However . . .
Charlotte suddenly slid forward on the seat. Fisting a hand, she rapped on the trap, signaling the driver to halt.
“I’ll get out here.”
“Where—” began the earl.
But she was already out the door and moving with quicksilver stealth to disappear in the sooty shadows of the narrow streets.
“Damnation,” he muttered at the fast-disappearing blur. Whatever she was up to, he wasn’t going to like it. When one danced on a razor’s edge, disaster was never more than a hairsbreadth away. And sure-footed though she was, the smallest slip . . .
Wrexford wrenched himself back from such brooding.Logic, logic—while she chased after the specters of her intuition, he must turn his own mind to piecing together the puzzle of tangible clues.
* **
“Milord,” said Tyler as the earl threw open the door to his workroom. “Mr. Henning has sent a note regarding his examination of the . . .” He paused to cough and dart a quick glance at the far end of the counter, where Raven sat polishing the microscope.
“The, er, object he retrieved last night,” finished the valet. “It’s on your desk, along with an accompanying packet.”
Wrexford shrugged out of his coat and wordlessly took up the items from the leather blotter. After skimming over Henning’s message, he carefully tore open the packet. A wink of red-gold flashed in the lamplight as he shook a small sliver of metal onto his palm. Now cleaned of all gore, it was revealed as a slender bit of copper wire.
The earl reread the surgeon’s note, then set it aside. “Have the Weasel polish something else,” he said gruffly. “We need to have a closer look at this under our lenses.” The surgeon’s instruments were not as sophisticated as his own.
Raven slipped off his seat and quickly cleared away the rags and rubbing compound. The boy was quick, but very careful, noted Wrexford. The fact that Tyler, who was as possessive about his instruments as a gentleman was about his mistress, didn’t flinch spoke volumes about how well Raven was fitting in.
“You want me to fetch the slides, Mr. Tyler?”
“Bring one of the shallow glass dishes instead,” replied the valet. “Use the felt cloths, as I showed you. We don’t want finger smudges.”
Wrexford notched up his brows.
“The lad seems eager to learn, and has proved himself a quick study,” murmured Tyler. “I trust you have no objections.”
“None at all.” He watched Raven sort through the dishes. “Though if we need to order a new shipment of laboratory glass from Switzerland, I shall take it out of your salary.”
“I’m not going drop it,” said Raven without looking up from the task.
He had forgotten about the boy’s batlike hearing—and received an even more compelling reminder a moment later.
“Is that what you pulled from the murdered toff’s corpse last night at the morgue?” Raven went on.
“I ought to birch your bum for eavesdropping on your elders.”
The boy made a rude sound. “First you would have to catch me.”
“Ye gods, you’re a mouthy little beast this afternoon.” To Tyler, he said, “After we finish here, put him to work scrubbing out the chemical buckets. That should take some of the wind out of his sails.”
The valet grimaced.
“Now stop shilly-shallying and step lively, lad,” barked the earl. “We have work to do.” The banter ceased as he sat down in front of the microscope and began fiddling with the levers. “We need the highest level of magnification. Henning thinks the wire shows a bit of melting at its tip, but given he used a quizzing glass for his examination, he can’t be sure.”
Tyler nodded thoughtfully. “Let me angle the reflectors to catch the light . . .” They worked together for the next few moments in preoccupied silence, making a few more minute adjustments.
“Hand me the dish, lad,” said Tyler. Using a pair of tweezers, he placed the copper wire in it and set it under the lens.
Raven edged closer, his gaze intent on what they were doing. “Why would the wire be melted?”
Wrexford slowly spun a dial, trying to decide how to reply. Would Charlotte rake him over the coals for answering honestly, no matter that it would expose a dark facet of human nature? He mulled over the question for a moment and then made up his mind.
