The Wedding Night Affair--An Historical Mystery by L.C. Sharp

Author:L.C. Sharp [Sharp, L.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carina Press
Published: 2021-02-01T19:43:48+00:00

* * *

Before Juliana could speak, Ash put his hand on her waist and urged her forward. “I will take you to La Senza, and you will stay with her. I want to speak to that man.”

He found the courtesan in the middle of a court of admirers, standing around her drinking in her every word. He exchanged a glance with her, and urged Juliana forward to stand at her side. If he couldn’t take care of her, La Senza was the next best person.

He’d just caught sight of the Raven. He was sure of it. An invisible arc of connection had passed between them when he’d met the man’s eyes, mask to mask. He wanted to talk to the man. He wanted to know why that connection existed, what it meant.

The Raven stood by a door.

The man looked away, but Ash had seen him and went in pursuit. Through the door, up a flight of deserted, bare stairs onto a landing, also bare. The painted plaster was falling off the walls in places, leaving the laths in full view.

A man was standing on a landing above him, staring down at him, as if drinking him in.

Ash ripped off his mask. “Now you!” he called up. “Let me see your face!”

He received a throaty laugh in return. “Keep out of my business,” the man said, his voice low and raspy. The sound bounced off the walls, booming unnaturally.

“How is it your business? What do you have to do with this?”

A black feather floated down. If Ash had wanted confirmation of the man’s identity, there it was. This was the Raven. He knew it deep in his soul, the certainty complete.

“He damaged my property, yon lordling. He deserved punishment for that. But I did not do it. I will find out who did.” He coughed.

“Then you know she did not?” Was this man sheltering a vital witness?

“No. But if she did, I do not blame her. You don’t use innocents like that. I sent nobody to him, though I planned to do it.”

Ash didn’t believe him. Why would he?

He wished he knew this building better. He could trap the man, cut off his exit, capture him. The Raven rarely did anything in person, so why did this mean so much to him that he would risk the encounter?

“If you know anything, send me the proof, so that the innocent you speak of does not suffer for it.”

A harsh laugh was the Raven’s only answer. “Everybody suffers. Especially innocents.” He grasped the banister and started up the stairs.

Ash put on a spurt of speed, hurtling up the flight of stairs separating him from his quarry, but by the time he reached it, the hallway was empty and so were the stairs above.

He did a cursory search, but he already knew his quarry had gone. In the dim light, he didn’t notice he’d trodden on something until it grated under his foot. He bent and picked it up. A pin, similar to the one he already owned, pierced through another black feather.

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