Page 35 of Betrayal from Beyond
Wooten grunted. “He doesn’t know you lot well, does he?” he asked. “If he thinks he needs to offer you such advice?”
They emerged onto a slightly wider lane, populated by dark, shuttered shops between well-lit taverns and bawdy houses. The stink of the river moved in, along with a fog that crept about their feet.
They all followed as Preston ducked through an arch that led into a closed courtyard. Several torches burned, illuminating tall townhouses that had once been fine, but had clearly fallen into decay and neglect. Preston marched up the rickety steps that led to a sagging, unlit house.
Naturally.
Kara spied a constable waiting in the shadows. Another lurked in the entry hall, at the foot of a central staircase. Onestepped out of the dark and fell in behind them. Preston started up, and they all moved in his wake.
There was no disguising the sound of so many feet on the creaking stairs. Preston climbed to the third floor, where rooms and a spindly railing circled the staircase. He stopped at a door midway down the left passage. A small, filthy boy stood before it.
“’E ain’t answering, guv, but I did your bidding, just the same.”
“So you did. But did you give it a good pounding?”
“Enough to set the neighbor to screeching.”
“And you say you haven’t seen Tom for a couple of days?”
“No, but I never saw him leave, either. Thought he was nestin’ in there with ’is woman.”
Preston glanced back. Kara could see the worry in his face. “All right, lad. Job well done.” He tossed the boy a coin.
Mouse caught it. He retreated, but hung at the landing of the stairs, watching. Kara sympathized with him. Her heart was racing. Petra Scot could be on the other side of that door. She squeezed Niall’s hand.
“We’ll get her,” he whispered.
She hoped so. She felt ill at the thought that they might have missed her.
Preston fished out a key.
“Perhaps Constable Berne should go first,” Wooten suggested.
“No. He’s my brother.” Preston shrugged. “For all intents and purposes.” He turned the key, swung open the door, and moved inside. “Tom? It’s me.”
They waited. Kara held her breath.
“What in unholy hell?” Preston said roughly.
Wooten held up a hand to hold Niall and Kara back and waved the constable in. “Check all the rooms.”
“Empty,” came the call after a moment. “There is no one here, sir.”
Kara’s shoulders slumped and she covered her mouth as Niall cursed beside her. He reached for her hand. Together they walked in…to chaos.
The rooms had been turned upside down and inside out. Preston prowled around, lifting overturned furniture, looking under drawers tossed in corners, stacking cushions that had been ripped open. Feathers were everywhere, as were ashes from the hearth, newspapers, and broken dishes.
“Would your Tom Hawkins have possessed something valuable?” Wooten asked. “Something that would merit such a search?”
“No.” Preston shook his head. “Tom never had two quid to rub together. This is not his doing. This is Petra’s work.”
Niall stepped further into the room. “You think something provoked one of her rages?”
The engineer abruptly stopped and turned to face them both. “You’ve seen her? In one of her…fits?”
Kara nodded, shivering as she recalled the gleam of unhinged anger in the woman’s eyes and the uncontrolled fury that had accidentally led to a woman’s death. “It’s how Clémence died,” she whispered.
Preston drew a shuddering breath. “I didn’t know.” His gaze hardened and his hands tightened into fists. “But where is Tom? By God, if she has harmed him, I will wring her neck myself!” He turned back to the mess, poking his way across the room. Suddenly he gave a cry, pouncing to pick up something from the floor. He stood, holding a chain with a small pendant dangling. “Tom’s,” he said hoarsely. “Something has happened to him. He would never take this off.”
