Page 18 of Roses and Murder
Thus, I just shut up, so I didn’t say anything else stupid and apparently, that was the wrong thing, too, because I could feel Lance glaring at my back. I didn’t know what to say to him anymore, so I was just going to save his mom and go from there.
Getting from Guttertown to the Merchant District wasmucheasier on horseback than walking. I didn’t mind the walk because I usually didn’t mind my own company. It just took a while. Going with Lance andwantingto talk, but not knowing what to say so I didn’t make things worse was agonizing.
In hindsight, maybe Beck and Ronan were right, and I was a bit of an idiot for letting this go on until I knew for sure Lance and I weren’t related. Lance mightneverforgive me, even though I let him break my nose.
Thankfully, we got to the Merchant District before the silence got too awkward. We hitched the horses, but I didn’t steer us to the first crime scene. Trevils would be eating lunch now and I had some questions for the old fox. He didn’t tell us everything he knew last time, probably because he thought we’d be the Ghoul’s next target.
“You again?” he grumped.
“IfIfigured out the Ghoul is a Baron or one of their kids and is possibly using weddings or name-day celebrations to avoid witnesses, then I know damned well you did, too.”
Trevils looked shocked for a minute.
“Kid, I have no idea what your father has planned for you since you told me they changed the rules, but you’d make a hell of an apprentice if you wanted to learn to do what I do.”
Lance just snorted because he knew Trevils was also trying to catchme,but Trevils also wasn’t wrong because Keeva tried to convince me to do the same thing before she agreed to take me as her apprentice.
“Why didn’t you share that with us?” Lance demanded. “My mom could die.”
“Because I’ve been doing this since before you were born and know how this works. You walk in there with proof it’s one of them and they will tell you that you failed your task. I’m sorry to be harsh, but they will never save your mom if it’s one of them. You give them a name and they are going to give the public one they have a problem with.”
I already knew that and was trying to come up with a plan to expose the Ghoul in a way they couldn’t pin it on an innocent. I just hadn’t told Lance because he was already stressed and my plans usually worked.
“Do you think they know and are planning to pin this on Neco?” Lance asked.
That was his theory, and it was a good one. I was a little mad at myself for not considering it myself because I usually planned for everything.
“They didn’t like it when I told them there were two of them. I think they always have a fall guy prepared when I’m looking into something in case it’s one of them. They seemed put out that they were going to have to find two people this time. I haven’t said anything because I need a plan.
“If I catch both of them, I’m pretty sure I can convince them to pin it all on the Blight instead of an innocent person. On the other hand, I’ve seen the bruises on the women and kids of the Blight’s victims. Even if they came to me for help, I can’t legally do anything about it because the Barons consider them property. It’s confusing the fuck out of me because I’ve devoted my life to catching murderers, but I also think abusive men should pay,too. I don’t have a plan at this point and I don’t even knowwhodid it.”
Yeah, he’d never figure out I was the Blight and I’d be damned if I swung for the Ghoul’s crimes. I didn’t think anyone else should, either. The Ghoul fit my code and once I found out who he was, I could easily slit his throat, but he was too high profile. They’d never pin it on me, but they’d hangsomeonefor it. Probably some poor idiot who stood up to them and hadn’t done anything wrong.
We didn’t just need to name the Ghoul. He’d just be relocated to Guttertown while either myself or some other poor sap hung for it.
We needed to expose him in a way the Barons could never cover this up.
Trevils realized Neco was actually good at this, so he was being a lot more honest with us. If it had been just me, he would have thought I was some stupid kid who was going to lose their mom no matter what happened, so he was going to shut me out to keep me from being the Ghoul’s next target.
Working with Neco was painful because the whole time I hated him, I also desperately missed him. I was grateful for it now, even though it was going to hurt like fuck when things went back to how they were when this was over.
Trevils was directing most of this at Neco and I wasn’t even angry about it. Neco was good at this and he’d always been intelligent in ways I wasn’t. I was seeing that even more now thathe was an adult. I just had this feeling if anyone could get my mom the cure, it was going to be Neco.
“So, you’re being wasted in whatever job your father is putting you in for payment, kid. I had a Baron pegged after the first scene because there was no sign of a struggle and that’s just not natural, but it took two crime scenes to figure out no one saw anything because of weddings or name days.”
Neco just shrugged.
“That was just a theory. I wasn’t going to be sure until I talked to other neighbors.”
“I already have and you were right.”
“Do you know how he’s picking them?” I asked. “In Lower Cutwart, everyone seemed to think Elsbeth was special because she was beautiful. The only reason they were home was because they didn’t want the groom to ditch the bride for her. Was it similar in the other cases?”
“No. They all had beautiful girls around that age, but they were home for different reasons. In one of the cases, the girl was beautiful on the outside and nasty on the inside and had burned a lot of bridges with her neighbors. No one wanted their family there.
“Another case people loved the kids, but found the parents insufferable so the kids got punished for it. The rest were because Devil’s Pox is going around the Merchants District. Not everyone is taking the quarantine period seriously. People are still having wedding and name days, but if they suspect you have it, they won’t invite you.”
I wouldn’t, either. Devil’s Pox wasn’t fatal, it was just a nuisance. It was a lot of pus, mucous, and itching and it was highly contagious. You had to quarantine for a fortnight before you didn’t give it to someone else.
