‘Well, in that case, couldn’t we buy Pedro from you? I’m sure we can pay more than Hawkins is giving you for the job, as you call it.’
Shepherd slapped me on the back and chuckled. ‘Now you’re thinkin’ like me, Cat. But no thanks. I ’ave me name to protect among the cantin’ crew. If they knew I’d double-crossed a client, me reputation would be mud.’
‘It’s a strange time to discover morality, Billy,’ I muttered angrily.
‘It’s not morality: it’s business.’ The clock in St Giles struck the quarter. ‘We’d better get our skates on, Moggy. I don’t want your Syd nickin’ me knives for bein’ a few minutes late.’
It had been a strange, terrible night. I felt exhausted and could hardly keep up with Shepherd as he walked briskly back towards the Pantheon. My boots rubbed and my toes were frozen. Tripping on a broken paving stone, I fell on all fours into a foul-smelling puddle. Shepherd turned and watched me stagger back to my feet. He was smiling.
‘I ’ope you enjoyed our little jaunt together,’ he said as I wiped the mud off my hands. ‘I ’ave. I’ll say one thing for you, there’s never a dull moment when you’re around, wot with everyone who meets you wantin’ to kill you.’
‘I s’pose I should thank you for stopping Hawkins from running me through,’ I said grudgingly.
‘Nah, don’t do that. I only did it ’cos I didn’t want ’im to deny me the pleasure of killin’ you meself one day. For now, you make me laugh, but when I’ve ’ad enough of that, I’ll make sure there’s somethink special in store for you.’ His stare was chilling, like a snake biding its time before the strike. I couldn’t understand why he took such a malign interest in me; surely I wasn’t worth it? I was a scruffy orphan with no stake in anything; he a gang leader with a growing empire. ‘Somethink slow and painful like Mr ’Awkins said. No quick knife in the ribs for you.’
‘Thanks. I look forward to it,’ I replied sardonically. It was a strange moment as we both knew he was joking in deadly earnest. His behaviour made no sense.
We reached the Pantheon with five minutes to spare. Stopping by the back entrance, I caught his arm.
‘Tell me one thing, Billy, before we get back to Syd and the others. Why do you bother with me? I can’t believe that I’m so important to you that you’d risk annoying a client, but you did that for me tonight.’
He looked down at my hand then covered it with his, drawing me closer.
‘You know the answer, Cat,’ he hissed in my ear. His whisper made my skin crawl. ‘You turned me down and I don’t like that. I can ’ave anythink I want now – fine clothes, a flash ’ouse, a carriage or two – but I still can’t ’ave you, can I? You won’t join me gang, so I thinks, if I can’t ’ave ’er, I’ll kill ’er – but not just yet.’
There wasn’t anything I could say to that. His eyes were burning a hole through me, so hate-filled was his stare. Or was it something else? Whatever it was, I didn’t like what I saw. I pulled away.
‘Come on, or Syd’ll be practising his butchery on your boys.’
I ran up the stairs, feeling as if I had just escaped falling into a pit even deeper than the one in which Pedro now lay.
The freezing fog over the Thames was flushed pink with the dawn when Syd delivered us back to Westminster School. The porter said nothing as we slipped inside, thanks to the coin that Frank palmed him.
‘I’ll send the account very soon, my lord,’ said Syd loudly for the porter’s benefit. He added in a softer voice to me, ‘I’m goin’ to work out ’ow we can spring Prince from ’is trap, Cat. I gave ’im a promise and I intend to keep it, come ’ell or ’igh water.’
I gave him a miserable nod. ‘Shepherd’s web’s hard to cut through. I don’t fancy your chances in the Rookeries, not even with all your boys by your side.’
‘Nah, that’s not a fight I’d pick either,’ agreed Syd. ‘But Pedro can’t stay in there forever. The river’s the weak thread. We’ll just ’ave to be ready. And thanks to you, we know that ’e’s alive and well – that counts for a lot.’ He patted my hand, turned and walked off whistling into the mist.
Frank ushered me up the staircase. ‘You get some rest this morning, Cat. Charlie’ll say you’re ill.’
‘Where are you going?’ I asked, seeing that he was not following us up the stairs.
‘I’m going to tell Mr Sharp and Mr Equiano what’s happened. Charlie, let Dr Vincent know that Great-Aunt Charlotte’s taken a turn for the worse.’
‘But she died a couple of weeks ago, remember?’ Charlie said.
‘Oh yes.’ Frank scratched the back of his head. ‘Well, her twin sister is pining since her loss and not likely to live long.’
‘And that’s Great-Aunt –?’
‘Eugenia.’
‘Got it,’ Charlie said with a grin.
‘And you expect me to sleep after all that?’ I asked incredulously.
‘Especially after “all that”,’ Frank confirmed. ‘Don’t you think you’ve put yourself through enough tonight? And, Lord knows, this week looks as though it might be an exciting one. Sleep – that’s an order.’
‘You can’t tell me what to do,’ I said, a shade resentfully. Shepherd’s insinuations still rankled. I thought for a mad moment that Frank was parading his superior status before me, reminding me that I was only there because he was paying for me, that he owned me in some sense.
‘Oh yes, I can.’
‘Or what?’ I challenged him.
‘Or I’ll set my mother on you.’ Frank smiled and dispelled the illusion: it was just Frank being Frank, trying to look after me. ‘You really don’t want her to take you under her wing. Her pick-meup potions are not recommended – she has a firm belief in experimenting with traditional medicine.’
‘Witchcraft, you mean,’ amended Charlie.
‘Unconventional herbal remedies is a politer way of putting it,’ said Frank.