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"I&039; to cut some more of the sheet away," said Greathouse, his voice strained He began to ith the knife again, his hand careful and reverent to the deceased

When the sheet had been cut open and pulled aside, the shriveled victim lay in all the horror of murder, his knees pulled up in a frozen attitude of prayer and his thin aresture of Christian burial that Matthew presumed Zed had done after the cords were cut The body was dressed in a shirt that ht have been white at one tireen, and splattered black The shirt was unbuttoned, probably by McCaggers for inspection, and both Matthew and Greathouse could clearly see four of the stab wounds-three in the chest and one at the base of the neck-which were vivid purple against the spoiled-milk color of the flesh The body wore breeches whose color and fabric had turned to so nearly like mud, and on the feet were brown boots

Matthew had to put his hand up to his mouth and nose, for the smell of this was horrendous He saw movement in a nearby tree; a few of the crows had landed and aiting

"There&039;s part of the cord" Greathouse carefully pulled at it, finding too late that it was sealed by deco piece of skin peeled off like soft cheese It was a thin but tough little piece of rope, frayed on both ends "You see the marks around the wrists where he was boundi"

"Yes," Matthew said, though he didn&039;t bend over to look too closely One thing he did note, however "The left hand The thu"

"First joint only Looks like an old injury because the bone&039;s grown smooth" Greathouse dared to touch it, and then his hand went toward one of the stab wounds at first Matthew thought theto probe one of those purple fissures with his fingers, which would have been the last straw on this hayload, but Greathouse&039;s hand made a circle in the air "I see four wounds, but I&039;ers was accurate in his count" He pulled his hand back and looked up at Matthew His eyes were red-rient smoke "I want to tell you," he said, "that I&039;ve seen so like this before I can&039;t be for certain, and I ought not to speculate, but-"

Matthew gave a cry and stepped back, his eyes the size of one of Stokely&039;s platters He thought itfroiven a quick tremble

"What is iti" Instantly Greathouse was on his feet "What&039;s wrong with youi"

"He moved," Matthehispered

"He movedi" Greathouse looked back at the corpse to make sure, but a corpse was a corpse "are youJames!"

They both stared at the body, and therefore they both saw the body give another fleeting tre from its Thanatostic slumber The movement, Matthew realized in his dumbstruck terror, was more of a vibration than an action of muscle and sinehich in the case of this unfortunate had turned to calf&039;s-foot jelly

Greathouse stepped nearer the grave Matthew did not, but he heard what Greathouse did: a thin, faint chittering noise that made the hairs on the back of his neck prickle

Even as Greathouse realized what it must be and quickly reached for his shovel, the pale amber-colored roaches boiled from the cavity of the dead nant army They rushed back and forth in a frenzy over the eyeless face and an to stream out of the knife wounds like yellow drops of blood Matthew thought itof the body or the unwelcome heat of the sun that had disturbed them from their dank banquet hall, and now he knehat had burrowed all those holes in the winding-sheet

Greathouse began throwing the dirt back in like aup from the inferno There was no time nor need for niceties, as the soul that had departed from this husk at the bottom of the hole had to be in a better place Matthew caether he and Greathouse first covered over the face with itsinsects and then shoveled dirt upon the body until it was seen no ain, Greathouse threw aside his shovel and without a alked down the hillside to the river He got on his knees where earth met water and splashed his face while Matthew sat on a boulder above and let the sun steam away the cold sweat that had burst up from his pores

When Greathouse caed five years in a matter of moait tired and heavy He stopped between Matthew and the grave, sliding a sideways glance at the dirt ave an almost imperceptible shudder and sat down on a rock a few feet to Matthew&039;s left "You did well," he said

"as did you," Mattheered

"I&039;d have liked to have gone through the pockets"

"Reallyi"

"No," Greathouse said "Not really anyway, I&039;d bet my horse he was picked clean before his wrists were tied"

"I&039;m sure either Zed or Lillehorne inspected the clothes," Matthew said "as reed He looked up at the crohich had left the tree and were again circling They cawed sharply a few ti robbed

Matthew also watched theo &039;round The sky seeed with gray The afternoon heat had becoh the forest and bent trees to its will, yet where the two men sat they neither heard the noise of the wind nor felt it, for on this bank the air was thick andthe smell of death

Greathouse said, "I have seen two bodies like that before Both in England I can&039;t be sure, of course, that what I&039;m about to tell you has coht have been killed by highwayed occupants of a tavern for cheating at cards, or some such reason that would not explain why he was bound" He rubbed his knuckles and stared off across the river "I thinkthis may have been done by someone whom Mrs Herrald and I know very well"

"You knoho did thisi"

"I believe I knoho inator of this ht not be physically present himself, but those who follow him may be close at hand"

"If you know," Matthew said, "you should go straight to the high constable"

"Well, there&039;s the problem I don&039;t know for certain and even if I went to Lillehorne, I doubt there&039;s aze toward Matthew "Have you ever heard of someone called Professor Felli"

"No Should I havei"

Greathouse shook his head "You wouldn&039;t have, except if Nathaniel-Magistrate Powers, that is-happened to mention this individual"

Matthened, coistrate have to do with thisi"

"Nathaniel is in New York because of Professor Fell," cauard their lives He left a well-established and lucrative legal career in London, because the word had gotten to hiry at a prosecution case Nathaniel was ainst one of his associates No oneUnless you put an ocean in betweenand even then" He trailed off

"So you&039;re saying this Professor Fell person is a criminali"

"a criminal," Greathouse repeated quietly, with a bitter smile that quickly slipped away "London is a collection of huts The Thames is a stream Queen anne is a lady with a nice chair Yes, Professor Fell is a criminal No one knows his first name No one knows really if &039;he&039; is a man or woman, or if &039;he&039; ever was a professor at any school or university No one has ever given an age for him or a description, but I&039;ll tell you this: you saw the workings of his rave"

Greathouse was silent and Mattheas silent, waiting

"There is an underworld you can&039;t iine Not even the Gazette frames it accurately" Greathouse&039;s eyes were dark; he stared at nothing, yet see that stirred fear and revulsion even in his heart of oak "In England and in Europe It&039;s existed forwho can say how long We know the names of the most vile eleustus Pons Mada, forgery, theft of both state and private papers, black, arson, murder for hire, and whatever else offers theht over territory Over countries, as if fighting for the seats at a dinner table nearest the roast beef platter Their gang wars have been brutal and bloody and have gotten thean to change Professor Fell euile, intelligence, and not a ss into a criminal parliament"

Still Matthewin what Greathouse had to say

"How exactly Fell gained the leadership role, we don&039;t know We have had our inforbird disappeared froht to be perfectly secure The first ended up stuffed into a trunk on a ship bound for aberdeen The second-a wohed with stones in the Cherwell River an unfortunate swimmer came upon her, a month or so after she&039;d vanished You already knohat condition both corpses were found"

"Multiple stab wounds," Matthew reasoned "Made by different blades"

"The man had been stabbed twenty-six times, the woman twenty-two Then both their skulls were bashed in The cords remained around their wrists, tied behind them They were meant to be discovered, after a certain amount of time, as a show of power We have a theory"

When Greathouse didn&039;t immediately continue, Matthew prodded, "I&039;d like to hear it"

"Mrs Herrald ca from the fact that both victims were stabbed front and back, but no knife wounds were struck below the waist She thinks Fell punishes the offenders or the disobedient by running theets a stab, so to speak Maybe there&039;s even a trial of souilty for violating the code of silence or behavior-is auntlet until they&039;re nearly dead, and then their skulls are broken I&039;d say that&039;s a powerful method to secure loyalty, wouldn&039;t youi"

Matthew said nothing

"Or auntlet," Greathouse said "Maybe they just throw the victis But it&039;s the cords, you see Only the wrists are tied, not the ankles The victier as the case may be They are meant to know there is no escape, and that death will be a slow and painful process no h the blades" Greathouse wore a sickened expression, as if he were ilinted off the knives and a shadow ran pleading for life aed to murder "We think there have been others, of course, but their bodies have either not been discovered yet or have been destroyed Or ite think he desires: a criminal empire that spans the continents all the sathered around the big shark, and so they have swurave was murdered forwhati an act of disobediencei a refusal to bow at the proper moment, or to polish the boots of someone his seniori Who can sayi He may have been an example a lesson of the day, for a minor infraction" Greathouse ran the back of his hand across hisHe didn&039;t speak for a while, as the croed ever et out of here," and stood up

On their way back through the orchard, carrying their dirt-smeared shovels with them, Matthew asked, "But you can&039;t be sure about this, can youi You can&039;t be sure that Fell is here as you said, the hwayht, I can&039;t be sure Not absolutely sure, anyway I&039;: this is the professor&039;s eance, and whether he is here or not, sos"

Before they reached the farht Matthew&039;s sleeve "Don&039;t mention that name to anyone, not just yet This is between us, do you understandi"

"Yes"

"We&039;ve been expecting him or his compatriots to come to the colonies, sooner or later That&039;s one of the reasons Mrs Herrald decided to make a permanent office in New York I suppose I should&039;ve been prepared for it, but I wasn&039;t" Greathouse&039;s expression had changed since leaving the graveside a few minutes before, he&039;d appeared almost pole-axed by this development, but now Matthe the color was back in his face and his eyes had that fierce old-bastardy look to theain He was, in spite of hi I&039;ll come to town and have a look at the property maps at City Hall," Greathouse declared "We&039;ll find out ns the land up north of Van Hullig I agree that the body ht have been carried froot to start somewhere"

They used the soap and bucket of water Ormond offered to wash as best as possible the odor of human decay froet its sharp green scent of pine oil up the nostrils Greathouse thanked the farave him a few small coins in appreciation Before they ht out his brown bottle of brandy, uncorked it, and offered the first drink to Mattheho took down a s that on any other day would have set fire to his insides but on this afternoon just ed to make hi, also perhaps to burn away so himself up into the saddle

The ride back to Mrs Herrald&039;s was done in silence Matthew found hi the reins and his knees ave an occasional whicker of indignation the horse seemed to appreciate the fact that his rider had taken fir could be worse today than what he&039;d already been through, not even a buck fro he was the , and tucked it away Fro the road they travelled, his eyes dark and darting, as if ht and swirl of dust a creature to be feared was not even now bearing down on them, like a hydra of many heads, arms, and knives

There was more to this story of Professor Fell, Matthew decided as he watched Greathouse check the road at their backs I&039;ve only been told a part of it There was still sorim-and perhaps personal-secret that Greathouse kept bound up inside hiht be would have to wait for a safer hour