Read Online From Hell by Tim Marquitz - Free Book Online

feet.
    Someone had checked the wards in the
kill room as if they didn’t trust them. That paranoia was probably
why the guy had run off and sketched the new sigil on the apartment
wall after he’d spotted me. He was worried I would stumble across
it before they moved the body so he tried to protect their
secret.
     
    A smile crept to my lips. It wasn’t
Jack I’d run across, but someone I could take advantage of. This
guy was the weak link. His fear had led us right to the body, his
abilities nowhere near those of Jack’s. He was how we’d track down
the Ripper.
    “ What do we do
now?”
    I glanced down at my palm, and then
looked up to grin at Scarlett. “I have an idea.”
    Oddly enough, she didn’t seem happy
about that.

Nine
     
    We’d circled through the streets of
Whitechapel for hours, Scarlett asking me over and over where we
were going. I waved her off each time because I wasn’t even sure
myself. Finally she gave up, and I reveled in the relative peace of
the chilly, London night.
    The smart folks had fled the streets,
but there were still people out and about, though few and far
between. It made my search more difficult but I knew the general
area so I figured I’d stumble across what I was looking for sooner
or later. It was, unfortunately, later as it turned out.
    A quiet giggle floated through the air
as we approached a corner we’d probably passed fifteen times in our
travels. I stopped and hugged the wall.
    “ What are we looking for?”
Scarlett asked again. There was no missing the sharpened edge of
her simmering fury.
    I waggled a finger in her face to shut
her up and peered down the adjoining street. Quickly snatching my
hand away before she could rip something off, I turned and gave her
a triumphant smile.
    “ He’s who we’re looking for.” I motioned around the corner with my
eyes.
    Scarlett crept up to the
edge and glanced down the walk before turning back to me. She
raised her arms in a silent question. Why?
    “ You’ll see.” I looked
again, waiting until the giggling woman wandered off with
her date , and
then waved Scarlett forward. “I need you to do
something.”
    She sighed and gave me her ‘No’ look.
“We’re family, Frank. It’s never going to happen.”
    “ Not that.” Though I had
to admit, now that I was thinking about it… “Anyway, just step
around the corner and call out for Wally. And try not to scare the
guy.” I motioned to her blades.
    “ Wally?” She raised an
eyebrow. “You’ve been in town two days and you already know the
local pimp’s name?”
    “ What can I say? It’s a
gift,” I answered. “Just do it, please.”
    “ Is this our
killer?”
    “ No, but he might lead us
to him.” I hoped she’d leave it at that.
    She did. Scarlett groaned under her
breath and tugged her sword belt off, handing it to me before
stepping around the corner and calling out to the pimp. Had it been
me she was shouting for, I’d have run for my life, but Wally
apparently didn’t have an ear for danger. There was nothing
remotely suggestive or seductive about the tone of Scarlett’s
voice. In fact, it sounded like a harpy mother calling a boy home
for a spanking.
    But then again…
    Wally sauntered over without
hesitation, boots scraping over the cobblestones and telling me
exactly where he was. “Do I know you, girl?” he asked.
    I didn’t hear Scarlett’s answer so I
assumed she just shook her head. That didn’t stop him from walking
right up to her, fool that he was. Despite her tone, one look at
Scarlett put all the other women in his life to shame. Even dressed
down like a ragamuffin, she was the most beautiful woman he’d
likely ever seen, even in his dreams. If for no reason other than
to take a closer look, he’d respond to her. That’s what I was
counting on.
    His boots thumped to a stop in front
of Scarlett, and I knew I had him. I dug my Webley out and darted
around the corner, burying the barrel in his cheek. My other hand
wrapped