She had been frank as possible. Her godfather would have wanted her to be transparent but a casual comment had revealed that Maynes had been keeping them in the dark. That was when she had decided to follow Maynes. With the death of the innkeeper she couldn’t use the plate she had taken from the newspaper. But it didn’t change the possibility that he had been having a meal with Sebastian just before his death. Or the possibility Sir Laurie had revealed the truth of Eleanor to Maynes. Sealing his own fate. Frustratingly, she had nothing tangible to take to Charles.
Relaxed, Victor tucked his hands into his pockets. Probably to keep his hands warm as the temperature at night was chilly at best but it was clear he wasn’t intimidated by the idea of the fixers who were here to investigate him. “Yeah, they work for the Emperor,” He confirmed for her.
She frowned as she glanced at him over her shoulder. She kept her focus on the theatre so it was hard to see his expressions as they spoke. “We have an Empress at the moment. You dragons really do get out of touch with reality,” Rayne corrected him.
“Oh, I meant Emperor.” This made her half turn to see if he was serious. He added, “The dragon Emperor.”
“You mean he is still alive.” She had heard that William the Conqueror’s father was still around. He had been the instigator of the treaty between dragons and humans. Mostly to keep his descendants safe. It had heralded a time of peace between dragons and humans in Europe that had allowed them to flourish as a civilisation. She had thought he was a myth almost.
“Yes, no one has put him out of his misery yet though I don’t see how Harlen puts up with him. He can be so insufferable.”
“Who is Harlen?” She didn’t mean as a dragon but rather his position in the organisation of dragons. There were certainly gaps in her understanding of the hierarchy.
“He is the Emperor’s brother. Was Lala there?” Rayne had liked Lala. She had been pleasant and sincere which made Rayne instantly fond of her.
“Yes. She seemed nice.”
Victor snorted. “To you maybe. She scares the bejeebus out of me.”
She chuckled at the thought of the woman in the elegant gown scaring a dragon but he grew serious.
“She is a dragon hunter.” Victor’s eyes warmed as he teased her with new information.
“Nooo. Wait Lala… that is a Romany name.” She snuck another glance back at him.
He nodded, agreeing with her deduction. “Yes and the Romany took in the hunters when they were made outlaws.”
Her mind wandered back to her meeting with Lala. There had been no evidence that she was powerful enough to kill a dragon. But that was the point of dragon hunters, to take out dragons. Rayne had thought they were extinct. Dragons had left them out of the treaty and so they were fair game for any dragon.
“A dragon hunter? Interesting. I can see why they are sent in to fix things then. Harlen would have the political clout because of his brother and she would be able to kill any dragon who was trouble,” Rayne thought out loud.
“Oh, Harlen has taken out a few of our brethren. Besides he doesn’t play politics. Only his brother does, he has a tendency to stick his nose into places it shouldn’t be. Harlen plays a buffer between the Empress and the Emperor. Stops him from interfering too much.” The fact that dragons still called him Emperor showed just how successful Harlen had been but at least the humans hadn’t figured out yet that he was playing puppet master. She wasn’t sure herself how she felt about that.
“Do you think he has come for you?” she asked wondering if his calm was because he hadn’t gathered that Harlen was here to put Victor out of his misery if he really was a killer. Victor snorted at the idea.
“No, I think he is here to sort out the newspapers. Good riddance. I have no idea where they have been getting their stories.” From what Harlen had been asking she didn’t think he would do anything about the papers. He was playing nice with the authorities and to get the newspapers sorted would take some draconian measures, pun intended.
“Most likely from the Yard,” She answered honestly. She had been reading the newspapers herself and there were details about the attacks that were in her reports and nowhere else. Between her and Larkin the only other person who knew what were in those reports was Maynes.
“You?” his voice not serious as he lightly accused her.
“I should be insulted. No, I think the killer is an officer and they are framing you. The articles in the newspapers are on purpose. Your trial is being held right now and the jury is the public.” She wasn’t any more specific. Besides he would figure it out when he saw who she was following tonight. She still didn’t feel confident to accuse a fellow officer of murder when all she had was speculation. Not even circumstantial evidence.
“That doesn’t sound pleasant.” His voice more amused than upset over the newspapers. She wasn’t so sure he should be so cavalier over the impact of public opinion.
“Then it is a good thing that your dragon fixer is getting involved.” Though if Harlen did try to stop the newspapers he would only make the situation worse. She didn’t think Lala or Harlen were the type to add fire to the situation so she wasn’t really worried that would happen. It would mean that the newspapers would continue to write articles about the vices of dragons and Victor in particular.
Victor got speculative over Harlen’s presence. “Maybe. If he goes with what the Yard tells him he might think I really did kill Eleanor.” Except that the Yard had gone silent on Harlen. Now she saw this could be a good thing as it had opened up for her to tell Harlen the truth behind the investigation. That particular strategy had certainly backfired on Maynes.
It sounded like Harlen had been a fixer for the Emperor for a while, so he might have been involved back when Eleanor had died. Curious she asked, “Did they not investigate back when she died? Surely there would have been more upset then.”
“Yes and no. I went to Europe and explained myself. They were satisfied when I didn’t show any mating marks.” He offered his arm to her. Pushing up a sleeve to show his pale skin was clear.
“Mating marks?” She had heard of them but like with her sister she liked to play dumb and see what little nuggets of information she might collect from the dragon.
Victor didn’t disappoint and explained, “When dragons get married they brand each other. If they get divorced they disappear. The brands disappeared the same time that Eleanor did.”
She hadn’t realised dragons could get divorced. “She divorced you. Isn’t that difficult?” The divorces she had heard of amongst humans was usually drawn out and painful. With all the couple’s dirty laundry put on display for everyone who cared to gossip. But then the ton were not kind to those that didn’t manage to achieve the perfection society required.
“Not for dragons. She made a choice and renounced me and that was all that was needed. I didn’t even need to be there for it. She must have renounced me speaking with someone else as she never admitted it to me personally. I was blindsided. I went home to find the place almost completely empty. She’d had movers come in and empty it in an afternoon while I was with the Governor.” Now that was something she hadn’t known.
“Sir Laurie?” Her eyes were on the theatre but her mind was turning over the new information. Eleanor would have known she had cut ties with the dragon as well when her own brand disappeared. Had she waited to be away from Victor to do that or had she, like Rayne, not known about the ease of dragon divorce and divorced him unknowingly. That could have put a wrinkle in the two cons’ plans. She still didn’t know how Maynes played into all of this but it added a new facet to her investigation. Had Eleanor and Sebastian ended their part of the plan too early?
Victor explained more about his relationship with Sir Laurie without her having to do more than a vague prompt. “Yeah, we weren’t seeing eye to eye and I was in negotiations with him about changing laws.”
“Wait, laws?” she half turned again. More information she hadn’t know. It seemed the dragons�
�� influence wasn’t just coming from the Emperor of dragons himself but all of his people.
“Yes, my role here is to help guide the humans to a more egalitarian way of life. We can’t move too fast or you get upset so we wheedle and whine until things change.” She was going to ask him to explain when the door to the theatre opened and cut off her thought.
She frowned. It was way too early for the show to be over. Maynes slipped out and closed the door behind him. He looked around but didn’t spot them in the shadows.
“Why now?” She asked the air.
Victor answered anyway, “His alibi.”
She swore softly under her breath as she moved to follow Maynes. He was up to no good if he needed to make sure that people thought he was at the theatre when whatever he planned went down.
Victor skipped to keep up with her as she had surprised him with her sudden movement. He didn’t speak which she appreciated as they both slipped from shadow to shadow as they followed Maynes.
Maynes didn’t travel at a steady pace, instead he stopped occasionally to add or take something away from his outfit. He moved under a street lantern revealing his new appearance.
Victor swore. “He looks like me.”
Victor never kept up with fashion and wore outfits out a few season and therefore very distinct. Maynes was even wearing the same waistcoat Victor was currently wearing. Maynes had also donned a wig to hide his own pale locks to match Victor’s much darker hair.
Rayne had been pretty sure that Maynes had been behind the rumours of attacks by Victor but she hadn’t been sure how he had achieved it. She had thought he had merely paid the people to say they were attacked by Victor but this was even more sinister as those people would swear to their graves it was the dragon who attacked them. She still didn’t know his motivations or why he hated dragons. It was curious that he had similar views to dragons as the late Sir Laurie.
Maynes stopped outside another theatre, forcing them to duck into an alley. They looked around the edge of the building. Maynes disappointingly didn’t do anything. He just stood there outside of the theatre. She held her breath waiting for him to attack or something.
Victor interrupted the tension by asking, “Are we courting? We are on an outing.”
The comment so out of left field that she answered with a snap to her voice. “I’d hardly call this romantic.”
There was a smile in his voice as he added, “Maybe to others but this is your passion.” She glanced back at him surprised by his insight.
She rewarded him by being honest. “I won’t ever marry. A husband would require me to give up my work and I don’t want that.”
He didn’t seemed perturb by her announcement and instead asked, “But do you still want children?”
That was unlikely to ever be one of her choices. “If I could find a man willing to treat me like an equal instead of a brood mare, sure I wouldn’t mind having children. I just don’t see how they’d fit into my life at the moment.”
His voice grew deeper as he stated simply, “Acceptable.”
She frowned at him, not sure what he meant by that. But she had to turn back to Maynes who was making his move. Someone had left the theatre a little ahead of everyone else so they were alone. Maynes followed them as they headed for the main street where they would be able to call for a hansom cab.
Rayne tugged on Victor’s coat to urge him to follow her as she dashed across the street. She heard the scream and added a little more energy to her step. Dragging her skirts up so she could run faster. Victor passed her as he didn’t have the impediments of cloth.
She muttered a long worn curse over woman’s clothing and got to the street in time to see Maynes running and Victor crouched over the man. She hesitated at the tableau but Victor called out, “I’ve got this. Get after him.” She saw a flash of blue light as Victor pulled something out of his collection for the injuries the man had suffered.
She hitched up her skirts higher but Maynes was already gaining distance on her. When her lungs started to burn and Maynes ducked down an alley and then out of sight she stopped chasing him.
She wished she could have caught him in the act but having to live with just knowing she had been right about the attacks reported in the newspapers would have to do. Victor at least was not guilty on this charge.
The rest were still up for debate as far as the Yard was concerned. She trudged back towards Victor. Her breath still laboured. As she approached she couldn’t get anywhere close to Victor or Maynes’s victim as there was a large crowd.
The theatre show must have finished, spilling the crowd onto the street in time to see the attack. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t have seen Maynes. She tried elbowing her way through but the jeers and the crowd kept her back. Someone shoved her and she landed on her rear. She could have fought the crowd more to get to the victim but it would mean revealing she was a bobby and the feel of the crowd made her weary. Not all peelers were appreciated by the public and she was alone.
Victor, as a dragon, could easily escape so she didn’t worry about him. Making her way to the edges of the crowd she waited for it to disperse. Instead of dispersing the crowd started to move in a concerted direction. She climbed a short wall to see if she could see the centre of the crowd. Her heart dropped when she saw Victor unconscious and dragged between two burly men.
Chapter Sixteen
Raynes slapped the newspaper on her father’s desk.
“They arrested him. That man would be dead if it wasn’t for Victor but they arrested him and made all these silly accusations.”
Her father looked up from the book he was reading and glanced between her and the newspaper. He raised an eyebrow asking for permission then picked up the newspaper to peruse the article when she waved for him to pick it up. The article was accompanied by a dragon fighting a knight. Bones of past victims scattered around the brave knight. She had seen this image before in many of the newspapers. It seemed they shared plates as well as stories.
Dragons weren’t enemies of humans for centuries but whenever they wanted to vilify them they would remind people of the dragon’s past or that they were invaders. Dragons were actually refugees. Their own planet was no longer habitable. Earth had been their only option.
Her father asked, “Are you going to go to the trial?”
“There won’t be space and I’m working on that day.” Her voice revealing that she already felt defeated. She had no control over the magistrate and Maynes would have been the one to report on the case findings. She knew from the work in the newspapers that he would probably have Victor accused with all the murders. Eleanor, Sebastian and probably Sir Laurie. Though she doubted he would lump in Markim. That was a loose end she could still explore if she could only find the material he was using to blackmail his victims with.
Her father raised an eyebrow. “Charles will be there, why don’t you call on him and see if you can be his escort or something.” She didn’t like using her godfather for things like this. It wasn’t essential for her to see the trial. It was a forgone conclusion that he would be convicted. The newspapers were already speculating on the date of the execution.
Her father finished reading the article and asked, “How did they get so many details about the attack? It is rare they are this effuse on the actual event.”
Rayne grunted. “The real attacker is the one speaking to the press.”
Her father leant back in his seat. “I think you have to go to the trial. If there is a conspiracy against Victor then they might reveal more at the trial.” She winced. From her father’s words he expected her to exonerate Victor after his death.
Feeling powerless was her least favourite emotion and it made her sharp. “It won’t change anything.” She sniffed as she held back tears.
She knew what the outcome of the trial would be and it wasn’t going to be a good ending for Victor. With Harlen here they might intervene but unlikely. It would cause more trouble to rescue Victor from the law than it
would have been to merely get rid of him if he really was the attacker.
Her father asked, “You care about him?”
She didn’t want to admit her feelings as they were too raw and new. Her disability had closed the door on a relationship. To allow her heart to feel was like moving an old cart but once moving it gained momentum. “He isn’t too bad for a dragon.”
Her father looked thoughtful and that only worried her. She left him deep in thought. She had to find a way to save Victor. He was innocent and it was her job to make sure only the guilty paid. First she would try her godfather but she was doubtful he would have any power in this situation. He had told her once that he could do less for her now that she was an officer rather than more as he couldn’t seem to favour her over the others. For this she would plead.
___
Rayne tugged at his coat as they settled into their seats in the old bailey. She was agitated as they had to wait for the other formalities before they even got to Victor’s case.
Charles on the other hand was relaxed as he did these almost every other day. “It is nice to have you along, dear.”
“You do know this is serious? A man’s life is on the line.” She had laid her problem in front of her godfather. He now knew everything she did. Even her suspicions of Maynes. He had confirmed that there was little he could do. Maynes held the same amount of power as him in the police force so he couldn’t arrest him without solid proof and even then he would have to convince the Governor to also back the arrest warrant and conviction. They had never had someone at such a high position go rogue and there was no precedent to dealing with it.
Lady Golden Hand Page 10