.
‘It’s a lie, isn’t it?’ I say. ‘Only one of us can escape Blackheath.’
‘Let’s call it a potential lie, shall we? I’ve not given up hope of fulfilling our end of the bargain.’
‘You’re my last host, how much hope do you have?’
‘Not a great deal,’ he says, his expression softening. ‘I know you’re fond of her. Believe me, I haven’t forgotten how that felt, but we need her on our side. We won’t escape this house if we have to spend the day looking over our shoulder for both the footman and Anna.’
‘I have to tell her the truth,’ I say, aghast at his callous disregard of my friend.
He stiffens.
‘Do that and you make an enemy of her,’ he hisses, looking around to make sure we’re not being overheard. ‘At which point, any hope of genuinely helping her goes up in smoke.’
Puffing out his cheeks, he ruffles his hair and smiles at me, agitation leaking out of him like air from a punctured balloon.
‘Do what you think is right,’ he says. ‘But at least wait until we’ve caught the footman.’ He checks his watch. ‘Three more hours, that’s all I’m asking.’
Our eyes meet, mine doubtful and his appealing. I can’t help but submit.
‘Very well,’ I say.
‘You won’t regret it,’ he says.
Squeezing my shoulder, he waves cheerily at Millicent, before striding back towards Blackheath, a man possessed by purpose.
I turn to find Millicent contemplating me through pursed lips.
‘You have some rotten friends,’ she says.
‘I’m a rotten sort of chap,’ I respond, holding her gaze, until finally she shakes her head and carries on walking, slowing enough for me to fall in step beside her. We come upon a long greenhouse. Most of the windowpanes are cracked, the plants inside so overgrown they’re bulging against the glass. Millicent peers inside, but the foliage is much too dense. She gestures for me to follow, and we head to the far end, finding the doors locked with a new chain and padlock.