“No, he never said that,” Fredrick countered. “I’m wondering if your hearing was affected by being abducted.”
Greydon cleared his throat, drawing their attention. “As touching as this moment is, we need to speak to this man before we get him to a doctor.”
“You are right,” Fredrick said. “Please proceed.”
Greydon crouched down by the man and ordered, “Now, you are going to tell me who is behind this.”
The man winced in pain as he asked, “Why would I do that? You shot me.”
“You left me little choice when you aimed your pistol at Lady Octavia’s back,” Greydon said.
The man scoffed. “I wasn’t going to shoot her.”
“I somehow doubt that,” Greydon responded. “Perhaps we should start at the beginning, shall we? If not, I will shoot your other leg.”
In a panicked voice, the man said, “I don’t know who hired me.”
“Do you expect me to believe that?” Greydon asked as he aimed the pistol at the man’s other leg.
“Someone slipped a piece of paper under my door and told me that I would be paid two thousand pounds if I killedLord Kendal,” the man rushed out. “I tried tampering with his carriage, but he survived. Every attempt after that was thwarted as well. It’s as if the man has nine lives.”
Fredrick approached the man with Octavia tucked by his side and asked, “Did you place the arsenic into Lord Kendal’s decanter?”
“I didn’t poison anyone with arsenic,” the man claimed. “I am not stupid enough to try to break into a lord’s house.”
“Yet you are stupid enough to try to murder the lord,” Fredrick pressed.
“It was for two thousand pounds! I would murder my own mother for that much money,” the man declared. “It beats working at the docks for hours on end.”
Harred came to stand next to Octavia and inquired, “How did you recruit the others for the job?”
“That was easy,” the man replied. “I offered to pay them to help me. We were going to be rich, but you ruined that for us.”
Greydon glanced up at Fredrick. “Do you believe him or should I shoot him just in case?”
“I just have one more question,” Fredrick started, “once you killed Lord Kendal, how were you going to get paid?”
“The money was to be delivered to my room at the boarding house,” the man replied.
“What if the person reneged on the deal?” Fredrick pressed.
The man looked at Fredrick like he hadn’t considered this a possibility. “Why would they do that?”
Greydon rose and said, “I have heard enough. We should get him to a doctor before we transport him to Newgate.”
“Newgate!” the man shouted. “Why are you taking me there? I didn’t kill anyone.”
“By your own admission, you tried to kill Lord Kendal, multiple times, and you abducted Lady Octavia,” Greydon replied. “Newgate is the perfect place for you to be.”
The man put his hand up. “Wait!” he shouted. “If I tell you everything I know, will you let me go free?”
“What more do you know?” Fredrick asked.
“I don’t know much, but I can help you set a trap for him,” the man attempted.
Greydon clucked his tongue. “As tempting as that is, I have no desire to work with someone like you.”
As the man tried to plead his case with Greydon, Harred caught Octavia’s eyes and asked, “How are you faring?”
