“No.” He took a couple of quick breaths in succession. “She was…mangled.”
Kitchens or not, Marietta didn’t want to imagine the scene. The accounts of the previous victims had assuredly been sanitized in the papers, and even then they had sounded horrific.
She grasped her brother’s hands. “I will get you out of here.”
“Mark?”
She clutched his hands more tightly. “Just hold steady. And don’t antagonize the guards.”
She could see Noble looking at his pocket watch out of the corner of her eye, but couldn’t bring herself to look away from her brother.
“We need to go. It is half past.”
Her hands were held in a death grip.
“Marietta?” Kenny said. She didn’t know what he was asking.
“We must leave,” Noble’s smooth, deep voice said.
“Marietta,” Kenny whispered, his voice anxious and scared.
“Come.” A hand touched her back, and she looked down at her brother’s hands joined with hers. She let hers drop and felt the weight of a thousand ships. The hand against her back urged her to move.
She allowed the hand to guide her toward the door, but her eyes were locked with Kenny’s.
“Kenny,” she whispered.
The look on her brother’s face as they rounded the corner etched itself in her mind. Forlorn. Hopeful. Miserable. Innocent.
She followed Noble blindly until they came upon the locked door. Noble knocked and the lock disengaged. Oscar’s grumpy visage came into view.
“’Bout time.”
They followed him out of the cell area and Noble gave her an unreadable glance. She returned it woodenly, shock and despair coating her emotions.
“We’ll head for Coroner’s Court,” Noble said to her. “See if we can’t discover more than your brother could recall.” His voice was the tiniest bit warmer than he’d ever used with her before.
Oscar shook his head in front of them. “Won’t do you much good. They burned the body,” he said over his shoulder.
Noble stopped in the middle of the hall. “They what?”
Oscar turned and nodded grouchily. “They did the examination and then got rid of the body. Fastest I’ve seen.”
Noble’s eyes narrowed. “Suspicious.”
“Nah, probably just trying to keep the masses pacified.”
“From what? It’s not like regular folks would see.”
“No, but the longer they drag something out, the worse it will be. Clean everything as quickly as you can, and it will pass from the public’s memory.”
Just as they were trying to do with Kenny’s trial.
“Does Frank still work in the same building?”
“Yes. Upstairs from the court. Thought he was done with his tasks?”
“He is. Doesn’t mean I can’t pay an old friend a visit.”
