“I believe he’s just around the corner of the big top over there.” She tipped her head. “He’s cleaning the monkey cage.”
“Thank you.” Kit turned away, puzzling over why the monkeys were separated from the other animals yet excessively happy Mr. Coleman wasn’t mucking out the tiger’s pen or something else that could kill her.
“But mind you speak to him from outside the bars,” Rimma called after her. “Those monkeys, while cute, are new and not yet trained. They’re not accustomed to strangers. They’ve barely gotten used to Mr. Coleman these past few days, and he’s got the scratches to prove it.”
Kit charged ahead. As she rounded the tent, a man perfectly matching Mr. Coleman’s description was pushing a wheelbarrow through the cage door. A white-haired man who was quite long in the tooth stood prepared to shut that door the instant he passed through.
Mr. Coleman didn’t look particularly dangerous with his pasty skin and thin frame, but even so, Kit made sure to stand with the wheelbarrow between them. “Hold it right there, Mr. Coleman.”
He paused, barely leaving enough room for the old man to shut the monkey door. Both eyed her. Mr. Coleman’s gaze assessed her as if she were a ledger sheet with a few numbers missing. “Who are you?”
“No one of consequence. I came to warn you about your wife. Where is your daughter?”
“My…?” He shook his head, the monkeys behind him scampering closer to bars. “Whosent you?”
“Your wife, but that’s beside the point now. I must get you and Lillibeth to safety.”
Monkey chatter pitched up an octave as most of the little beasts congregated in the corner closest to her. Kit spied a fresh scratch on the back of Mr. Coleman’s hand. Apparently the monkeys still weren’t completely used to him.
Sweat trickled down his temples. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, lady.”
Irritation flared in her belly. They didn’t have time for this. “Come, Mr. Coleman. You’ve got to get out of here. Your wife is—”
“Listen, lady.” A monkey made a swipe for his hat through the bars, and he jerked sideways. “You’ve got the wrong man. I don’t know how you know my name, but I haven’t got a wife or a child. Tell her, Caleb.”
The old man opened his mouth just as Mrs. Coleman rounded the far side of the monkey cage, marching in a straight line towards them.
Kit swiped for his arm. “It’s too late. She’s here.”
Mr. Coleman wrenched away.
Mrs. Coleman smiled.
Then pulled a gun, her presence and the cock of the hammer setting the monkeys into a frenzy.
Darting around the wheelbarrow, Kit jumped in front of Mr. Coleman, spreading her arms. “Put that away, Mrs. Coleman! I know you’re upset, but you’re taking things too far.”
“Actually,” she drawled. “Not quite far enough, but thanks to you, pet, that will soon be remedied. Get out of the way.”
Pet?The nickname howled across time like a banshee.
“I told you I don’t have a wife,” Mr. Coleman growled in her ear.
The first inkling of true panic flashed like a lightning strike from head to toe. Kit stiffened. She narrowed her eyes at the woman. “Who are you?”
As she neared, Mrs. Coleman used her free hand to pull off a wig and toss it aside, shaking out chopped hair the colour of straw. The mole near her mouth disappeared next, and with the same sleight of hand Mr. Lorenzo had employed, Mrs. Coleman’s nose instantly became more slender and much longer. Her cat eyes gleamed.
Kit’s head swam as a long-forgotten memory surfaced. She’d been but a lass when she’d last encountered those eyes on a bully of a girl who had no right to threaten anyone so fiercely. Kit reached for her earlobe, feeling the old scar, reliving the pain of a jabbed pencil lead just before she’d gone feral and tackled her attacker.
The same attacker now full grown.
Coarse laughter grated out of the woman. “I see ye recognize me, aye, pet?” No more silky voice passed those lips. It was street twang, bold and hardened. “Ye’ve no idea how satisfying it is to finally best ye.”
Kit planted her feet to keep from toppling. No wonder Mrs. Coleman had seemed so familiar. Shedidknow the woman. Only she wasn’t a missus nor a Coleman.
She was Carky Smathers.
Chapter Sixteen
