What Breaks A Detective.

Chapter 11

There was a stunned silence.

"You knew?" Arthman asked.

"I suspected" Smart corrected, pouncing on the roll of stamps on his desk and looking quickly at them.

"Two stamps missing" Arthman noted.

"And two letters sent to you" Smart finished. "It seems legitimate...but..." he shook his head and turned away, trying to think.

"With all due respect, sir, I think perhaps we should leave the thinking until later" Arthman cut in, pulling Smart around by the shoulder. "It's act tonight or never again. You and your Yard need to get organised. Read."

Smart instantly grabbed the paper and read.

Dear etc,

As promised, here are my further instructions. I did hope to meet you face to face, but then things got complicated, and I realised I was perhaps not in quite the safe position I believed myself to be in. I need you to use your Pinkertons status to contact Scotland Yard, as the plan I have in mind will require manpower to the extreme. You must not fail me on this point, as you will never succeed on your own. Show this letter to Detective Inspector Toby Smart, and/or Deputy Inspector Elijah Fisher and/or Chief Inspector Benjamin Barnes, as they know me and will surely assist you in your efforts. When you have the manpower, you must ensure each and every one of your men does exactly as I dictate to you, and not to cut corners or stray from the paths I have set for them, or the plan will not be a success. You must understand that I have had to set these plans from a hidden location, and therefore have only been able to use my knowledge of the area in question and maps to plan this capture, and nothing must go wrong.
The place where this is set to happen is on the third docking yard in Canary Wharf, as a selection of weaponry, money and valuables is set to be imported illegally from the Continent at eleven p.m. on the 20th of January. The men will be prepared for attack from the streets, which is why your men must be prepared to come from the river, and also from the boats moored at the second and fourth dockyards on the Wharf. Boating assistance must come from upriver only, as the cargo boat will enter the Thames from the sea, and will be on vigilant lookout as they travel upstream to the Wharf.
They plan to use carts to transport the goods to a warehouse on Balmer Hill, the seventh one on row B in the complex there. A small squadron should be stationed there to intercept any carts that make it through.
You must wait until the cargo ship is fully docked and for loading to have begun before you launch your attack. That way, the cargo ship will take longer to escape, and you have a better chance of reprimanding them all.
I once again implore you to trust me, and my sources are the most reliable I know.
I wish you the very best of luck, and perhaps we will meet again soon.
Allie.

"No" Smart snapped bluntly, shoving the letter back at Arthman. "Don't do it. It's a trap."

"What makes you so sure?" Arthman retorted, a little hotly.

"Look" Smart pointed a finger at the page. "Deputy Inspector Elijah Fisher. Fisher hasn't been a Deputy Inspector in months. He was promoted ages ago. So whoever this is that's called you over here, isn't Allie. And I'm not willing to trust that."

"So this mysterious letter writer's been impersonating Allie to all of us?" Arthman asked. "Even you?"

Smart slapped his hand against the desk to stop himself shaking with annoyance and upset.

"It seems so" he replied, through tensed lips. Arthman sighed, dropping the letter onto Smart's desk and regarding the Detective Inspector heavily.

"I'm gonna tell you something" the American began. "Something which I probably should have mentioned a while ago, but I didn't think it was important. I thought you could do without it."