The Curious Case Of The Clockwork Menace (17 page)

“
It’s definitely not him,” Garrett muttered under his breath
as they went in search of Ned the stagehand. “I’m fairly certain he
wouldn’t be able to pen such an eloquent play.”

“
Interesting how he seemed afraid of Rommell,” Perry replied
quietly.

Their eyes met
in silent understanding and he ushered her through the door to
backstage, his hand firm on the small of her back.

A couple of
young men were working on shifting some of the props. Two of them
were laughing, but the third just looked exhausted, dark circles
shadowing his eyes, and his cheeks sunken with gauntness.

The second
Perry saw him, she hesitated. “That man asked me if there’d been
any news on Nelly the other day. I didn’t think anything of
it.”

Garrett
reassessed the fellow. He was tall and lean, with gingery hair.
Hardly the sort of chap to steal a young actress of Nelly’s
caliber, but then one never did know when it came to women.

“
Edward Barham?” Garrett called, reviewing the list of names
that Fotherham had given him.

The
weary-looking fellow looked up. The second he saw them, he paled,
then turned and bolted through the door.

“
It’s him!” Perry snapped, after a shocked moment of
hesitation.

They thundered
after him.

Barham led
them a merry chase through the wings, and across the stage. He
leapt down into the orchestra pit, and scrambled up into the
seating.

Perry
followed, the long flap of her leather jacket flaring out around
her like wings as she leapt. Garrett made as if to follow but
something caught his eye; a shadow moving above, in the flies.

What the–?

He saw the
glint of light reflect back off metal, and realization dealt him a
swift blow to the gut.

“
Look out!” he roared, leaping off the stage, and going after
her.

Perry’s feet
skidded to a halt, and she glanced over her shoulder at him. It was
the only thing that saved her life.

A shot rang out, sparks ringing
off
the metal ladder nearby
. It missed Perry
by an inch. Garrett slammed into her, carrying her to the floor,
and rolling his body between them. The world faded to red as the
hunger roared through his veins, fury bringing with it a wave of
murderous intent. His sight grew clearer, the world snapping into
sharp relief as the predator within him roused.

“
Son of a bitch!” Perry looked up in shock toward the flies,
“Did someone just–”

Yes.
His blood ran cold. “Stay
down.”

Garrett rolled
her out of the way, shoving her behind a seat. He drew his own
pistol, looking up. The shadow moved, running along the metal
frame. “Looks like my ploy worked.” He just hadn’t expected an
attempt to be made against Perry, and that pissed him off. He
should have.

Perry craned
her neck, focusing on the door that was still flapping from Ned
Barham’s exit. “Bloody hell.”

“
Go.” He gave her a shove. “Hunt Barham down. I’ll take care
of this.” It was the safest option.

“
No!” Her eyes blazed, and he knew she was thinking about what
had happened the last time they’d separated.

“
I’m not going to get shot.” Garrett could just make out the
edge of the shadow, vanishing into the darkness of the wings. He
needed to move and now, if he wanted any chance at catching the
bastard. “We need to know why Barham’s running,” he reminded her.
“We need to confirm our suspicions about Nelly and
Hobbs.”

Perry wavered.
She slid her aural communicator into her ear and hooked it there,
“Keep in contact with me.” Both wrist-pistols slipped into her
palms, and her fingers clenched around them. “And watch your back.
I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“
Always.” Garrett’s gaze returned to the wings, tracking their
assailant, and he darted forward, using the edge of the stage to
cover himself.

Ned Barham had
a good start on her, but that didn’t mean much. Perry could pick up
hints and traces of his scent as she ran, and it was soon clear
that he was using the theatre’s secret passages to avoid her. Not
running so much now, as gone to ground.

She tracked him to the seamstress’ department and entered
warily, her double wrist pistols in her hands, just in case
someone
else
tried to take a shot at her.

Dust motes
circled through the golden patch of sunlight that streamed into the
room through the windows. One foot crossing over the other, Perry
crept forward, circling a wire fashion mannequin. Racks of clothing
provided the perfect hiding place, and she heard a swift intake of
breath as she stepped into the patch of sunlight.

“
Edward, I have no intention of hurting you. We just wanted to
talk about Nelly.”

Silence,
filled only by two racing heartbeats; hers and one other.

Perry cocked
her head. He was in the far corner, behind a row of dresses. Perry
held her hands up, flipping her pistols back into their wrist
sheaths. Then she held her hands up in the air. “We know you were
courting Nelly. We suspect that Nelly is James Hobbs’ sister, but
we need confirmation of this.” She took a step forward. “Edward?
Please come out. I know you’re there.”

No sign of
movement, but she heard a muffled sob. Perry stepped forward, and
jerked a chartreuse gown out of the way. Edward cowered behind
it.

“
I didn’t do it! I d-didn’t do it!” Red seared his pale
cheeks, and his eyes were wet with tears. His hands shook as he
held them up.

“
I know,” she said, in a soothing voice. “We know you had
nothing to do with Nelly’s death. Come out, please.”

His breath
caught on a sob. Perry stepped closer, sliding one hand over his
shaking shoulder, and kneeling as he burst into tears. “Why did you
run?”

He shook his
head, trying to reign his emotions in. “I don’t... k-know... I just
saw y-you and ran. I didn’t know w-what to think, w-what to do...
She’s gone.” He looked up, face stained with agony. “She’s truly
gone, and she’s n-never coming back, is she?”

“
I’m afraid so.” Perry’s whisper roughened. “The funeral
arrangements are being made for this week.”

At that Edward
burst into a fresh round of sobbing. Perry patted him awkwardly on
the shoulder. “I’m sorry to ask this of you, but we truly do need
to know what happened. I want to catch whoever did this, and make
him pay his dues. Were you courting Nelly in secret? Did her
brother not approve?”

The whole
story spilled out in bits and pieces; Edward - or Ned’s - shy
friendship with the young actress, slowly turning to something
more. He’d never expected Nelly to ever return his feelings, and
they often walked in the park before rehearsal to get away from the
mayhem of the theatre. Nelly had begun to confide in him about her
difficult upbringing with a mother who didn’t approve of her
desires for a theatre life. The young Eleanor Hobbs had run away to
London to join the theatre, and her older half-brother James, who
she knew little of.

“
James encouraged her to take another name to protect his
business, when it became apparent she intended to be an actress -
with or without his help. James adored her, but he made his
feelings on her lifestyle clear. He wanted her to marry and settle
down - just not with me.” Ned’s eyes were glazed with exhaustion,
his tears drying and chapping his cheeks. “He knew I belonged in
the theatre, and he wanted to remove her from its temptations. And
then, of course, there was Rommell, and Beckham, and a half dozen
others who thought they could buy her... So we kept our... our
engagement a secret.”

“
You were engaged?”

Ned nodded
miserably, and reached inside his collar to withdraw a small golden
band on a strip of leather around his throat. “I was keeping it
safe for her, for when we could finally announce our intentions to
the world. I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he whispered, his
heart breaking in his eyes. “Nelly believed in me. She believed
that I could do anything, that I could become more than... than
just a stagehand. I loved her so much.”

The poor
bastard. She had to get going - Garrett was alone with a murderer
-but sympathy kept her there for a few moments longer... “Then do
what she wanted you to do. Publish the play. It’s quite good,
actually. I read the little notes she’d been making - that’s how we
knew to track you down.”

Ned stared at
her blankly, then resolve started to come into his eyes. “She’d
have wanted that.”

Perry
straightened, and helped drag Ned to his feet. “Do you have any
idea who might have wished her ill?”

That changed
his demeanour. “It’s the only reason I’ve been able to come back to
work,” he confessed. “I keep thinking maybe I’ll see or hear
something. Maybe I could find them.”

“
You don’t think the clockwork menace had anything to do with
it? Everyone else seems to.”

“
Lovecraft would never have hurt her!” Ned looked up guiltily.
“I met him once, see. When James first threw me out of his shop –
and Nelly often spoke of him.”

“
Lovecraft?” she suggested, to keep him focused.

“
He adored Nelly. She was his ‘aunt’. The poor blighter
wouldn’t have hurt a fly, and definitely not Nelly. James took him
in, but Nelly... She always made an effort to look out for the less
fortunate, you know? She made him feel like he belonged, like there
was nothing wrong with him.”

“
I’m so sorry,” Perry said again, uselessly.

Ned looked
like he’d been disemboweled by grief. There was as much life left
in him as the fashion mannequin.

“
I have to go,” she said. The tick of time seemed to fire
blood through her veins. Where was Garrett? Was he all right? Had
she taken too long? But first– “I promise you that we shall do
everything in our power to bring whoever did this to
justice.”

It wasn’t
much, not with Ned’s entire life torn apart. But it was the only
thing she could offer him.

A bark of sound echoed in the distance, so quietly that she
almost missed it. Perry cocked her head, and cut Ned off as he
opened his mouth to say something. A second echo followed. The
moment she recognised it, she had no thought left for either Ned or
Nelly.

That had sounded like pistol fire.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

GARRETT
POUNDED through the backstage, following the shadowy figure ahead.
It was a circular chase, almost as though the bastard was leading
him somewhere. He crashed through a door and–

Something
moved in the corner of his vision.

A weapon discharged with a flash of light, and the second
before the bullet hit him, he had the thought -
bloody hell, there are two of them–

Heat and fire
slammed into Garrett’s shoulder. It felt like a punch and he
staggered back into the wall, the scent of blood igniting all of
the darker urges within him. The room swam, full of shadows as he
tried to get his feet underneath him.

A trap. A bloody trap
.

He had to get
out of here. Clapping a hand to his shoulder, Garrett forced his
suddenly-heavy legs to drive him behind a prop. Another bullet bit
into the wall where he’d been standing, and a cold sweat sprang up
along his spine. Someone was trying to kill him, and if he didn’t
pull himself together, they’d succeed.

Where was
Perry? Why the hell had he sent her away? Stubborn, bloody pride,
that was why, driving him to protect her. Now he was the one who
needed help.

Would she even
hear the shot?

His right leg
gave out, and Garrett went down to his knee, pain tearing through
his shoulder, and his pistol skittering from nerveless fingers. His
vision blurred. The pistol came to a halt several feet away.

How badly was
he bleeding? Through the shadowed haze that filled his vision, he
could just make out his right hand, slippery with darkened blood.
His blood.

Footsteps
stalked him. Garrett clenched his teeth together, and dived for the
pistol.

“
There he is!” Someone barked.

Even through
the ringing of his ears, the man’s tone was crisp and precise.
Garrett had spent years mimicking a man’s proper speech, and trying
to erase all hints of his own roughened Bethnal accent. He knew
what that sounded like.

The
Echelon.

Rommell.

Then who the
hell had originally shot at them in the flies?

Using another
prop as cover, Garrett tried to steady his shaking hand. His wet
fingers were slippery on the trigger. Where was the first
assailant? He ducked his head around the prop, trying to see the
pair of them, and another shot rang out, spraying shards of brick
over him as it hit the wall.

Pinned down.
Garrett swore under his breath. All they’d have to do is flank him,
and he was done for.

Touching the
brass aural communicator in his ear, he pressed the button to
connect it. “Perry?”

A moment of
static, and then, “Where the hell are you?”

“
Backstage. There are two of them. They’ve got me trapped.”
His vision blurred for a second, and Garrett swallowed
hard.

“
I’m coming,” she snapped, the communicator turning her voice
tinny. “Just hold on, princess, and I shall rescue you.”

Garrett tipped
his head back and let out a shaky laugh. She’d gotten him out of
stickier situations than this in the past. He just hoped she made
it in time.