Moriarty Meets His Match: A Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery (The Professor & Mrs. Moriarty Mystery Series Book 1) by Anna Castle Page B
Authors: Anna Castle
Ads: Link
come around; she always did.
“I’ll admit we’ve tiptoed around the law a time or two,” Angelina said, “but I’ve never done anything I could be sent to jail for. My marks are always panting to hand me their valuables.”
“Then don’t get caught,” Viola said. “Besides, it doesn’t really count as stealing to take money from these front-sheeters. Their profits are immense. The very week the General Act was signed at the Berlin Conference —” She broke off at the others’ looks of incomprehension and rolled her eyes. “Hugh’s secrets, remember? That’s what they were about: opening Africa up to trade. When and who and where. Enormous profits being passed around like party favors. Thanks to Sebastian’s advance information, Teaberry was able to buy a diamond mine in the Congo Valley for a song. When the news went public, his company sold thousands of shares in a matter of days. They made more than a million pounds!”
Angelina was stunned. “I had no idea it was so much.” Teaberry would never let Sebastian go, not with stakes that high. He’d bleed him dry and then throw him under a train when he was done.
“We’d be fleecing the wolves.” Sebastian flashed his irresistible smile. “You’d be like Robin Hood in a Worth gown.”
“Robin Hood had a band of merry men,” Angelina pointed out. “If you think Peg is going to shinny up and down a drainpipe with a sack of swag over her shoulder, you are badly confused.”
They all laughed at that image. Peg famously loathed all forms of physical exertion.
“No one expects Peg to do anything strenuous,” Viola said. “Although we do think she should manage the fencing of the goods.”
That, at least, made sense. Peg could out-haggle a Cockney fishwife.
“So just me doing the shinnying, then. After which I hail the first cab and hope the driver fails to notice my little black mask and the clanking silver in my sack?”
“Trust us to arrange things rather better than that,” Viola snapped. “You won’t need to hail a cab.” She rang her little bell. “Françoise, would you ask the captain to join us now?”
Captain?
A man of medium height and about thirty years of age emerged from the back room. He wore the checked coat and trousers of a typical London cabbie but stood with the straight back and squared shoulders of a military man. His ginger moustaches draped almost to his chin. His face was broad and his nose was freckled; not exactly handsome, but likeable at a glance. His hazel eyes held a worshipful glow as he bowed toward Angelina.
“Miss Lina Lovington.” His voice was hushed with awe. “I never thought I’d be so fortunate as to meet you in the flesh.” Then he blushed from ear to ear, winning Angelina’s heart forever. “I’ve carried your picture next to my breast for years.” He reached into his jacket and drew out a creased and faded photograph card of Angelina and Her Little Angels.
She remembered that photograph. It had taken them over an hour. Sebastian had been impossible that day, making the Chairman curse and Viola cry. You wouldn’t know it to see the result. They all wore filmy white gowns, Angelina’s revealing the outlines of her fourteen-year-old figure. They had wire halos that pinched like the dickens and pasteboard wings held up by props hidden behind them. The twins turned their innocent gazes up to heaven while Angelina smiled straight at the camera with just the faintest touch of mischief in her smile.
She laughed out loud. “I haven’t seen one of these in ages. To think of you carrying it around with you!”
“I wouldn’t part with it for all the tea in India, Miss Lovington. It’s my good-luck charm. It kept me safe in places where — well, where no lady should visit, not even in words.”
He gazed at her as if blinded by her radiance. Ridiculous, but impossible not to enjoy. Once upon a time, Angelina had taken that expression for granted. As Lovely Little Lina, she’d had
“I’ll admit we’ve tiptoed around the law a time or two,” Angelina said, “but I’ve never done anything I could be sent to jail for. My marks are always panting to hand me their valuables.”
“Then don’t get caught,” Viola said. “Besides, it doesn’t really count as stealing to take money from these front-sheeters. Their profits are immense. The very week the General Act was signed at the Berlin Conference —” She broke off at the others’ looks of incomprehension and rolled her eyes. “Hugh’s secrets, remember? That’s what they were about: opening Africa up to trade. When and who and where. Enormous profits being passed around like party favors. Thanks to Sebastian’s advance information, Teaberry was able to buy a diamond mine in the Congo Valley for a song. When the news went public, his company sold thousands of shares in a matter of days. They made more than a million pounds!”
Angelina was stunned. “I had no idea it was so much.” Teaberry would never let Sebastian go, not with stakes that high. He’d bleed him dry and then throw him under a train when he was done.
“We’d be fleecing the wolves.” Sebastian flashed his irresistible smile. “You’d be like Robin Hood in a Worth gown.”
“Robin Hood had a band of merry men,” Angelina pointed out. “If you think Peg is going to shinny up and down a drainpipe with a sack of swag over her shoulder, you are badly confused.”
They all laughed at that image. Peg famously loathed all forms of physical exertion.
“No one expects Peg to do anything strenuous,” Viola said. “Although we do think she should manage the fencing of the goods.”
That, at least, made sense. Peg could out-haggle a Cockney fishwife.
“So just me doing the shinnying, then. After which I hail the first cab and hope the driver fails to notice my little black mask and the clanking silver in my sack?”
“Trust us to arrange things rather better than that,” Viola snapped. “You won’t need to hail a cab.” She rang her little bell. “Françoise, would you ask the captain to join us now?”
Captain?
A man of medium height and about thirty years of age emerged from the back room. He wore the checked coat and trousers of a typical London cabbie but stood with the straight back and squared shoulders of a military man. His ginger moustaches draped almost to his chin. His face was broad and his nose was freckled; not exactly handsome, but likeable at a glance. His hazel eyes held a worshipful glow as he bowed toward Angelina.
“Miss Lina Lovington.” His voice was hushed with awe. “I never thought I’d be so fortunate as to meet you in the flesh.” Then he blushed from ear to ear, winning Angelina’s heart forever. “I’ve carried your picture next to my breast for years.” He reached into his jacket and drew out a creased and faded photograph card of Angelina and Her Little Angels.
She remembered that photograph. It had taken them over an hour. Sebastian had been impossible that day, making the Chairman curse and Viola cry. You wouldn’t know it to see the result. They all wore filmy white gowns, Angelina’s revealing the outlines of her fourteen-year-old figure. They had wire halos that pinched like the dickens and pasteboard wings held up by props hidden behind them. The twins turned their innocent gazes up to heaven while Angelina smiled straight at the camera with just the faintest touch of mischief in her smile.
She laughed out loud. “I haven’t seen one of these in ages. To think of you carrying it around with you!”
“I wouldn’t part with it for all the tea in India, Miss Lovington. It’s my good-luck charm. It kept me safe in places where — well, where no lady should visit, not even in words.”
He gazed at her as if blinded by her radiance. Ridiculous, but impossible not to enjoy. Once upon a time, Angelina had taken that expression for granted. As Lovely Little Lina, she’d had
Similar Books
