The Spying Cat (ONC 2023 Shortlister)

Chapter 11

Tobias showed up at Ben's house alongside Arthur Donnelly bearing a shotgun. By now, Kitty had changed into a nightshirt, worn under a dressing gown, and did not stand up to greet the two gentlemen. Mo set a tea tray on the side table and retreated to a corner of the study. Tobias cast a worried glance at Kitty sunken in an armchair, her legs up on a footstool.

Ben brought her a cup of tea and offered the men whiskey.

"No, thank you, Mr Hawkins," Donnelly declined, admiring the revolver Ben had left on his desk. "We're technically on duty." He picked up the stick propped against the bookshelf and nodded his approval at the blade concealed within.

"I'll have some," Kitty said, sheepish, holding up her teacup.

Ben filled it in for her and they exchanged complicit smiles.

"Kitty, why don't you go to bed?" Tobias told her. "It's been a long night, you need to get some rest."

"Can't I stay?" Her eyes darted between the men in the room.

"I don't see why not," Ben said, sitting on the arm of her chair with a glass of bourbon in hand. "Gentlemen?"

Donnelly leaned against the side of the desk, ankles crossed, shotgun reclined on the embellished mahogany border next to him. "If the young lady feels up to it, I'm sure she will have much to tell us."

The Irishman peered at Moses.

"Mo is my bodyguard," Ben clarified, "in addition to butler and occasional coachman. Former Pawnee Scout in the US army. I trust him with my life."

"A fighting man," Donnelly concluded. "Excellent."

Worn out and sleep-deprived, Tobias crumbled into the swivelling chair behind the desk, taking off his bowler hat and placing it on top of a large ledger.

"What in bloody hell happened tonight?" he asked outright.

"I was right," Kitty immediately answered. "Rebecca was there. She must have placed the bomb. She, and..."

"She and who?" prodded Tobias.

Kitty took a sip from her tea and gulped. "She and Jeremy, I think."

Tobias straightened in his seat. "Our Jeremy?"

Kitty nodded. Donnelly chuckled.

"And here I thought it were me Irish brothers and sisters we had to watch out for! Turns out it was Thackerys all along."

"How do you know it was Jeremy?" Tobias questioned.

"Because..."

Kitty faltered. The teacup trembled in her hand, and she lowered it to her lap. Ben reached out and threaded their fingers, contemptuous of English manners.

"Because he... he tried to kill me," Kitty managed in the end.

Dumbfounded, Tobias fell back in his chair. He'd always known that Jeremy was a covert troublemaker, getting by on the good graces of his little brother Samuel, who idolised him. Where Jeremy was a rough character, employing his wit to the benefit of malice, Sammy was the gentlest soul, who saw the good in everyone.

Even in his frustrated brother Jeremy, who never hesitated to abuse his kindness. Sammy's marriage and subsequent fatherhood had driven a wedge between the two of them, isolating Jeremy from his only source of stability. It was no wonder, then, that he'd gone down dark paths. But to try and kill Kitty...?

"Are you quite certain?"

Kitty squeezed Ben's fingers and nodded.

"Yes, he... He and Rebecca were supposed to meet up on the embankment. But I held her back, and he came to find her, and because I saw them, he – " She licked her lips. "Rebecca tried to stop him. I tried to fight him. Fortunately, I got away with a scrape."