Page 59 of Method of Revenge
“I’m placing him under arrest, Carter. Put that knife down and release her,” Jasper said, still holding Mr. Nelson’s cuffed arms.
“That man murdered my wife. That makes him mine.”
A speeding carriage turned down the slim alley. Leo’s heart sank. It wasn’t their wagon being guided by Lewis, but Mr. Carter’s other hired man driving a covered coach.
Jasper didn’t move. “He’ll be convicted, and he’ll hang; you know he will. I’m not giving him to you. Now lower that knife.”
Mr. Carter’s grip on Leo’s upper arm intensified. A spike of pain pierced her as the blade nicked her skin. She let out a short cry before swallowing it.
“Goddamn it, stop!” Jasper shouted. The carriage rattled to a halt mere feet before it could trample him and Mr. Nelson, but Jasper had not even flinched.
Mr. Carter chuckled. “Somehow, I think you’d like to keep looking into these pretty hazel eyes, Inspector Reid. Now, step aside. You can keep the handcuffs on him, of course.”
Jasper hesitated. He clenched his jaw and met Leo’s eyes. If he did as Mr. Carter wanted, there would be hell to pay at Scotland Yard. He could not allow vigilante justice, and he could not afford to fail in this arrest.
But then, he swore under his breath again and, in a swift motion, released Terrence Nelson. Jasper held up his hands in surrender as Mr. Nelson stumbled forward. He whipped a panicked look between Mr. Carter, Jasper, and finally, the hired thug who closed in to hustle him toward the waiting carriage.
Andrew Carter urged Leo toward the carriage too, while giving Jasper a wide berth.
“Let her go, Carter. That was the deal.Now,” he growled.
“Not to worry, Inspector. You’ve made the right choice.” Mr. Carter gave Leo a hard shove, and she nearly tripped on her unsteady legs. Jasper rushed forward, taking her arms andpulling her to him. They lurched aside as the carriage bolted forward, wheels hot, and sped away down the alley.
Her heart was racing when Jasper turned her to face him, his hand tipping up her chin. “Damn it, you’re bleeding.”
Leo shook her head, ignoring the prick of pain and a wet drop of blood rolling slowly down her cheek. “I’m fine. I’m sorry. I didn’t see him behind us?—”
“Neither did I. It isn’t your fault.” But then, he closed his eyes and backed away from her. It was as if the magnitude of what had just happened hit him full on. It hit her too. She began to tremble as Jasper raked his hands through his hair. “Christ. What am I to tell Coughlan?”
Lewis appeared at the mouth of the alley. He drove the cart and single horse toward them, oblivious to what had unfolded during his absence. Jasper had meant to take Mr. Nelson to the Yard and charge him with murder. An arrest was what Chief Coughlan had wanted. A success to make the police look good. Now, Mr. Nelson was in the hands of an East Rip.
And he would soon be dead, if he wasn’t already.
Chapter Nineteen
“You better have a damn good explanation for that woman’s presence.”
The vein bisecting Detective Chief Inspector Dermot Coughlan’s forehead bulged as he glared daggers at Jasper and Lewis. They stood within the chief’s office, boots planted to the floor, bracing themselves for more of his wrath.
By the time they had returned to the Yard, Coughlan had already been apprised of the explosion at Henderson & Son. But when Jasper explained, in as few words as possible, each one dislodging from his throat with effort, that their main suspect had been apprehended at the hospital, only to escape several minutes later, the chief had gone stone-faced with his fury.
And at the mention of Leonora Spencer, Chief Coughlan’s flinty eyes had blazed.
“Miss Spencer found a letter of confession tucked into Mrs. Nelson’s clothing at the morgue,” Jasper began. “She then came to the factory yard to warn us about the bomb Mrs. Nelson had planted there before she was killed. After the explosion?—”
“You should have sent her home!”
Jasper bucked his chin, as if it had received a blow from the chief’s white-knuckled fist. In the detective department beyond the walls of the chief’s office, all was silent as the other officers, along with the Special Irish Branch, listened. After what had happened, it promised to be an explosive telling-off. They might even be waiting to hear the chief sack Jasper entirely. That most of them wanted that outcome was another stake to Jasper’s chest.
But Coughlan was right. He should have sent Leo away. She shouldn’t have been at the factory in the first place. She hadn’t rushed there only to warn the workers or David Henderson. She’d known that he and Lewis were there, and she’d put her own life in danger by entering the building and seeking them out.
Additionally, her bravery had made a difference in saving the life of Jack Henderson’s son at the hospital.
“If not for Miss Spencer, David Henderson would be dead right now,” Jasper replied, challenging the chief with a direct look. “She is the one who stopped Nelson from poisoning him.”
Turning in a frustrated circle, Coughlan crossed his arms. “Yet, she is also the reason you were forced to hand over your prisoner to another criminal.”
“You would have had me stand by and watch Carter pluck out a woman’s eye?” Jasper shot back. Had Andrew Carter done more than nick Leo’s skin, he would have stopped at nothing to kill him. Even that minor injury made Jasper’s rage tight as a fist inside his chest.
