Page 36 of Ashes To Ashes
Lincoln was still considering the most efficient method to relieve the constable of the note when Seth said, "Mr. Rampling would like to see it."
The constable glanced at the coachman who simply stared at his cousin's body, oblivious to the attention. The constable waited. After a nudge from Seth, Lincoln handed the policeman three shillings. The constable removed the note from the deceased's pocket. He handed it to Rampling, but when he didn't move to take it, passed it to Lincoln.
The soggy card was thick, like a gentleman's calling card. It bore no signature or indication as to who'd sent it. The barely legible words read: "Shadwell Dock Stairs. Midnight." Lincoln passed it back to the constable.
The policeman leapt onto the back of the cart and ordered the driver to exit the mews. Once he was out of sight, Rampling crouched down and ran both hands through his hair. Lincoln felt like doing the same.
"Do you know who wrote that note?" Lincoln asked him.
Rampling wiped the back of his hand across his eyes and stood. "Tom never told me his business. I knew he was doing some work for someone that involved wearing disguises from time to time, but I never asked what he was doing. God," he moaned. "I have to write to his mother."
Seth clapped him on the shoulder. "What was his middle name?"
Lincoln sucked in a breath. He glared at Seth, but Seth wasn't looking his way.
"James," Rampling said. "Why?"
"No particular reason."
Rampling looked up. "You didn't tell me why you came looking for Thomas."
"It no longer matters," Seth said, far more cheerfully than was appropriate considering the circumstances. He gathered the reins for Lincoln's horse and climbed onto the driver's seat. Instead of sitting in the cabin, Lincoln got up beside him.
"Aren't you going to say something?" Seth asked as they passed the Queen’s Arms.
"No," Lincoln said.
"Not even to tell me there was no point getting the dead man's middle name because Charlie's not here to call his spirit back?"
Lincoln didn't respond. Hopefully his lack of communication would shut Seth up. Unfortunately, it seemed to have the opposite effect.
"If she was here, she could summon the spirit and find out who hired Rampling to hire Jack Daley," he went on. "You do know that Rampling was most likely killed because he could identify the man who hired him, don't you?"
Captain Jasper too, although Lincoln hadn't connected his death to the current murders until recently. He could have asked her to raise Jasper, but using her necromancy like that had felt wrong, particularly when he was warning hernotto use it.
The whip of the icy wind slapped Lincoln's cheeks, and it began raining as they passed through Camden Town. Each drop pelted down from the dense mass of cloud overhead like sharp shards of glass. Seth flipped up his hood but Lincoln had given his coat to the girl in Flower and Dean Street. He took over the reins and urged the horse to go faster.
"Careful!" Seth grabbed onto the side rail as they took a sharp corner without slowing.
Lincoln didn't slow down until they reached Lichfield's coach house. Gus was already waiting.
"Did the police catch Daley?" Seth asked as he jumped down.
Gus nodded. "Got him before he even left the lodgin' house. He was screamin' at them about gettin' his foot seen by a doctor."
Lincoln helped Gus unharness the coach then Seth led the horse to the stables. Lincoln and Gus joined him a few minutes later. While they all worked, Seth told Gus about Rampling's demise, including the fact that they could have discovered who'd hired him by now if Charlie was with them.
That was Lincoln's cue to return inside, but Gus stopped him with a growled, "If you don't want her back for your own good, then what about the greater good? She's useful."
"She's not a tool." Lincoln had snapped out the words before he could check himself.
"She ain't a parcel to be sent across the country neither!"
Seth laid a hand on Gus's shoulder. He half-raised his other hand in a calming gesture, as if he were approaching a wild horse. "Let me handle this," he muttered.
Had they discussed this between them? It wouldn't surprise Lincoln if they had. They'd taken Charlie's departure badly and neither seemed the same since. They'd certainly changed their attitude toward Lincoln. Sometimes he was surprised they still worked for him. Part of him wondered if they remained because they expected him to fetch Charlie back, or if they thought they could manipulate him into doing so.
He wasn't going to let them push him. In fact, why discuss it at all? He'd made his decision. He didn't care what they thought.
