Page 149 of Their Master

“I did what I said I’d do—Selkirk paid his part. I never agreed to tangle with Smith,” Grimes retorted. He was one of the three men who’d aided in her abduction—not counting Charles and Clayton—the same one who’d left immediately after dropping them all off in this hovel.

“I can pay you more,” Clayton said.

“I can’t spend the money if I’m dead.”

“I can meet Smith and collect the money,” Charles piped up. “I’m not afraid of—”

Clayton turned on the jittery young whore and glared at him. “Shut. Up.”

Grimes snickered. “That’s a grand idea, Clayton, sendCharliehere—he’s not afraid.”

“Don’t call me that,” Charles snapped.

“I’ll pay you triple if you make the collection,” Clayton said, ignoring Charles altogether.

Grimes gave Clayton a look so scathing it should have left the other man with singe marks. “I wanthalfbecause I’m taking at least that much risk. Do you even understand who Smith is?”

“Of course, I’m familiar with his reputation,” Clayton said.

Grimes laughed. “That’s about as close as a man should get to him—his bloody reputation. I’d introduce you to the last man who touchedher”—he jerked his chin at Moira— “But he’s about as mobile and talkative as the vegetable he’s named for.”

Moira frowned; he could only mean the man who’d called himself Brown but was really Owen Onions. What had Smith done to him?

“I can hire somebody else to do this for less than half,” Clayton blustered.

“Hire them, then,” Grimes shot back. “But I think you’ll be surprised, because nobody who works for Little will work for you—at least not when it comes to Smith.”

Clayton scoffed. “Gerry Little runs this city! At least the criminal aspects of it. Are you claiming thatLittleis afraid of Smith?”

“Too bloody right I am. Anyone with a speck of common sense is.” The look he gave Clayton said he didn’t fall into that category. “So if you want my help, then I’ll be wantinghalfand that’s a bloody bargain,” Grimes finished.

Clayton dithered and whined, but even Moira knew the older man had already decided to accept the counteroffer.

“Very well. But I want you to go early and show up before Smith does. It would be like him to have somebody tailing you.”

“Don’t try to teach me how to suck eggs, old man. I think I know how to spot a tail.”

Clayton visibly restrained himself from arguing, keeping his mouth shut as Grimes gathered up his coat, hat, and a nasty looking pistol, which he tucked into his coat pocket.

Once he was gone, the tiny, filthy room seemed even more crowded for some reason.

Although Clayton and Grimes clearly didn’t trust each other, Clayton and Charleshatedone another. They reminded her of snakes, hissing and snapping. The minute one of them was distracted she wagered the other one would be on him.

“You promised me something when Grimes returned,” Charles asked in a reedy, wheedling voice.

Clayton jerked his attention back to Charles. “There is a bottle of gin on the table. That will have to keep you satisfied until we leave this pesthole.”

“If you just give me some money, I can go—”

Clayton pulled a pistol from his pocket and pointed it at Charles. “You will sit down and shut your mouth or I swear I shall—”

The door opened and Grimes hovered on the threshold.

Clayton cut him a glare and frowned. “What did you forget to—”

A voice that Moira didn’t recognize said, “Drop it, Clayton. You know I’m a rather fine shot.”

A slim man in exquisite dinner clothing stepped out from behind Grimes’s large body.

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