The Spying Cat (ONC 2023 Shortlister)

Chapter 8

Celia straightened Tobias's bowtie and pressed down his lapels.

"Don't be too harsh on Kitty," she told him. "Let her have fun. At this rate, who knows? Mr Hawkins might propose soon."

Tobias huffed, dissatisfied. He tolerated social functions because his wife enjoyed them, but going to the theatre without Celia? He half-hoped there would be bombers, just so he could have an excuse to ditch the gentleman act.

"That must be him," Celia said, when carriage wheels clattered outside. She glanced out the window. "Who's that on the coachman's box?"

The unfamiliar coachman hurried up the front steps to knock on the Thackerys' door. Tobias answered.

"Inspector Thackery, good evening," the coachman spoke, in an American accent. "Mr Hawkins is expecting you."

Celia helped her husband with his hat and his coat, Tobias kissed her goodbye and off he went. The American coachman held the door of the brougham open for him.

"This had better be worth it," Tobias said, as soon as he hopped in.

"Good evening to you, too, Inspector," Hawkins retorted.

Ben lounged back, nonchalant as ever, with his top hat and silver-finished stick. When the carriage started, he uncrossed his long legs and leaned forward.

"I would have thought your cousin's safety would indeed be worth it," Hawkins pointed out.

Tobias rolled his eyes. "As if you gave a damn about that."

"As a matter of fact, I do."

"Yet you agreed to take her to a potentially bomb-infested theatre."

"She would have found something reckless to do with or without my help. Besides, by your own admission, there is a not entirely small chance that my half-brother is bankrolling this terrorist scheme."

Tobias took off his ever-present bowler hat to scratch at his head. "Have you found out anything about that?"

"Nothing you could use in court, but it does seem like Leroy might have an affiliation with Clan-na-Gael. There is no direct connection, of course, but let's just say he was in Chicago when Dr Cronin was murdered."

Patrick Henry Cronin. Tobias remembered reading about the high-profile trial in 1889. Donnelly had also briefed him about the incident upon his induction into the Special Branch – a former Clan-na-Gael member, Cronin was murdered by his old Irish mates after the good doctor had exposed embezzlement and corruption within the organisation.

One of the men charged with his murder, Detective Coughlin, had been acquitted in a retrial just last year and walked free. Henri Le Caron, the British spy who had instigated the whole thing, had passed away this April. The morning after joining the Branch, Tobias had received a copy of Le Caron's autobiography in the post, Twenty-five Years in the Secret Service. A gift from Superintendent Melville himself, which Tobias had yet to read.

"And the American who was killed in a failed bombing some ten years ago," Ben continued, "William Mackey Lomasney, I heard he served in the Civil War. So did Leroy's father, though on opposing sides, I would assume. Anyway, my source believes this gentleman was financed by Leroy, they were in London at around the same time. And also that Leroy has donated significant amounts to the Clan-na-Gael fund for the dependents of unsuccessful dynamiters."

"Your... source?"

"Like I said, nothing that will hold up in court."

"I see. Regardless, you have my thanks."