“I’ll be at the West End station, waiting for Alice.”
Lock turned me around to face him, and even though we were still standing close, even though his hands were still on my arms, I suddenly felt cold. Another slash of pain shot through me. Could I do it? Could I become that noble girl?
“You’re giving up? You’re just going to walk into a police station and turn yourself in? For what? You didn’t do anything.”
“Better to walk in by myself then let those smug bastards catch me and feel accomplished for it, right?” I wondered what Mallory’s expression would be when I finally told him the truth about everything. I found I couldn’t even guess.
“Then I’m going with you.”
I shook my head. “Not this time.” I reached up to rest my hand against his cheek. “I need you to help Alice get the boys ready to leave town.”
“Leave?” His hands dropped from my arms, and the cold seeped through my skin to my veins. It was all I could do to keep from shivering.
“She’ll need help with Michael. He’ll still need medical care, and they won’t want to let her take him from the hospital.”
Sherlock stared at the sidewalk. “Will you leave too?”
“I don’t know,” I lied. I knew I couldn’t leave. They probably wouldn’t let me, even if I wanted to. “But if they let my father out, my brothers aren’t safe here. I need them to be safe.”
“Mycroft can help them. I’m going with you.”
I looked up then, waited until he did as well before I spoke again. “What can you do?” I hadn’t meant to sound so cruel, but my tone affected Lock enough that I knew pressing a few more buttons would possibly send him away from me after all. “What is it you think you can do for me there? Do you think they’ll let you sit in the interview room and hold my hand? Do you think they’ll listen to your theories? Can you logic away the death of a witness against me?”
“I’ll clear your name.”
“How?”
He didn’t have an answer, and I knew he wouldn’t, but still he persisted. “I’ll find a way.”
“How will you do that from inside a police station, Sherlock?” I watched a pack of students cross the street to the square, sack lunches in their hands. “Nothing you say holds any weight with the police. Especially not now that you’ve been stained by me.” I looked back at Lock, and he was scowling in that way that meant he was about to argue with me. “You said you wanted to do this work in future? Then do it properly. You can’t let your emotions get in the way, and you can’t do a proper job if you’re with me.”
His expression fell blank and I crossed my arms and closed my eyes to make it through another flare of pain.
“Go and help Alice. Tell her what’s happened. Then—”
“Then I find the real killer.”
I nodded and offered up the best smile I could in the circumstances. And then I backed up a step. And another.
“I’ll find out who it was,” he said.
I nodded again, knowing I should have reassured him a little more. But it was all I could do to keep myself walking away from him, when every step I took made me feel colder and more alone.
Chapter 23
It was strangely freeing to walk into the police station on my own. No one recognized me at first, or cared why I was there. So I found a row of chairs across from the front desk and sat in the one farthest from the door. It took exactly seven minutes before I got a panicked phone call from Alice.
“Where are you?” she demanded, like she seemed to always do these days.
The constable behind the desk glared at me as I answered. “I need you to come meet me. I’m at the police station in the waiting area.”
“Huh.” She laughed a little. “You’re a constant surprise. I thought for sure you’d lied to your boy.” Alice lowered her voice and I could almost see her con mask settling in over her features. “Get out of there. We’ll find another way.” She definitely no longer sounded panicked.
I shook my head and met the eyes of the constable, who seemed suddenly much more interested in me. “This is the way. Come down and we’ll listen to their accusations.”
Alice paused a few seconds just as the constable made a phone call, his gaze never leaving mine.
“Do you have an alibi?” Alice asked. “Do I need to create one?”
“I don’t have one that will help. But you’d better get here soon. I think they’ve finally discovered me.”
I heard Mallory’s voice in the background of Alice’s call. “She is where?!”
A sudden amusement overtook Alice’s voice when she said, “Seems you’re right. Should I just hitch a ride with the inspector? It would save on petrol.”