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at a full run the Masker wheeled to the left at the corner onto New Street and Matthew followed, narrowly h

It was true that Mattheas neither a sportsman nor a swordsman, but it was equally true that he could run This skill had probably been refined during his days as a waterfront urchin before he was forcibly taken to the orphanage, as it took the fleet of foot to steal food and dodge billyclubs Now it served hi up to his quarry; also paramount in his mind was the fact that it was safer to keep the Masker in front of him, yet he was ready at any second for the man to whirl around with an outstretched blade ausley didn&039;t need the walking-stick any longer, but Matthew clung to it like life

"Constable!" Matthew shouted again, and now the Masker took a severe turn to the left and, cloak flying, disappeared into the space between the silversmith&039;s and the house next door Matthew lifted the lantern with its paltry light; his pace faltered and he had only seconds to decide whether to go in or not before the Masker would be lost

He held up the stick to ward off an attack, took a breath, and darted to the chase The little passageas so narrow it nearly scraped his shoulders He caarden a brick pathway led off to the right, with a white wall and a gate on the left a dog began barking furiously to the right and in that direction the voice of sohtened citizen shouted, "Who&039;s therei Who&039;s therei"

Matthew could hear shouts also from over on Barrack Street ausley&039;s body had been discovered In for a penny, in for a pound, he thought He began running again along the pathway and in a moment passed under a rose arbor Then there was another wall ahead of hih this there was a holler, "I see you, da a pistol discharged from an upperand a lead ball shrieked past Matthew&039;s ear He didn&039;t wait for further introductions; he took to his heels, went over a waist-high picket fence, and then the dog that had been barking lunged at hiht-chain yanked it back before flesh could be served

Now Matthew didn&039;t fear the Masker so ate he caht picked out a dark shape clih The Masker had dragged a barrel over to stand on, and as Matthew shouted again for a constable the dark figure secured the heights, paused to kick over the barrel, and then dropped onto the other side Matthew heard footsteps running on stones, heading toward the docks

He righted the barrel, climbed up, and also went over He landed on the uneven stones of a narrow alley that ran behind the houses and shops of New Street This was an excellent place to twist an ankle, a fact he could only hope the Masker had already discovered He continued on along the alleyway but at a walk His light was al hard, and unless the Masker had circled around behind hiht, theon Barrack Street, the barking of hbors one to another, the entire toas coht, I&039;d call a finish to this night and go to ht be Still, there were many places the Masker could be hidden in ambush as Matthew approached On the left was a barn Beside it lay a juon wheels, and the like On the right was the rear of a store and a root cellar Matthew tried the root cellar&039;s door but it was bolted fro lamp to both sides Most of the houses and shops had root cellars, and here and there were gates that led either into ht onto New Street or to the left onto Broad Street

as Matthealked on, his lantern uplifted and the walking-stick thrust out like a rapier, he kept watch for any trace of ht From the noise on Barrack Street, the demise of Eben ausley had caused either a riot or a party

The end of the alleyhich was about as wide as a horse-cart, was not far distant It opened onto Beaver Street, where Matthew could see the shine of a cornerpost la his lantern fro the Masker ood idea, he decided, to retrace the path he&039;d coht for he was not about to be shot at twice in one night

and then, quite suddenly, the light showed hi that stopped him in his tracks

On the handle to a root cellar door on his left was a dark red smear

He bent over it and examined it more carefully His heart, which had not had an easy tian to pound anew It was a sht have coer under the door&039;s handle and tried to lift it, but it was locked He stepped back and looked at the structure a two-story brick house or a shop of sohts shone in any of the s He found a pathway to the front and a wrought-iron gate that opened onto Broad Street Just as he was about to go through, twopast on their way to, presuive them time to make some distance, as he didn&039;t wish to be either interrupted or assaulted by soed through the gate onto Broad Street and looked up at the building before him

Now he could see illumination, two or three candles&039; worth it appeared, up in a roon on its hooks above the door

Pollard, Fitzgerald, and Kippering, attorneys

Mattheent up the three front steps and used the brass knocker, which sounded equally as loud as the gunshot

He waited, looking south along Broad Street in case anyone else ca past There was no reply from within the lawyers&039; office, yet upon an appraisal of the upstairsit did appear that at least one of the candles had ain, as the noise sounded as if it could wake the dead, but he was deteret in

Perhaps ten seconds passed, with no response He was about to use his fist when he heard a latch being undone The door opened, and at that instant the last light of Matthew&039;s lantern fizzled out

another candle was thrust almost into his face

"Youi What the hell do you wanti"

Matthew squinted in the glare of a fresh wick He knew the voice "I hate to bother you, sir, but I assume you&039;ve heard a little noise just latelyi"

"I have," said Kippering "Fools shouting the ton, and what sounded like a gun going off What&039;s happenedi"

"Haven&039;t you been curious enough to venture out to seei"

"Should I have beeni"

"Do youa question with a questioni"

"When the question is fro lowered the candle, which was set in a pewter holder Matthew noted that thethe same rather tatty black suit he&039;d worn at the Thorn Bush, and now Kippering&039;s appearance ard and tired with dark circles under his eyes, his mouth slack and his blue eyes more watery than icy at thatpast on the sidewalk, heading north Two of the men were armed, one with acalled to them "What&039;s happenedi"

"another murder," answered one of the men "The Masker&039;s cut soleefully

"a little exaggeration," Matthew said, "but centrally true The Masker has killed Eben ausley He&039;s lying up there on Barrack Street"

"Whoi" Kippering blinked heavily "The Masker or ausleyi"

"ausley are you illi"

"aran a hand through his thick and unruly hair, and the black comma fell back onto his forehead "So ausley&039;s dead, is hei" He seemed to look at Matthew fully for the first ti-stick He took it froht "If I&039;s to ausley He had it at the Thorn Bush al in possession of iti"

"You ht inspect your cellar"

"Inspecton abouti"

Matthew said, "I was first on the scene when ausley was killed I saw the Masker, just as he&039;d finished his work I took the stick as a weapon and chased after hi scowled "You&039;re the one who&039;s ill, boy"

"He led me to the alley behind your office On the door to your root cellar is a blood slove, perhaps I should like to have a look down there" Matthew reached out and grasped the stick When he tried to pull it away, he rip and gave it up "Will you show o for a constablei"

"The cellar door&039;s bolted from within It&039;s always bolted"

"That may be so, but someone left blood on the doorhandle I&039;d like to take a look"

"What are you sayingi That I&039;rin "Oh, certainly! after the night I&039;ve had, I surely gathered up the energy to go out prowling the streets and endedanother of our clients at this rate we&039;ll be out of business in a week"

"ausley was your clienti I didn&039;t know"

Kippering see to the noise over on Barrack Street a few , weary sigh "I suppose I ought to go represent the estate Keep the fools froaze on Matthew "You saw the Maskeri"

"I did Not his face, unfortunately"

"There&039;s blood on the cellar doori"

Matthew nodded

"Co opened the door wider, and Matthew entered When Kippering started to close the door, Matthew said, "I&039;d appreciate it if you&039;d leave that open"

"I can assure you that the only thing I&039;ve killed tonight is half a bottle of brandy and a lot of time"

"Please leave the door open," Matthew insisted in a cal led hiht a second candle in a pewter holder that was sitting atop a stack of books on a table and this he gave to Mattheho laid aside the dead lantern "I hope you&039;re not afraid of spiders," he said He unhooked a latch and opened the door into the cellar&039;s darkness "Watch your step, these stairs are older than randmother"

Before they descended, Matthew requested that Kippering also leave that door open and go down first "You&039;re serious, aren&039;t youi" Kippering asked, but then he took appraisal of Matthew&039;s expression and obeyed as he followed down the rickety old stairs, Matthew thought that so stick

The candles seee cellar with a dirt floor and brick walls The old yellohite bricks, Matthew noted, that had originally co the place al were battered wooden shelves full of decaying law books, parcels of papers wrapped in twine, and stacks upon stacks of h there was a sea daot loose in here it would burn steadily for a month Discarded buckets, two broken chairs, a desk that looked as if it had been chewed by a beaver, and other odds-and-ends of office decor littered the chamber Mattheent directly to the cellar door and inspected the bolt

"anything therei" Kippering asked

"No," came the answer There was no blood on this side of the door But that didn&039;t stop Matthew fro his candle around to check the steps and the floor There were many footprints in the dirt, but ould there not bei He continued searching around boxes of papers "What is all thisi" he asked

"The underbelly of the legal profession" Kippering sat down on a large wooden trunk "This is where the old deceased records lie in rotting perpetuity Most of it dates back to before Charles Land took the firm over from Rolf Gorendyke He left it all here for us to clean up, except Bryan thinks there&039;ll be value to it someday as history and he wants to keep it If Joplin and I had our e&039;d toss it tomorrow"

"Toss it wherei"

"Yes, well that&039;s the proble it, but" He shrugged "Maybe Bryan&039;s right Soive a da around and finding nothing but a rat&039;s nest, both figuratively and literally "You say Eben ausley was your clienti" he asked as he explored the roo dead over on the next street"

"I had li Records of contributions Contracts for supplies and labor Paperhen the orphans found hos such as that"