Long Spoon Lane - Anne Perry [75]
“Probably not,” Pitt agreed. “But that is its weakness, not its strength. It means that no one will feel secure enough to vote for it.”
Voisey closed his eyes. “You are beautifully naive! At least it would be beautiful, if it weren’t so damn dangerous.” His eyes opened wide. “They won’t phrase it like that, you fool! There’ll be all kinds of promises that it won’t apply to the innocent. They’ll swear it will only be used on those suspected of anarchist conspiracies. Every man in Parliament will know that he is either guiltless in that, or else he is already allied with Wetron, and imagines that protects him. And if he is in the Inner Circle, he is probably right. ‘The guilty flee where no man pursueth,’” he quoted. “And all too often the innocent stand rooted to the spot imagining their innocence will save them. Until it is too late to run.”
“Surely you have the skill, and either have or can acquire the knowledge to suggest to a few of your more articulate friends that there are issues in their private lives they would prefer no servant were pressured to speak of?” Pitt asked.
Voisey stood still for several seconds, a wry slow smile curving his lips. “Why, Pitt! You have quite a flair for blackmail yourself! How very interesting. I confess, I never suspected it of you.”
“You have to have some idea of what the crime is before you can become successful at solving it,” Pitt said drily.
Voisey pushed his hands into his pockets. “Now that much is obvious about Wetron,” he remarked. “I wonder why I never realized it about you? I accept the criticism.”
Pitt knew what he was doing. The comparison with Wetron was meant to hurt. “Because Wetron is head of the Inner Circle,” he replied levelly. “You likened him to yourself.”
The barb went home perfectly. He saw it in Voisey’s face. Voisey winced very slightly, then surprisingly he shrugged. “I underestimated you, Pitt. If you don’t lose your nerve, you could be really very useful. You have more intelligence than I thought you had. It’s your rather erratic conscience I worry about.”
Pitt grinned. “We all fear what we don’t know.”
Voisey gave a little grunt, but there was humor in his eyes. He started to walk slowly away from the tomb.
Pitt swung around and caught up with him. “You appear to have forgotten something,” he said.
“Do I?” Voisey did not stop.
“You told me when you suggested this…collaboration…that you had particular knowledge to bring to it regarding the Inner Circle. It is time you offered some. To begin with, is Sheridan Landsborough a member?”
“No,” Voisey said with hesitation. “Unless he has joined in the last half year, which I suppose is possible, but I doubt it. Rather high-flown ideals—that eccentric conscience again. Self-indulgent.” His eyes caught Pitt’s and flickered away. “Would never have left Waterloo to fight a personal duel, but he might well have left it to rescue a drowning dog, or something of the sort. Highly impractical. Now we would all be speaking French.”
“I always thought anarchy was a little impractical.” Pitt fell into step with him. “I like ideals, but only those that actually work. And considering what will work, you must know several of the members of Parliament who are in the Circle, and know them well enough to be aware of what they would rather keep out of police hands. Remind them of the dangers.”
“Inner Circle members do not betray one another,” Voisey said as they approached the steps up into the main body of the cathedral. “That is one of its great strengths—loyalty above all.”
“Yes, I know,” Pitt agreed. “And the penalty