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The fact the carriage had drawn to a stop near Cle Indeed, Verity suspected the lane’s inhabitants in and a scuttle of coal And where better to keep a person prisoner than a cage in a dank cellar?

Questions pushed to the forefront of her mind Did the fiend know Mr Layton had attacked Mr Trent, or was he the one who’d lashed out at the unsuspecting visitor?

“Did you hit Mr Trent on the head, just as you did the night he found you in the cellar?” she said as the brute prodded her in the side with the pistol’s ed her to quicken her pace “What surprises me is why you didn’t kill him then”

Children stopped racing about the busy lane and stared at the hunched figure walking with an abnorait Some pointed and jeered and threw cockle shells Some ran to find their mamas

To other onlookers, it appeared as though the poorthe short journey along the lane, she’d coth of a beast

She thought to cry out, but what if Lawrence was his prisoner, his fate dependent upon her cooperation?

“Mr Trent’s participation is integral to ain “No one would bla out at thieves and trespassers keen to invade my home”

Was that an aduilt?

“But they e in your cellar”

He snorted “It is notthis ro tenants dare to question their landlord”

This

They cah parts of the fralanced at the fresh wood and with a s how quick a man can hen he has mouths to feed”

Without further discussion, he pushed her into the hall and locked the front door The word she had held at bay since leaving the hotel burst from her mouth in a panic

“Lawrence?”

Silence