The Curious Case Of The Clockwork Menace (12 page)

“
My lord.” Garrett’s lips thinned. “Of course we plan to mount
a search.” Those blue eyes locked on her. He’d made it clear he
thought the same way Rommell did, about Lovecraft. “I’ll send for
reinforcements from the Guild. We’ll track him down.”

Perry looked
away. It was bad enough for Rommell to be questioning her
competence, but Garrett hadn’t even made one sound of protest. He’d
always backed her when people challenged her in the past, and
something ached in her chest that he didn’t this time.

Was she wrong?
Was Lovecraft a threat to her?

She couldn’t
even fathom it. He seemed so childlike to her, more frightened of
the world than it was of him - which was a considerable amount
indeed. He had the size and capacity to do great violence, but she
just couldn’t see it being intentional, no matter what had occurred
here earlier. He seemed to react only out of fear and pain.

Garrett
offered his arm to Miss Radcliffe, who was frightfully pale.
“Perhaps you’ll allow me to see you home. You look like you could
do with a rest?”

Perry’s
muscles locked tight, anticipation flaring. It would be the perfect
opportunity to follow up on Lovecraft’s scent alone.

“
That’s quite generous, Reed,” Rommell broke in, “but I do
believe you have work to see to. I’ll escort Eliza home in my
carriage.” He pasted on a smile and stepped toward the actress.
“Come, my dear.”

“
Thank you,” Miss Radcliffe looked between the men. “But I
don’t believe I should leave, not just yet. We have a show to
perform in a few hours.” Sucking in a shuddery breath, she stepped
away from Rommell. “I feel utterly safe with the Nighthawk’s here.
I’m certain they’ll find the culprit - and whatever has happened to
poor Nelly.”

Rommell
harrumphed under his breath, but he patted her gloved hand. “Such
bravery, my dear. Don’t you let any of this bother you. I’ll summon
some of my guards to the theatre to ensure your safety, and tonight
shall be another triumph.”

With that he
was gone. Miss Radcliffe gave them both a weak smile. “I should
begin to get dressed. If you’ll excuse me?”

Perry watched
her go. It was interesting that she recovered so quickly. Most
young ladies would have suffered a fainting fit.

Or was that
simply suspicion flavouring her thoughts?

Garrett let
out a frustrated sigh, as most of the acting troupe broke away to
prepare themselves for the play, led by Miss Radcliffe’s example.
It left them alone together.

“
You believe me, don’t you?” Perry said into the softening
darkness of the stage. “I know what a threat looks
like.”

Garrett raked
a hand through his coppery hair. He stared out over the empty
theatre. “Perhaps you misconstrued Lovecraft’s intentions. It
happens.”

Not to me
. She felt numb though, all
hollow inside. Garrett didn’t believe her. And why should he? She
had no proof. Nothing to say that the poor creature had benevolent
intentions other than her intuition, which Rommell had summarily
dismissed.

That made her
burn with fury. Years of working cases, and men were still looking
down their noses at her. “Perhaps you shouldn’t believe everything
Rommell says,” she snapped. “Considering that he lied about Nelly
being his mistress.”

Garrett caught
her arm as she turned to go. “What?”

“
According to Miss Radcliffe, Nelly had a beau who
might have been named Nick, or something similar,
and that she refused Rommell’s suit. Unless she’s lying, I’m going
to assume, with my
feminine
intuition, that Rommell is therefore a suspect. I
could
be wrong. Maybe I should rely on
your superior instincts as a man?”

“
Don’t take that tone with me,” he warned. “I’m not the one
that doesn’t trust your instincts.”

“
Truly?” She looked up at him. “Because it feels like you
did.”

They stared at
each other.

“
I know,” he said carefully, “that I wasn’t there when you
encountered the creature before.”

“
His name is Lovecraft.”

“
Fine, Lovecraft.” A hint of snarl coated his words. “But I
saw what happened today. I saw that thing come straight at us. It
threatened Miss Radcliffe, then turned on
Millington and
Rommell, Perry. It
had murder in its eyes and you know it.”

“
Rommell inspires such thoughts in several of us, then. I’m
having trouble keeping my knives sheathed whenever he opens his
mouth.”

“
Rommell is of the Echelon. He could cause trouble for us very
easily.”

“
You don’t think I know that? How foolish do you consider
me?”

“
I’m just saying... perhaps you should let me handle him? Your
emotions are involved, and while I don’t like the man, I can
restrain my temper around him. As for Lovecraft, don’t
underestimate him.” He stared her in the eyes. “Promise me you’ll
watch your back tonight, when we mount this search.”

“
You’re going to bring in more Nighthawks?”

He gave a
clipped nod. “Unfortunately, we do need to do something to appease
Rommell. He has the power to remove both of us from the case, if
need be.”

“
Which would be very convenient if he had something to do with
Nelly’s disappearance,” she said darkly. “Either Rommell or Miss
Radcliffe is lying. I’m not certain which. They both have motive in
this case.”

“
But why would Miss Radcliffe shoot Hobbs, if she were
involved?” He said quickly.

Too
quickly.

And Perry
didn’t have the answers to that. “I don’t know. I just thought I
should tell you. And why would Rommell do such a thing either?
Neither of them would have come into Hobbs’ sphere, unless he came
to the theatre. It just seems an odd thing for either of them to
lie about, but one of them must be.”

A frown twisted Garrett’s brow and he slid his hands into his
pockets. “Something to look into then. And the Webley pistol
is
small enough to be
operated by a woman.”

The earlier
argument hovered in the air, but at least he was taking her
suspicions seriously. Perry looked away. “Perhaps you should go and
see if you can organise a squad of Nighthawks?”

“
And what do you intend to do?”

“
I’ll stay here,” she said. “Make sure that the
monster
doesn’t
return.”

“
Perry–”

“
I can’t get into trouble that way, can I? Perhaps when you
come back you can tell me what I should do next? Since my intuition
is so obviously skewed today.”

He growled under his breath. “Maybe you
should
stay here and wait for me. I
don’t know that it’s your intuition that is skewed - or perhaps
your common sense - but we’ll discuss that when I
return.”

CHAPTER
EIGHT

DEEP
BACKSTAGE, Perry knelt, touching her fingers to a patch of blood on
the floor. The moment Garrett had left to call for reinforcements,
she’d managed to pick up the scent trail in the park, and had
followed it on a circuitous route back to the theatre. Now, she was
no closer to finding Lovecraft, but she had the dawning suspicion
that he’d returned to the scene of the crime, and was somewhere
deep in the bowels of the monstrous building.

For what
purpose though?

Was he
frightened, or hurt or hiding? The blood certainly indicated that
one of the constables had winged him.

Maybe he
didn’t know where to go - or had come looking for her, looking for
help?

Or maybe he
was here to finish the job that he’d started.

That chilled
Perry’s blood. What did she know about him, truly? Garrett had told
her that her common sense had gone missing, and maybe he was right?
Maybe she was letting her emotions make her decisions.

She still had
to find him, however, before someone else did. She could prevent
another incident. She just had to pray that she got to him first,
before the rest of the Nighthawks arrived.

A pair of eyes
gleamed in the shadows, and Perry froze as she recognised that
hulking shape. Lovecraft was rocking himself in the corner, making
a low, keening noise in his throat.

“
Hello,” she whispered. “It’s me again. Perry.” Her throat
went dry as he stopped making that noise. She couldn’t forget the
way he’d attacked the group earlier. No more assumptions that he
wouldn’t hurt her.

Lovecraft
bared his metal teeth at her in a growl, and her heart plummeted
into her gut. He was truly a pathetic sight, like a scared child.
How could the others not see it? The rage with which he’d assaulted
Rommell and Miss Radcliffe was that of a scared young boy, not a
man.

She should
arrest him. Half the theatre was already up in arms, looking out
for him, after the constables had said that he’d returned to this
area. It wasn’t safe, but if she arrested him, and they saw him...
The men didn’t want justice, they wanted blood.

Damn it
.

Reaching out,
Perry set a gentle hand on his arm. Lovecraft flinched. The scent
of blood was thick here, stirring the heat inside her. Perry
swallowed, and moved a little closer. “You’re hurt.”

Moving slowly,
she peeled his arm away from his chest. Blood soaked the dirty
linen shirt he wore. Someone had shot him.

Perry tugged
her handkerchief out of her pocket, and pressed it to the wound.
The bleeding was sluggish now, but she used his hand to hold it
there, just in case. Lovecraft winced, and rested his head on her
shoulder.

She’d never
been good with comforting people, but it was so easy to reach out
and slide a comforting hand through his hair. Perhaps because, in a
way, he was like her... Not accepted, shunned, afraid of people,
and the way they could mock or jeer.

“
Why did you attack Miss Radcliffe?” Perry
whispered.

Those
guileless blue eyes were glazed with pain and exhaustion as he
looked up. He looked confused.

“
Miss Radcliffe,” she said. “The woman on the stage. Why did
you attack her?”

Lovecraft
shook his head, frustration making him restless. “Nuh. Nuh.
Lovecraff.. not hurr-t.”

“
Easy.” She took his hands, and put them back on his wound. “I
believe you.” A hesitation. This wasn’t going to be easy, but
someone had to try. “You didn’t try to hurt the woman on the stage,
did you?”

He shook his
head.

“
Was it one of the men there?” There was no response, but she
tried again. After all, Rommell had been standing near Miss
Radcliffe – perhaps the witnesses had misconstrued Lovecraft’s
intended victim. “Did you see the man who hurt James?”

This time
there was a nod.

Perry’s breath caught.
Rommell
. It had to be Rommell. “We
have to leave,” she said. “It’s not safe for you here. Come with
me, and I’ll help remove you, without being seen. I’ll take you to
the Guild. It will be safe there. It will–”

His eyes
focused on something over her shoulder. The hairs along her neck
rose as she heard a faint, shuffling footstep.

She caught
just a glimpse of a man’s legs behind her, then something smashed
into the back of her head with a sharp pain. Everything went dark,
the sound echoing with a ringing peal through her head. The next
thing she knew, there was a furious sound, men snarling as they
grappled... and the imprint of the floorboards beneath her
cheek.

Blinking
through the pain, Perry tried to pull herself together. Her fingers
refused to move, her body weighing as heavy as one of the sandbags
they used for the curtains. Someone... had hit her... Lovecraft...
What was happening?

Come on. Move
.

All she could
smell was blood. Her blood. But deep inside came that sinuous
shifting as the predator within caught a teasing hint of it too.
The craving stirred, washing through her vision with frightening
intensity.

A shot rang out. Perry jerked, and somehow made it onto her
hands and knees as something heavy hit the floor behind her.
Oh, God
. She reached for
her pistol with clumsy hands, barely able to see–

Strong hands
caught her up, shoving her forward behind a curtain. Her body
simply wouldn’t work. Couldn’t fight, couldn’t get her head to stop
spinning–

“
Meddling bitch.” The word sounded so far away. “Time to see
if you can swim too.”

Something hard
struck her across the back of the head again.

Then the floor
gave way beneath her, and Perry tumbled down, down, into the cold
splashy blackness of water.

CHAPTER
NINE

THE SOUND OF a
shot ringing out punctured the silence. Garrett slammed to the edge
of the railing above the theatre, where he’d been trying to get a
bird’s eye view, his heart kicking into his throat. He’d returned
not five minutes past, after sending a telegram to the Guild for
reinforcements.

Perry?

Where the hell
was she? She was supposed to wait in the theatre for him. He
couldn’t hear anything through the aural communicator, and she
wasn’t where he’d left her.

Two more shots
rang out in rapid succession. “We’ve got him!” Someone yelled.

Garrett
charged down the ladder, hitting the theatre floorboards, and
running into the darkness behind the curtains. Men were pouring out
of the shadows, clapping hands, laughing...