twenty-three
After three days of staying warm and drinking hot soup, Samuel didn’t feel any stronger, but at least he’d stopped shivering and coughing for minutes on end. Knowing that Vivienne was safe at home was the only ray of sunlight of the past few days.
The new flat creaked and squeaked every time he walked on the floorboards, and draughts blew from cracks in the walls and the roof. One greasy window completed the sad picture.
Not that the view outside was anything exciting—a dark cobbled alleyway closed by two tall brick walls. Mostly drunkards walked by. And the smell of rotting vegetables permeated the air if he cracked a window.
He’d been in worse places, and he wouldn’t mind if not for his wish to see Vivienne.
Captain Jackson stepped into the flat, his nose red from the cold. “Bloody hell. It’s freezing outside and inside.” He touched Samuel’s forehead. “No fever. Good. How are you?” He added another wooden log to the stove.
“Tired.”
“I bet you are.” The captain blocked the front door with a chair before peeking out of the window, half hidden by the threadbare curtains. “This flat isn’t the healthiest of places.”
He tapped the captain’s shoulder before signing, “Is something the matter?”
“I didn’t want to mention it till you felt better, but after all, what’s the point? You deserve the truth.” The captain exhaled. “I saw someone yesterday prowling around my flat. His behaviour was suspicious.”
Samuel stiffened. His nightmare didn’t want to end.
Captain Jackson sat on a chair that groaned, threatening to break under his weight. “At the hospital, there are people, who work for Murdock, asking about Lion Boy. Other people out there are raising hell to find you. There is a lot of money on your head. Bad news, yes, but on the other hand, I also heard that Cade, too, was sent to the hospital after having dropped into the lake.”
He closed his fists then opened them. “I’m tired. So tired.”
Captain Jackson put a hand on his shoulder. “I think we should leave London sooner than we planned. We’ll go away and return when no one is looking for you. You need a new identity, a new life that doesn’t link you to that swine. Start over. So he can’t bother you.”
Tempting, but what about Vivienne?
“It’s better for Vivienne as well,” Captain Jackson said, seemingly reading his mind. “Murdock wouldn’t hesitate to hurt her to get to you. But if you start over outside of the city and live another life, get a proper job, no one will link you to the circus. And I don’t know what Murdock is legally to you.”
He frowned.
“Is he your adoptive father? Your legal guardian? Did he simply take you away with him? Did he kidnap you? We can’thave a confrontation with him without knowing if the law is on his side.”
“He abused me.”
“Yes, but who knows what he said to the police? Maybe you’re considered mentally unstable and dangerous, and he convinced everyone that certain harsh treatments were justified. Doctors who work in an asylum would be sympathetic to his pleas, and if you’re legally declared insane and he’s responsible for you, a judge would order you to go with him. My point is, we must avoid him at all costs, as much as I would like to shoot him.”
He sagged. The logic was solid. He had no idea if Murdock was his legal guardian. “Where do you want to go?”
“I have a friend who lives in New York City. He’s happy to help us resettle and accommodate us for a while. A couple of weeks on a ship, and we’ll be there.”
“New York City?” A few months ago, he wouldn’t have known where it was, but thanks to Vivienne and her lessons, his knowledge of the world had increased enough to understand New York City was over three thousand miles and a continent away from London. “I assumed you wanted to stay in England.”
“Cade’s circus travels around the country. By now everyone knows of Lion Boy, and Cade will provide a new description of you. I don’t want to take any risks. We sail to the Americas, get new identities, and eventually we can return.”
He raked a hand through his hair. Risking his freedom now would mean never seeing Vivienne again. “May I see Vivienne? Say goodbye?”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Please. One last time before leaving.”
Captain Jackson pinched the bridge of his nose. After a tense silence he said, “I’ll send a message to Dobkins.”
Samuel wincedat each step as he walked with Captain Jackson towards Vivienne’s house.
His muscles were sore, and the night’s chill didn’t help soothe the ache in his chest. His fever hadn’t lasted, but it’d left him exhausted.
