Cat Among the Pigeons (19 page)

‘Well, well, well! If it ain't the little gal herself, flown right into the net.' I gave a scream as Kingston Hawkins' head appeared in the black square above us. ‘Ain't that just dandy.'

‘Careful, Cat!' hissed Pedro as I scaled the ladder as fast as I could, anger at being trapped running red hot through my veins.

‘Boil, you lying toad!' I yelled, sure that this had all been part of his grand plan for the night.

Hawkins raised his foot to kick me back down the ladder but he was hauled back by Shepherd.

‘Not the girl, sir,' he said. ‘You can't 'ave Cat.'

‘But . . .!' spluttered Hawkins in surprise.

‘Our agreement is for the boy only. The girl's my business.'

I emerged out into the room and found Shepherd and Hawkins glaring at each other either side of the table. I didn't know which one I hated most. I flew at Hawkins, hitting out with feet and hands in a fury.

‘You beast! I hope your own slaves chop you to pieces and feed you to your dogs. You evil pile of –'

I was pulled off him by a strong pair of arms, a blue handkerchief forced into my mouth to cut off my torrent of abuse.

‘Leave it, Cat,' said Shepherd, increasing his grip on me as I struggled. ‘I can't 'ave you abusin' a client.'

‘So, Shepherd, this is how you repay my investment in you,' said Hawkins coldly as he brushed himself down.

‘Wot I do 'ere is none of your business, Mr 'Awkins,' said Shepherd. ‘As long as the boy's delivered safe and sound, wot do you care? Anyway, why you come 'ere? I told you it's not safe.'

‘I'm just checking on the merchandise.'

‘'E's in top condition, ready to go whenever you say the word.'

‘But the brat knows where he is now.'

‘That's no matter. I was thinkin' of movin' 'im somewhere else. Somewhere she'll never find 'im.'

‘But I've a score to settle with her.' Hawkins flexed his fist, which I was pleased to see was still bandaged. I shrank back closer to Shepherd, preferring the devil I knew to the one I didn't.

‘Not till after I've delivered 'er back to her friends tonight. I've pledged me word not to 'arm 'er,' said Shepherd. ‘After that, good luck to you, sir. But I should warn you: our Cat 'ere has the knack of gettin' out of tight corners. I'd put my money on 'er rather than you.'

‘Then to hell with your word. I'll do for her now!' With a bone-chilling scrape, Hawkins drew a sword from his cane and brought it whistling down towards my throat. Shepherd thrust his hand into the pocket of my cloak and pulled out the blade Syd had given me, bringing it up still caught in the folds of cloth, to block the downstroke.

He'd known I had the knife all along.

‘Now, Mr 'Awkins,' said Shepherd menacingly, ‘don't get me angry. I've said no and I mean no.'

Hawkins took a step back and cut the air with his swordstick. ‘Remember who's paying you, Shepherd.'

‘For the boy only.'

‘But what are you going to do against this?' Hawkins flourished the evil-looking blade. ‘Your six inches of steel ain't goin' to stop this for long.'

‘This is wot I'll do,' said Shepherd. So quickly I missed the flick, he hurled the knife across the room. It struck the corner of Hawkins' hat and clattered to the floor in the shadows.

‘That wasn't very wise – you didn't hurt me and now you've lost your weapon.'

‘I wasn't tryin' to 'it you, 'Awkins – if I 'ad, you wouldn't still be talkin'. As for losing my blade, I've got plenty more where that beauty came from.' With a strange movement of his wrist, a second knife appeared in front of me
from up Shepherd's sleeve. ‘Been throwin' blades since I was a nipper. Do you still want to argue over the girl? Like I said, nobody kills Cat except me – and tonight she's my guest.'

A small vein throbbed in Hawkins' temple, beating out his fury. I could see a succession of thoughts pass across his face. He realized his chances were slim: he was in the centre of Shepherd's empire and had just been given proof of the skills that brought his associate to be the cock on top of this particular dungheap. He decided to make light of it.

‘Have it your way, Shepherd.' He replaced the sword in his cane with a clunk. ‘If it
is
you that has the pleasure of cutting short her miserable life, I just hope you make the end long and painful.'

‘I'll see wot I can do, sir.' Shepherd released his grip on me and vanished his knife up his sleeve again.

‘I s'pose you don't have any objection to me inspecting my goods?'

Shepherd took off my gag. ‘'Elp yourself, sir.' Hawkins moved to the head of the ladder. ‘Why don't you 'ave a little friendly chat with 'im while you wait 'ere for me? I've got to take the girl back. We can discuss further arrangements when I return.'

I did not want to imagine Pedro's feelings as he saw his old master descending into his cell. I couldn't stop myself. ‘Please, don't hurt him!' I pleaded.

Hawkins paused, his head now level with the floor. He gave me a wicked grin. ‘I hadn't been planning to, but now you've asked . . .'

I turned away so he wouldn't see my expression. I hated him – every foul inch of his body. I wanted to stamp on him, crush him, but there was nothing I could do.

‘Let's go, Billy,' I said. ‘I can't bear being in the same room as him any longer.'

‘Wot's the matter, Moggy? You're very quiet. Cat got your tongue?' Shepherd laughed as he steered me back through the alleyways.

I knew he wouldn't understand what it was like to leave a friend in trouble. He wouldn't be able to comprehend even a minute fraction of the torrent of emotion that was sweeping through me – none of my fear, anger and anxiety.

‘You won't let him hurt Pedro, will you, Billy?' I asked, knowing it was useless, but I had to try something.

‘None of my business wot 'e does with 'is boy, Moggy.'

‘But Pedro isn't his boy. He's his own master.'

‘There's few of us can say that. Anyways, that's all too deep for me. I'm doin' a job – that's all.'

‘Well, in that case, couldn't we buy Pedro
from you? I'm sure we can pay more than Hawkins is giving you for the job, as you call it.'

Shepherd slapped me on the back and chuckled. ‘Now you're thinkin' like me, Cat. But no thanks. I 'ave me name to protect among the cantin' crew. If they knew I'd double-crossed a client, me reputation would be mud.'

‘It's a strange time to discover morality, Billy,' I muttered angrily.

‘It's not morality: it's business.' The clock in St Giles struck the quarter. ‘We'd better get our skates on, Moggy. I don't want your Syd nickin' me knives for bein' a few minutes late.'

It had been a strange, terrible night. I felt exhausted and could hardly keep up with Shepherd as he walked briskly back towards the Pantheon. My boots rubbed and my toes were frozen. Tripping on a broken paving stone, I fell on all fours into a foul-smelling puddle. Shepherd turned and watched me stagger back to my feet. He was smiling.

‘I 'ope you enjoyed our little jaunt together,'
he said as I wiped the mud off my hands. ‘I 'ave. I'll say one thing for you, there's never a dull moment when you're around, wot with everyone who meets you wantin' to kill you.'

‘I s'pose I should thank you for stopping Hawkins from running me through,' I said grudgingly.

‘Nah, don't do that. I only did it 'cos I didn't want 'im to deny me the pleasure of killin' you meself one day. For now, you make me laugh, but when I've 'ad enough of that, I'll make sure there's somethink special in store for you.' His stare was chilling, like a snake biding its time before the strike. I couldn't understand why he took such a malign interest in me; surely I wasn't worth it? I was a scruffy orphan with no stake in anything; he a gang leader with a growing empire. ‘Somethink slow and painful like Mr 'Awkins said. No quick knife in the ribs for you.'

‘Thanks. I look forward to it,' I replied sardonically. It was a strange moment as we
both knew he was joking in deadly earnest. His behaviour made no sense.

We reached the Pantheon with five minutes to spare. Stopping by the back entrance, I caught his arm.

‘Tell me one thing, Billy, before we get back to Syd and the others. Why do you bother with me? I can't believe that I'm so important to you that you'd risk annoying a client, but you did that for me tonight.'

He looked down at my hand then covered it with his, drawing me closer.

‘You know the answer, Cat,' he hissed in my ear. His whisper made my skin crawl. ‘You turned me down and I don't like that. I can 'ave anythink I want now – fine clothes, a flash 'ouse, a carriage or two – but I still can't 'ave you, can I? You won't join me gang, so I thinks, if I can't 'ave 'er, I'll kill 'er – but not just yet.'

There wasn't anything I could say to that. His eyes were burning a hole through me, so hate-filled was his stare. Or was it something else? Whatever
it was, I didn't like what I saw. I pulled away.

‘Come on, or Syd'll be practising his butchery on your boys.'

I ran up the stairs, feeling as if I had just escaped falling into a pit even deeper than the one in which Pedro now lay.

The freezing fog over the Thames was flushed pink with the dawn when Syd delivered us back to Westminster School. The porter said nothing as we slipped inside, thanks to the coin that Frank palmed him.

‘I'll send the account very soon, my lord,' said Syd loudly for the porter's benefit. He added in a softer voice to me, ‘I'm goin' to work out 'ow we can spring Prince from 'is trap, Cat. I gave 'im a promise and I intend to keep it, come 'ell or 'igh water.'

I gave him a miserable nod. ‘Shepherd's web's hard to cut through. I don't fancy your chances in the Rookeries, not even with all your boys by your side.'

‘Nah, that's not a fight I'd pick either,' agreed Syd. ‘But Pedro can't stay in there forever. The river's the weak thread. We'll just 'ave to be ready. And thanks to you, we know that 'e's alive and well – that counts for a lot.' He patted my hand, turned and walked off whistling into the mist.

Frank ushered me up the staircase. ‘You get some rest this morning, Cat. Charlie'll say you're ill.'

‘Where are you going?' I asked, seeing that he was not following us up the stairs.

‘I'm going to tell Mr Sharp and Mr Equiano what's happened. Charlie, let Dr Vincent know that Great-Aunt Charlotte's taken a turn for the worse.'

‘But she died a couple of weeks ago, remember?' Charlie said.

‘Oh yes.' Frank scratched the back of his head. ‘Well, her twin sister is pining since her loss and not likely to live long.'

‘And that's Great-Aunt –?'

‘Eugenia.'

‘Got it,' Charlie said with a grin.

‘And you expect me to sleep after all that?' I asked incredulously.

‘Especially after “all that”,' Frank confirmed. ‘Don't you think you've put yourself through enough tonight? And, Lord knows, this week looks as though it might be an exciting one. Sleep – that's an order.'

‘You can't tell me what to do,' I said, a shade resentfully. Shepherd's insinuations still rankled. I thought for a mad moment that Frank was parading his superior status before me, reminding me that I was only there because he was paying for me, that he owned me in some sense.

‘Oh yes, I can.'

‘Or what?' I challenged him.

‘Or I'll set my mother on you.' Frank smiled and dispelled the illusion: it was just Frank being Frank, trying to look after me. ‘You really don't want her to take you under her wing. Her pick-meup potions are not recommended – she has a firm
belief in experimenting with traditional medicine.'

‘Witchcraft, you mean,' amended Charlie.

‘Unconventional herbal remedies is a politer way of putting it,' said Frank.

‘Point taken,' I said submissively. ‘I'll go to bed.'

I woke up late in the afternoon to hear the boys talking in soft voices. Wrapping Frank's dressing gown around me, I padded barefooted out to the study to hear the news.

‘What did Mr Sharp say?' I asked eagerly. ‘Is there anything to be done for Pedro?'

Frank had a piece of bread on the end of a toasting fork and was holding it over the flames.

‘Honey or jam?' he asked. That meant it was bad news.

‘Spit it out, Frank. What did he say?'

Charlie got out of the armchair and handed me into it. Very bad news then.

‘He said that we can't do anything even if we know where Pedro is and who has him,' said Frank heavily.

‘Why not? Can't he use this habeas thingy?'