Page 39 of Speculations in Sin

11

I took a step back. Jarrett was the name Joanna had given me, telling me I was under no circumstance to speak to him.

I drew a breath and glared at Mr. Jarrett with scorn. “I’m going to helpyou, am I? There’s nothing to say Mr. Millburn will be in any place from which he’ll need to be extricated. At least not permanently.”

Jarrett snorted a laugh. “You are funny, missus. Millburn’s already in Newgate. Magistrate at Old Jewry took one look at him this morning and sent him off.”

My heart sank. I’d hoped against hope that the magistrate would wait for more evidence or send Sam home for lack of it. But I’d known deep inside that Sam would be held over. The bank wouldn’t stand for him being released. Undoubtedly, someone from Daalman’s had had a word with the magistrate, or the police, or both.

“Still, he is only awaiting trial,” I said with a confidence Idid not feel. “Once that happens, he will be acquitted, because Mr. Millburn never killed that clerk.”

Jarrett shrugged his lanky shoulders. “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. Won’t matter. The likes of Millburn won’t be let off, even if he’s innocent as a newborn babe.”

I did not like to agree with this specimen, but he had a point. “That may be true, but I will not be assisting you in ‘extricating’ him. I will work to find out the truth.”

Jarrett’s snicker made me flush with anger. “I heard you was a droll one, missus. Feisty too. I like that.”

I already knew several things about this man. He liked to reach for vocabulary he never learned on the streets as a lad, he did not know what to do with women who talked back to him and so mocked them instead, and I did not like him.

“What do you mean, you heard I was a droll?” I asked sharply. “Heard from who?”

“Oh, your reputation precedes you, love. The underworld of London knows all aboutyou.”

His continued laughter indicated he was not going to tell me who was bandying my name about but could also mean he knew less about me than he claimed. It was a bully’s tactic, to imply they had information you did not and only your subservience would reveal it.

“I am certain they do,” I replied. “What do you really want, Mr. Jarrett? It is highly unlikely I can break Sam out of Newgate, or Dartmoor, or wherever they send him, so what is it?”

“No?” He left the railing and advanced on me, one small step at a time. “But you can take him fine cakes like what you’ve got in your little basket. Slip him a lockpick or something baked in your bread.”

My scorn increased. “First of all, bread and fine cakes aretwo entirely different things. Second, I wouldn’t ruin a batch of either by baking things into it. I am certain his jailers would check that sort of thing anyway.”

Jarrett’s soft laughter made my blood cold. He had too much arrogance to be a simple street thief, stealing what he could to feed himself and his family or to give to a gang leader. He was a higher-up, I wagered, a lieutenant to a powerful group or maybe even its leader.

“Jailers are just blokes,” Jarrett said. “Easy to sway to your side, especially for a pretty thing like you.”

“Now you have entered into the realm of nonsense. Were you bothering Mrs. Millburn yesterday? Or one of your men? I must tell you to cease.”

“I went round, yeah.” Jarrett shrugged. “She’s alone now, inn’t she? She’ll need help. We’re happy to provide it.”

“You told a vulnerable woman you’d assist her if she gave you her favors and those of her daughters. You are disgusting.”

Jarrett quickly lifted his hands. “That weren’t me. That were a bloke what didn’t understand what we was offering. He got my fist in his teeth for it, believe me. I don’t want no harm to come to Millburn’s wife or his little ’uns.”

The fact that this man or any of his blokes had gone anywhere near Joanna and her children made me furious.

“You will stay away from Mrs. Millburn and her family,” I stated. “Far away.”

“Don’t throw away a chance for her to come out well from this,” Jarrett said, his amusement gone. “The other little girl there. Your daughter? The likeness is amazing.”

I couldn’t see anything after that. I went at Jarrett, ready to shove him somewhere, anywhere. If he shot out into the street to be struck by a passing carriage…

A man appeared out of nowhere to stand like a bulwark between me and Jarrett. He faced Jarrett, however. Once the mists cleared from my eyes, I saw that he had Jarrett against the railing, not with his hands, but simply with his stare.

“Bit far from your patch, aren’t you?” Daniel asked him. “This is Mayfair, where they don’t want the likes of you.”

“Toffy bastards.” Jarrett spit, but not, I noticed, where that spittle would reach Daniel.

“Why are you bothering Mrs. Holloway?” Daniel’s tone was conversational, but Jarrett was trying to shrink as far from him as possible without betraying that he was.

---