“How old are you?” Gray asked both boys.
“Eleven,” Snippy said. “Both of us.”
Gray released the boy. “If you run, I’ll follow, and I will find you. Do you understand?”
They both nodded.
“When you entered the bookshop, did you see anyone?”
They shook their heads.
“We just went behind the counter to look for money,” Snippy said.
“And then the woman arrived?” More nodding.
“She was a right big one, like a man in size. Came at us with her fists,” the other boy said. “No woman I know can fight like that. It ain’t right.”
“I spoke to that lady who was no taller than either of you and defeated you with her umbrella. So don’t think to lie to me again. And how is it not right for a woman to be able to defend herself?” Gray asked.
The boys looked at each other, clearly unsure how to answer that question.
“Do you have mothers and sisters?” They nodded. “Wouldn’t you like to know they could take care of themselves?”
They shrugged.
“So, the woman fought you both with her umbrella?”
“She was quick. Got me on the floor with it and Snippy in the belly. She then told us to empty our pockets and go, so we did.”
“And you did not see the proprietor lying on the floor or anyone leaving?”
They shook their heads.
The sound of a fist hitting flesh reached Gray through the fog, and then raised voices. The boys took the moment he’d turned away to flee.
Moving closer to the lamplight that he knew was just inside the Hope and Anchor’s front window, he found a group outside fighting. Elbowing his way in through the crowd forming, Gray caught sight of a tall, dark blond head.
Surely not? Stepping to the right of the large man in front of him, he found the Nightingale brothers. He guessed it was the other brother Alexander, as from what he could see of him, he had the look of his siblings. Mungo was also there, fighting alongside them, as was Ellen Nightingale. Gray actually blinked, sure he was imagining what he was seeing.
“Wouldn’t mind a night with that one. Methinks she’d be a right handful in bed,” the giant to his left said. Gray elbowed him hard in the ribs before he joined the fray.
“What the hell are you doing?” He reached Ellen first.
“Get out of my way, Detective Fletcher.” She feinted right and then dodged left and around him. Before he could stop her, she’d hooked the handle of her umbrella around a man’s ankles and dropped him on his ass.
“Get out or in, Detective Fletcher!” Lord Seddon yelled. He then swung his cane and another fell.
Gray’s count had them outnumbered. The three Nightingales and Mungo against at least six men.
“Your sister should not be here!” Gray said, raising his fists.
“Good luck telling her that,” Alexander Nightingale said. He carried what appeared to be two sticks connected by rope. He did a nifty maneuver with them, and the man he was fighting stumbled back a step.
Gray punched and jabbed, then hit the man with a right hook and dropped him.
“Where is she?”
When he looked for her, Gray found Ellen with her umbrella pressed down on a man’s throat. The rest of the men had melted away except for two. They were being subdued by the Nightingale brothers.
