The Hocus Girl by Chris Nickson

Author:Chris Nickson [Chris Nickson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2019-07-16T16:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Simon heard the click of the door latch closing and looked up from the copy of the Intelligencer spread over the kitchen table. Then Rosie eased herself on a chair with a sigh, and unpinned her hat.

‘Dear God, all she wanted to do was talk and talk. My ears are aching.’

‘Any gems in what she had to say?’

‘Plenty.’ With a grin, she reached for the jug of beer and poured herself a mug, drinking half of it down quickly. ‘Mostly complaints. From the way she goes on, you’d think Leeds was a heathen country.’

He didn’t care about Margaret Wood’s views on the town. ‘What did she tell you about Dodd?’

‘Enough. Most of it comes from things he’s told her, so I’ve no idea how much is real.’

‘Some of it must be,’ Simon said.

‘Well …’ She took another sip then began. ‘According to Dodd, his family has money. But his father cut him off. Disinherited him. Mind you, he’s given her three different stories so far, so who knows what’s true?’

If Dodd really did come from wealth, he’d have friends with some influence, Simon thought – enough to worm his way into a job like government spy. He’d take it if he was desperate enough. It was a plausible story. But how many crooks had he met who could make the wildest ideas sound possible? They lived by the con, and Dodd was probably no different.

‘Did you know they spent a week in Halifax before they came here?’

‘I’d heard.’

‘Dodd went round some of the mill towns; he was away overnight a few times. He talked to all sorts of groups and met people, claiming he’d been sent up from London by Radical groups to assess feelings for a different kind of government. He told them there were thousands ready to rise up down south if they had support in the North.’

‘Go on.’ Simon was listening intently.

‘He arranged a meeting with all the men from the groups in the West Riding. By now they trusted him. He was there when the magistrate arrived with some troops, but somehow he managed to escape.’ She raised her eyebrows.

‘Very convenient.’ It all fitted with the information Gideon Hartley had given him.

‘Dodd and Margaret were rushed over here in a coach. Next morning Davey Ashton was arrested.’

‘So Dodd had definitely never seen him at all when he denounced him?’

‘Curzon had to point him out,’ she said. The words were flat and hard.

‘If all that’s true …’ Simon began. He knew it should have shocked him. It had when Joshua Miller first mentioned it. By now, though, the idea had come to appear normal in his mind. Sent to spy on Englishmen, to make sure they were arrested. To eliminate a threat. The words, the actions, had the sour ring of truth. It confirmed everything he’d learned. Sent to provoke, to lie.

‘I believe her,’ Rosie told him. ‘I think she was relieved to finally let it all out to someone.’

‘If that’s published there’ll be a national outcry. People will be horrified to learn the government is spying on us.

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