The Dismembered by Janz Johnathan

Author:Janz, Johnathan [Janz, Johnathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cemetery Dance Publications
Published: 2022-11-18T00:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

We’d brooded in silence for several hours when we heard footfalls approaching. I joined Lizzie at the bars of our respective cells and listened with a mixture of dread and hope.

A familiar voice echoed down the gloomy corridor. “You down there, Mr. Coyle?”

Hubert sat up. “Tom?”

Mrs. Coyle staggered to her feet. “It’s dear Mr. Erskine! Oh, Tom, do get us out of here.”

Lizzie glanced at me, and some current of understanding passed between us. Like me, she did not seem to share her parents’ faith in Tom Erskine. But we listened with interest as Violet said, “He killed Jimmy, Mr. Erskine.”

“Aye,” Erskine answered. “I saw the body laid out on the back lawn.”

Hubert recoiled. “The back lawn?”

Erskine nodded. “I reckon Mr. Dunning believed my hounds could enjoy a snack.”

Violet covered her mouth. “My God…you must tell them to retrieve his body, you can’t let the—”

“I’m more concerned with our bodies,” Lizzie interrupted. “How do you plan to get us out of here, Tom?”

“Well, Miss Elizabeth,” Erskine said, scratching his underjaw, “I do have some ideas in that direction.”

Hubert grasped the bars. “Have you the keys?”

“Mayhap I can get them,” Erskine answered, “but to do so I’ll need a little cooperation.”

Mrs. Coyle frowned. “Cooperation?”

Erskine was silent a moment, a sly gleam in his eyes, then he limped toward Lizzie’s cell and said, “Come closer, Miss Elizabeth.”

She did as he bade. Erskine whispered something to Lizzie, and the next thing I knew, her hand flashed out between the bars and her fingernails raked down Erskine’s face.

He sucked in air and stumbled back. “You vicious cunt ! How dare you misuse me? I’m your only goddamned hope!”

Hubert stared at Lizzie in stupefaction. “Why on earth would you assault Tom?”

Lizzie nodded at Erskine. “Ask him .”

Erskine’s smile returned, only this time the harrowed troughs in his flesh lent it a sinister aura. “I merely asked the harlot if she’d suck me off. God knows she done enough whorin’ when she moved to the city.”

My hands knotted into fists. “If I find my way out of this cell, I promise I’ll make you regret addressing a lady that way.”

Erskine snorted. “Lady ? Don’t know what constitutes a lady in America, but in England, a lady don’t open her legs for any bloke that passes by.”

“And what of Sarah’s promiscuity?” Lizzie asked.

Erskine leveled a forefinger at her. “Better watch yourself, Miss Elizabeth. Miss Sarah’s gonna be the lady of this castle.”

“It’s quite alright, Tom,” a voice called. “Lizzie has never given me the credit I deserve.”

Smirking, Sarah approached us.

“You speak of credit ?” Lizzie demanded. “You allowed our brother to be slain.”

Sarah moved past Tom. “Jimmy fell prey to his own debauchery. His life was forfeit years ago, the night he first tasted the demon absinthe.”

Lizzie’s eyes flashed. “You dare speak of demons? When you, like a mongrel dog, lap the blood of our brother from the rancid lips of your owner?”

Sarah’s aloofness disappeared. “Richard is not my owner.”

“Puppeteer then,” Lizzie said, smiling savagely. “Do you

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