Page 75 of The Ambiguous Enigma of the Hunted Lady
Leah tucked herself in a tight alley space and hunched down behind a set of salt barrels. The market was winding up into its full capacity, and she knew it would not at all be safe here. The sound of hundreds of butcher knives carving beef and pork floated over the air, and Leah felt a pang of sentiment.
She had grown up in White Chapel, here around the market. It was one of the best places to hide in the whole city, just as long as she wasn't out in the open.
Leah waited for a butcher's wagon to move past her hiding place, and she ducked out behind it. Following the wagon at a hunch so that nobody behind or before her could see her face, Leah moved past four rows of butcher stalls.
She saw that the wagon was moving to make a right turn, and she slid out from behind it, stretching out against a flapping sheet of canvas.
There was a building just across the path from her, a building that she knew she could find security in. To reach it, she had to cross the ten yards of open dirt walk and bustling foot traffic.
Leah was about to make her move when she saw four of Riphook's thugs milling about just two doors down. She would have to keep her chin down.You can do this, keep on moving.
She went. Time was slow to her, taking those steps on her sore ankle, not daring to glance down the block to see if the thugs had reacted.
Then she was inside, breathing a heavy sigh of relief. The building was decrepit, and people were everywhere. It was a conglomeration of poor and starving Londoners, each huddled in their own packs.
It was a scene Leah knew well, and she knew that everyone here kept their heads down. It was often the case that one didn't want to see who was coming in or out, for fear of provoking the wrong bloke.
Leah pushed through the crowds and went down a set of crumbling stairs, and then another. At the bottom of the steps she climbed down a precarious shaft about ten feet deep, landing in a small underground chamber with an old marble floor.
There she pushed past a rusted-out iron grate that hung ajar. The creak of it brought her a flood of memories, and she bit her lip.Now is not the time to get emotional,she scolded herself, and disappeared into the old Roman sewers.
She spent that day hidden in a place she knew well; it was a hiding place she had cultivated as a child. She and Topper – her friend of a fence that went missing during Riphook's expansion – had found an old cistern, cut off from the rest of the network by a collapsed tunnel. They had found a way through and made their own little fortress of solitude.
Leah sat in this damp, dark, familiar place, and hugged her knees. She dared not light a lamp or lantern for fear of discovery. So, she sat in the utter darkness, holding herself, desperately waiting for the cover of darkness so that she might stow aboard an outbound vessel.
By now Kenneth will know I have gone,she realized, and the thought began to crush down upon her worse than the dampening blackness of the chamber.How I must have broken his heart.
The same feelings she had suppressed on the farmer's wagon before, now came bursting forth in a torrential rush.
I have broken my own, as well, she despaired. Tears began to flow, and she could do nothing to stop them. She cried and wailed and pounded her fists against the limestone floor.What have I done to the both of us?
Leah wiped away her tears as her shaking breath began to subside. She had to remain calm and alert if she were to escape London.I am surviving.she confirmed for herself.That is what I am doing.
Hours passed, and Leah grew frustrated with her inability to measure the time that was transpiring. The darkness was beginning to take its toll, and she felt oppressed by its unwavering blanket.
“Blast it.” she muttered, and fiddled to strike up a match. The light blinded her temporarily, and she squinted while she struggled to light a candle she had stuffed in her garments from the manor. “I've got to get moving.”
Holding the small bead of light, Leah climbed back through the mostly-collapsed passage, but as she was about to round the corner, she heard a group of voices. Nervously, she doused the candle flame and hugged her back to the wall. She could see the clear glow of lanterns from around the junction.
“You sure?” said a first voice.
“Sure, I'm sure. Gobs said he saw that Benson girl the boss is lookin' for.” a second answered.
“But we been lookin' all day. She ain't down here.”
“You're probably right.” a third voice said. “Chances are she's topside.”
“Fine, you sorry sods, go on up, I'll take another pass down 'ere.”
“Suit yourself, I 'ate it down 'ere.”
“Bugger off then! I'll get me the reward all by myself.”
“Right then.” the other voices mocked him, and then Leah heard them pacing away.
“Right grubby curs.” the remaining voice chewed, and Leah could hear him striking a piece of timber. “Bloody rank down 'ere.” the voice went on. Leah could smell the wisp of tobacco smoke drifting around the corner. “I'll get me that brat, I know she's down 'ere.”
Leah edged backwards until her back was against the rubble of the cave in. She could see the man now, taking large, clumsy steps down the tunnel. He was moving towards her, but she did not think he had seen her.
