5
After leaving Black’s residence,Harry took a room at an inn rather than return to his lodgings. He couldn’t risk Black tailing him and discovering his true identity from the landlord. He caught a few hours of sleep then left in the darkness, taking detours and making sure he wasn’t followed. He arrived at the Lambeth Stairs and took a river boat helmed by a man named Salty Finn.
As Salty Finn rowed him out onto the dark river, towards Inspector Davies’ waiting barge, Harry mulled over the recent events in preparation for the report he would have to make.
He’d begin by sharing what he’d learned about Tessa Todd. The facts were clear: she was a miss who donned deceptive disguises, cheated at cards, and didn’t blink twice at orgies or a man being shot between the eyes. Moreover, she’d admitted that her night’s adventures had been alark. She was the wickedest miss he’d ever met—with the possible exception of Celeste De Witt, who’d used her seductive wiles to help her father steal Harry’s work. Who’d played a part in branding Harry a thief and liar.
As Sir Aloysius De Witt’s distinguished features resurrected in his memory, Harry felt a bitter anger. Celeste’s father was celebrated in scientific circles, but Harry knew what the man really was: a cunning, ruthless fraud. His only comfort was that, as far as he’d heard, Aloyisus’ scheming hadn’t done the other any good; as he’d told the bastard, some fires were too dangerous to be tamed.
Shoving aside the past, Harry objectively reviewed Miss Todd’s brash, bizarre, and, some might say,bordering on criminalbehavior. He was aware that his intellectual assessment didn’t quite line up with his personal reaction to her. He couldn’t deny that Tessa Todd stirred up a certain degree of…fascination. She was like an experiment with wholly unpredictable results: the kind that had once kept him in his laboratory night after night, trying to understand the phenomena.
He told himself it was only Miss Todd’s uniqueness that roused his curiosity. Recalling her threat to put him on her “List of Retribution,” he felt his lips quirk. What made up the complex alchemy of this woman who was unlike any he’d met before? Miss Todd’s willfulness eclipsed even that of his sisters, whose delicate appearances belied strong-willed natures.
He knew one thing for certain: she was trouble. Thus, he would do the rational thing. He would acknowledge his reaction to her, let it go, and do his duty.
Arriving at his destination, he boarded the covered barge in the middle of the river. Ducking, he entered the cramped cabin, where his supervisor stood waiting.
“You weren’t followed?” Inspector Davies said without preamble.
“No, sir.” Water lapped against the boat’s sides as he and his superior took adjacent seats. “I took extra precautions.”
The flickering glow of the single lantern deepened the circles under the police inspector’s eyes. Though his wiry grey hair and deeply creased face placed Davies in his fifties, he had the energy of a younger man. In a way, Davies’ vigilance reminded Harry of Ambrose; indeed, his brother and Davies knew each other for, years ago, both had worked for the Thames River Police.
Ambrose had described Davies as an ambitious fellow with the single-mindedness of a bloodhound on a hunt. Harry would agree: his supervisor was devoting full resources to establishing Black’s guilt. Not only had Davies set up a rotating watch on the cutthroat’s home, he had every constable report in to him personally after the shift. He held the meetings here, in the dark oasis of the Thames, beyond the reach of eyes and ears.
“Give me your report,” Davies said.
Inhaling, Harry recounted the night’s adventures.
Davies’ straight eyebrows levitated toward his hairline. “You mean to say Black hired you to be his granddaughter’s guard? And youagreed?”
Having broken protocol, Harry knew he deserved censure.
“Yes, sir,” he admitted. “I didn’t want to tip him off that he was being investigated by the police. Given the circumstances, I also didn’t wish to contradict him. So I humored him.”
“Do you know what you’ve done, Kent?” Davies said slowly.
Something in the other’s manner made the ever-present knot tighten in Harry’s chest. He’d expected a reprimand…but was he about to lose his job? Damnit, why hadn’t he seen this coming? For two years, he’d lived in the shadow of disgrace, with the foreboding sense that disaster could erupt at any moment. Now, when he ought to have been prepared, he wasn’t ready.
He steeled himself, readying for the talons of failure to strike.
“You’ve given us a way in. At long last.” The barge rocked as Davies slammed his fist into his palm. “Afteryearsof pursuing Black, we’ve finally got him in our grasp. With you on the inside, we can collect evidence of his guilt.”
Relief pulsed through Harry. Along with surprise. “You mean…you want me to take the job?”
“Yes, by God.” Davies’s expression was as fervent as an acolyte’s. “This is aonce in a lifetimeopportunity, Kent. For years, I’ve been pursuing Black, but each time he’s got away with everything from theft to pillaging to murder. There’s never been sufficient proof to find him guilty: even this time, when we have this.”
From his pocket, Davies withdrew a gold medallion. Harry recognized it from the initial briefing of the constables. Davies had found the medallion around the neck of The Gilded Pearl’s bawd. The disk of gold spun upon its chain now. A pair of crossed swords was stamped on one side, a tiny blood-red gem dripping from the tip of the right blade. The other side held a single, engraved word:Adsum.
Latin forI am here.
“This is Black’s insignia. He left his bloodycalling card,”—Davies’ hand fisted around the chain—“and still I was able to do nothing.”
Davies had gone to question Black the day after the fire; Black had denied any wrongdoing. The cutthroat had acknowledged that the medallion was that of the House of Black but had refused to elaborate further. Moreover, there were no witnesses—none willing to risk their necks anyway—and Black had an alibi for the time of the fire: he’d been at a dinner party given by his daughter, Mavis Todd, his presence vouched for by at least a dozen others.
“I walked away empty-handed, but I won’t do so again. You’re going to see to that.”
As Davies tucked the medallion away, Harry saw frustration flash in the other’s gaze. He wondered what it must be like to witness all the suffering that Davies had over the years. To wage a tireless war against evil.
