Vivian,it read,Thought you might need another pair of these, since it looked like yours got ruined last night, and I know they’re hard to come by on a dressmaker’s wages. You’re always welcome at the Nightingale—but our talk from this morning isn’t done.
It was unsigned. Vivian hesitated, but her curiosity got the better of her before she could talk herself out of it, and she pulled open thepackage. Inside was a beautiful pair of silk stockings—far nicer than the ones that had been wrecked by the raid and her night in jail. They were so smooth against her fingers that she had to resist the urge to bring them up to rub against her cheek. Instead, she looked up at Danny.
“Do you know what she’s going to want?” she asked, her attempt at sounding worldly and offhand undermined by the way her voice caught in her throat.
“Just to talk, far as I know. She said you weren’t done chatting about her favor.”
“And these?” Vivian held up the stockings, too disoriented by the gift to be embarrassed about showing them to him.
He whistled. “Pretty-looking things. Guess she thought she might need to sweeten you up a little first.”
Vivian wasn’t cold, but she crossed her arms over her torso as if she could ward off the sudden feeling of vulnerability. Danny frowned.
“You’re not scared of her, are you? Hux ain’t bad people.”
“So you’re saying she’s good people?” Vivian asked skeptically.
That made him laugh. “I wouldn’t go that far. We’re none of us angels, kitten, you know that.” He tapped her nose. “Not even you. But it won’t be that bad. Hux’s favors get done because people end up wanting to do them.”
Vivian laughed shortly. “I believe it. That woman is persuasive.” There was no getting out of it. Honor Huxley had bailed her out, no questions asked. Vivian owed her. “When should I come by?”
“A little before opening tonight. Say eight o’clock? Someone will be there to let you in.”
“All right,” she agreed, hoping he wouldn’t guess that she suddenly felt like her heart was speeding up. “See you then?”
“See you then.” He winked and tipped his hat, which made her smile in spite of her racing heart, and took the stairs two at a time on his way down, the sound of his cheerful whistling drifting behind him.
Vivian closed the door. If Honor was expecting her at the club, itwas probably best not to go back to sleep. If she moved quickly, she could have dinner set and be gone before Florence got home. Dropping the dressing gown carelessly to the floor, Vivian picked up the clean dress that Florence had folded neatly in the laundry basket and tugged it over her head. The kettle on the stove was still half-full of water, enough to make at least a cup of coffee. She set it to boil and, flexing her injured hand and wincing with each movement, glanced out the room’s single window.
She was just in time to see Danny emerge from the front door, his hat shading his face from view but his jaunty walk unmistakable. Vivian shook her head, smiling to herself, as she leaned her head against the window and waited for the kettle.
That was when she noticed two hulking figures in dark suits, hats pulled low over their eyes, slide out from an alley and head in the direction Danny had gone. There was something about the way they moved—carefully, heavily, staying close to the buildings—that set the back of her neck prickling. When Danny turned the corner, they sped up after him.
Vivian’s stomach tightened with sudden fear. She knew bully boys and bruisers when she saw them. Danny could take care of himself, she was sure—but they were two to one, and he didn’t know they were coming.
Vivian wavered, then cursed loudly and turned off the stove. Grabbing Florence’s house slippers from their place by the front door, she shoved them on and dashed out into the hall, nearly tripping over her own feet as she pelted down the stairs.
“Vivian, girl, why are you home?” she heard a querulous voice ask as she reached the bottom level, but she didn’t stop to answer, shoving open the building door and stumbling out.
For a moment she was disoriented, blinking in the too-bright sun as she tried to remember which way Danny had been going. The cobbler’s shop across the street helped her get her bearings—he had disappeared down the alley just to the left. Vivian ran after him.
They had a head start, but she was the only one running. The alley opened up into another that was little more than a trash-filled gap between buildings; hearing voices up ahead, Vivian checked herself at the corner and peeked around.
The two toughs had Danny backed up against a wall of trash bins and teetering storage crates. He was silent, his body tense while he watched them—one man was talking while the other moved slowly to one side.
“See, pal, I don’t think that’s the honest truth you’re telling us,” the chatty one said, shaking his head as if he were disappointed. He was the smaller of the two, with a weaselly face and a cruel smile. “We think your bitch of a boss knows more than she’s letting on. You’ll be better off telling us what she knows, or next time you’ll end up with worse than paying customers in the lockup. Ain’t that right, Eddie?”
Eddie, a hulking avalanche of a man, grunted in agreement, still circling. Danny had half turned his body, trying to keep an eye on both men at once.
“But if you tell us what you know, maybe we’ll go easy, eh? Maybe we’ll just break one arm instead of both of them if, say, you could tell us who he was talking to before he ended up clipped in your alley.”
“You’re off your rocker if you think I’ve got anything to say to you,” Danny said, his cheerful tone at odds with the tense scene. “It’s a shame someone offed your man, since whoever’s bossing you now clearly ain’t got the brains of a baby.”
The weaselly one shrugged. “Have it your way, fella. Eddie?”
Eddie grunted again and charged.
Vivian stared frantically around her alley corner, trying to find something—anything—that would let her help. There was a splintered crate thrown against one wall, and she caught up one of the longer pieces before turning back to the fight. But the scene that met her eyes was terrifying and hypnotic, and for the moment she stayed where she was, shocked into stillness once more.
