The Executioner's Heart by George Mann

Author:George Mann
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780765327789
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2014-07-07T19:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

18

“Is this how they found him?” said Veronica, with barely concealed disgust.

“Precisely,” muttered Bainbridge. “He was discovered this way in the early hours of this morning, and he hasn’t been moved. The verger who found him…” He trailed off, as if trying to find a delicate way of phrasing what he wished to say. “Well, let us just say that the body has not been disturbed. I rather think it would be clear to anyone that the man was beyond help or medical assistance.”

Veronica nodded, but kept her thoughts to herself.

They had rushed to the scene of the murder directly from Chelsea, Scarbright securing the services of a cab while Newbury took steps to make himself presentable. He’d done a remarkably good job, too: Ten minutes later he had emerged like a new man, washed and shaved, and with a glimmer of the old sparkle in his eyes. He was dressed in his customary black suit, white shirt, and green cravat, and he’d somehow managed to muster energy from some secret reserves. Veronica wished she knew how he did it, how he was able to shake off such dreadful, debilitating weariness so easily, as if all he had to do was chide himself in the mirror and pull himself together. When Amelia had suffered from such episodes it had taken her hours, if not days, to recover. Newbury had rallied in a matter of half an hour. Clearly, he was right about one thing: He was stronger than her sister.

Veronica didn’t yet know what that meant in terms of ongoing treatments for Amelia; how she felt about Newbury’s insistence that he be allowed to carry on, that it was not her decision to make. She was sure of one thing, though: that she most definitely would have a say in what happened next.

It was clear that Bainbridge attributed Newbury’s condition and general appearance of slovenliness to his propensity for opium abuse, and he made his opinions on the matter most keenly felt in the way he sighed and bustled about the place in an agitated manner, harrying Newbury and muttering curses beneath his breath. Veronica had wished that she could have disabused the man of such notions and outlined the truth of the matter for him then and there, but Newbury would not have thanked her for it. Besides, in so doing she would have had to tell him the truth about Amelia, and the Grayling Institute, and everything that had transpired since. She couldn’t risk taking that chance.

Newbury, however, had ignored any such jibes or disapproving looks, and, as soon as they were in the back of the hansom rattling across town, had set about unleashing a barrage of questions regarding the circumstances of the corpse’s discovery. Indeed, by the time they’d arrived at St. John’s Wood, he was beginning to show signs of impatience and agitation, anxious to be getting on with his exploration of the crime scene.

Now, he was hunched over the body of the dead vicar, murmuring intently to himself as he examined the man’s wounds.

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