My gaze flew to his face. “Why?”

“She has something of mine that I want.”

“What is this thing?”

“A letter from me to a member of the Admiralty upper echelon, requesting a chance to bid on the new warship. In the same letter, I mentioned that his nephew had expressed an interest in a management position in the shipyard and I would be making my choice soon. I considered them to be two separate issues, but Lady Peters said the letter is open to interpretation.”

I agreed with Lady Peters. Although Sir Henry would deny it, my interpretation would be bribery. “How did she get the letter?”

“She was being squired about town by Lord Hastings at the time I wrote the letter. She must have stolen it from him,” Sir Henry grumbled.

Lord Hastings was in the highest levels of the Admiralty. Having heard its contents, I wanted to get the letter. Once I had it, I didn’t plan to hand the letter over to Sir Henry. “What does this letter look like?”

“Two pages, good paper, embossed with my company’s name. Go upstairs and do it now while the ladies are out taking the waters.”

“Why do you think the letter is in her room? Why wouldn’t she have left it in London?”

“She brought it along this week to exchange for Gattenger’s blueprints.”

I struggled to keep my voice calm. “You have the blueprints Clara was killed over? I thought you loved her.”

“Oh, I did. Unlike Gattenger, I valued Clara. I adored her. I would never allow her to be harmed.”

“But she was killed by the person who stole the blueprints. Did you hire the thief?”

He grabbed my arms, but not hard like he had before. “I didn’t hire him. I believed Gattenger burned the drawings until you told me he was certain the ship was what he’d promised. That’s when I went looking for the thief.”

“You found him?” That was news. Blackford and I had had no luck speaking to him.

“Yes. It wasn’t easy, but I caught up to him here, in Cheltenham Spa. I offered him a great deal of money, I begged, but none of it did any good. He said he’d made a deal and if he wanted to live, he’d carry it out. And he said he had the blueprints hidden well.”

I tried to put awe in my voice. “That was very brave of you, meeting Clara’s killer.”

“I had no choice. Lady Peters won’t return my letter without the blueprints. Since I can’t buy them or steal them, I need you to retrieve my letter.”

“Did he say who this dangerous man is who hired him?”

He made a face and dropped his hold on my arms. “No. It doesn’t matter. What matters is for you to go upstairs now while the ladies are still gone and get my letter.”

“Why did you think Ken Gattenger would burn his warship design and kill Clara? You knew them. Ken told me his ship will sail and perform as expected. He’s never been wrong before. Why didn’t you trust him this time?”

“I overheard one of the clerks in the records room talking to another man. Those clerks know all about the mathematics of ship design. He found the design so flawed he was surprised the ship would float. That’s when I asked Gattenger.”

“The day the ship blueprints were stolen and Clara was killed?”

He nodded.

The clerk could be the one on the German payroll that Jacob was trying to identify. In that case, the conversation could have been set up to start questions specifically to get Gattenger to take a set of the blueprints home with him.

“Ken said you threatened him with ruin over a flaw in the design.” Threatening someone with ruin seemed to be Sir Henry’s usual method of operation.

“Gattenger is a genius, but since he married Clara, it’s been hard to get him to focus. He looked panicked when I asked him. Why would he panic if there wasn’t a problem? I decided I needed to force him to give me a straight answer as quickly as possible. The bids are due, and I couldn’t risk spending money on something that wouldn’t work.”

One thing stood out in my mind. “Your shipyard is in trouble financially?”

“My shipyard has nothing to do with this. We all need to know how seaworthy this warship is for the good of Britain.”

I pressed on the point I wanted him to admit. “Your shipyard is in jeopardy.”

“Not in jeopardy,” he hissed out between his teeth.

“On the edge of bankruptcy?”

“No. Not on the edge. Not really. The improvements I’ve made to the efficiency of the yard just haven’t paid off yet. It’s been touch-and-go. If I build his ship, I’ll do it faster and better than anyone, but it has to work. If it sinks, my boatyard sinks with it.”

His financial troubles gave him a strong motive to make Gattenger recalculate his equations rather than steal the plans.

Before I could ask another question, he had my arm and was walking me toward the door. “Get up there and get the letter.”

“All right. You wait down here. Her maid may be up there and we don’t want her to get suspicious. Why does Lady Peters want warship blueprints?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.”

I stopped him before he opened the door. “One more thing. How often did Lady Bennett call on Clara? Were they friends?”

“No. Never. Clara didn’t like her. Lark Bennett stole Ken Gattenger away from her once.”

I’d heard about Lady Bennett’s romance with Gattenger. But Sir Henry was right. Clara was unlikely to have gone calling with the woman who’d ended her engagement at one time. “They went out together in Lady Bennett’s carriage for an hour or two the day Clara died.”

He paused, his hand on the door handle. “You’re certain of this?”

“Yes.” What did he know?

“I saw Lady Bennett’s carriage at Lady Peters’s that day. I had thought to call on that lady, to ask for my letter back, but when I saw Lady Bennett’s carriage waiting, I decided not to go in.”

*   *   *

I FOUND EMMA in Phyllida’s room. “I need your help.”

She scowled and hurried over to me. “What’s happened?”

I gave her a brief explanation and then asked, “Do you know Lady Peters’s maid?”

“Minette? Yes.”

“Could you find her and keep her out of Lady Peters’s room for a little while?”

“Yes. Wait here while I check Lady Peters’s room. If she’s there, I’ll get her out and then you can go in.”

Emma left and a minute or two later, I heard her voice through the crack in the door. A woman’s voice with a French accent answered. I listened until their footsteps faded away, and then I slipped down the hall. No one was around, but I knocked on the door once before I entered the room.

Rosamond Peters’s room was a model of tidiness. I quickly glanced in the drawers and wardrobe. Everything was so neat I could search her things in an instant and not ruffle anything. My search of the bed was equally unsuccessful. Nothing was tucked into the few books she’d brought with her. I pulled up the corners of the rug. Nothing.

The only place left was the lady’s desk. There was a small stack of good notepaper, a pot of ink, and a couple of pens. The drawer was empty. Lacking any other spot, I looked in the notepaper. A few sheets down I found Sir Henry’s letter.

I skimmed the contents. Sir Henry was a fool to commit both subjects to writing in a single document. I folded the letter and slipped from the room into the empty hall.

I’d barely shut the door behind me when I heard Emma’s voice coming from somewhere nearby. Hearing the chatter she was infecting the air with, I was certain she was trying to warn me to get out. I crushed the letter into my palm and stopped to look around.

Emma and a dark-haired girl in a black dress came out from the servants’ stairs.

“Ah, there you are,” I said as if Emma had been playing truant. “Would you please tell the Duke of Blackford I’d like to see him right away? I’ll be in my room.”

“Yes, milady.” Emma glanced at Lady Peters’s maid and rolled her eyes. Then she headed downstairs and I went to my room, leaving Minette in the hall looking confused.