Page 59 of The Autumn Wife
A few soldiers rushed in from the foyer, weapons clanking, but they stopped in their tracks at Talon’s sharp shake of his head.
“A word, Sister Martha.” Talon seized the cane balanced against his seat. “In the judge’s chambers, if you please.”
Talon strode to the corner door, cane clicking sharply on the floorboards with every swing. The nun followed.
Cecile startled as a hand gripped her by the elbow. There was Theo, beside the box, his green eyes dancing.
“Come.” Theo glared at one soldier, then the other, until both stepped back. “Let’s join them.”
“How…” she whispered, stumbling along. “How…”
“You are well-loved, Ceci.” He bent to speak into her ear as they walked. “More than you know.”
They stepped into the judge’s low-ceilinged chambers. Talon, who’d slipped a hip onto a desk in the corner, skewered her with that fierce gaze again. Her feet dragged but Theo led her to stand next to Sister Martha, now facing Talon from the middle of the room.
“You’ve made your point, Reverend Mother.” Talon focused sharply on the nun. “I hear your objections. But the process has begun and thus must continue, despite this mob.”
Cecile heard the muffled shuffle of small booted feet as others poured into the chamber to join them.
“Monsieur Talon, I would advise you to be prudent.” Sister Martha spread her hands. “You are in Montreal, not Quebec. The people here are less constrained by procedure and more motivated by truth.”
Talon’s face darkened. “Disrespecting authority is a dangerous tactic.”
“So is disrespecting the law,” came a voice from the back.
Talon lifted his chin toward the source. “Captain Girard. Are you slandering the court?”
“Not the court.” Lucas huffed like a bear. “The investigators.”
“Be very careful, sir.” Talon shifted off the desk. “Those are my investigators you slander.”
“Have your investigators spoken to the dozens of men to whom the victim owed a great deal of money?” The captain pulled a sheaf of papers from his waistcoat. “I certainly have, but none of these men are in court today. Not as witnesses, and not charged with Tremblay’s murder.”
Marietta, dark curls bouncing, stepped forward. “Let that innocent girl go,” she said, flinging a hand toward Cecile. “Be done with this nonsense.”
“If the law were only so simple, Madame Martineau.” Talon’s gaze slid from her to her well-dressed husband. “You should constrain your wife, sir.”
“Careful, Talon.” Phillipe nudged his cloak off his shoulder, the sword at his side gleaming. “Etta speaks the truth. Cecile lived at our house and took care of our children. The wrong person has been accused.”
“My, my.” Talon shifted his gaze and Cecile felt it like the butt of a rifle in her gut. “How stalwart are your friends, and how eclectic a group. Some are monied and influential.” He nodded toward Philippe and Lucas. “And others should be in jail themselves.”
Cecile cast a panicked glance toward Genny, standing with one leg cocked like a peacock amid a gaggle of gray-clad nuns. Years ago, Genny had escaped her own trouble with the law by running away with her husband into the wilderness. Howreckless for her to be here! Though she appeared nonplussed, one hand flexing over the hilt of a dagger as she met Talon’s gaze like a dare.
“Easy, Ceci.” Theo’s breath brushed against her ear as he stood, stalwart, behind her. “Right now, it’syouwho needs defending.”
“We are a varied group,” Sister Martha conceded, “but we are united in our conviction of the injustice of these proceedings. So, then, have you seen sense yet, monsieur?”
“Sense.” Talon huffed. “Even you, Reverend Mother, must admit there exists a wild streak of insurrection among a certain group of King’s Girls present in these chambers.” Talon slammed the tip of his cane on the floor. “You three”—Cecile flinched as Talon pointed at Genny, Marie, and then herself —“have given me more trouble than hundreds of other King’s Girls combined.”
“Cecile is the best of us,” Marie announced in a steady voice. “Do not cast the shadow of our lawlessness upon her.”
“Ah, Madame Girard.” Talon straightened. “There’s always a price to lawlessness. For instance, had you and your accomplices not arrived in a mob—if you, instead, had allowed this process to come to its logical end—you would know by now that I have already reviewed the testimony and found it shamelessly unconvincing.”
The breath Cecile sucked in seared a path down her throat.
“I am sure the judge will conclude that the testimony is inconclusive.” Talon gathered his fury back into himself, and looked, to Cecile, every inch the king’s appointed man. “By normal procedure, Madame Tremblay would then be sent back to interrogation in the hopes of securing a confession—”
“No.”
