Moriarty Meets His Match: A Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery (The Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery Series Book 1) by Anna Castle

Flexmere was his lover, and also the son of Sir Joseph Flexmere, third Baronet of Pendley and a cabinet minister involved in foreign affairs. Sir Joseph meant to groom his son for government service, so he often spoke to him about his work. Alas, his son did not share that ambition. Hugh’s great plan was to hang about the clubs in the theater district until some producer picked him up to play the light-brained aristocrat in a comedy. True to the role, Hugh had spilled many of his father’s secrets into Sebastian’s ears.
    One night Sebastian had been playing billiards at the Green Room Club with Oscar Teaberry, who promoted plays in addition to his other ventures. Sebastian, showing off, had passed on a juicy tidbit fresh from Sir Joseph’s desk. A few days later, Teaberry sent him a paid-up tailor’s bill with a note suggesting that any other such items would be equally well received. Sebastian — surprised, pleased, and utterly oblivious to the larger implications — wrote back immediately with another tip, signing his name with a flourish. This time, the haberdasher got paid.
    Another letter, another gift, and he was trapped. Teaberry had put a ring through his nose and could make him dance whenever he pleased. It wasn’t just the letters. It was the way the information had been obtained. Sebastian and Hugh would go to prison if the full nature of their relationship were made public. Sir Joseph’s career would be destroyed.
    Sebastian had tried to get the letters back himself. He and a friend hid in Teaberry’s city offices one evening, planning to search the place after everyone went home. They couldn’t have known that Teaberry’s secretary habitually worked until midnight. He discovered them lurking in the cloakroom and raised the alarm. They’d had to scramble out a second-story window to escape the police. At the club the next night, Teaberry told Sebastian the letters had been safely housed with one of his board members. “You won’t worm your way into a Mayfair house so easily.”
    That was when Viola had cabled Angelina in New York, urging her to come back to London and rescue her brother from certain doom. The cable had been followed by a long, anxious letter spinning out every ruinous outcome imaginable. Viola could do very little herself. She was well known in society, but not acknowledged. The same was true for Sebastian. Neither of them could gain entrée into the houses of Teaberry’s board members.
    Angelina scrambled to find a godmother in London who could introduce her as an American heiress enjoying a Season abroad. She sold the jewelry given to her by her admirers over the years. That added up to enough for a month or two at Brown’s Hotel, especially with invitations like Lady Lucy’s to stretch her budget. Dresses were the most serious problem. She’d told everyone that her trunks had been misdirected, and all her lovely gowns now languished somewhere off the coast of Argentina.
    “Hugh can come with us. I’m sorry, darlings, truly, but what else can we do?”
    Sebastian and Viola exchanged glances. Something about the puckish smiles on their pretty faces sent warning shivers running up and down Angelina’s spine. “What have you little demons brewed up for me now?”
    Viola said, “Sebastian and I met the most interesting fellow the other day. He gave me the seed of an idea. After he dropped us off, we hatched a fresh plan.” She took a sip from her glass. “I’ve done my part. I’ve studied all of Teaberry’s prospectuses and made a list of the front-sheet men. I’ve looked them up in Who’s Who and found where they live, both in town and out. So we know where to look.”
    Angelina started to protest, but Viola held up her hand. “We understand your difficulties. If you’re staying at the Brown, you can’t very well slip down to Lord So-and-So’s library in the wee hours on the pretense of wanting a book. If you’re staying in the house, you’re at the mercy of