And he was loving it, lapping up the signs of fearful respect his passage through the Rookeries was prompting from his unfortunate subjects. To command this kind of attention from the most hard-bitten and desperate of London’s poor, he must have done some terrible things to them. I wondered how many he’d killed, how many businesses he’d done over, whom he’d bribed. It was then I understood what I was doing here: Billy was a born showman suffering from lack of an audience. He had arranged all this to impress me, his sworn enemy. Not that I was much of a threat to him: he knew he could swat me like a fly if he wanted. To send one of his boys after me on a dark night would be the work of a moment. But he wanted more than this: he wanted to convert me. He knew I despised him; he wanted me to admire him. Well, he could fling his cap after me – he’d come to the wrong person if he wanted even the most grudging esteem.
‘Remember, Cat, I once offered you a share in all this?’ he said with a sweep of his arm at his kingdom. ‘Funny really, now I think about it. You’re such a queer little thing, but there’s somethink about you that . . . well, that . . .’as promise. You’re like me: I started from nothink and now I’ve got me foot on the first rung of the ladder to ’igh society.’
‘Oh, please!’ I snorted.
‘You’ll see,’ said Shepherd, refusing to be offended by my scorn, ‘money can buy a ’ell of a lot of blue blood. You got your claws into those Avons by your own nous, didn’t you? You must be clever enough to understand ’ow it can be done.’
‘You think I’m milking Frank and his family for money?’
‘Well, ain’t you?’
I was about to make a virulent denial, but then remembered the guineas Frank had had to shell out to cover my expenses at school. ‘They’re my friends,’ I said lamely.
‘They’re the best kind of milk cow, Cat, as I’m sure you know.’
‘How would you know, not having any friends to speak of?’
Shepherd came to a sudden stop. I thought for a moment that I had gone too far, but I was wrong.
‘This is it, Moggy,’ he announced.
I looked up. We were standing in front of a once fine building, a vast place with many windows and a pillared porch. It was surrounded by a high wall with an iron gate set in an archway. But the gracious elegance was all gone, replaced by boarded gaps where once had been glass, missing slates, and filth-smeared walls. ‘This is Rats’ Castle.’
I thought the place was just a legend. Rats’ Castle was an old leper hospital, built by benevolent gentlemen in the days when the Rookeries had been a respectable part of town – a stylish dumping ground for those inflicted with severe skin diseases where they could rot away surrounded by opulence. It had fallen far and now seemed more like a leper victim itself, as if the ailments of its former inhabitants had transferred into the stones. No one had repaired the building for decades but they had added to it in a bizarre and haphazard fashion. The castle’s old isolation had been breeched by rickety wooden walkways connecting it to the roofs of the neighbouring slums. Shacks had sprouted on the slates and against the walls like fungi on a rotting trunk, giving shelter to hundreds of people.
‘That’s where we’re goin’,’ said Shepherd, thumbing towards a ladder leaning against the wall. It connected to one of the highest walkways. ‘Are you game for the jaunt, Moggy?’
‘All right,’ I said, feeling my mouth go dry.
‘But I’ll have to blindfold you.’ He pulled a blue silk handkerchief from his pocket like a conjuror. ‘There are certain secrets about this place I don’t want you to see.’
‘You can’t be serious?’
‘It’s clean – well, quite clean,’ said Shepherd, giving the handkerchief a sniff.
‘I don’t mean the wipe – you want me to walk across there blind?’
‘Yeah. Why? Is that a problem, Miss Royal?’
‘Of course it’s a problem, you idiot! I’ll kill myself.’
‘Nah you won’t. I’ll be guidin’ you. You’ll just have to trust me.’
‘But I don’t . . .’
‘Trust me,’ he finished. ‘I know. But it’s part of the fun. Why do you think I’m doin’ this if not to make you sweat a little?’
‘Boil, you are the biggest pile of dung ever produced by a pox-ridden, fart-filled cow,’ I fumed as he tied the handkerchief around my eyes.
‘You’re just sayin’ that ’cause you love me so much,’ he said. Even with my eyes bound, I was sure he was grinning. ‘Come on, ’old me ’and.’ He took me to the ladder and curled my fingers around the bottom rung. ‘Now climb till I say stop.’
I did as I was told, trying not to think about the many tricks he could play on me in this situation. Did he think he could get away with telling Syd that I’d fallen by accident? Surely not: he’d know Syd would blame him for anything that happened to me.
‘Right, Moggy, stop there.’ I could feel a cold breeze on my face as if we were high up above the level of the surrounding buildings. ‘If you reach in front of you, you’ll find a platform. Step on to it.’ It was as he said. I stood on the boards not daring to move. I doubted there would be a rail to catch me if I strayed. ‘Take me ’and. This time I go first.’
‘You think your scaring me, don’t you, Boil,’ I said, more to keep my spirits up than anything as we edged along the walkway. ‘Well, you’re wrong.’
‘Oh, am I?’ he said archly. ‘Then you won’t mind if I let go of your ’and then?’ He pulled himself free of my grip. ‘And wot if I jump up and down a bit to keep warm?’ His boots thumped on the planks, making the whole walkway judder. I staggered, arms flailing. ‘Oh, and mind the ’ole in front of you.’ I gave a shriek and threw myself in the direction of his voice, catching hold of his legs as my foot fell through into nothingness. ‘Still not scared, Cat?’ he asked as he put his arms around me to haul me back to my feet. ‘So why are you shakin’ like a leaf, eh?’
I pushed him away. ‘Don’t, Billy! Don’t do that again.’ But there was no point in pleading with someone as ruthless as him.
‘Don’t do wot? This?’ He began to jump again. The walkway groaned and creaked.
There was only one thing for it. I pushed past him and set off unaided across the planks.
‘Wot you doin’, you daft cow?’ he called after me. I stomped on. If I fell, it was his gold, his gang that he would forfeit. I guessed he was not going to lose all that if he could help it. The jumping stopped and he swiftly took my arm again.