Page 16 of The Boxing Baroness

“Strickland and a tall, thin, red-haired man—a description that fits Emil Beauvais, one of the escaped prisoners—were seen talking several times between the twelfth and fifteenth of May at the Rusty Scupper Pub in Chatham.

“On May 24, Strickland, in his militia capacity, received information that at least one of the prisoners who’d escaped from Chatham was hiding in a house outside Dover. Strickland entered the house, leaving his four subordinates outside. Shots came from inside the house just before the building caught fire. Neither Strickland nor anyone else escaped the fire. Two badly burned bodies were discovered in the wreckage.

“One trusted source in Paris confirmed that Beauvais had been smuggled out of Deal on May 17, aboard a fishing vessel used by the same smugglers Strickland and Farnham did business with years before.

“The day after arriving in Paris, Beauvais left for Toulouse, accompanied by four men. On May 28, weeks after the armistice and two days before the Treaty of Paris, Beauvais and his men attacked a safehouse occupied by intelligence agents Major Lord David Norris, Captain Lord Benjamin Powell, and Lieutenant John Doset.

“Only Norris’s and Doset’s bodies were recovered.

“Beauvais disappeared afterward and his four accomplices were never identified.

“Farnham was brought in for questioning in the Beauvais escape but was cleared of suspicion, as he was in Birmingham at the time.”

Sin reached the bottom of the page and realized his hands were crushing the parchment. Any death during this interminable war had been a waste, but for his brother to be killed in some sort of rogue militia skirmish weeks after the war had ended was beyond tragic.

He composed himself and placed the sheet of paper on top of the other before looking up. “This is all you have on Marianne Simpson and Farnham?”

“I’m afraid so,” Elliot said.

“This hasn’t answered any questions—it has only raised more.”

“I know.”

Sin forced a smile. “I sound very ungrateful—what I should be saying is thank you.”

Elliot paused and then said, “I do have a bit more information that’s not in the file—probably equally unhelpful—about Farnham’s most recent employee, Josephine Brown.”

Guy grinned. “Ah, yes—the knife thrower. Brown is her name? That seems a terribly mundane name for such a mysterious woman.”

“Why do you have information about Brown?” Sin asked.

“After you received Dominic’s letter, I asked around about Farnham, his circus, and anything connected to it. I didn’t learn anything new about Farnham or his niece, but I did discover that Miss Brown was a subject of interest in a naval case a few years back.”

“Subject of interest?” Sin asked.

“That usually means we’ve received information which has raised questions about an individual or their associations, but don’t have enough evidence to open an official case on them.”

“That’s . . . vague.”

Elliot smiled dryly. “Welcome to my world, Staunton. In any event, Brown was cleared of any wrongdoing.” His forehead furrowed. “Still, there’s just something . . . off about the woman. She possesses a remarkable facility with bladed weapons of all kinds, and there is absolutely no information about her past, where she came from, or who taught her such skills. She’s a bloody enigma.”

“Is that admiration I hear in your voice, Elliot?” Guy teased.

“Maybe a little. In my experience such anonymity is exceedingly hard-won.”

Sin gestured to the file on the desk, steering the discussion back on course. “Nothing I read indicates Miss Simpson was involved in either her uncle’s smuggling or that she knew what Strickland was up to with Beauvais—even though she was living with him at the time.”

“That is true,” Elliot conceded.

“Why in the world does Strickland want to see her so badly?” Guy asked, echoing the question that Sin had asked himself at least hourly since receiving Dominic’s letter.

“Maybe he’s in love and sorry for what he did and wants a chance to woo her back,” Elliot suggested.

Guy laughed and even Sin couldn’t resist a tired smile.

“This is Strickland we’re talking about,” Guy said. “I think she’s dirty and so is her uncle,” he added with uncharacteristic vehemence. “I think they’re probably both involved in this current business with Dominic, too.”

Sin and Elliot stared at him.