Pickpocket Countess

He slowly opened his eyes as if not to lose the threads of his idea by rushing. Not once today did he see her receive any change. He saw her reach into her reticule, but never did he see a shopkeeper move to a cash box for change or go to a back room and retrieve smaller notes. It seemed highly unlikely that her purchases all came to exact amounts that she carried on her person. Assuming he was correct, what did it mean?

That answer was much easier to come up with. He had worked often enough with ledgers and finances in regards to his estate. He’d caught a dishonest steward once who had thought to pocket some of the estate’s profit by recording less than the actual profit in the estate ledgers. The same principle worked in Miss Habersham’s case, only in reverse.

Brandon drummed his fingers on the side of the tub. In her case, she overpaid for the goods received. It was a perfect way to conduct business for The Cat in plain sight without anyone noticing. Of course, his conclusion assumed that Eleanor Habersham was somehow linked to acting as an accomplice to The Cat.

He realised he was making some large leaps of logic here. Eleanor might not be connected to The Cat in any way. She might have other reasons for dressing as she did. It was entirely possible that she had no fashion sense, that she found her gowns pretty.

How to find out if his suppositions were correct? He couldn’t ask Miss Habersham without giving away what he knew. If she was connected to The Cat, she’d alert The Cat to his suspicions, making it that much harder to catch the wily burglar.

Another wild hypothesis was starting to take shape in his mind as well. If Miss Habersham was wearing a disguise, what was she hiding? Why not simply go around as herself? People went around in disguises because they didn’t want to be recognised. Was it possible that Miss Habersham was The Cat?

The idea was not without merit. Miss Habersham had arrived in the district at the same time The Cat began making appearances. Miss Habersham did indeed disguise her looks for a currently unconfirmed but still suspicious reason. The Cat knew Miss Habersham; had made specific reference to her in a conversation.

Those were good facts to start building on, but the best fact of all was Miss Habersham’s wit. The interplay between them today had been similar to the repartee he’d enjoyed with The Cat on both occasions. True, The Cat sparred with him verbally while Miss Habersham sparred with him on a different, less direct, level. It made sense. It would have been out of character for a woman of Miss Habersham’s background to make flagrant challenges that were so second nature to The Cat. Still, both The Cat and Miss Habersham duelled exquisitely in their own ways.

Brandon slid deeper into the fragrant water, chuckling to himself. If Miss Habersham was indeed The Cat, he was doubly glad he’d bought the satin.

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