Kate pressed his hand against her cheek. “Of course.”
Malcolm hefted the rifle. The weapon still looked remarkably normal despite having come from Penny’s tinker shop. It was the size of standard-issue Baker, but with a lighter heft that felt odd in his hands. Rather than the usual ball and powder, however, it used a special shell similar to those Penny made for his Lancaster pistols, ten of which could be stored at the ready in a chamber near the breech. Attached along the top of the weapon was another of Penny’s gadgets. Just ahead of the breech, a small magnifying loupe was fixed, aligned with a series of concave and convex lenses, each one capable of being moved in line with the others down the length of the barrel.
Malcolm brought the stock to his shoulder and pointed the rifle at the French window in the library at Hartley Hall. He took aim at the head of a strange monstrous statue on the far edge of the garden over one hundred yards away. With deft fingers, he flipped the small round lenses of glass up and down in several combinations until the distant head grew close but it was still lost in the dark. He lowered another yellow lens into the row and suddenly the statue lit as if in a bright sun. Its teeth were bared and its eyes stared straight back at him. It looked as if he were standing right upon the creature.
He let out a low whistle of amazement. Penny’s modification was incredible. As a hunter, he knew the value of such a telescopic advancement. He could take out any number of beasts from a great distance without the danger of getting close enough to be shredded by claws. This was the perfect weapon for killing.
The perfect weapon for murder.
Malcolm didn’t flinch at the thought because it wasn’t murder if the beast was slaughtering innocents. Rowan Barnes was a beast, no doubt.
“What are you doing?”
Malcolm started and the rifle fired with a suppressed whoosh. The glass of the French window shattered and the head of the statue exploded into dust in nearly the same instant. He glared down at Charlotte. He hadn’t even heard her approach.
She covered her mouth and stared wide-eyed. “Oh. You’re in trouble.”
He breathed out angrily, trying to ignore the child, and started packing.
“Is that the gun Penny modified to shoot Barnes?”
Bloody hell! Penny was a chatterbox at the worst of times.
“May I come with you to the Red Orchid?” Charlotte rocked back and forth on her heels, making her pastel frock sway about her ankles. “I’m terribly bored here.”
“Go away.”
“I could help.”
“I don’t see how.”
“I can hold on to your stuff.” She grabbed for a box of ammunition on the table, but tipped it over so the specially designed bullets scattered across the teak surface.
“Stop it!” Malcolm rebuked crossly. “These are delicate.”
She held up one of the bullets to the light. It was long and made with a shiny brass casing. “Oh, how pretty! What do they do?”
“They kill things.” The hunter snatched the bullet from her hand.
“Penny made these also?” Charlotte pointed at the stylized gear cog on the box that was Penny’s brand. “She’s terribly clever.”
Malcolm took the ammunition box from her. He could still barely stand to look at her despite the evidence of her improved demeanor. As a werewolf, she was a threat he knew how to deal with; as a girl, she was an annoyance with which he was unfamiliar. “Go outside and play with the dog.”
“I want to go with you.”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“No. You need to stay here with Imogen.”
“Imogen is grumpy.” Charlotte scuffed a foot on the rug. “Just for a little? I’m bored.”
“Ask Hogarth for something to do.”
She quieted. “He scares me.”
“Aye, he scares me too,” Malcolm admitted. “But you’re still staying.”
“Please! I’ll be very quiet. I promise. You won’t even know I’m there. I’ll be so careful. I haven’t changed in forever. You know I’ve been so good they moved me out of the cellar. I have a room upstairs like everyone else. I’m so calm all the time I’m practically asleep.”
Malcolm’s exasperation with the child was fast coming to a head. He threw on his heavy greatcoat, patting his pockets to ensure Eleanor’s poetry book was there. He grabbed the box of ammunition and his satchel of supplies before he strode from the library. Charlotte remained on his heels as he made his way down the corridor and into the kitchen. When he passed through the door outside, she stopped at the threshold.
“What happens if you need me?” she called out after him into the growing twilight.
“I won’t.” Malcolm didn’t turn around so he wouldn’t see her pout. He continued to the stables. She was Hogarth’s problem now. He had more pressing concerns to deal with. Finally, there was a monster he was allowed to kill.
Chapter Twenty