The Numbered Corpses (Elysium #4)

Chapter Eleven

Trinket drew her shawl tighter around her shoulders as she made her way to the Clocktower. Though it was a rather warm night, goose pimples rose up along her arms. Her eyes darted about the street. It was strange to be going to the alehouse on her own. Not that she hadn't done it before, but she'd known what to expect those times. While she was confident she knew who had summoned her tonight, she was completely in the dark as to the reason. And with Scales looming about, clearly watching her every move, it left her feeling exposed and vulnerable.

As she slipped inside the Clocktower, her feet automatically took her to the back where several tables and chairs were tucked away in the shadows, empty but for the rats nibbling at crumbs on the floor.

"Ah, your intuition guides you well."

Her heart jumped, and as she turned towards the voice, she found Ms. Langtry sitting at one of the rat-infested tables, sporting the same easy smile she'd had on in the coffeehouse. Motioning with her partially mechanical hand, she invited Trinket to join her.

"It's not so much intuition as it is habit," Trinket replied, bumping a rat with the toe of her boot and sending it scurrying over to the next table.

Ms. Langtry raised an eyebrow. "You and Mr. Larkin prefer the company of rodents as well?"

So the rats were real. That was more of a relief than it should have been. "We prefer to observe without being observed."

"Not an easy task in a city like this. Or for a person like Mr. Larkin."

"Is there a reason you reached out to me and not Mr. Larkin, Ms. Langtry?"

The woman's placid smile twitched, threatening to reveal a shadow of humor. "Just as impatient as he is, I see. You two are quite the pair."

"I'm certainly not perfect, but I daresay I have more patience than Mr. Larkin."

"Yes, you do, don't you? But he doesn't raise the bar very high."

Trinket held back a smile. "I simply wish to get to the point because I left without informing Mr. Larkin of my whereabouts. I'd hate for him to discover me missing and go tearing through the city in search of me."

Ms. Langtry chuckled softly. "And he would do that, wouldn't he? For a man who spent so many years establishing a reputation of cold indifference, he's more recently been wearing his heart quite blatantly on his sleeve. I fear this will not bode well for him in the near future."

"So you think he was better off feigning heartlessness?"

"Oh, I didn't say that. I think it's good for his heart. It just might not be so good for his survival. But we must be willing to die for what we love, no?"

Trinket's chest ached, an unbidden image of Gin broken and bruised coming into her head. "Is that why you asked me here? To tell me I'm killing Mr. Larkin?"

"No. I thought to warn you about a client who came to me not long after you and Mr. Larkin departed."

"How do your clients concern us?"

"When they come in pursuit of the same information you're after, I think they should concern you."

Trinket's stomach dropped. "Scales?"

"Indeed. He came asking about any information I might have regarding these numbered corpses. I assumed, based on how quickly his visit followed yours, he was tailing you."

Of course he was. Even without the Mice at his disposal, Scales was still determined to find Benedict. "What did you tell him?"

"The truth. I have no information on the corpses."