Chapter Eighteen #2
“‘Five’?” Jack immediately glanced over to Tobias, their eyes clashing in understanding that the number could be no coincidence.
“What did he look like?” Tobias felt a surge of anticipation flooding through him.
“He was about six foot tall, looked to be in his mid-fifties, perhaps, with a gray beard and broad shoulders.” Dodd shrugged. “Though in truth, he could have been a decade or two younger. In fact, I think he was.”
“What do you mean?” Tobias all but demanded.
“He was wearing a disguise, wasn’t he?” Jack responded, shaking her head as she walked away from Dodd.
“Yes, which bothered me little, seeing as he was paying so well.” Dodd smiled, obviously feeling more confident that he wasn’t within striking distance of the woman he’d once spurned.
“Though I must admit, it was a reasonable disguise and would have fooled most people, but I am by no means most people. I am the Great Dondaric!”
“Yes, most are not vain and conceited, with their attention solely focused on themselves,” Jack replied. “So of course it wouldn’t have bothered you, nor did you pay any attention to the actual man underneath the disguise.”
Dodd’s eyes narrowed before he turned to Tobias.
“I estimate he was closer to five feet ten inches, given his boots had heel platforms on their ends, and he probably was closer to thirty or forty years in age, as his eyes lacked the fine lines around them that a more mature man has. Also, his shoulders weren’t as broad as he was hoping to portray, though I still got the sense he was athletic.
” He turned back and raised a brow at Jack.
“How’s that for self-absorbed? And you’re right; no, it didn’t bother me, and I couldn’t have cared less who he was. ”
“You really don’t think things through, do you?” Jack clenched her hands into fists on her hips. “Did you even consider that perhaps he was another magician and you were selling your tricks to a competitor?”
Dodd scoffed. “The tricks he wanted are ones I rarely perform anymore, so even if he were another magician, it wouldn’t have mattered. Plus, he was paying me a tidy sum, making it all but impossible to refuse.”
“What tricks did he want to know about?” Tobias asked.
“Does the Yard offer any financial incentives to cooperate with the police, Inspector?” Dodd asked, his voice slick with greed. “Because I feel I’ve already spent an inordinate amount of time answering your, and her, questions to have to answer any more.”
He glanced over at Jack, his eyes narrowing with malice, but Tobias could also see the man’s eyes skimming across Jack’s lithe body too. He felt like hitting him then and there.
“We do actually offer some wonderful incentives,” Tobias replied, doing his best to unclench his fists.
“Though it’s more incentives you get if you don’t cooperate, such as several nights, perhaps even weeks, of free accommodation and food, all at the expense of Her Gracious Majesty.
Newgate Prison is extremely comfortable, if not a bit chilly and drafty with its stone benches for beds at this time of year. ”
Jack smothered a laugh beside him while Dodd gritted his jaw tighter.
“Fine,” Dodd finally declared, huffing out a breath. “The man wanted to know the secrets of the Lady in the Coffin, the Palingenesia, the Vanishing Lady, the Mystery of Maguire, and the Burning Lady. All far too macabre for my current show, which is why I was more than happy to sell them to him.”
“The Palingenesia and the Lady in the Coffin?” Tobias confirmed. “You definitely sold him those two?”
Dodd nodded a moment before his mouth dropped. “Was it the Coffin Conjurer whom I sold the information to?”
“Most likely,” Tobias replied.
Dodd licked his lips and smoothed down his already oiled back hair, an expression of fear now creeping into his gaze. “Surely not? He seemed so… normal…”
“Yes, because normal people go around wearing disguises,” Jack said, sarcasm dripping in her voice.
“He wouldn’t come back to hurt me, would he?” Dodd asked, his face blanching of color.
“Are any of the victims in those other illusions a man?” Tobias asked.
“No, only women. Thank goodness.” Dodd breathed out a sigh of relief.
“You’re loathsome, Caleb.” Jack turned to Tobias. “Are we done here with this vile excuse of a human?”
Tobias nodded. “We are.”
“Good,” Jack muttered as she stalked out the dressing room door without a backwards glance.
Tobias began to follow but paused on the threshold and turned back to Dodd. “If I hear in the papers any word about this or mention of the other illusions, I will leak information to the duke about your liaison with his wife.”
Dodd blinked. “But you’re a police officer. You can’t do that. The duke would literally kill me—or worse, stop my show.”
“I think perhaps you need to reassess your priorities. However, don’t speak to the press and you’ll be safe.” Tobias tipped his hat. “Good day, Mr. Dodd.”
He turned on his heels and stalked from the room, certain that the Great Dondaric would value his own neck far more than a fleeting moment of celebrity he’d get by speaking to the papers.
At least he hoped so, given that though he didn’t strike Tobias as a smart man, he certainly struck him as a self-centered one.
As he strode down the hallway towards the stage, he wondered again what Jack had seen in him.
At least now, though, she seemed disgusted by him.
Though why Tobias should care what the lady thought of any man was a question he didn’t want to examine too closely.
He had to focus on the case, not on the woman now waiting up on the stage for him, her auburn hair shining like spun fire as the lights shone down on her from above.
There really was something about her that was magical. Ethereal, almost, as she stood there, looking like she belonged on the center of the stage as she effortlessly captured his attention. He grimaced at the fanciful thoughts.
Damn it, he was in trouble, and he knew it.