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"He ith Leo that night," she huffed "They were … They were lovers"

"What?" he signed Julian was certain he’d misheard her

"Lovers?" Ashworth and Morland echoed

So It would seeroup "Yes, lovers I’m sure of it I have letters froed ely silent He and Ashworth and Morland looked fro around in vain for explanations, he supposed OrJulian’s own history of debauchery, he’d never felt hie others’ sexual affairs And to be sure, he’d known his share of mollies His own tailors, for a start It was no secret Schwartz and Cobb were more than just business partners In his youth, there’d been a molly house just a block from Anna’s coffeehouse And even within the ton, there were always those "confirmed bachelors"

But those were other men They weren’t Leo

Lovers Leo and Faraday, lovers

Julian briefly considered reconstructing his mind to accommodate the concept Then he pushed the idea away Renovations on such a grand scale took ht now "We already knew Faraday was there He took the attack ht"

"But you weren’t," Morland said "Faraday was And if they had some kind of relationship …"

"A cri?"

"Wait aCora Dunn You know, the fe?" Yes, Julian re "Cora saothem, and the brutes she described looked like Stone and Macleod down there They were apprehended in the saht We’re here for a reason"

Of all the untenable notions, that would be theThat after all this, no answers awaited him No future

Morland swore "I have to leave Jesus Christ, thatto do with it," Julian insisted Lily tugged at his sleeve, but he pulled his arestured toward the two convicts on the breakwater "If those men killed Leo, we can’t let them walk free He was our friend"

"He was ued "I’m his closest kin If there’s a question over how to deal with this, shouldn’t it becocked, uncomfortably close

"I loved him It’s mine to say"

Julian wheeled around to see anothertall and fit, armed with a double-barreled flintlock pistol

Hatred flickered in the un "No one move"

Chapter Twenty-four

A shot cracked the air

Julian had no ti, save throw his body in front of Lily’s Faraday fired again, and a ball whistled past Julian’s ear

After a split-second inventory of his vital organs to assure himself he was alive and unhar the shots’ trajectory Through the acrid cloud of black powder, he gli on the breakwater The two convicts made slow, insensate dives into the Thames, shackles and all If they weren’t already dead frounshot wounds, they would droithin the e, in his desperation thinking to leap straight off the shipyard platform How many feet down to the riverbank? Fifteen, perhaps? If he survived the jump with no broken bones, maybe he could fish the men out of the river

But Lily wrapped her ar you can do"

Julian froze, swearing with helpless rage He had no choice but to stop It was that, or drag Lily over, too

"It’s done," Faraday said, co to stand beside them "It’s over"

Yes, it was over And Julian was done for God damn it to hell With thosehis ene to the botto was left to mark Stone and Macleod’s presence on this earth, save a few ripples The officers see It had all happened so fast, and as the sound of two gunshots in the midst of an armory?

He choked on a sob What did he do now? Nu hopeless and doomed, he turned, took his wife in his arms, and held her This hat he would do He would hold on to Lily for as long as he could

No one knehat to say

Finally Morland said to Faraday, "I thought you were an invalid"

"I was for a tiot better"

No doubt about it Julian scarcely recognized Faraday as the same person they’d visited in Cornwall Aside from his miraculous physical recovery, the ed The Peter Faraday of Julian’s recollection had been vacuous, irreverent, shiftless This Faraday was collected and sure Ruthless, in a strangely professional way

"Rot in hell," thehard at the breakwater

Morland said, "You seeht you said you couldn’t identify them"

"I lied I’d know them anywhere," Faraday said "They were the ones They killed hied silence