“I’m touched by your interest. Now if you wouldn’t mind moving out of our way?”
He hurried to keep up as I pivoted both of us around him. “Trying to free your brother, Lady Winters? Admirable as thatsentimentmay be to some, how does it feel to obstruct the workings of the law? Rather apparent that the two of you were the ones to orchestrate the postponed trial.”
I moved my body between them, so he couldn’t address her further, continuing toward the door. “Your detective skills are keen, Dresden. How anyone is denied justice with you on the case is baffling.”
“The most pernicious part is that you believe you are helping others. By skirting the laws and obfuscating justice to your own demands.”
“More pernicious is that you believe in your own world of hypocrisy, Dresden.”
It was the wrong thing to say, if I cared about such things, as Dresden’s skin reddened in blotchy rage. “If I can lay any of this at your door, Noble, I will. As for you, Lady Winters, your older brother will be keeping your younger brother company very soon.”
Her hand tightened in mine and fury ran through me at the bullying tactic. But our best move was walking out the door.
Dresden leaned around me toward Marietta. “If you weren’t a woman, you would be joining them posthaste.”
A monumental mistake to underestimate an entire half of the population. Or any woman at all.
“How terribly insightful.” This time when Dresden got in the way, I shoved him to the side and kept moving. The sound of his body hitting the floor was satisfying.
He roared my name.
I pushed through the doors and hurried down the steps, Marietta held firmly in my wake as I strode through the crowd, paving a path. More people were filling in the spaces around the court, onlookers trying to discover advanced news they could pass on to their neighbors.
We finally made it through and reached the carriage. I was never so glad to be enclosed. I leaned back against the seat and shut my eyes. What a disastrous morning. Perhaps I would awaken and discover Billy’s knock and all the subsequent discoveries to be merely a horrendous nightmare.
A sound across from me forced my eyes open. Marietta’s lips were pinched together, her hands clutched in her dress. I tugged her onto my seat, tucking her head under my chin. Her silent sobs shuddered against my chest.
“They won’t release Kennen.”
There was nothing I could say in response. Dresden would advocate the spin—casting it as a joint spree between brothers, or the second copying the first in an attempt to free him. It didn’t matter which version prevailed. If public opinion turned, the jury would be influenced, and the judge would shape the questioning.
“We will begin our own campaign to sway the public and free your younger brother.”
The problem was that if my footman had successfully hidden her elder brother, his disappearance would lend credence toDresden’s tale. It would look as if Ferris Winters was hiding to escape the murder charge. Marietta could lose both brothers.
And if my awful suspicion, my awful fear, proved true…could I sacrifice my family in order to save Marietta hers?
The murderous puzzle turned sharply. Gone were the faint sides and rounded corners. Sharp spines and fanged teeth lined the edges now. ThatIwas workingthiscase…
I didn’t believe in coincidence. I drove action and turned it onto others.
I just had to find the play.
“What if they capture Ferris?”
I hugged her closer. In all of this madness, she was innocent. Innocence needed saving. “The murderer has refused to accept the gift of your younger brother’s arrest. He will likely kill again. If Ferris is arrested and then another murder occurs, they will have to release both your brothers.”
Unless they tried to pin it on Marietta. Or on me, acting as her agent. If the authorities started to dig around in my background…they could pin the whole thing on me. Or on my family—which would hurt immeasurably more.
The smart thing to do would be to drop the case flat. To turn Marietta out and try and salvage my own stake.
I shut my eyes tightly. Were all of the people I had helped and the network I designed not enough? I had paid my penance—was I still required to pay more?
“You are going to let Ferris get caught?”
“No. We will take our chance that the case against Kennen is lessened by this. But if your other brother is caught, take comfort in my previous statement. The killer is still out there.”
Marietta clutched my collar, her face pressed against my neck. Her tears wound down my throat and into the fabric beneath. I stroked her hair, my thoughts colliding over what I should do—about her, about the situation.
