Three Nights of Sin

by Anne Mallory

  They approached the prison and Marietta shivered. In the otherwise decent neighborhood of cheerful row houses, the sparse, barred windows and spartan trim made the hulking building into a dismal fortress. Some kind soul had planted rows of flowers across the street in an entirely vain attempt to lift the mood.

  A stocky, bearded man stood outside on the sidewalk, and upon seeing them, abruptly turned and hobbled inside. She looked to Noble, but he didn’t respond to the man’s odd behavior. They followed his path into the prison, and she could see the man’s dark shirt as he turned a corner.

  Noble shadowed the odd little man, and she trailed Noble. Guards and magistrates passed them, chatting or moving prisoners. No one questioned their presence, whether it was due to their purposeful movements or something else, she didn’t know.

  Two hallways turned to three and the crowds of people dwindled to small groups and then individuals as the wide hallways narrowed to cold paths. She held her breath as they rounded the fourth hall to see the odd, sour-faced man with his hooked nose and bushy brows standing against a massive iron door. No one else was present.

  “You can only be here for this half hour when the guards are on rotation.” His voice was gruff. “No one should question your presence, as only someone with a key can enter, but if anyone does, I’ll take care of it. Three turns right, cell in the center.”

  The man spoke with a thick accent she couldn’t place.

  “Thank you, Oscar. That will be the fulfillment of the second favor, then,” Gabriel said, his voice smooth and easy.

  “Dem right.” Marietta blinked at the pugilistic set to the small man’s face. “Bertha’s all over me backside.” He growled. “The sooner the third is over, the better.”

  “Poor Bertha. Still sore with me over the cat incident?”

  The man started muttering, and Marietta heard the words “never forgive” and “nearly ripped me leg off” in the mumbles.

  “Tell Bertha that my neighbor has kittens should she want one.” Noble’s voice and face were filled with barbed amusement.

  “Nothing but trouble, you are. Kittens, bah, I’ll eat them,” he said irritably as he unlocked the door and held it open.

  Noble winked—winked!—at her as he walked through. Marietta stared dumbly after him for a moment, then recalled herself and turned to Oscar, whose eyes were narrowed. Judging. The prickly fondness that may have been present for Noble was completely absent now. His lips thinned as he continued to watch her, but he didn’t say a word.

  “Is something the matter, sir?” Something about the way he was looking at her, like something found under a rock, made her uncomfortable.

  “Trouble. I can already see it.”

  “Pardon me?”

  “Go on now.” He motioned toward the door, his face set in unfriendly lines. “Thirty minutes is all you get. Not a minute more.”

  Her feet took her through the door, but she pivoted to ask him about his comment. He closed the door in her face and the lock slammed into place. She blinked.

  The sound of a tapping foot made her turn. A perfect brow lifted. “Are you going to tarry all morning, or shall we go find our prey?”

  She took a quick step toward him, unnerved by Oscar’s actions. “He is not our prey, you horrid man.”

  He put a hand over his chest and his head bowed. “Your words warm my cold, brittle heart.” His hand came back down to rest at his side, the walnut appearing from somewhere and once again rolling between his fingers. He lifted a sardonic brow. “Let’s find our prey, princess.”

  He strode forward and took the first turn. Marietta glanced to the right and left, noticing the cells for the first time, Noble once more having captured her entire attention when he was within the same space, cursed man. Filthy, ragged hands appeared around the bars, followed by ripped sleeves black with dirt. Soulless eyes stared back.

  “I’ll be your prey, pretty.” A clawed hand reached through the bars toward her. Before she could move, something pinged off the iron and the claw disappeared inside the dank cell. A walnut rolled into the corner and wobbled to a stop.

  She turned, but Noble was nowhere to be seen. Moving quickly down the hall, she was relieved when she turned the corner and focused on his back once more. She concentrated on him as she walked, the edges of his garments brushing each other as they met in perfect alignment along his shoulders, hips, and legs. Better to look at the cursed man than to see the monstrous conditions of the cells and inmates. To think about what Kenny might look or act like.

  They took the last turn and she saw Kenny in an area by himself, as dreary and dark as all the others, but at least empty of the thousand soulless Hecatonchire eyes. He was absently picking at the buckle on his shoe, looking miserable.

  “Kenny!”

  His head shot up and he sprang forward, gripping the bars, his ripped shirt falling off one shoulder making him look even more gangly and lanky.

  “Marietta!” He gripped her firmly as she tried to embrace him through the bars. “Finally! You are here to release me! It’s been wretched. I’ve ruined my shoes. My hair’s a mess.”

  He touched his hair with one hand and maintained his hold on her with the other. “I’ve a lump on my head that still smarts. Some dilettante hit me!” She tried to say something but words kept falling from his lips, as if he hadn’t talked to anyone in a week. “Tackled in the middle of the street. Thank God you are here. Where’s the key?”

  “Er.” She untangled herself from his arms and the bars. “That’s a slight problem, Kenny.”

  “Yes, I know! They’ve held me here for a week! The food is wretched and there are rats. Rats! I saw one try to steal my bread last night.” He sent a glance toward one corner of his cell and edged farther into the bars, gripping them like the other prisoners. “And the Middlesex murderer is somewhere in the prison. What if he murders me in my sleep? The guards mutter about him all the time. They’ve even forgotten to feed me meals because of him.” His stomach rumbled. “About time they nabbed the bastard, though I can’t say that I agree with them lessening my rations because of it.”

  She took a firm look at her brother, who was inhaling deeply after spewing that all out in one breath. He didn’t seem to be suffering from insanity. “Kenny, you know why you are here, don’t you?”

  He waved a hand. “They think I killed someone. Ha. As if I can stand the sight of blood.” He shuddered. “Knew they’d discover their mistake sooner or later. But it’s been a week! Outrageous. Where is the key?”

  He looked so expectant that all she could do was blink. A hand came through the bars to grip her arm. “Marietta?”

  She didn’t know how it happened, but she suddenly found herself disengaged from Kenny, with her brother holding his fingers in pain. Noble’s hand fell from her arm before she even realized it was there.

  “Ouch. What was that for? Who are you?” Kenny asked, sucking one suspiciously clean finger into his mouth.

  “That is of little concern to you. Do you really expect us to believe that you are that clueless as to why you are imprisoned?” Noble asked.

  Kenny looked bewildered. Poor boy had never been the brightest tulip. “I’ve been falsely arrested, and Marietta has come to save me?”

  There was so much hope in his face and she hated to be the one to ruin it.

  “Yes, your sister has come to save you,” Noble said, surprising her. “Little though you seem to deserve it.”

  Kenny’s eyes widened. He had always made friends so easily, unlike her. “I didn’t kill that woman. No one can believe I did.”

  “Not only do they believe you killed her, but they think you killed two other women as well.”

  Perhaps he wasn’t the quickest man, but Kenny wasn’t terminally stupid. Comprehension turned to horror. “They think I’m the Middlesex murderer?”

  Marietta moved to touch him and noticed Noble shift his position. “Kenny, you are in real trouble. Haven’t you noticed?”

  He chewed
his lip. “I thought they were keeping me away from the others. The guards mostly avoid me. Do they really believe that of me? Does—” his voice lowered. “Does anyone else know?”

  Marietta swallowed. “Yes.”

  “No,” he whispered. He obviously read all that she wasn’t saying in her one word reply.

  Marietta examined her sturdy slippers. “You need to help us, Kenny. It’s the only way we can get you released.”

  “Have you sent for a barrister?”

  Her lips compressed. “Yes, but one is of little use in these types of cases.”

  She had read the laws as she’d promised herself. Noble had been right, damn it.

  “But then, what—what is going to—”

  “You can answer our questions, for a start.” Noble’s tone was cold, but he didn’t look as completely unapproachable as he had the first night she’d met him. “What were you doing around the White Stag when you were arrested?”

  Kenny sent her a questioning glance, his face a mirror of the sharp planes and dark circled brown eyes she had sported before eating Mrs. Rosaire’s hearty stews. Though unlike her, his wide eyes made him look comically innocent. Marietta had a vague stirring of hope that a jury would see him that way too. She nodded encouragingly in response.

  He ran a hand through his dirty hair and it stood on end. “Mark and Marietta were fighting again. Just had to get out of there.”

  Marietta bit her lip, the flare of hope quickly firing into guilt.

  “I walked for a while. Passed a number of taverns—there wasn’t much action in any of them and they lacked friendly faces. Headed east. I had a few pence on me.” He looked sheepishly at Marietta. Mark had distributed their “pin” money with the new clothing items they couldn’t afford—part of the reason for the fight in the first place.

  “There was a raucous tavern. I could see it from a block away. Looked perfect. So I headed for it. Wasn’t three strides to enter when I heard a noise. Like the tap of metal against stone. Someone screamed, ‘You!’ There was this weird sound. Like the screech of a cat.”

  His eyes pinched together. “I walked around and toward the sound. A woman was lying there. Then everything went black. I woke up in a puddle of blood with a knot the size of a grapefruit on my skull.”

  “You didn’t see anyone with the woman?”

  “No. Must have knocked me out. Hurt like the devil when I woke. I couldn’t stop moaning. Then I saw the body.” He shivered. “Lying there, right next to me.”

  He paused, his eyes widening. “Dear God.” He looked as if someone had just struck him again. “The Middlesex murderer.”

  “How long do you think you were out?”

  “Don’t know.” He scratched his head, flattening a section and making another stand further on end. “Maybe twenty minutes? Was about ten when I left the house, and I heard a guard say it was half past eleven as they were locking me up.”

  “And after you saw the body what did you do?” Noble asked.

  “I touched her arm. It was so…cold. I didn’t know what to do. I just sat there looking down at her. Then this man came barreling down the alley and tackled me. Wouldn’t listen to a word I said. He just kept yelling at me. I was here not twenty minutes later. Shoved into this rathole.” He kicked a piece of straw. “They think I’m the Middlesex murderer. Unbelievable. And to think, he was right there. Could have done anything to me.” He shuddered.

  “So far his victims have all been women. I doubt you were quite his style, even with that shirt,” Noble said.

  Kenny looked down at his overly frilly shirt in bemusement. It was the height of style, at least it had been before being dirtied and bloodied and ripped, but Marietta privately agreed with Noble.

  “Who are you?” Kenny asked Noble in honest confusion.

  “I’m someone your sister hired to help you.”

  “Hired?” He looked at her. “Marietta?”

  “Worry not, Kenny.” She smiled brightly. “It’s all been taken care of.”

  She could see the cogs turning. Her brother’s face went from stark white to angry red. His fists clenched the bars of his cell. Then he gave Noble a once-over and his indignation turned again to confusion. She wasn’t in the same physical class as Noble. It was obvious to anyone with eyes.

  “How?”

  “Not in the way you are thinking, I assure you,” she said, somewhat more tartly than she’d intended. She didn’t know if she was more upset with her brother thinking she had sold herself or that he thought there was no way Noble would have purchased her.

  She chanced a glance at Noble. His face was arrogant and remote. No change there.

  “Well, then how—”

  “Your sister answered your question.”

  Kenny’s jaw closed with an audible snap.

  Noble watched him through narrowing eyes. “Now, what have you left out of your tale?”

  Marietta looked at Kenny, who looked at his shoes. “Kenny?”

  He continued to shuffle his feet, buckles clicking against the bars and upending straw.

  Noble turned to her. “Marietta, perhaps you should wait around the corner?”

  The body. He wanted to ask about the body. She swallowed. “I’ll stay. I want to hear everything. I daresay I’ve seen more blood in the kitchens than Kenny has in his life.”

  Noble’s gaze was narrow and piercing. Probing. “Fine.” He turned to her brother. “What did the girl look like?”

  “I don’t know,” he whispered, not looking up.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shuddered. “She was covered in blood. I couldn’t make out her features. She seemed older, though. I don’t know what it was that made me think that. Dress? Hair? I don’t know.”

  “There was nothing identifiable about her?”

  “No.” He took a couple of quick breaths in succession. “She was…mangled.”

  Kitchens or not, Marietta didn’t want to imagine the scene. The accounts of the previous victims had assuredly been sanitized in the papers, and even then they had sounded horrific.

  She grasped her brother’s hands. “I will get you out of here.”

  “Mark?”

  She clutched his hands more tightly. “Just hold steady. And don’t antagonize the guards.”

  She could see Noble looking at his pocket watch out of the corner of her eye, but couldn’t bring herself to look away from her brother.

  “We need to go. It is half past.”

  Her hands were held in a death grip.

  “Marietta?” Kenny said. She didn’t know what he was asking.

  “We must leave,” Noble’s smooth, deep voice said.

  “Marietta,” Kenny whispered, his voice anxious and scared.

  “Come.” A hand touched her back, and she looked down at her brother’s hands joined with hers. She let hers drop and felt the weight of a thousand ships. The hand against her back urged her to move.

  She allowed the hand to guide her toward the door, but her eyes were locked with Kenny’s.

  “Kenny,” she whispered.

  The look on her brother’s face as they rounded the corner etched itself in her mind. Forlorn. Hopeful. Miserable. Innocent.

  She followed Noble blindly until they came upon the locked door. Noble knocked and the lock disengaged. Oscar’s grumpy visage came into view.

  “’Bout time.”

  They followed him out of the cell area and Noble gave her an unreadable glance. She returned it woodenly, shock and despair coating her emotions.

  “We’ll head for Coroner’s Court,” Noble said to her. “See if we can’t discover more than your brother could recall.” His voice was the tiniest bit warmer than he’d ever used with her before.

  Oscar shook his head in front of them. “Won’t do you much good. They burned the body,” he said over his shoulder.

  Noble stopped in the middle of the hall. “They what?”

  Oscar turned and nodded grouchily. “They did the examinati
on and then got rid of the body. Fastest I’ve seen.”

  Noble’s eyes narrowed. “Suspicious.”

  “Nah, probably just trying to keep the masses pacified.”

  “From what? It’s not like regular folks would see.”

  “No, but the longer they drag something out, the worse it will be. Clean everything as quickly as you can, and it will pass from the public’s memory.”

  Just as they were trying to do with Kenny’s trial.

  “Does Frank still work in the same building?”

  “Yes. Upstairs from the court. Thought he was done with his tasks?”

  “He is. Doesn’t mean I can’t pay an old friend a visit.”

  Noble smiled charmingly, but Oscar just mumbled. “Better not pay me any visits once we’re done.”

  The next thing Marietta knew she was outside on the sidewalk, Cold Bath Fields behind her. She was vaguely aware that Noble and Oscar engaged in a brief, coded conversation, but she didn’t listen. Couldn’t concentrate. Her mind was going again at full speed.

  “His groaning,” she said suddenly, and Noble peered at her. “Don’t you see? It was Kenny who Penner heard. Not the victim. The victim was long since dead.”

  Noble was silent a moment. “While I’ll agree that it is a good match with what we heard from Penner, something just doesn’t make sense. Why leave your brother there?”

  She lifted her arms in irritation. “Maybe the murderer needed someone else to take the fall.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “You still believe him guilty?”

  The seconds ticked by.

  “No.”

  Half the fleet of ships were lifted from her shoulders, leaving only five hundred weighing her down.

  “Thank you.”

  “It is not I who needs to be convinced.”

  “I beg to differ. You were clearly convinced of his guilt before we came today.”

  “I was clearly convinced of nothing. I wasn’t convinced of his innocence. That is what you objected to.”

  “Was not.”