THIEF: THE MIDNIGHT VEIL

05: "A MORBID AFFAIR"

      Note: Suggestive content included in this chapter that some readers might be sensitive to.

Around the time Mara and Caffrey were poking at the strange clumps of moss that had sprouted from Builder-knew-where, Jasper was back in Lady Arden's study, sitting in the other chair facing her from across her desk.

     Lady Arden was eyeing him curiously. "Say that again, please?"

     Jasper cleared his throat. "It was Mara Mosley who stopped Kirth. She was suspicious of him well over a week ago. I had her keep a specific watch over him since then, and she noticed certain... oddities."

     "Oddities?"

     "Yes, m'Lady. Kirth would keep odd hours. Would visit the still room, the butler's pantry, supplies closet - all when he had no reason to. Things got more serious five nights ago when Ms. Beaumont reported that she had caught Kirth skulking about in the kitchen during the afternoon's dinner prep." Jasper shifted slightly in his seat. "She could not prove anything, but she had seen him hunched over a pot of boiling fish."

     Lady Arden's eyes narrowed. "Really." Her answer was a flat-yet-angry acknowledgment.

     "Yes, m'Lady. Thankfully Ms. Beaumont was of shrewd mind and had the sense to discard the fish, just in case. The entire dinner was scrapped and prepared fresh."

     "And I am only now learning of this?"

     Jasper swallowed. "I did not want to spoil your birthday night, what with all the high profile attendees. I know how much you... despise interruptions."

     "Yet you had no problem interrupting my banquet tonight with the Lord Regent and his entourage?"

     "It was different tonight, m'Lady. We actually caught the fiend in the act."

     "Oh?" Lady Arden tilted her head questioningly. "Not because you were hoping for some recognition in the presence of Lord Regent Cahill?"

     Jasper balked. "Of course not. As you saw, I took great care in keeping the matter discreet, m'Lady."

     "Come now," the noblewoman said, her voice silky and soft, "we're alone. You can do away with the formalities - 'm'Lady this, m'Lady that.' I think we're past that, don't you, Jas?"

     The security chief chuckled nervously. "I... it is difficult for me to get used to, m'La— ma'am." He shook his head. "Gwyn," he corrected.

     "After nearly - what, six, seven months?"

     He nodded.

     Gwyneth Arden smiled ever-so-slightly, but it melted as fast as it had appeared. "I want to know why that little dreg tried to poison me. What was his reason? I took him off the streets and gave him quarter, did I not? Provided food, shelter, security, a roof over his head - and a nice one, at that. And this is how he repays my kindness?"

     "Ungrateful sod."

     "But why, Jas? What was his explanation?"

     "We don't know yet," Jasper answered with a shake of his head. "We've got him locked up in the cellar right now."

     A wicked smile crossed the woman's lips. "Mm. Well done. Oh, the pain I shall visit upon him... he will wish he was dead."

     Jasper tried to hide his surprise. "What, you're going down there?

     "Of course," Lady Arden snapped. "That ungrateful little shite tried to kill me."

     "What are you planning to do to the lad?"