Chapter 39
Theo spun around to face the door. His eyebrows crashed down, and he moved away from me and over to a small table. “Who are you?”
The men strode into the room, and the leader, the Durand fellow, spoke up. “Give us the woman and we will leave without a fuss.”
Theo tightened his grip on the scalpel and charged the trio.
Leech stepped forward and grabbed Theo by the wrist just as he swung the scalpel at them.
The doctor was stopped dead cold, but that didn’t stop him from struggling to finish his downward strike.
His arm didn’t move an inch, and he froze and stared wide-eyed at his captor.
“W-who are you?”
“No one you need be concerned about unless you choose to take your life into your own hands,” the man hissed before he tossed Theo aside.
Theo crashed into his table and both flipped over, with him disappearing behind the overturned top.
I thought my heart would explode as they loomed over me.
The big one, Swinger, drew his ax and sliced through the ropes that pinned my wrists.
Leech grabbed me and yanked me to my feet.
He procured a rope from nearby and yanked my arms behind me, tying my wrists together.
Leech reached into his coat and drew out a collar which he wrapped around my neck.
I didn’t need three guesses to see it was the same style as that worn by Marc.
They pulled me over to the door, but Theo burst out from behind the table. He was armed with vials of his concoctions, and his face was twisted with fury. “I won’t let you take her!”
He threw the potions, and some of the contents struck my new captors.
The liquid caused their overcoats to stain, dissolve, and even burst into flames.
Leech drew himself between Theo and me, while Durand drew out his daggers.
He threw the weapons at Theo. The doctor yelled at the sight of the glistening blades and stumbled back, dropping out of sight.
Leech drew away and tugged on my wrist straps. We continued our escape out of the attic room and down the steps to the ground floor, totaling three floors. The house was sparsely furnished except for some comfortable rugs and a few portraits. Tile in the hall bespoke a feminine touch at one point.
A shadow awaited us at the closed front door. Calder Crestmoor.
I dragged my feet, but Leech tightened his grip and drew me across the washed tiles. Crestmoor bowed his head. “Good evening, Miss Larkin. I hope we haven’t interrupted anything.”
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire. . .” I mumbled.
He chuckled. “Yes, I imagine you feel that way right now, but there’s no need. I merely have a use for you, a job only you can do for me.”
“And what’s that?”
He clucked his tongue. “Surely you should know me better than that, Miss Larkin. We shall craft our dealings in a more appropriate setting where-” A crack of a whip and a whinny of a horse interrupted him. Crestmoor frowned and spun around to face the door. “That sounds like my carriage.”
He swept out the front door, and I was dragged after him, where I was granted my first view of the outside of Theo’s abode.
The three-floor mansion had a clean exterior that stood out in the decrepit neighborhood.
A medium-height stone wall surrounded the plain grass lawn, and a few neglected flower beds added to the dreary night.
Ancient trees cast their long shadows over the narrow street, and a faint breeze rattled their limbs like bones.
There wasn’t a living soul around, and hope began to die in my heart.
We hurried down the stone path and through the open arch to the street. It was empty but for the flickering flames of street lamps and the lump of humanity that was an unconscious coachman.
Crestmoor looked up and down the street before he spun around to face the trio. “Where is the carriage? Why did you not post one of your men at the vehicle?”
“It was not our responsibility to watch it,” Durand countered. “We were only contracted to find and capture the woman, and we performed our task.”
My ‘host’ didn’t look too pleased with that answer, and turned his furious face away. “It is now. Find it.”
“You have received the woman. Anything further requires further payment.”
“Whatever it is, I’ll pay it! Just find that carriage!”
Durand’s dark eyes swept over his compatriots. “You wish for all of us to leave you?”
Crestmoor’s cheeks turned a heavy red, and each word came out in a sharp hiss. “Of course not, you fool. Keep one of your number with me while the other two search.”
Durand’s eyes flickered to Swinger, who nodded. “Very well, Mr. Crestmoor. We will find your carriage and return here with it.”
“Not here,” Crestmoor insisted as he nodded at the road. “We’ll head to my house on the straightest route. Find us along there.”
“Yes, Mr. Crestmoor.” Durand and Swinger slipped away, leaving us with Leech.
Their customer eyed the remaining man with a sharp look. “Manage the woman and follow me.”
Leech pushed me forward with enough force that I took a few stumbling steps before I caught myself. Crestmoor hardly looked over his shoulder as he led us down the road. Our path wasn’t along the busy thoroughfares, but through the side streets and alleys.
My breath came out in short, sharp gasps that sometimes sounded like whistles.
That gave me an idea. I didn’t have the whistle to tell, but I had the next best thing: my blood.
The only problem was that the liquid was trapped beneath a layer of flesh.
I tried to free one of my hands, and the ropes chafed against my skin. That gave me a very painful idea.
I kept one eye on my captors as I furiously rubbed my hands against the rough ropes.
The bristly surface cut into my wrists, tearing slowly at the skin thread by thread.
I bit my lower lip to keep from crying, but continued with my flesh fiddling.
I fervently wished for daybreak to reveal his vile intent, but the eastern horizon showed no signs of light.
However, there was something else on the street horizon. A heavy fog had rolled in and wrapped around us like a cold, damp blanket. I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. The thick mist reminded me of something, but my frazzled mind couldn’t quite think of what.
Two figures loomed out of the fog. I started back, and the handkerchief stifled my scream. Leech caught my upper arms, and his hands were as clammy as his namesake.
Crestmoor stiffened, and I noticed him reach for his belt. Hissed words came from him. “Remove the handkerchief. Say a word and you’ll prove yourself more trouble than you’re worth.”
With an offer like that, who could resist? I stood motionless as the handkerchief was untied. Clean air flowed into my lungs.
Crestmoor squinted into the thick whiteness. “Who goes there?”
The fog lifted enough for us to see our foes.
I choked on a bitter laugh when I beheld the mundane figures of a man with his young son.
The boy could hardly have been five, with plain clothes and a handkerchief tied around his throat.
The man was likewise attired in drab browns and grays, with a few patches over his woolen pants.
The father held his son’s hand and drew him closer at our meeting. “I could ask the same of you, sir!”
“Never mind that!” Crestmoor snapped as he eyed the two. “What are you doing out in the fog?”
“We weren’t planning on being out in the fog, sir,” the man countered as he nodded at his young boy. “I was just taking my child to see his mother. She’s not feeling well, ya know.”
“No, I don’t know,” Crestmoor countered as he drew out a handkerchief and lifted it to his snobbish nose. “Now, if you’ll kindly step aside and let us pass.”
“Begging your pardon, sir, but I’d think you’d let us pass,” the man countered. He tightened his grip on the young boy’s hand. “My son here is rather shy, though if you want him to show off his handkerchief, he’d do just that. It was a gift from his mother, you see, and he’s awful fond of it-”
“I don’t care to hear your prattle!” Crestmoor snapped as he waved them away with his cloth. “Now step aside and let us through.”
The man leaned to one side and looked past Crestmoor, where his gaze settled on me. “Perhaps your lady friend would like a look at it. She seems the sort to like trinkets like that. Show her the handkerchief, son.”
The young boy grabbed the cloth and waved it at me. That’s when my heart skipped a beat. I knew that handkerchief.
The man furrowed his brow as he studied me. “Your friend looks pale. Perhaps she needs to go to the doctor with us.”
Crestmoor offered a smile that didn’t extend to his dark eyes. “That’s very kind of you to suggest, but I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
The boy used his empty hand to point at me. “Pretty collar! I want to see the collar!”
My heart pounded in my chest, and sweat threatened to dribble down my forehead. I cleared the lump in my throat and smiled at the lad. “D-do you want to see it?”
Crestmoor shot me a look that promised a terrible punishment later. If I had a later.
The lad’s eyes lit up, and he hopped up and down. “I want to! I want to!”
I stepped forward, but Leech’s hand kept a tight grip on my arms. I twisted around and smiled at him. “It’s alright, Leech. I don’t think the kid’s going to hurt me.”
Leech’s eyes flickered to Crestmoor, who nodded his head almost imperceptively. My captor reluctantly opened his hands, and I strode forward as nonchalantly as I could manage. The father released his son, and the lad met me halfway. He stood on his tiptoes and studied the collar.
He cocked his head to one side. “Isn’t that a little tight?”
I winked at him. “Just a little.”
He grabbed it. “Let me take it off.”
“Wait!” Crestmoor shouted.