Page 83 of The Masterful Mr. Montague

Both Gibbons and Foster sat up, focused and ready to pounce. Montague held up a staying hand. “Before we get too excited, we should check that Runcorn, thorough though he appears to have been, didn’t simply miss putting that page into the pile to be copied for me.”

Returning the Meredith file to its place on his shelves, he led the way into the outer office. Gibbons and Foster followed close behind. Montague glanced back and saw Violet on her feet; across the office he met her eyes, smiled, and nodded. She had, after all, been instrumental in getting them to this point.

Reaching the long table Slocum, Pringle, and Slater had commandeered, spreading the pages of the huge file out across the surface so they could steadily add to their ordered piles, Montague halted, and, when the three glanced up at him, said, “We’re looking for a statement of income, a dividend which should have been paid into the Halstead estate somewhere—we don’t know to which account—in late August this year.”

Slater, seated at one end of the table with three neat piles of documents before him, peered over them at Pringle, at the table’s other end. “You should have that.”

Already searching through one of the two piles before him, Pringle nodded. “This August . . .” Carefully, he drew out a small stack of papers from toward the very bottom of one pile. He held it out to Montague. “This is what we have for August this year.”

“Barring anything still left in the mess.” Slocum reached for the now very much smaller melee of papers in the middle of the table, those yet to be correctly re-filed by their dates. Picking up a handful, Slocum quickly checked the dates.

Pringle grabbed another handful, as did Slater.

Spurred by the hope that they’d finally stumbled onto something, Gibbons and Foster joined them.

Montague, meanwhile, stepped back from the fray, the already ordered documents for August in his hand. Waving Violet, who had hung back, to join him, he retreated to Foster’s nearby desk. With Violet’s help, he checked over those documents . . . and found nothing to indicate that any income had been paid to the Halstead estate from the Grand Junction Railway Company.

Meeting Violet’s gaze, he saw the speculation rising in her eyes.

“Have we found it?” she asked.

He pressed his lips tight but couldn’t quite suppress his excitement. “We might have.”

Turning, they watched as, one after the other, the rest of his staff set down the papers they held. The last to do so was Slater. Looking up, he met the others’ gazes and shook his head. “Nothing.”

Everyone turned to Montague.

Returning to the table, he handed the papers he and Violet had checked back to Pringle. “There’s nothing here, either. So . . .” He met Gibbons’s gaze. “It appears that the Halsteads haven’t been paid for their shares in the Grand Junction Railway. Our next step is to locate the share certificate.” He looked at Pringle. “Do you know who held their certificates—was it Runcorn, or did Sir Hugo keep them?”

Pringle blinked, then he rose. “One moment.” Going to his desk, he pulled out a drawer and lifted from it a small black notebook. “I took this from Mr. Runcorn’s office, because without it . . . well, no one would know what was where.”

Opening it, he flicked through the pages. Slocum, curious, went to look over his shoulder.

“Here it is,” Pringle said. “The Halsteads.” He ran his finger down the page, then stopped. “It says here that Sir Hugo kept his share certificates.”

Montague frowned. “Does it say if he kept them at his bank, or at his home?”

“It doesn’t say,” Pringle reported.

“Try some of the other entries,” Slocum suggested.

Pringle flicked slowly through several more pages. “Ah, yes—this is mostly notes from the older Mr. Runcorn, but he does say for others ‘kept in bank.’ ”

Montague nodded. “So we can assume, therefore, that Sir Hugo kept his share certificates at home.” He looked at Violet. “Have you any idea where? Was there a safe?”

She shook her head. “No safe, of that I’m sure. But . . .” She frowned. “What do share certificates look like?”

Montague held up a finger, asking her to wait. He strode into his office. Through the open doorway, she saw him walk to a section of bookshelves, press some spot, then swing the bookcase back to reveal a very large wall safe. The door was the size of a room door. Montague quickly spun dials, then turned the handle and pulled open the heavy door. He stepped into the dim space beyond but almost immediately reappeared, a stack of papers in his hand.

Returning and halting beside her, he showed her the papers. They were somewhat larger than bank notes but were covered in much the same elaborate writing and had a seal attached. “These,” he said, fanning the papers, showing her various different styles, “are share certificates. They constitute proof of ownership.”

Reaching out a hand, Violet ran her fingers across the papers. “Oh, I recognize these. I know where Lady Halstead kept them.” She met Montague’s eyes. “They’re in the locked middle drawer of the chest of drawers in her bedroom.”

Montague didn’t look impressed. He glanced at his staff. “I’ll need witnesses for this. Fred—you have your meeting. Pringle—you should come. And Foster, if you’re free?”

Both Foster and Pringle were eager to assist.

Violet hurried back into Montague’s office, donning her coat and tying on her bonnet as Montague, who had followed her, returned the share certificates to the safe, closed and locked it, and swung the bookcase back. Then he shrugged into his greatcoat, picked up his hat, and retrieved the keys to the Lowndes Street house from his desk drawer.