AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She eyes me. Then she turns to the boy. “Fetch Jack. These ladies and this young man would like to speak to him.”
“Tell him it’s Mallory from last night,” I add.
The boy glances at the woman, who nods.
As he scampers off, I say, “So I don’t get to see the fight club?”
“It is not a place for ladies.”
“That’s good, because I’m not a lady.”
“I am reaching that opinion,” she says, in a tone that suggests she doesn’t consider it an insult. “However, your friend here most certainly is one.”
“True, but she’s also a chemist. If you’re in need of painkillers—or the gentlemen below are—she’s your woman.” I glance at Isla. “I know you make them for your brother.”
“Far too often,” she mutters. “And if you tell Duncan that there is a fighting establishment in this building…”
“I can’t. That’d violate both rule one and rule two of fight club.”
“Is that Miss Mallory I hear?” a voice says as the basement door reopens and Jack walks out.
“A friend of yours?” the woman at the desk says.
Jack cocks her head and studies me. “I’m not yet certain. She seems quite an odd duck.”
“Which is why I presumed she was a friend of yours.”
Jack flaps a hand at the woman. “Ignore Elspeth. She is completely correct, of course. Being one of my oldest and dearest friends, she knows my taste in them. Now, Miss Mallory, if you have come about that business last night, I have nothing for you. I have spoken to the person in question, and she is considering the matter.”
“All right, but that’s not actually why we came.”
Jack’s gaze slides over Isla and Simon. When it stops on Simon, she frowns. “Do I know you?”
He stiffens, though he tries to hide it, and when he speaks, there’s a chill in his voice, masquerading as formality. “I do not believe we are acquainted, miss.”
“Not acquainted, but I feel I have—” She stops and her eyes widen. “Oh. Yes. I see it now.”
He tenses more. Being at the center of a Victorian scandal means you don’t need to worry about your photo being plastered all over the news. As notorious as his situation was, he doesn’t have a memorable face, and I presume “Simon” isn’t his real name. That doesn’t mean no one will recognize him—either people he knew from that life or even people who might have seen an artistic rendering of him.
Jack continues, “Well, I am glad to see you landed on your feet, sir. That was a nasty bit of business. Those with money think they can buy their way out of anything and trample anyone who gets in their path.”
Simon relaxes a little and murmurs, “Quite.”
Jack turns back to me. “What is it you came for then, Miss Mallory?”
“I would prefer to speak in private.”
She looks about. “There’s no one here except Elspeth, and when dealing with someone I do not know well, I have learned that having a friend around is an advantage.”
“All right then.” I take out the folded broadsheet and pass it over.
She opens and only glances at it. “Ah.”
“You sold information on our encounter last night to this news writer. I don’t begrudge you the ability to make a living, even if I did hope you were more fair-minded than that.”
“Did you now?”
“I’m an optimist. Naïvely so, sometimes. I made a mistake, but I didn’t come to hassle you about selling your story. That’s your business. This writer knows things about the death of Lord Leslie that the others did not. I would like to speak to them, whether in person or by message. I can offer information on the case in return for the same.”
