Lady Golden Hand

by Nix Whittaker

  He had been inordinately pleased when Markim had ended up dead rather than her having to arrest him. Rayne had apologised when she had taken in all the factors and that he would likely be tarred with the same brush if anything happened to her. His silence had been more support than she had expected.

  That made this hunt problematic for him. It was almost like Larkin didn’t want to uncover the killer but was also drawn to solving the case at the same time.

  Realising she had been staring at the same plate for over a minute she shook herself. The clacks of the press in the other room kept her aware of the time that had passed, constant they had invaded even her thoughts. She sighed and put aside the plate and picked up the next one.

  Larkin asked, “What would you do if it was Lord Rowan?” The question surprised Rayne but showed that Larkin had been wrestling with this longer than she had.

  She hadn’t considered that. All she had thought was no matter who it was deserved justice. She did hesitate when she thought of Lord Rowan possibly being the killer.

  “I doubt it is him. He is too honourable.” It would break her mother’s heart to even think of her childhood friend being capable of killing someone and then framing the dragon for it.

  Eerily contradicting her comments to Sir Laurie and his narrow minded view of people Larkin said, “Most of the peelers are. But there is a point that can push even a good man into doing evil. Maybe they thought they were doing the right thing. What if he knew more about the matter and was actually trying to save someone? We don’t know enough to just hunt down whoever it was with prejudice.”

  Rayne wasn’t so sure of the other peelers and their honour. Some had propositioned her or revealed their hatred of women by a word and by ostracising her. None of those traits would have made her think they were honourable. Larkin would see it differently as he would have only seen the side of them that spent their days helping others. He would assume all the men were like him just because they did the same thing.

  Rayne stopped at a plate and said, “I was actually thinking more on the lines of being highly cautious instead of pursuing anything with prejudice. I don’t want to be killed because I brought in the murderer of a conman and his lover. Even when I know the killer I’ll probably keep it between us until I can find more. Besides I don’t think anyone will be able to do anything about it at the Metropolitan police. After all they knew Markim was a blackmailer and all they did was fire him. I need a more permanent solution for our killer for us to be safe.” She had taken to wearing the flint lock her mother had given her. It even glistened with hours of polishing. Fields would be proud of her.

  She held the plate up to Larkin and asked, “Who does this look like?” Larkin narrowed his eyes as he looked at the plate.

  “Maynes? I didn’t know he had glasses?” He took the plate from her hands to have a closer look. Taking it over to the door and the light outside.

  “He only wears them when he is reading.” She revealed as Larkin never came to report to the man so wouldn’t have seen him poring over the files with a set of spectacles on his nose.

  Larkin shook his head. “Maynes is way too straight laced to kill anyone.” Like that had ever stopped someone who had a reason to kill. Besides she was pretty sure he was the one who had spread the rumours that Victor was a suspect in Sebastian case even though there was no evidence. If he was the real killer then him turning the blame on to another made sense. Even him assigning her to the case made sense. He didn’t have much respect for her and her abilities. He had probably hoped she wouldn’t find any evidence. They hadn’t really, not enough to tie Maynes to the murder in any case. Just the publican’s word and they didn’t even know if this was the image he remember from the newspapers.

  “He is the only peeler we have seen in the newspapers.” They had searched almost all of them, so she could say that with some authority.

  Larkin was still sceptical. “That we know of. The other plates could have been lost or the newspaper no longer around. You don’t know this is the only picture of a policeman to be in the papers.”

  Rayne shrugged but the more she let this clue sit inside her head the more it made sense. But she would keep it to herself for the time being. Now she would have to convince the newspaper that she could have the plate.

  ___

  Rayne let Larkin think he had won the battle when he made her take the plate to the innkeeper to see if he recognised the image. She would have done that anyway in the hope that the image would help the innkeeper remember other details that could be helpful. Besides there was no way she would be going after one of the heads of the metropolitan police force without solid, irrefutable proof.

  Smoke curled over the tops of the buildings and flavoured the air. Men ran past them with whatever container they could carry. The roar of the fire became more evident as they turned the corner. People passed over buckets and containers down a line from a fountain two streets down.

  They didn’t bother with the building itself but rather the buildings next to it. Frantically making sure the fire didn’t spread to the vulnerable structures.

  Rayne stared in disbelief as she watched the Maiden’s Hare sag and collapse under the inferno. Sparks burst into light then faded as they used up all their energy.

  Larkin asked, “Suspicious. Someone covering their tracks?”

  “I hope not. Because that would mean they are still one step ahead of us and we are running out of leads.” It bothered her. She hadn’t spoken with anyone of what they were looking for. As far as Maynes knew was that they were working on new cases and that the murder had been shelved until new evidence was uncovered. Larkin was the only one who knew they were still looking and he was so reluctant to speak with her about the whole thing she knew he wouldn’t bring it up with Rosie let alone one of the other Bobbies at the Yard.

  The killer could be panicking but it was weeks since the murder, it was unlikely that was his thought process. On the other hand it could all be an accident. But it just didn’t feel right to Rayne.

  She searched the crowd to see if she could find the innkeeper or the man who had been helpful last time. Hopefully they could salvage this in some way. Before they could search the whole crowd they were dragooned in to helping with the buckets of water, their uniforms too distinct for them to pretend they were civilians. Besides in situations like this everyone put in a hand. The danger of the city burning was too high of a risk for people to stand by and do nothing.

  It was dark by the time they headed back to the Yard. Though she wasn’t sure what the hour was. Covered in soot her arms ached from passing over buckets of water. One thing about putting out the fire, they had been around long enough to know the innkeeper had been inside his establishment when it went up and he hadn’t made it out.

  Exhausted, she resisted dragging her feet as she stepped over the threshold of the office foyer. A runner dashed in front of her and then out the door almost tumbling her over in the process. She called out a sharp, “Hey.” but the boy was already well down the block and out of ear shot. She turned back inside too tired to be even mad at the boy.

  There was a commotion inside as well. Officers huddled in groups and gossiped like mama’s sizing up men for their daughters. While others rushed from place to place in seeming random fashion.

  Charles Rowan appeared at the top of the stairs and used his baton to tap on the railing to get everyone’s attention. Everyone silenced and stood where they were to hear what Lord Rowan had to say. “The former Governor of London, Sir Laurie, was murdered last night. We will all be working on this and we will have meetings starting in an hour so we can catch this criminal.”

  The air left her lungs. It was clear everyone already knew this news.

  Charles rattled off the names of officers who would be in charge of different aspects of the case. He then disappeared back into his offices.

  Fields spotted her standing like a stunned mullet at the door and barked, “At it, men.” Startled to be
lumped in with the others Rayne moved before she even thought of what she could do to help with the investigation.

  Larkin broke off from her side to join one of the huddled groups. When he returned he said, “He was found dead in his own home. Bashed in the head with a paper weight.”

  The circumstances sounded surprisingly similar to Markim’s death. Another panicked attack to cover tracks? Sir Laurie also recently found out that Eleanor was a conman. Had he been working with someone? Someone he had revealed to that he now knew Eleanor was a conman. Rayne winced as she remembered bringing up the fact she had gained this knowledge from talking to people at the inn. The killer must have gotten that out of Sir Laurie before he died. That was why they had taken out the inn even though it was weeks after Sebastian’s death.

  ___

  When people started looking into Sir Laurie’s death they discovered he hated Victor. A long standing rivalry that many had witnessed. Then the papers announced a connection between Sir Laurie and Victor. His wife Eleanor had been Sir Laurie’s mistress. That put Victor back up to the top of the list of possible murderers for not only Sir Laurie but also Eleanor as people started to speculate that he had discovered this and killed her in a jealous rage. They retroactively assigned to Sir Laurie his reasons for pardoning Sebastian because of his suspicions. The newspapers speculated that the dragon had only returned to silence Sir Laurie who had new evidence. None of the newspapers asked her what her thoughts were one the case even though she was the one investigating Sebastian’s death.

  Victor was clever enough to keep a low profile and he stopped going to balls and outings. A small group of protestors set themselves outside his house. Not quite a mob but certainly unsettling.

  Rayne didn’t worry that it was Victor behind the death of Sir Laurie. Like her speculation that a dragon would merely eat any offending human he managed to kill, she didn’t think he was passionate enough over Eleanor or Sebastian to have killed Sir Laurie so many years later.

  The newspapers made links as well. After all Sir Laurie had Sebastian pardoned years before. How they found out Sebastian had once worked for Sir Laurie was interesting but none of the papers connected the dots to figure out the con Sebastian and Eleanor had been involved in. Even if they weren’t into lurid speculation about the relationship between Eleanor and Victor.

  The attacks started to happen the next night. Random people on the street were attacked. Robbed and beaten up. When asked who did it they all said it was the dragon.

  Rayne had tried to see Victor but he had been scarce at his residence as well. She wondered if this would draw the dragons from Europe. They wouldn’t tolerate one of their own breaking the treaty and they would also not tolerate humans putting to death a dragon.

  When a dragon from Europe arrived a ball was thrown in his honour. Even Rayne managed to get an invite despite the result of her last outing with a dragon present. Maybe they thought she would be able to get the dragon to reveal his true colours.

  Lady Beechworth said by Rayne’s side, “I see you went with the gold.” Rayne had returned home too late to have a say in the gown. Her mother had put it out and had it prepared. She would have preferred something that didn’t show so much skin. Her arms were bare and the single gold glove on her one hand made her other look like she was wearing a matching glove on her mechanical side. That was the only reason why she had gone along with the dress in the first place. But it also showed her collarbone and the puff sleeve engulfed her shoulders. It also didn’t cover up the brace that held her hand in place.

  The boat cut collar revealed too much of her cleavage for comfort. Her bobby uniform usually covered everything but this outfit revealed just how endowed she was.

  “It isn’t for the dragons,” she reassured Lady Beechworth.

  “There is only one dragon here tonight.” Lady Beechworth motioned to the other side of the ball room. There were two people standing alone. Unlike before there were no tittering women and the ambience was certainly hostile.

  The couple stood together oblivious to the cold shoulder of those around them. The woman was dark haired but otherwise non-descript and most likely the dragon’s mate. In Rayne’s mind she had lumped the woman with the dragon. She shouldn’t as the woman wouldn’t have the same powers but it was automatic as the two worked in sync with each other so seamlessly. They were true partners.

  “What can you tell me about them?” Rayne studied the male dragon. He was large and did not seem very cheery. The woman kept up most of the conversation while he listened with a slight frown.

  “They are fixers,” Lady Beechworth said after a slight shrug of her shoulder. Rayne snorted at the concept. The woman, in a beautiful blue gown, was a delicate flower against the wall that was the dragon.

  Lady Beechworth frowned at her dismissiveness. “I’m serious. Whenever there is trouble they send those two. There was a man hunting dragons when I was a little girl. He ran here when the dragons started hunting him. These two were the ones to chase him down and put him out of his misery.”

  Rayne glanced at Lady Beechworth. She was well into her fifties. If she remembered these two from when she was a little girl then the woman was much older than Rayne had expected.

  Rayne asked, “Dragon mates live as long as dragons?” She gathered from the anecdote.

  “Yes. These two are the most obvious as they go all over the place and mix with humans. Most of the others who mate with dragons eventually move away from society. I think it would be hard to keep watching all your family die.”

  Rayne had to agree but she now thought more about Victor’s offer of marriage. So far no dragons had died from old age though she doubted anyone would know if they had. Dragons were notorious for keeping their own secrets. She could see why women would suffer a kind of slavery to a dragon if they could stay young for a very long time.

  Rayne pointed out the lack of sycophants and asked, “Is Society aware that they are fixers.” That might explain the lack of people courting the dragon but it could also do with the newspapers or the fact that he was already taken.

  Lady Beechworth gave a short, “Ha. Those silly people wouldn’t know if a snake was sleeping in their beds. No, those are the ones who supported Sir Laurie when he was alive. His death has given them a martyr to back. They want dragons out of England. Anyway they can.”

  Rayne took more notice of the people that glared at the two. She knew some people weren’t keen on dragons having any say in the government but she hadn’t realised the feeling had permeated so much of the upper echelons of society. Much of society had their positions of power because of their connections to dragons. It seemed counter-productive to bite the hand that fed them.

  With that in mind she said to Lady Beechworth, “I think I might just introduce myself.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  The door opened, bathing the empty street with candle light and Rayne caught her breath. Maynes tugged his coat closer around him against the cold night. He glanced around looking for anyone on the streets before he stepped away from his doorstep.

  Rayne peeled out of the small shadows she had been hiding in and followed him as he made his way through the streets of Londinium. She moved from shadow to shadow in case he glanced behind him.

  She had been following him for two nights. Hoping he was the one behind the attacks and that it wasn’t someone else that was trying to frame Victor. That would be in the realm of impossible or unlikely. Unfortunately, she didn’t have any evidence that it was Maynes who was the killer or the new ‘dragon’ attacker that was being reported in the newspapers.

  Maynes moved down the street as if on a mission. Giving her hope he was on his way to further blacken Victor’s name. It was disappointing when he stopped at a theatre two blocks over. She didn’t go inside as the lights would make it easier to spot her. Instead she found a hiding spot in the shadows of a highly decorated building. She had a good view of the entrance and settled in to wait.

  She almost ju
mped out of her skin when Victor said just behind her, “Now what is a pretty girl like you doing out in the middle of the night on Londinium’s streets?”

  She turned to glare at Victor. “I can ask you the same thing.”

  He patted his hair and said, “I do have nice hair but I wouldn’t go so far as to call me pretty. Handsome maybe.”

  Rayne turned back to watch the theatre. “I don’t have time for this, Victor.” She had no idea how he had found her and assumed it was another dragon ability that she didn’t know of.

  He leaned on the wall next to her, close enough that she could feel the heat coming off his body. “Oh, are we on first name basis again?”

  She almost asked him how he found her but she dreaded the answer. Besides it wasn’t that important. Instead she said, “Being annoying is not a great way to court someone.”

  “Courting? That is better than where we were before.”

  She glanced over her shoulder and asked, “What are you even doing out. I thought you were hiding from the mobs.”

  “Funnily enough when the temperature is low the mob seems to disappear. There was a single diligent bigot at my door this evening and it didn’t take much to sneak past him. He still thinks I’m at home and he is standing watch with his pitch fork and torch.”

  She sighed at his dramatic portrayal of the few people who staked out his home. They were mostly annoying rather than dangerous.

  Changing the subject she announced, “I met another dragon.”

  He stepped in closer and asked intensely, “Who?”

  A smiled slipped onto her lips for a moment at his obvious jealousy.

  “Lady Beechworth calls them fixers.”

  He relaxed. Taking a step back. “Oh, that is only Harlen.”

  “So she was right, they really are fixers.” Rayne had spoken with them at the ball. Most people had watched on nervously in case another full sized dragon happened to transform again in the ball room. Some had been disappointed when nothing had happened. Maybe she had been invited because of what had happened at the last ball. Harlen had been on his best behaviour and had asked questions about her investigation into Eleanor and Sebastian’s deaths. It had revealed they were there because of the possibility of Victor having killed Sebastian rather than the speculation that he had killed Sir Laurie. The timeline made more sense as they had arrived almost as the reports in the newspapers had started. They must have already been on their way.