“Bess!” Smith threw himself from Rodney and ran into the Spike. “Bess! Where are you?”
“What’s the to-do?” Bess emerged from the office with a quill in her right hand and ink stains on her wrist. “You look unusually perturbed, John.”
“With reason, Bess.” Smith guided her into the office and closed the door. “Lady Charlotte knows that you are Blackbird.”
Bess’s face paled. “That’s not good, John. How does she know, and what will we do about it?”
Smith had pondered both questions on his journey home. “I can only think that Lucinda has found out, although I don’t know how.”
“We’ve been careless,” Smith said. I’ve been overconfident. Damn it, and damn Lady Charlotte. “That’s a mistake I won’t make again. My initial response is to take Lucinda out to sea and drop her overboard.”
I’ve been
