The Deville brothers had spent their lives annoying each other—it was a form of communication. Zach believed it made their relationship stronger. When Forrest had joined them, they’d simply included him in the banter. It had taken him awhile, as he’d been raised an only child, but he had a perfect understanding of how things worked now and gave as good as he got.
“This one,” Forrest said, touching the tall wooden gate. He pushed it open, and they entered.
“No latch?” Zach said.
“It was not locked,” Forrest said, studying the back of the door in the moonlight.
They moved silently in single file up the path to the door. Gabe tried the handle, and it opened. They were all alert as they stepped over the threshold. He smelled it first.
“There is something dead in here,” Zach whispered, digging out his handkerchief and pressing it to his nose.
They walked through the ground floor of the house slowly. No one was in here, he would bet his new curricle on that, but they could take no chances. Drapes were closed so there was no light from the moon or street lamps, and even with their eyes adjusted, it was not easy going. Plus, there was the smell. Cloying and the essence of death.
They moved to the second floor next, leaving Forrest behind to ensure no one entered when they were not looking. They found the naked body on this floor. Pressing a handkerchief to his nose, Zach dropped down beside the woman.
“The color of her face tells me she’s been dead at least eight to ten days. The red tinge is the blood decomposing,” he said behind his handkerchief.
Nathan made a gagging sound. He had the weakest stomach of all of them.
“Search the room and the house. We need anything we can find on who was here. Especially the Frenchman,” Gabe said.
“We will have to get someone here to remove her,” Michael said.
“Without anyone knowing it was us that found her,” Nathan added from the safety of the hall. “Geraint can do that.”
“Agreed,” Zach said. “Open the curtains, Gabe. I need to see how she died.”
His brother twitched them enough to let light into the room. Zach saw the marks around her neck then. Fingerprints left behind from the violent death.
“Someone took a knife to her,” Zach said, as his stomach clenched at the horror she must have endured.
“Falcon,” Gabe whispered.
“It cannot be him, as he is locked away in Newgate,” Zach said.
“Yes, but this has his stench all over it,” Gabe growled.
“Agree. See the lines there.” Zach pointed to marks down the girl’s cheeks and across her forehead. “He put this on all his victims.”
Zach rose and went to the bed. Pulling off the blanket, he draped it over the woman. He then stood with his brothers briefly as they all bowed their heads for her.
“Rest easy now,” Nathan said softly from the doorway.
Zach stayed and searched the room while the others did the same through the rest of the house. He then made his way down the stairs, and they left, shutting the door behind them.
Somberly, they filed through the back gate once more and walked along the lane.
“Did we find anything?” Gabe asked.
Forrest produced what he’d found under the bed.
“A pipe,” Nathan said, taking it. “I remember that smell from the Falcon’s pipe when we entered that house where he’d murdered those women. The death hadn’t taken hold, so it was the strongest scent.”
“Aye,” Zach said. “It has his mark on it, so the killer must be a copycat.”
“Or Falcon’s puppet,” Michael said. “But right now, we need to go to Madam Bolade’s, as the other French prostitute was found dead outside there. If this man is Falcon’s puppet and arrived with three women and they are all dead, there may be someone who knows something. There could be another Frenchwoman who we do not know about,” Michael said.
“Let’s go then, and after, I want alcohol and food,” Zach said. “The stench of death is inside my nostrils. Poor woman.”
