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“I don’t think it was your idea,” Nick said evenly. “Why don’t you tell me who was behind this.”
Stubbs’s face crumpled and he began to blubber, fat tears streaking his face. “I can’t tell you. If I do, he’ll hurt her.”
“Hurt whom?”
“I can’t tell you. He’s got her there and he’ll hurt her. He made me do it to hurt you. He hates you.”
“Who hates me? Stubbs,” Nick shook him by the collar, rattling his blackened teeth. “I’ll hurt you if you don’t tell me.”
“I can’t, I can’t,” Stubbs wailed. “He’ll kill her. He said he would.”
So he’d been blackmailed. The man who’d forced him to it hated Nick and held some power over Stubbs.
“Captain Lear and I will dispense justice if you tell me who he is. You’ll never have to worry about him again because he’ll be behind bars.”
“It’s no good. You can beat me. You can even kill me. My life doesn’t mean much anymore. I won’t give him a reason to torture her more than he’s already done.”
Torture was a strong word. Maybe this person he was protecting was a prisoner and the man was her jailor. They could begin searching the prisons for a sister, a wife, a daughter, or a lover.
It was something anyway.
Nick could tell he wasn’t going to get anything else out of Stubbs. Cheap gin had eaten him from the inside out. He was a rotting shell of a man now, with trembling hands and bloodshot eyes.
Nick untied Stubbs and swung the carriage door open. “Get out.”
Stubbs scurried down, lurching out of the carriage.
Lear grabbed his collar. “If we need you again we’ll find you.” He shoved Stubbs away.
If he kept drinking like that, it would only be a matter of months for him.
Lear climbed in and pounded on the carriage ceiling with his ebony walking stick and they began to move.
Nick glanced at the sleek, expensive stick, the question flashing through his mind as to whether it concealed a sharp blade.
He wouldn’t be surprised.
“Didn’t know he was so far gone,” Lear said. “The poor devil.”
“You heard everything?”
“Unfortunately.”
“Wasn’t afraid of dying. They aren’t, you know, once the gin takes hold.”
“Where to now?” Lear asked.
“We start with the prisons.”
Lear nodded. “I had the same thought.”
Nick had been so sure that finding Stubbs would be the answer, but the man was too far gone. It hadn’t felt right to beat him. He was harming himself enough.
“How is Jane getting on?” Lear asked.
“Alice said she’s feeling better but needs to build her strength before she can leave.”
“I swear she’s a lady, Nick. She spoke like one. Hawkins didn’t know much about her.”
