The Curious Case Of The Clockwork Menace (14 page)

“
Is it Nelly?” he asked, though he was certain. What other
woman would have only one leg?

“
Y-yes.”

Seeing her
distress, Garrett ushered her out into the corridor, away from the
stale scent of formaldehyde and death. Miss Radcliffe burst into a
storm of weeping, and he gently rubbed her between the shoulder
blades.

“
I’m sorry,” she hiccupped, cleaning her face with the
handkerchief he offered.

“
Don’t be. You’ve had a horrific day, Eliza, and this is only
another nightmare to add to it. Thank you for your help. It’s very
important to the case.”

“
I truly thought she was going to come home to the theatre,”
Miss Radcliffe whispered. “I kept believing it was just a few more
days until she was back, and now here she is... and she’s been
there all along and none of us even knew and–”

“
We’ll take care of it,” he promised, rubbing her upper
arms.

“
Was it... deliberate?”

Garrett’s lips
thinned and he nodded. After what had happened to Perry he had a
good idea of how poor Nelly had met her end. Doctor Gibson needed
to inspect her lungs, but the obtrusion on the back of her head
indicated she’d been struck with something at some stage, then
she’d probably drowned, slipping beneath those dark waters without
even a struggle.

So he had the
means of her murder now, but not the why of it. Or the who.

Rommell? Or
Beckham?

No. No, it had
to be someone who knew the theatre well enough to know the
water-filled tunnels were below. The idea of Rommell having
knowledge of an illicit means to dump refuse was ludicrous.

The assault
had happened in Nelly’s dressing room, as evidenced by the blood
spatter. Then the murderer had somehow removed her without anybody
seeing, and dumped her down the chute without so much as a
by-your-leave.

“
That trapdoor you showed me,” he said. “Is that the only
access to the tunnels from within the theatre itself?” He knew
there were other exits - he’d removed Perry through a small sewer
grate in the nearby streets.

Miss Radcliffe
nodded. “As far as I’m aware of. It’s not something one pays a
great deal of attention to. You would have to ask the stagehands,
or the cleaning staff.”

He certainly
intended to ask. Now that they had Nelly’s body, and knew what had
become of her, he had a good solid lead.

Seeing Miss
Radcliffe into a steam-cab with a few more questions, he found his
steps heading toward the infirmary. The worst was over. Garrett
knew that, but from the knot in his guts, his body didn’t.

Garrett
checked on Perry for the fourteenth time that day, easing the
infirmary door open and just staring. Perry lay curled on her side,
the short shock of silky dark strands darkening the pillow, and the
half circle of her lashes fluttering uneasily against her pale
cheeks.

The soft sound
of her breathing was the only thing that grounded him.

She was tall
for a woman; lean and strong, but here in the infirmary she looked
frighteningly pale, and so small beneath the sheets. Garrett
crossed the room on cat-silent feet. He didn’t know how long he
stood there, until Doctor Gibson made a sound of disapproval behind
him, clearing his throat. Garrett spun, holding up his hands in
surrender as the good doctor jerked a thumb toward the door.

Gibson mainly
handled autopsies, but in the event of a serious injury, he often
saw to the Nighthawks themselves. It was rare that a blue blood
couldn’t heal from an injury, though occasionally Gibson’s dab hand
with a needle sped the process up. The craving virus took care of
the rest.

The moment the
door was closed, Gibson sighed. “Christ, lad. I told you to let her
be. She needs rest and blood, and she’ll be hale in no time.”

Garrett
couldn’t quite explain the obsessive need to check on her. He’d
spent most of the day pacing the hallway, fighting the horrible
certainty that she’d stopped breathing again.

He still
didn’t know what had drawn him down that tunnel. Instinct? Some
sound or scent that his mind hadn’t quite recognised? What if he’d
turned around, and gone back? He couldn’t stop thinking about
it.

Gibson saw it
on his face. “Fine, lad. Just don’t wake her up when you check on
her.”

“
I won’t,” Garrett promised, relief flooding through him as he
turned to stalk through near-silent corridors.

He left Perry
alone, pacing into the depths of the guild. Smoke curled through
his nostrils, tainted with chemical. Fitz’s dungeon. Garrett strode
past, then paused, rapping sharply on the door.

It jerked
open, and Fitz blinked through a pair of magnifying goggles at the
sight of him. “Garrett. Come in.”

Feeling
restless, he paced in front of the fire, rubbing at the back of his
neck. “I need you to do something for me.”

The room was a
mess of benches, all of them smothered in an assortment of gears
and metalwork, with fine tools hanging from hooks on the walls. “Of
course. What is it?”

Garrett
surveyed the gleaming glass eye that stared back at him from some
sort of mechanical creature the young man was creating. He took a
deep breath. “I need you to create a device for me, a method of
tracking a person. It needs to be small and subtle, so that she’s
not aware of being traced.”

“
A case?” Fitz asked dryly, “or is this some new concept of
courting a woman that I’ve not heard of?”

Of course he
wouldn’t have heard. Down here in the bowels of the guild, Fitz
rarely came up for air - let alone conversation. The young blue
blood was so absorbed in his mechanics that he rarely mingled with
others.

“
Neither. I’m going to put it on Perry.”

Fitz winced.
“Good luck with that.”

Garrett
privately agreed. She’d have his guts for garters. No doubt she’d
think it some insane notion that he didn’t respect her skills.

How to tell
her that there was another reason entirely? That it would allow him
to work with her again, without sending him into a rousing panic
that something might happen to her again?

He couldn’t
lose her. He’d never precisely thought of it in terms of such, but
their friendship was one of the things he valued most in the
world.

“
Just create something for me,” Garrett said. “I’ll do the
rest.”

Somehow he’d
discover a way to put a tracking device on her.

Then he’d
never lose her again.

The summons
came that evening.

Garrett
climbed the stairs to the second floor where Lynch’s study and
personal rooms were, his heart as heavy as his feet. Taking a deep
breath, he rapped his knuckles on the door.

“
Come in.”

Fire crackled
in the grate, and Lynch’s focus was entirely on the case file in
front of him as he made notations. Garrett waited in front of the
desk, his hands clasped behind him.

Lynch finished
what he was doing, and put his spring-pen aside, leaning back in
his chair. He crossed his hands over his middle. “So what
happened?”

“
I assumed you saw the briefing note?”

“
Yes, but I’m asking
you
. There are some inconsistencies
that I’m not quite certain how to interpret.”

Hell and damnation
. Garrett turned
aside, crossing to the window to look out. He knew exactly what his
superior was asking of him, and he hated to know that he’d let both
Lynch and Perry down in this circumstance. “I made a mistake.” One
hell of a mistake. His fingers curled into a fist. “I accept full
responsibility for what happened.”

“
Which was?”

Shaking his fist, Garrett slowly uncurled it, and rested his
fingers on the windowsill. “Perry and I… There was an argument
between us during the initial questioning on the day Miss Tate
disappeared. Then another argument… and another. It just kept
escalating. I let my anger with her direct my actions, and when it
came to that day at the
theatre, I... I
cast doubt on her intuition and we argued again.”
The weight of it was like a mountain, sitting
heavily on his shoulders. “I let her remain behind
alone, when I shouldn’t have. I let…” And this
was the hardest admission of all. “I let an attraction I felt for a
witness compromise my case, and my duty toward my
partner.”

The only thing
that broke the silence was Lynch’s sigh, a sound so filled with
disappointment that Garrett had to swallow the furious lump in his
throat. Why the hell had he been so bloody stupid? Arrogance and
petty anger had nearly cost him his partner’s life.

“
I’ve never had this problem with either of you. You always
work exceptionally well together. Why now? What drove this
argument? Your personal involvement with the witness?”

“
At first.” The words came spilling out of him, the story
grudging, but he had made the mistake. It was his duty to rectify
the situation. With every word, Garrett felt like he was looking at
the situation again, and seeing it in a new light. Wondering why
the hell certain things he’d said had seemed to infuriate Perry.
Even looking back now, he still couldn’t work it out.

By the time
he’d finished, some of the weight had shifted from his shoulders.
Not all of it, but some. “I made a monumental mistake, and Perry
nearly paid for it. I almost got her killed.” Garrett’s voice
roughened. “It will never happen again. Never.”

Lynch looked
thoughtful. “That explains your part in it, but the idea behind a
partnership is that there are two people involved. From what I
understand, Perry let pride – or God knows what – drive her to
search for a potentially dangerous witness on her own. She should
have waited for you, regardless of an argument. Do you think that
something is bothering her? Something outside the case?”

“
I don’t know,” Garrett admitted, and it bothered him. The
whole damned mess bothered him. “We’ve been... dancing around each
other a little.” Not working together at all.

“
It seems out of character for her.” Lynch frowned. He’d been
making notes the entire time Garrett had been speaking, which was
utterly humiliating.

Garrett knew
Lynch kept files on all of his Nighthawks, but for this to be
written up…He didn’t say anything however. It was only pride again,
eating at him. He’d earned whatever scorn Lynch could cast his
way.

“
She’s usually more careful than this.”

“
Sometimes… she takes risks when her gender is challenged,”
Garrett said carefully. “And Rommell was getting under her skin. I–
I didn’t support her when Rommell accused her of making a foolish
decision, because she’s a female. Perhaps she felt she had
something to prove.”

“
Hmm.” Lynch drummed his finger on the desk. “Do you think
she’s a risk to herself in the field?”

In the field…?
“Sir, she’s
barely–”

“
She’ll heal.” Lynch looked up from beneath hooded eyelids.
“But in the meantime, I certainly don’t intend to see my two best
Nighthawks on scullery duty.”

“
That’s it? You’re not punishing us?”

“
Do I need to offer punishment?” Lynch quirked a brow. “Or are
you simply looking for something to absolve you of your
guilt?”

“
Sir, I–”

“
Finish the case,” Lynch cut him off, uncapping his pen. He
dragged open another case file and began perusing it. “I shall give
Perry another day to recover – Doctor Gibson informs me that the
craving virus has healed all of her wounds, and that she’ll be well
in no time. In the meantime, you will work with Byrnes. Once Perry
is on her feet, she’ll rotate in.”

“
I’d rather she didn’t,” Garrett said bluntly. “Let me and
Byrnes handle it.”

“
The answer to that is no. I don’t give a damn what the
argument between you pertains to. You will, however, discover a
means to deal with it between the pair of you. You will work with
her, Garrett, and you will do everything in your power to keep her
safe, and to solve this murder. I will expect nothing less of
you.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Lynch’s dark
head lowered again. “Dismissed.”

Dawn spilled
through the thin metal slats that covered the window. Someone had
opened them. Perry winced, dragging the sheet up over her aching
head, and burrowing into the warm mattress beneath her.

A hand snuck
beneath the blankets, and tickled her bare foot. Perry jerked
upright, her knees drawn in against her chest.

“
No time for that,” Garrett said. “You’ve been asleep for two
days.”

Finding
herself wearing little more than an old nightshirt someone had
dressed her in - hopefully not Garrett! - she dragged the blankets
around her chin. “What are you doing in here?”

Garrett
lounged back onto her bed, sprawling on his elbows. “I wanted to
see how you were.”

She swallowed,
feeling the faint echo of rawness in her throat. “Why? What–”
Looking around, brought her the realization that she was in the
Guild. The last thing she could recall was falling through the
trapdoor into the icy cage of water. Feeling it crawl up her body,
the pressure of it tight on her lungs, leaving no room, no air for
her, no–

Garrett caught
her hand, his jaw set in a firm line as he avoided her gaze. “Aye,
I know.”

“
How did I get here?”