Free Come the Fear by Chris Nickson Page A

care.’ He turned his gaze on his son. ‘But I won’t have you marrying her. Your mother and I will find you a suitable wife.’
    Rob pushed himself away from the door frame. ‘Is that advice or a demand?’
    â€˜It’s whatever you want to make of it,’ Lister told him. ‘But you’d do well to remember that there are consequences for every action. I want a good match for you. Take a little time and think about that.’
    â€˜Goodnight, father,’ he said coldly and ran up the next flight of stairs to his bedroom.

Six
    An early mist had come down as the Constable walked into Leeds, giving a cobweb light to the land. Somewhere off in the trees crows were cawing and he could hear the soft smack of hooves on the earth, but he couldn’t see them. Once the sun rose it would all burn away and bring another bright spring day, but for now he might have been alone in the world with its soft, beautiful chill.
    Three weeks, he thought. Someone must have seen Lucy Wendell in that time. She’d need to eat and drink, she’d want somewhere to sleep. If she’d had any money at all it would have been precious little, not enough to keep her for all that time.
    He was still brooding when the deputy arrived at the jail, rubbing the sleep from his face. He sat on the bench, stretching out his long legs.
    â€˜Bad night?’
    â€˜Isabell kept waking and I don’t know what I’m going to do about James.’ He chuckled drily and shook his head. ‘Aye, other than that it was fine.’
    â€˜Have you seen Lucy’s brother yet?’
    â€˜Yesterday. He claims he hadn’t seen her.’
    Nottingham waited.
    â€˜But?’ he asked.
    The deputy shrugged. ‘There’s something about him I don’t like. He said he’d go searching for her, keep it in the family. From the look of him, he spends most of his money on drink and beats his girl.’
    â€˜Plenty of men do that,’ the Constable countered.
    â€˜I know.’ Sedgwick yawned and rubbed the back of his neck. ‘I just had the feeling he wasn’t telling me the full truth.’
    â€˜You didn’t tell him she was dead?’
    â€˜No.’ Sedgwick poured himself a mug of small beer. ‘Are you even sure it’s her, boss? There was so little left, how can you tell?’
    â€˜It’s her, John,’ he said. ‘I’m certain. That had to be a harelip.’ He pushed the fringe off his forehead. ‘All it means is we still don’t know anything. I’m going to ask at the inns. She might have gone looking for work after Cates dismissed her. Someone took a lot of trouble to try and make her disappear. If it hadn’t been for pure luck we’d never even have known she’d lived, let alone that she was dead. She’d just have been ashes. We need to find whoever could do that.’
    â€˜Have you thought more about asking around the whores?’
    â€˜It’s a good idea,’ Nottingham said with a nod. ‘Why don’t you do that?’
    â€˜Yes, boss.’
    â€˜Was there anything else yesterday?’
    â€˜A body from the river. Scudamore Mitchell, you remember him?’
    â€˜Is he the carpenter whose work kept falling apart?’
    â€˜That’s the one. His friends said he’d been drinking Saturday night, probably fell in. And there was another who was cleaning his fowling piece and blew off his foot.’
    â€˜Nothing suspicious?’
    The deputy shook his head, no longer surprised by the things people did. ‘No, just stupid. He might live, if he’s lucky.’
    The Constable stood. ‘Write them up,’ he said. ‘I’m going to start talking to the innkeepers. Lucy didn’t just vanish for three weeks.’
    He began at the top of Briggate, at the Rose and Crown. People were already hunched over the benches, breaking their fast with bread and cheese and ale. Martin, the