Violet looked at Joshua and back to King again. She knew those stubborn looks. The men’s minds had been made up. Little as she liked to admit it, she could see Joshua was more and more a man every day. Even if she forbade him, he wouldn’t obey.
She grasped King’s lapels and yanked him aside. “If anything happens to him,” she said, “I will blame you.”
“Nothing will happen,” he said.
“You’d better hope not, because if you come back without him, I swear to God, I’ll make you sorry you were ever born.”
“Violet—” He tried to pull her into his arms, but she shoved him back.
“Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again.”
Chapter Sixteen
Joshua paused onthe roof of the building overlooking the Black Bear. “That’s it,” he told King, who had paused beside him.
“Thank God.” King slumped down and took a breath. “Give me a moment. I haven’t done this sort of thing in years.”
Joshua turned back to study Ferryman’s lair. He wasn’t worried about King. The man might complain, but he’d kept up with Joshua just fine. That earned him a measure of respect. Joshua’s respect for King had been growing daily. Finally, they saw a way out of the trap in which Ferryman had caught them. King would help Vi stand up to the arch rogue. Just like he was helping rescue Lizzie. Joshua hadn’t really thought King would keep his word. Most adults made promises they had no intention of keeping. King seemed different, and Joshua hoped hewasdifferent.
“Tell me how we get inside again,” King said, sounding less winded now.
“See that window?” Joshua pointed to the first floor. “We go in that way. It leads to a room where none of the whores sleep.”
“How do you know it won’t be locked?”
“The latch is broken.”
King glanced at him. “Convenient.”
“That’s why I broke it.”
King laughed. “Very well. How do we get to that window? And don’t say jump across to the roof.”
“I won’t say it, then.”
“Holy hell. Can’t we climb up from the alley?”
Joshua pointed to the ground floor below the window in question. “There’s another window there. One of Ferryman’s men might see us.”
“For once, I should have listened to your sister.” King sighed. “I’ll follow you, then.”
Joshua rose. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
Joshua moved back a few paces then jogged to the edge of the flat roof and leapt over. The roof of the Black Bear was a bit lower, but the space between the buildings was only about five feet. He made it easily. With a grin, he turned back to King and waved at him.
King followed his example, stepping back and running for the roof. But he hesitated at the last moment, and his jump wasn’t as powerful. Joshua watched in horror as he fell just short of the Black Bear’s roof, his hands grasping the edge. Joshua ran to the edge, put his hands over King’s wrists, and held on.
“What’d you do that for?” he demanded.
“Just trying to keep things interesting,” King said, his voice full of sarcasm. “Pull me up.”
Joshua tried, but he didn’t have the strength. Fortunately, King got one arm over the edge of the roof and shimmied the rest of the way. He rolled onto his back and lay looking up at the gray sky. It was midmorning in London, though the overcast skies and persistent fog made it difficult to tell what time of day it might be.
“Come on. We’re almost there.”
King rolled his eyes toward Joshua, but he rose to his knees and watched him edge back over the roof, using a drainpipe to reach the window, slide it open, and jump inside. Joshua pokedhis head out and waved at King. Then he turned back to the room and jumped.
