Page 65 of Razors & Ruin

I get to my feet and stare out the window, scanning for trouble. “If she pointed the finger back at you, theyhaveto check, don’t they? And who do you think will be making the initial foray?”

She looks at me blankly, and I want to shake her. Again, she interfered just as things were going my way.

There’s a loud knock, but not at my parlor. It’s downstairs, an insistent drumming on the door of the pie shop.

“Mrs. Lovett, ma’am,” the Beadle shouts. “I must impose, I’m afraid. Duty calls.”

Nellie freezes, gripped by panic, and I close my eyes.

This is why the Beadle was so cagey earlier on. He knew he had to come to inspect the place off the back of finding all those dead beasts at the Bellefonte place, but he didn’t want to admit that to me, knowing Mrs. L and I were consorting.

The freeloading cunt can’texpectto find Nellie doing anything wrong—he wouldn’t have wanted feeding otherwise—but he’s going to want to get in the bakehouse, one way or the other.

It’s just a question of whether he goes his way or mine.

“Hide,” I say.

“So you caninvolveyourself?” The tremor in her voice moves me. “No. As of now, this has nothing to do with you.”

Her eyes fill with tears, and I feel a pull deep inside. She’s so beautiful, so afraid, but not for herself.

Humiliation, ruin, a trial, execution; none of it matters to her, but she doesn’t wantmecaught up in it.

“Treacle, we’re in it together.” I go to her, cupping her face in my hands. “There’s no time. It’s now or never.”

“I can’t get out of here. He’ll see me.”

“I’ll distract him at your door. Give it a minute, then follow me out, run in the back, then down to the bakehouse. Quickly.”

A quick but tender kiss, and she steps aside.

“Be careful.”

The Beadle wheels around at the sound of my voice. “Mr Todd. Is your good lady in?”

“Apologies, sir, but no.” I brush some dandruff from his shoulder. “She is running errands, and I expect she’ll be about half an hour.”

A carefully chosen time. Just enough to be worth waiting around.

“Ah, how disappointing,” he says. “Following a rather horrible discovery at the Bellefonte Inn, all such eateries in the vicinity must be comprehensively inspected, and I’m sorry to say that the task falls to me.”

This bastard can turn down a job like this any day. He’s here to flex his power and make Nellie and I know about it.

Let’s see how powerful he feels in a few minutes.

I move forward enough to make the man accommodate me and, crucially, get him out of sight of the stairwell.

“A most pedestrian chore for a man of your station, I must say.” I frown. “Almost aninsult. I shan’t have you waiting out in the cold. Wouldn’t it be better to come upstairs and enjoy my attention until Mrs. Lovett returns?”

The Beadle seems irritated at both the suggestion and my tone. “Frankly, Todd, it would. But I pride myself on attending to my duties in a timely fashion.”

“That you will.” I point up the stairs. “Why go only to come back? A bracing shave and a discreet trim, sir, just here where your hair is curling on your collar. Let me restore your noble silhouette with some good, clean edges.”

Yes, you fat cunt. I’ll clean you up, alright. When I’m finished, you’ll have never looked better.

I step back and glance to see Nellie vanishing behind the shop. I hold out a hand like a coachman and gesture at the parlor above.

“It’s my pleasure,” I say. “Anything for my friend.”

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