He cursed when the man’s face came into view and moved to sidestep him.
“Going somewhere, Mr. Noble?”
Arthur Dresden’s face was set in lines somewhere between satisfied and comically enraged.
“Finally figured it out, eh, Dresden? Congratulations. Now, if you’ll pardon us.” He reached a hand behind to Marietta and tried to step around. The main door and freedom were only twenty paces away.
The Runner stepped in his path again. “Going so soon? I don’t think so. I have questions, you see.”
“How extraordinary for you. But you can’t detain us here. We’ll be on our way.”
“You think I cannot?”
“I know you cannot, Runner.” Some people might be scared by a Bow Street Runner and the tactics they used, but Gabriel had read all their codes. All the laws concerning them. Unfortunately for the man in front of him.
Dresden’s eyes were scorching. “I’ve heard all about you. Using the law as you desire. Bribing people to do yourjustice. It’s outrageous. The law is not to be trifled with. I will be watching you, Noble, make no mistake.”
“I’m touched by your interest. Now if you wouldn’t mind moving out of our way?”
Dresden turned to Marietta. “You are trying to free your brother. Admirable as thatsentimentmay be to some, how does it feel to obstruct the workings of the law, Miss Winters? It is rather apparent that you were the one, Mr. Noble, to orchestrate the bid for the trial to be repositioned to a later date.”
“Your detective skills are keen, I must say. How anyone is denied justice in a land where you make arrests is baffling.”
“Laugh all you want, Noble. The truly pernicious thing is that you believe yourself to be helping others. To skirt the laws, to obfuscate justice to your own demands.”
“The truly pernicious thing is that you believe in your own world of hypocrisy, Dresden.”
It was obviously the wrong thing to say, if he cared about such a matter, as Dresden’s color changed from white to red. “If I can lay any of this at your door, I will, Noble. As for you, Miss Winters, your older brother will be keeping your younger brother company very soon.”
Her hand tightened on Gabriel’s and a tingle of rage ran through him at Dresden’s bullying tactic.
Dresden leaned toward Marietta. “If you weren’t a woman, you would join them posthaste.”
The Runner obviously didn’t think much of women. A monumental mistake to underestimate them.
“How terribly insightful.” Gabriel started walking, and this time when Dresden got in the way, Gabriel shoved him to the side and kept moving. The sound of a body hitting the floor behind him was terribly satisfying.
Dresden roared his name.
Gabriel pushed through the doors and hurried down the steps, Marietta held firmly in his wake as he strode through the crowd, paving a path. More people were filling in the area around the court, onlookers trying to discover advanced news they could pass on to their neighbors. Any morsel of gossip.
They finally made it through and vaulted back to darkened safety. He was never so glad to be in a carriage as he was now. He leaned back against the seat and closed his eyes. What a disastrous morning. Perhaps he would awaken and discover Billy’s knock and all the subsequent discoveries to be merely a horrendous nightmare.
A sound across from him had his eyes opening back up. Marietta’s lips were pinched together and her hands were clutched in her dress. He reached over and tugged her onto his seat, tucking her head under his chin. He could feel her silent sobs.
“Shhh. Your brother will be fine.”
“They won’t release Kenny.”
He didn’t have anything to say to that. He wondered if Dresden was solely responsible for putting the new spin on the murders. A joint project between the brothers, or one brother copying the other in an attempt to free him. It didn’t matter. If public opinion went against them, they were in trouble. The jury would be influenced, and the judge would guide the questioning.
“We will start a campaign to free your brother.”
The problem was that if his footman had been successful at hiding Mark, it would merely lend credence to Dresden’s tale. It would look as if Mark were hiding to escape the murder charge. They were cuffed. Marietta could lose both brothers.
And if his awful suspicion, his awful fear, proved true…could he sacrifice his family in order to save Marietta hers?
The puzzle turned sharply. Gone were the faint sides and rounded corners. Sharp spines and fanged teeth decorated the edges now. That he was workingthisparticular case…He didn’t believe in coincidence. Men like him made their own coincidences and returned them onto others. What was happening?
