She smiled, a smug little smile.
“I, however, can do with her as I please.” Unemotional eyes looked to her. “And I find myself inclined for once to do just that.”
Her smile dropped.
“You have brought calamity on this household, high lady. Your previous petty plays mere appetizers, in retrospect. When Master Crane asked to leave, I knew you were somehow responsible for his sudden want of retirement. I allowed it, handicapping myself in the process. I should have watched you more closely, I see.”
“You should have watched me at all,” she snapped bitterly.
Marietta’s hand slipped into mine and I squeezed it.
“I suppose I should have done just that.” The rest of the room’s inhabitants were silent bystanders. “Pity you should disgrace the name Steelcrest so.”
She laughed, a wild, fierce sound. “It didn’t take much. And I enjoyed it.” Her eyes swept me then John. “Every second.”
Steelcrest’s face remained impassive, but his hand fisted around the back of a chintz chair. “You will pay for this, high lady.”
“Mynameis Melissande.”
“This is an inquisitor, high lady.” He motioned toward Dresden. “Who followed Master Lucian Noble up from Gildon.”
Lucian cringed and sent an apologetic look our way.
“He heard the whole thing, which leaves me in a bind.” Steelcrest tapped a finger on the chair. “What shall we do?”
“I care little what you do,” his wife said, an ugly sneer on her face.
“Oh, but I think you do. And moreover,Icare. I won’t have you disgrace my name and this house any more than you already have.” He silently tapped for a few seconds. “It would be in your best interests were you to be arrested, I will tell you that right now, for I am going to make the rest of your days quite…unpleasant.”
Her face turned white, and I squeezed Marietta’s hand.
Steelcrest’s gaze moved between the other occupants of the room. “The question is what to do now.”
“Alcroft is the Vein Ripper. He needs to be brought to justice,” Dresden said, eyes narrowed on John.
Everyone in the room stiffened at his pronouncement. I closed my eyes. Every secret would become public.
I had put safeguards into place, but this situation was entirely bigger than anything I’d planned for. All of Gildon would know. Printed in every paper, on the lips of every citizen. And John…
“Let Gabriel handle it.” Marietta stepped forward. “Please. Let him do it.”
Dresden’s eyes narrowed on her. “Noble? I trust him no more than I do any of you. He’ll release Alcroft as soon as they leave.”
“He brought Worley to your attention. Deliberately put his own secrets at risk in order to help your investigation.”
“He wasn’t helping my investigation. He was helping his own.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Don’t you see—it hindered him. You are a smart man; you put the pieces together enough to follow Lucian. Why did you do that?”
Dresden’s lips pulled tight. “That is neither here nor there. Why should I trust him to turn over the murderer?” He pointed at Alcroft. “His lifelong friend.”
“Don’t you see? Gabriel is the reason you know all of these things. He allowed you to know them. Took the chance that behind your stuffy, upright theatrics, you are a decent man.”
Dresden was taken aback. It was hard to keep my own jaw from sagging as Marietta made her passionate declarations.
“And High Lord First of Steelcrest.” She turned to him. “Gabriel has said nothing publicly about your wife, nor your own unwitting part in this. Trust him to continue that. Support whatever story plays.”
Steelcrest inclined his head an inch.
