Page 48 of The Viscount of Shadows

Jedi pushed the man away and spat. “Too right, it won’t.”

The taller man dropped the cigarette and ground it out with his boot. “Only one man. He said he worked for Hammersmith Railway. He were filthy and stunk and said he shovels horseshit and the like. I told him to wash.”

Jedi stood before John Birch, who had been with him for years, as if these two pillocks didn’t need a thorough scrub-down. One luxury Jedi indulged in, taking baths as often as possible.

Inches from the man’s face, he snarled, “And how do you know you were talkin’ to a man? I told you the woman wore a disguise. Did you ask him to pull out his cock to prove he was a railwayman worker?”

“N-n-no, sir,” Birch stuttered.

Jedi grabbed Birch’s bollocks, squeezing hard. “Then you should have done this.” He twisted, and Birch shrieked, tears running from his eyes. “You follow? Which direction did this worker go?”

Still screaming, Birch could not reply, so the shorter man, whose name Jedi couldn’t be bothered to remember, pointed toward Avondale Park.

“He went that way, sir. Said he has a room over on Talbot Road.”

Jedi released Birch, who dropped to the ground, curled into a ball, and whimpered loudly. Jedi kicked him for good measure. “Worthless shite. Get on your feet. And do your feckin’ job. Check the men more thoroughly. Bring any strange women to me. And if that shite-smelling railway boyo reappears, I want to see him, too. You follow?”

The shorter man assisted Birch in standing. They both nodded vigorously, withering under his murderous glare.

Disgusted, Jedi strode away. He should have cut their throats and be done with it. But then he’d have to replace them. Finding loyal men of a certain age with the required criminal proclivities was becoming more challenging.

As he rounded the corner, Jedi stopped short. Standing by the ancient water pump was—someone. The man Birch had encountered? The person was dressed in laborer clothes, alternating working the pump and washing his face and hands. Birch had told the man to get clean, and he was doing that very thing. The laborer wore an oversized peaked cap pulled low over his eyes. Jedi couldn’t see his face or what color his hair might be.

Only one way to be sure.

Jedi sprinted across the lane toward the laborer but froze when he spotted a uniformed copper. The constable banged his stick on the pump, shouting at the laborer. Then, the overbearing policeman grabbed the railway worker by the arm and pulled him along the path through the park.

Feck it all.

The coppers mostly stayed out of The Piggeries, but with this new park and more respectable houses growing ever closer to his kingdom, things were changing—and not for the better. Waiting a few minutes, Jedi crossed the road and entered the park.

“Here, what’s all this, then?”

No mistaking that query. Jedi turned to face a tall policeman, not the same one that ran off the railway laborer. Bloody coppers were everywhere.

“Just takin’ a stroll, guv.”

“Well, you can stroll back to The Piggeries where you belong, Danaher. Oh, aye, I know who you are. Shove off, you Irish scum. Or I’ll take you to the station and charge you with lurking and loitering.”

Jedi growled low in his throat. If this were under the cover of night, he’d have taken this copper and spilled his innards all over these fine, new cobblestones. Angry and frustrated, Jedi Danaher headed in the direction from whence he came. Leaning against a street lamp, he folded his arms. Jedi had the distinct feeling this railway worker would be back this way again. And when he did, Jedi would be here to check him over.

For something wasn’t quite right.

The loose-fitting clothes, the slender build, it could be a man, but it also could be Claudia. And if it was Claudia, where was the masked man? Jedi had caught him with his knife. He was convinced of it. They were holed up somewhere, licking their wounds—with Claudia in disguise to seek help. Or maybe she escaped because the masked nutter had bled out and cocked up his toes. Jedi had to know.

Regardless, he would keep watch. In this particular instant, he would be patient.

And get satisfaction, one way or the other.