A Matter of Magic (6 page)

It was on the tip of Kim’s tongue to retort that he, at least, was no friend of hers, but caution restrained her. Gin made Jack’s uncertain temper positively explosive, and she doubted that the other men would intervene if Jack started something. She tried to make her voice placating as she said, “It ain’t that. I got to meet a man down by the docks in less’n an hour, and I ain’t going to finish with Tom in time as it is.”

Jack started to reply angrily, but Dan put a hand on his arm and he subsided at once. “An appointment on the docks?” Dan said. “That’s a bit out of your usual way, isn’t it?”

Kim shrugged, wishing the doorkeeper would come back with Tom. “I go where the pay is.”

“Not always, my dear, or you would have accepted my generous offer,” Dan said, watching her with bright, penetrating eyes.

“I like bein’ on my own,” Kim said shortly. And she strongly disliked the idea of falling into Dan’s clutches. He’d have her forking purses off the market crowds during the day without regard for her scruples, and once he discovered her sex she’d spend her nights in the stews. Kim had no illusions about that sort of life. Let alone she had no taste for it, she’d be lucky not to end swinging from the nubbing cheat as Mother Tibb had.

“Well, let it pass,” Dan said, waving a hand. “But tell me, what has lured you to Tom Correy’s establishment tonight?”

“Bilking old Tom out of a tog and kicks, I’d say,” Jack muttered.

“Quietly, my dear.” Dan’s voice was velvet-smooth. Jack shot him a glance of mingled fear and resentment, but he did not speak again. Dan gave Kim a look of polite inquiry.

“I got business with Tom,” Kim told him.

“Really.” Dan’s eyes shifted to the bundled clothes dangling from
Kim’s right hand, then back to her face. “Not back on the sharping lay by any chance, are you, dear boy?”

“No, nor I ain’t goin’ to be, neither.”

“I can give you a better price than Tom, if you’ve any trinkets to dispose of,” the man persisted.

Kim suppressed a scowl. Dan had been trying to get a handle on her for a long time. He was obviously hoping that greed would get the better of her sense. She shook her head. “I ain’t got nothin’ in your line, Dan.”

“Pity. You’re quite sure—”

The creaking of the stairs interrupted as Tom Correy came down them, followed closely by the doorkeeper. Tom scowled at the gin drinkers, but his face lit up when he saw Kim. “Kim, lad! Where’ve you been keeping yourself?”

“Around,” Kim said with deliberate vagueness. She didn’t grudge Tom the knowledge, but there were too many interested and not entirely friendly ears present to overhear.

“You come for another coat?”

“What’d I say?” Jack muttered.

“Quiet, you,” Tom said without looking. “It’s my shop and I’ll run it my way, see? And the boy looks like he could do with a jacket.”

“I ain’t after one,” Kim said hastily.

Jack snorted and gulped at his cup. Tom looked at her. “What, then?”

“I got some stuff for you to look at. Here.” Kim crouched and undid the bundle.

“Where’d you come by this?” Tom said, studying the untidy pile with disfavor.

“Got it off a bingo-boy up by Spitalfields,” Kim said glibly. “What’ll you give me for ’em?”

Tom knelt and examined the clothes more closely. “They ain’t much.”

“Those’re good boots,” Kim pointed out quickly. “Some people would give three shillings just for the boots.”

“Three shillings? You must think I’m as lushy as that lot,” Tom said, waving towards the table. “I’ll give you a bender for the whole pile.”

“Sixpence ain’t enough,” Kim said stubbornly. “Two shillings ninepence.”

Dan and his cohorts soon lost interest in the bargaining and began a muttered conversation of their own, punctuated by frequent passage of the gin bottle. Kim watched them warily from the corner of her eye while she dickered. Jack was thoroughly castaway, and one or two of the others looked at least a little lushy. Dan, however, was being careful not to get the malt above water; though he passed the bottle and refilled cups with a comradely air, he himself drank little. And several times, Kim saw him watching her.

By the time she had finished her bargaining and collected one-and-sixpence from Tom, Kim was worried. She bade Tom a cordial goodbye and the drinkers a polite one, then stepped out into the cool, damp night. As the door closed behind her, she took a deep breath to clear the gin fumes from her head. The fog had thickened; the street-lamp by the shopfront was a dim smear of yellow light, blurred by the veil of moisture in the air.

Whistling softly, Kim started down Petticoat Lane. Half a block from Tom’s, she cut sharply to the left. She hunted along the backs of the shops until she found one with a drainpipe she could climb, then shinnied up it. She crept to the front of the building and lay flat, peering down at the street.

A moment later a man came skulking down the street from the direction of Tom’s shop. She couldn’t make out his face in the foggy darkness, but his silhouette was stocky and he moved like the man who had been keeping the door for Dan and his friends. He hurried by, heading toward the docks.

Kim stayed where she was for a while, considering. Dan had sent the doorkeeper after her, but why? She could think of no answer. Finally she slid down the drainpipe and started back toward the City. Her mood was thoughtful, and she made sure she took a circuitous route. Whatever the reason for Dan’s renewed interest in her, she was sure she wouldn’t like it when she found out what it was. She was glad she’d accepted Mairelon’s offer. With any luck at all, she’d be out of London long before Dan could find her.

It was near midnight when Kim arrived back at Mairelon’s wagon and rapped softly at the door. To her surprise, it swung open instantly. Mairelon stood just inside, dressed in evening clothes fine enough for gentry. His right eye seemed puffy, but showed no signs of discoloration. Kim looked more closely and saw streaks of stage makeup, all but invisible in the dim light. “It’s me,” she said to cover her sudden, irrational feeling of guilt.

“Ah, Kim,” Mairelon said with no perceptible change in his worried expression. “I’m glad you’re back.”

“Not so’s you’d notice,” Kim muttered as she entered the wagon. “I got rid of them flash togs, right enough.”

“Good,” Mairelon said absently, still frowning at the door.

Kim looked around for some hint as to the cause of Mairelon’s abstraction. She saw no sign of the droopy assistant, and on impulse asked, “Where’s Hunch?”

Mairelon picked up a top hat from the grey tile that topped the row of cabinets by the door. “I was just going to find that out.”

“You mean he’s run missing?”

“I sent him on an . . . errand. He should have been back an hour ago.”

Kim sighed. “It’s your lay. Where do we start lookin’?”

“
We
don’t start anywhere. You’re going to stay here and keep an eye on things, in case he gets back before I do.”

“I ain’t fond of sittin’ and waitin’,” Kim objected. “And if you’re that nattered about it, maybe you ought to take along some help.”

“I’m afraid you’d be rather out of place where I’m—” Mairelon broke off in mid-sentence, and his head turned toward the door. A moment
later it swung open and Hunch climbed into the wagon. He looked at Mairelon, and a disapproving frown settled over his face. Mairelon grinned like a schoolboy caught in a prank and tossed his top hat back onto the shelf.

Hunch snorted. “You ain’t queering me none, Master Richard. You was a-going to go looking for me.”

“It seemed like a good idea.”

“You ’adn’t ought to of done it,” Hunch said severely.

“Yes, well, I didn’t. What took so long?”

Hunch looked at Mairelon sharply, but allowed himself to be drawn away from his scolding. “Couple of sharpers tried to follow me, and I ’ad to lose ’em afore I come back.”

“What?” Mairelon looked up in the act of seating himself on top of the chest that had caused Kim so much trouble. “How many?”

“Two as I noticed.”

“Anyone we know?”

Hunch shook his head. “I ’adn’t seen neither of ’em afore.”

“Mmm-hm. I suppose they could have been some of Shoreham’s.”

“That’s as may be,” Hunch said. He sounded both skeptical and disapproving. Mairelon looked up. Hunch gave a warning jerk of his head in Kim’s direction.

“What? Oh, yes, of course,” Mairelon said. “Did you get what you went for?”

“Aye.”

“Well, let’s have it, man!”

Hunch shot another look in Kim’s direction, then reached stiffly into one of his pockets. He pulled out a folded paper sealed with a great blob of crimson wax and handed it to Mairelon.

Mairelon held it up to the light, edgewise. “The seal hasn’t been tampered—oh, Lord.”

“What is it?” Hunch said anxiously.

“Shoreham’s done it again,” Mairelon replied in annoyance. He turned slightly, so that his back was to Kim, and muttered something under his breath.

There was a bright flash of blue-white light that left Kim’s eyes momentarily dazzled. When her sight cleared. Mairelon was squinting at a fine dust of ashes that drifted from the folded paper. “I do wish he’d stop using that Egyptian Light-Lock,” he complained. “I never manage to get my eyes shut in time.”

Hunch grunted. Kim realized that he had turned his head away before Mairelon broke the seal, and so escaped the temporary blindness. She glared first at him and then at Mairelon. One of them might have warned her what to expect.

Mairelon shook the letter open and began to read. A moment later he straightened with an exclamation. “Tomorrow!”

“What’s that?” Hunch said.

“Shoreham wants us to meet him tomorrow evening.” Mairelon looked up. “How long was this waiting?” he demanded, waving the note.

“Since yesterday. Where’s ’e looking to be? Same place as last time?”

“Yes.” Mairelon shook his head. “He’s in a rush again. Blast the man!”

Hunch considered. “We’ll ’ave to leave early,” he said at last.

“I know,” Mairelon said irritably.

“What about ’er?” Hunch said, jerking his head in Kim’s direction.

“What?” Mairelon looked up from rereading the note. “Oh. You wouldn’t mind leaving London a little earlier than we’d planned, would you?” he asked Kim.

“No,” Kim said, remembering Dan Laverham and his unpleasant crew. She thought of mentioning them to Mairelon, but caution made her hold her tongue. If he knew about Dan, he might change his mind about letting Kim accompany him.

“That’s settled, then,” Mairelon said. He folded the note and tucked it in an inner pocket, then picked up his top hat. “I’ll be back in an hour or so.”

“You ain’t never just leaving without telling me where you’re off to!” Hunch sounded outraged.

Mairelon looked back over his shoulder and smiled angelically at Hunch. “Exactly,” he said, and the door closed behind him.

Hunch glared at the door. After a moment, he transferred the glare to Kim. “And what’s ’e want me to do with you?” he muttered.

“I’ll just go doss under the wagon,” Kim offered, sidling toward the door. She wanted to think about what she’d overheard, and she wanted to get away from Hunch. She also wanted to retrieve the shillings she’d left in her hidey-hole; she might need them once she left London.

“No, you ain’t,” Hunch said, leaning against the door. “
’E
may be willing to let you go jauntering about, but I ain’t ’aving you blabbing things all over London.”

“What things?” Kim asked scornfully. “You ain’t told me nothin’, neither one of you.”

“Hah.” Hunch squinted at her, and his mustache seemed to droop even more. “You ’eard enough to make trouble. And don’t gammon me you don’t know it, neither.”

“Maybe.” Kim studied Hunch. She was rapidly acquiring a good deal of respect for him; despite his appearance, he was no fool. “But I ain’t no troublemaker.”

“ ’Ow do I know that?”

“You’ve had time enough to ask questions about me all round Hungerford,” Kim said shrewdly. “And if you ain’t done it, I don’t know a sharp from a Robin Redbreast.”

Hunch did not reply. He also did not move away from the door.

Kim heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Well, I ain’t goin’ to stand here arguin’ with you all night,” she said. “And I ain’t leavin’ London half asleep, neither. If you ain’t letting me out, I’ll doss here.”

She sat down on the chest with more confidence than she felt, remembering her previous experience. No explosions or purple sparks followed, so she swung her feet up and stretched out on top of it. It wasn’t as comfortable as it might have been, but it wasn’t cold and there weren’t any rats looking to share it with her. It’d do.

She grinned at Hunch’s fulminating expression and closed her eyes. He’d think she was shamming it, and he’d watch her closely to see that she had no chance to slip away. So she wouldn’t sham. There was no point in wasting however much time Mairelon planned to take, and no reason not to take full advantage of a warm, dry, safe place to rest. She grinned again at the thought of Hunch’s probable reaction, and let herself drop into sleep.

The wagon door opened, and Kim came awake all at once. She gave an instant’s consideration to the possibility of pretending she was still asleep, in hopes of hearing something of interest, then rejected the idea. She’d do better to let them know she was awake, as a sort of expression of good faith. It wouldn’t calm Hunch’s suspicions, but at least it wouldn’t raise any more of them. She opened her eyes and sat up.