Wedded in Sin

by Jade Lee

  He knew them, but he could not. “I am a brilliant man,” he rasped, speaking more to himself than to her. “And as a brilliant man, I have the ability to punish the guilty and defend the victims. It is immoral and irresponsible for me to take advantage of those who cannot defend themselves.”

  “And what does that have to do with anything?” she demanded. She had not moved an inch from where he had abandoned her for the opposite side of the carriage. Her skin was still flushed, her hair still mussed. And he was a breath away from returning to her. But her glare kept him fixed in place.

  “Penny, I am trying to be honorable. I am trying to be a better man.”

  “Samuel, you are the craziest toff I ever met.” And with that, she straightened up from the squabs, adjusted her clothing with swift jerks of her hands, and smoothed down her displaced curls. By the time the cab stopped at their destination, she looked as composed as any queen. And he felt as miserable as any Lancelot forced to worship his lady from afar.

  Which was when he realized he was a damned idiot.

  Chapter 18

  Penny climbed down from the cab without even touching Samuel’s hand. It was a pointed snub to him, but also kept her from flying back into his arms and begging him to kiss her some more. Hobnails and curs, what was she about? Begging a man to kiss her? All but spreading her legs and hiking her skirt in a hansom cab? Her gut twisted in shame. And yet even as she cursed herself as a tart, her blood hummed and her body still ached for his touch.

  So it was best she keep her distance from him. Best she pretend anger at him rather than admit the truth: that she was ashamed of her own actions and her desires. And she was much too weak around him to be trusted with her own virtue.

  “Ned should be inside,” he said, his voice low by her right ear. She shivered in delight at the smooth tones of his very cultured voice. Then she felt his touch at her back as he guided her toward the door, and all her anger faded away.

  “But what exactly are we doing here?”

  “No one knows the secrets of a man’s business better than his clerk. If we are to gain evidence against Addicock, then our best ally is young Ned. Who, by the by, is known to be sweet on the pub owner’s daughter.”

  She stopped abruptly, not two feet before entering the building. “But if he’s sweet on a girl here, I cannot help you. He can’t go soft on me if he’s bent on impressing someone else.”

  Samuel nodded, his expression unreadable. “If you recall, you were the one who insisted on coming—”

  She cut him off. “No, never mind. There’s more than one way to turn a gent without flirting.” His eyebrows went up at that, but she waved him off. She had no wish to explain something that was obvious to her merely because she’d spent a lifetime smiling at customers while still under the eagle eye of her parents. Ned was no more and no less than any number of men she had charmed.

  So she bit her lip and forced herself to face the one question that had been hovering in her mind but she had not dared ask before. “Do you really think that Addicock killed my parents?”

  Samuel flinched at her words, but he remained steadfast in his answer. “He had a hand in it, I am sure, though I doubt he did the deed itself.” Then he frowned. “I just cannot understand why he says he has not profited from the theft. That is what we must learn, Penny.”

  She nodded, though she’d already dismissed the question. She understood it was important to Samuel, but in her mind, Addicock was guilty. Addicock did the crime. What he said was a lie.

  “Perhaps Ned will know.”

  Samuel nodded. “That is my hope.”

  “Then let’s get to it.” So saying, she rubbed her eyes hard enough to make them ache. It hurt, but when she was done, she would have red eyes and a weepy appearance. Samuel glanced at her, obviously startled, but she just shrugged and tugged her curls into a wilder appearance before stepping inside the pub.

  She instantly felt at home. Though this was Shoreditch, and therefore out of her usual circle of London, she knew exactly what she was about in a pub that catered to tradesmen. This one might sport a few more lean faces, a lot more of the poet types, but all in all, she saw the clerks and the artists alike and felt right at home.

  She also saw Ned at a table, laughing with his mates. She headed in the opposite direction, making a show of looking at the patrons and appearing lost and confused. Samuel understood what she was doing or he had just learned to trust her enough that he hung back. Either way, he remained a step behind her, observing without speaking, while she worked.

  It took Ned less than two minutes to recognize her and jump up from his table to touch her on the arm.

  “Miss Shoemaker? Is that you?”

  She spun around, her eyes and her motions a little too wide. “Oh, Ned! Oh, Ned, thank heavens.” Then she took a deep breath and visibly pulled her thoughts and her body under control.

  She could tell with a glance at Samuel that the man was surprised. Ned, too. Obviously few women of their acquaintance ever managed to control their emotions. But she was made of stronger stuff and Ned didn’t need a wild show from a sobbing female to be persuaded. He’d seen her a little distraught so he knew she felt things deeply. And now, he would speak to her as a rational adult and be grateful that she wasn’t a weeping, wailing woman.

  “Ned,” she said gently, “I would like a word with you, if I may. I would like to tell you something that has upset me deeply, and I hope that you might be able to help.”

  The boy’s eyes widened, and he nodded. She could tell they’d gotten the attention of his mates at the table and she was loath to spread all of this before his friends. Fortunately it was late enough that there were open places about the pub. With a gesture, Ned moved them to a place near the door. And as they were sitting, Samuel caught the eye of the barmaid.

  “Three pints.”

  Penny smiled her thanks at Samuel. She wanted the ale and was grateful he wasn’t cutting up stiff at her drinking it. Meanwhile, Ned was looking nervous.

  “I don’t know what I can do. I’m just a clerk. Addicock doesn’t let me—”

  She touched the back of his hand. Just a touch and then she withdrew, aware that a young woman behind the bar was watching them closely. Most likely the owner’s daughter.

  “I should like to tell you what I believe, Ned. You can make your own decisions then. I am putting my faith in you, that you’re a moral man. That you go to church and you wouldn’t do anyone harm. Not if you could help it. That’s a hero in my mind, Ned. A man who stands up for what’s right.”

  He nodded, his face going paler.

  “Just listen,” she said gently. “Then you decide. I don’t believe that my father ever signed that will. I think it was faked. I think it was forged by Addicock and then you filed it with the courts not knowing anything was wrong with it. And then he ups and sells everything I own without a thought to me or little Tommy. Put us out on the street, he did, and kept the rest. Now I got a job with a dress shop, but it’s barely enough to keep food in Tommy’s mouth.”

  Then Samuel interrupted, his brow furrowed even as he was served his ale. “But where did the money go? That’s the mystery, Ned. Why isn’t Addicock suddenly flush?”

  “Ain’t no mystery,” Ned muttered as he gazed into his own drink. “Man’s always in debt. Can’t pay me this week again ’cause he owes someone else.”

  Penny’s attention sharpened to painful intensity. “His debts?”

  Samuel, too, had suddenly looked up. “Owes whom, Ned? Is it gambling debts? At Demon Damon’s?”

  Ned shrugged. “Don’t know where. Just that a few months back it got really bad. He hadn’t been paying me and collectors coming around. Then suddenly there’s a new friend. A man named Bill. Addicock hated him, but the man was always there. Then a week later, it all is fixed. No collectors, and I got everything owed.” Then he looked her square in the eye, his expression apologetic. “But that was long before the sale of your shop. The two aren’t con
nected.”

  “Are you sure? Was it about two months ago? Right before her parents were murdered?”

  Ned slammed down his hand, his expression fierce. “There hasn’t been any murder!”

  The explosion was enough to draw attention again, so Penny touched the boy’s arm. A soft press of her fingers, enough to calm him down. “Please, Ned, just listen. There has been a murder. Two of them. My parents.”

  Ned shook his head. “But Addicock shakes at the sight of blood. Full-on fit. It just started happening bad, not more than…” His voice trailed off and he took a hasty swig of his drink.

  Samuel finished the statement for him. “So about two months ago something happens that rattles your boss. Something that makes him shake at the sight of blood. I think he witnessed her parents’ murders. He might not have done the deed, but he knew about it. Was probably there.”

  “But why would he do that?” exclaimed Ned. “Makes no sense for him to go and murder a cobbler.”

  “’Course it does,” said Samuel. “Your boss gets in deep. I saw the token in his office, so we know it’s Demon Damon. He’s got no way to repay his debt. So Damon comes to him and says, make a fake will and trust. I’ll take care of everything else.”

  Penny shuddered, listening to Samuel outline the cold, calculated murder of her parents.

  Meanwhile, Ned couldn’t believe it. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “You mean you wouldn’t, Ned,” Penny said. “And you wouldn’t work for a man who did such a thing. Not knowingly at least.”

  Samuel leaned forward. “Tell me more about this man Bill.”

  Ned grew sullen. “Don’t know much. Just a man who came by. A lot.”

  “What did he look like? Do you know his address? Did he smoke cigars or dress strangely? Anything that would help us find him?”

  Ned was starting to look alarmed, shaking his head with more vehemence after every question. “I don’t know anything!”

  Penny gripped the boy’s hand, just for a moment as she tried to settle him down. “It’s all right, Ned. I know you want to help.” She glanced at Samuel. “Do you think this Bill was the one to do it? That he…”

  Samuel twisted his glass around, staring into the depths of his pint without drinking. “It’s possible. Or it’s possible he was just another collector. What was the last time you saw him?” he asked Ned.

  “Just a bit ago. He was all smiles, but I never did like the look in his eyes.”

  “What did he and Addicock speak about?”

  Ned shrugged. “Don’t know. Sent me off. Told me I could leave early, so I did.”

  Penny sighed with frustration. She knew there was something important here, but she couldn’t figure out what. Worse, she didn’t see how Samuel would discover what they needed to know. Thankfully, Samuel wasn’t finished yet. He leaned back in his chair and studied Ned.

  “When did you first see the will?” he asked.

  “August fourteenth.”

  Penny felt her eyebrows rise. He knew the date exactly. Which told her that he’d been thinking about this even before she showed up. That he already suspected something was wrong. “My parents were murdered the very day before.”

  “’Course they were. That’s what we do with a will. Once the person dies, we file the will at court. Nothing odd about that.”

  “Only that it was the first you’d heard of it,” Penny pressed. “You’d never met my father, never heard about any will, and I’ll bet you know everything that Addicock does.”

  Ned didn’t answer except to take refuge in his drink while Samuel took up the tale again. “I think Addicock was there at the murder. Maybe Bill did it, maybe not. But let us say it is Damon who is orchestrating things. Damon would want Addicock there, to see it done.”

  Penny felt bile rise in her throat. “But why?” she choked out. “Why would he want a witness?”

  “It’s a threat to keep compatriots in line. A kind of insurance.” Then he narrowed his eyes, obviously working through the details in his mind. “Once the forgery is made, Damon or his men kill your parents. Well, your father was the likely target. No profit in killing your mother unless they were together.”

  She closed her eyes, seeing her parents as they had been that last night. They’d been quarreling actually, about whether to hire a bookkeeper or not. But they were going to a pub to talk it out with their friends. That was the way of her parents. Good or bad, they always went together to the pub. To talk or to celebrate or just be together. Now that she thought about it, Papa rarely went anywhere alone.

  “They always went out together,” she said softly. “It would have been very hard to find him alone.”

  Samuel nodded as if he’d already guessed that. “So Addicock is there when the deed is done.”

  “He wouldn’t do it!” repeated Ned. “Squeals when there’s blood. Like a pig.”

  “But he would be there. Damon would be sure that he saw. So he wouldn’t tell.”

  Ned didn’t answer, just kept shaking his head.

  “The rest would be easy. File the will, sell the shop, keep the money. Except he kept saying he hadn’t profited a groat. Not a groat. That’s what stops me. Where did the money go?”

  At this point, Ned did look up, a puzzled frown on his face. Then he turned to Penny. “He doesn’t understand about gamblers, does he?”

  Penny shrugged. For such a brilliant man, Samuel was remarkably thick about the fact that gamblers lied. Not surprisingly, he read her opinion right off her face. Picking up his glass, he glared at them both.

  “He was not lying.”

  “That don’t mean it was true,” inserted Ned. “If Addicock doesn’t get coins in his hand, then it doesn’t count. Just canceling out his debt isn’t a real profit for him.”

  Samuel stilled, and Penny could see the shock hitting his body. “B-But…” He frowned. “But that isn’t logical! And patently untrue!”

  Penny knew he meant that Addicock’s reasoning was untrue, and she gently pushed his ale up toward his mouth. “He’s a gambler, Samuel. What’s real to him and real to us isn’t the same thing.”

  The man just shook his head right after taking a long pull. “But real is real.” Fortunately, his mind was then able to leap to the reality of what happened. “So he does take the money but it all goes to cover his debt with the Demon.”

  Ned nodded, and Penny saw that he was sinking lower and lower in his chair. It was time, she realized. So she turned to face the boy square on.

  “We know what happened, but we don’t have the proof. I know you’re an honest man, Ned. I know you would never be part of something so terrible. Can you find us the proof?”

  Samuel, too, pressed forward. “Look for the marriage certificate of her parents. It’s from her Bible, stolen to copy the signature. Look for pages where he practiced the signature. Anything that will help.”

  Ned didn’t answer. In truth, his eyes were panicked, his expression as frightened as he was sullen. “I need a job. It ain’t a great livelihood with him, but he does pay. Eventually.”

  “From stolen goods.”

  “And there are probably others,” Samuel added. “Maybe not before Miss Shoemaker, but a gambler never stops. Not when it works once. Is there some other parent about to be murdered, Ned? We need you to look. We need you to find out.”

  Penny touched the boy’s hand. “Please. We’ll help you find another job. A good one that will impress the young lady over there. And won’t she be excited to know that you stood up against a crime? That you helped someone who really, truly needed it. Please—”

  “Fine,” Ned cut in, the word half swallowed by his empty glass. “Fine. I’ll look.” Then he abruptly shoved up from the table and slumped away.

  No more talking, no more explanation. Just a promise and a hope that he would come through for her. Penny looked after the young man and tried to keep her belief alive. This would work. She would get her home and Tommy’s inheritance back.

&nbs
p; Then she felt Samuel’s hand, warm and comforting, surrounding hers. “Either way, you will be fine. Whatever happens, you will survive.”

  “I know,” she said softly. And for the first time ever, she believed it. With his hand holding hers, with his strength by her side, she truly believed she had a future. And it could be a good one.

  Then he destroyed it.

  “Let’s get you home. I’ve got other things to do tonight.”

  She gaped at him, all those lovely, half-conscious thoughts of what would happen tonight disappearing in a heartbeat. “But…but what are you going to do?”

  “Talk to the constable first. Then there are other directions to investigate.” He smiled. “I’m not relying solely on Ned, you know. I mean to find this Bill.”

  She nodded, though she knew nothing of the kind. “But—”

  “I will see you tomorrow,” he stated firmly as he dropped what looked like his last coins on the table.

  She followed because what else could she do? He was sending her home. They went outside and hailed a hansom cab. She would have been happy to walk, but he shook his head.

  “I’m not going with you, and I will worry too much if you are walking alone.”

  “But—”

  He leaned forward and kissed her. It was a kiss that he kept light when she wanted to deepen it. It was a press of the lips that he refused to make into more.

  “I will be worthy of you, Penny. Soon. I swear.”

  “Worthy of me? Bugger that!” she snapped, purposely making her words crude. “I’m not some bleeding queen—”

  He kissed her again. And this time, he wrapped his arms around her and did what she liked. He thrust his tongue inside, he touched every part of her mouth, and his hands slid down to cup her bottom. It was horribly crass of her, especially as they were standing right beside the cab, not even climbing inside. But when she would have pulled him into the darkness inside the vehicle, he gently set her back on her heels.