Free Only the Thunder Knows_East End Girls by Rena Mason Gord Rollo

jewelry or pocket watches or what have
you, but for the most part we make our cash bringing him the ones who don’t
stink too badly yet.”
    “What
does he do with them?”
    “I
didn’t really know, or care for that matter, but Billy says he runs a school to
teach new doctors how to do surgery. Learn where all the body parts are and
such. I think he’s quite busy.”
    “I
still don’t understand. Why would he hire you fools to dig up corpses?”
    “Well
ma’am, it’s no’ exactly on the up and up, if you catch my meaning. The only
legal bodies his school can use are the criminals who end up swinging on the
end of a rope and the prison’s no’ pumping enough of those poor buggers out to
meet his demands I guess. I don’t know…go ask him yourself. All I know is he
pays us a king’s ransom and asks no questions.”
    Magenta
Da Vine took a step back and started laughing, a genuine happy emotion this
time, and the tension that had been in the air evaporated as if it had never
been. The actress was back to being her charming, flirtatious self, ready to
treat William like a long lost friend rather than someone who’d been beaten and
brought here against his will.
    “Well
that’s a wonderful little arrangement you and Billy have worked out for
yourselves. Easy pickings by the sound of it.” To the man she’d referred to as
Angus earlier, she turned and said, “See, I told you, I knew he was a smart
one, I did. Get him untied and help the gentleman to his feet.”
    “Certainly,
my lady,” the muscular man said, and quickly came over and cut the knot on the
rope that bound William’s hands. Angus pulled him to his feet and dragged him over
to sit down in one of the desk chairs.
    “Sorry
about the confusion, William,” Magenta said, taking one of the other seats
across the desk from him. “A bit of a mix-up is all. I was thinking you might
be…well, let’s just say I thought you were doing something else in the
graveyards. I like the way you and your mate operate though. I like it a lot .”
    William
said nothing. He couldn’t think of anything that seemed appropriate and wasn’t
about to say something stupid to make her mad now that she seemed to be about
to let them walk away.
    “I’ve
got a grand idea,” she said, a touch of that feral animal gaze creeping into
her eyes again. “How about from now on you and Billy work for me?”
    The
way she said it, it didn’t exactly sound like a question.
    “Doing
what?”
    “That’s
the easy part. Doing exactly what you’re already doing.”
    Now
it was William’s turn to look confused.
    “You
want us to look for dead bodies for you?”
    “No,
not quite. I want you to look for something else. Something special! ”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter
    11
     
     
     
     “You’re
kidding me, right?”
    It
was 10:00 a.m. the next day and it was Billy speaking. Even though William had
already explained the entire chain of events to him twice already, he still
couldn’t wrap his simple mind around things. They were back in the common room
at the Lodging House, resting by the fire after their long and strange night.
    “The
strumpet from the theatre wants to hire us to search in the graveyards too,
same as old man Black?”
    “That’s
what she said, yeah. You’d have heard her yourself if you didn’t hold your
booze like a wee girlie.”
    “But
none of this makes sense,” Billy said, ignoring the jab his mate had thrown at
him. “She didn’t tell you what we’re supposed to be looking for either?”
    “Nope.
Same as Black. Just told me she was after something special , whatever
the bloomin’ hell that means?”
    “Think
they’re both after the same thing?”
    “Almost
for sure, mate. Has to be.”
    “And
they don’t know we’re being paid twice for the same dig?”
    “Neither
knows the other person even exists. Black just thinks we’re greedy buggers,
which we are …and the woman thinks we’re working for Dr. Knox. ‘Tis a
thing of beauty,