“Nothing will happen to her,” he said firmly. “I have no intention of arresting you. That’s not what I’ve come here for. I know you have been passing secret information to Ailsa, which she then passed on to Edom Talbot, who sold it to Sundstrom, incidentally the father of Ailsa’s first husband. Perhaps you don’t know that?”
Kynaston stared at him, eyes hollow. He gave a minute shake of his head.
“You are going to go on passing naval information to Sundstrom,” Pitt continued. “We will find a way for you to do it. Clearly he will know that Ailsa has died, but we will say that Edom Talbot killed her in a lovers’ quarrel. Seems she rejected him, and he couldn’t cope with it. He will be tried for murder and found guilty.”
“But …” Kynaston stammered.
Pitt smiled at him. “Sir John Ransom will give you the information we wish pass on, and you will be given a new contact, now that Ailsa is no longer available. It will come through Jack Radley. I know that he shall accept the position you offered him after all, because I have seen to it.”
“But he’s totally loyal!” Kynaston protested. “He wouldn’t—”
“Yes, he will, if instructed to,” Pitt told him. “I know him very well. He’s my brother-in-law, remember. He’ll make a very good job of sending all kinds of information to Sundstrom.”
Kynaston blinked. “You mean misinformation?”
“Precisely. You have done much damage. You will now do much good. That is how you will repay your debt.”
Kynaston sat back in his chair, tears filling his eyes. “Thank you,” he said so hoarsely the words were hardly distinguishable. “Thank you, Pitt.”
To Ileen Maisel
BY ANNE PERRY
FEATURING WILLIAM MONK
The Face of a Stranger
A Dangerous Mourning
Defend and Betray
A Sudden, Fearful Death
Cain His Brother
Weighed in the Balance
The Silent Cry
A Breach of Promise
The Twisted Root
Slaves of Obsession
Funeral in Blue
Death of a Stranger
The Shifting Tide
Dark Assassin
Execution Dock
Acceptable Loss
A Sunless Sea
Blind Justice
FEATURING CHARLOTTE AND THOMAS PITT
The Cater Street Hangman
Paragon Walk
Resurrection Row
Bluegate Fields
Rutland Place
Death in the Devil’s Acre
Cardington Crescent
Silence in Hanover Close
Bethlehem Road
Farriers’ Lane
Hyde Park Headsman
Traitors Gate
Pentecost Alley
Ashworth Hall
Brunswick Gardens
Bedford Square
Half Moon Street
Southampton Row
Seven Dials
Long Spoon Lane
Buckingham Palace Gardens
Treason at Lisson Grove
Dorchester Terrace
Midnight at Marble Arch
Death on Blackheath
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANNE PERRY is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including Death on Blackheath and Midnight at Marble Arch, and the William Monk novels, including Blind Justice and A Sunless Sea. She is also the author of a series of five World War I novels, as well as eleven holiday novels, most recently A Christmas Hope, and a historical novel, The Sheen on the Silk, set in the Ottoman Empire. Anne Perry lives in Scotland.
WWW.ANNEPERRY.CO.UK