Churchyard and Hawke by E.V. Thompson

the others will make things easier for me. I’ll make arrangements for your baggage to be taken there with you.’
    Dolly directed a silent plea to Tom, but he remained impassive. For many moments she looked from one to the other, hoping in vain for some sign that their resolve might weaken. Then her shoulders slumped, her face crumpled and, conceding defeat, she said, bitterly, ‘I should know better than to expect a copper to show any finer feelings towards me, you’re all bastards. All right, what is it you want from me?’
    Once Dolly Brooks had made up her mind to co-operate with Amos, she held nothing back. She was taken upstairs to the Superintendent’s office and by the time she was returned to her cell more than an hour later she had told Amos and Tom the names of all those she knew to be involved in the plot to profit criminally by the Cornwall grand summer ball, together with her part in the proceedings - and the sheer scale and audacity of the plot was breathtaking.
    At the ball there would be two confidence tricksters, purporting to be from a well-known City stockbroker, armed with the share certificates and Exchequer bonds forged by Shannon. With apparent reluctance they would let it be known they had come to Cornwall to finalise a lucrative deal with a well-known peer of the realm who could not be named. Unfortunately, the peer was on a Continental tour and although he had arranged to be in Cornwall in time to attend the ball and pay for the shares, for reasons unknown he had failed to put in an appearance and they were unable to clinch the deal with him.
    As it happened there was a senior and financially shrewd Cornish peer currently holidaying on the Continent, one who was well-known - and envied - by many of those who would be attending the ball.
    In view of the absent peer’s business acumen the stockbrokers’ men had no doubts the shares and bonds would return a substantial profit for a potential buyer. This view would be confirmed, with suitable professional reluctance by "Sir Richard Donahue", a very senior official from the Treasury who just happened to be at the ball.
    As a result it was expected that cheques, bankers’ drafts and promissory notes would be exchanged for the false bonds and share certificates and the former cashed as soon as banks opened for business on the Monday following the ball.
    Meanwhile the two London women would be working their charms on various men, helping themselves to purses and other valuables while singling out the women displaying the most expensive jewellery. Should any of these leave the ball early, word would be passed to waiting villains outside and their coaches waylaid when some distance from the great house.
    The final act at Laneglos would be played out when the ball came to an end. In the general melee of departing guests it would be the turn of the London pickpockets. Some of the world’s greatest exponents in the world of their nefarious art, they would expertly relieve female guests of their jewels before disappearing into the night with the richest pickings they had ever lifted.
    But even this was not all. The true reason for the assembly of such diverse criminals became clear when Dolly revealed that, while all this was going on some of the Hoxton villains who specialised in burglary would be raiding at least six mansions owned by those attending the ball. She was unable to tell Amos and Tom which homes were to be targeted because she had not been included in the planning of this particular activity. However, she understood this too was intended to provide the perpetrators with more booty than they had ever stolen before.
    It was this particular aspect of the London criminals’ assault on Cornwall that gave Amos the gravest concern. Talking to Tom in the superintendent’s office when Dolly had been returned to her cell, he said, ‘I don’t know how we can possibly counter this one, Tom. There will be somewhere between two hundred and fifty and