Her Majesty's Necromancer (The Ministry of Curiosities #2)(23)

"How does digging up my body make you money?" Gordon asked.

Pete's gulp was so loud I could hear it from outside. "How is it you're walkin' around again, if you don't mind my askin'?"

"I do mind. I asked you a question." Gordon stepped forward but Pete held his ground. He seemed less afraid now that he realized Gordon wasn't a crazed demon.

"I can't say," Pete said with a shrug. "We ain't allowed to speak to no one about it."

"Is that so?" Gordon glanced around then lifted the bed beneath which Jimmy cowered.

Jimmy screamed.

"Shut up," Gordon growled. He set the bed back down, grabbed a fistful of Jimmy's jacket and dragged him out. He clamped a hand over Jimmy's mouth.

Jimmy gagged and I admit that my stomach somersaulted. I wouldn't want a dead man's hand covering my mouth, even if that hand wasn't as decayed as some of the others in the cold room.

Lincoln touched my back, settling my nerves.

"When I remove my hand," Gordon said to Jimmy, "you will answer my questions. Understand?"

Jimmy nodded, not taking his wide unblinking eyes off Gordon.

"He won't like that we told," Pete warned his friend.

"No one need know," Gordon said. "All I want is answers, then I'll return to my grave."

"You won't hurt us?" Pete asked. "After we tell? You won't drag us down to hell?"

"First of all, I wasn't in hell. Second of all, I don't plan on lingering here. I'd rather return to my afterlife. But I need answers or I can't rest completely. Do your small brains understand that?"

Pete and Jimmy both nodded quickly. Gordon removed his hand and Jimmy spat on the ground then wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

"We don't know why he wanted you," he blurted out before Gordon even posed a question. "He told us which bodies to take and we did it."

"We're just following orders," Pete said, getting to his feet. "It ain't our fault."

Gordon let Jimmy go and the man backed up to his friend. "There ain't much work to be had around here and he paid well," Jimmy said. "Who'd say no to that kind of work? Not us."

"Who's paying you? The butcher?" Gordon asked.

Both men shook their heads. "That's my uncle's shop," Pete said. "He agreed to store the bodies there and let the captain in to see them whenever he wants."

"The captain is the man who paid you?"

Jimmy nodded.

"Does he have a name?"

"It's just Captain to us," Pete said. "We don't know his name, or where he lives, so don't go tryin' to beat the answer out of us."

"Jesus, Pete." Jimmy jabbed his friend in the ribs with his elbow. "Don't go puttin' ideas in his head."

"Is he a ship's captain?" Gordon asked.

Beside me, Lincoln nodded his approval of the question.

"Don't know," Pete said. "Maybe army."

"Nah." Jimmy shook his head. "He didn't bark orders like them army folks do. He were quieter. Didn't speak much, but we didn't see him often. Only when he wanted us to get another body."

"He were real precise, like an army man," Pete said. "Told us exactly where the bodies would be, and how far down they would be buried."

"So he asked for specific bodies? By name?"

"Aye, sir."

Gordon seemed as surprised by that as I was. I wondered if he knew or suspected who the captain was now. He'd mentioned being in the army himself. "What does he look like?"

"Like a toff," Pete said. "Mostly bald, wears spectacles."

"About your height," Jimmy added. "Thin fellow."

"Aside from depositing the bodies in the cool room, what has he done to them?"

Both men shrugged. "Nothing, far as we can tell," Pete said. "My uncle says the captain looks in on 'em sometimes, and asks to be left alone in there. Real strange."

"Is that it?" Gordon asked. "Is there anything more you can tell me? Do you know where to find him? How to contact him?"

"No, sir. He always comes here when he needs us," said Jimmy.

"So what you are going to do now, sir?" Pete asked.

"I leave," Gordon told him. "You stop digging up bodies for the captain, or anyone else."

"You going to haunt us if we don't?"

"Yes."

Jimmy gulped. "Thank you, sir. We'll stop right away." He jabbed Pete again.

But Pete's boldness had returned. He stepped forward and peered into Gordon's eyes. I'd trembled the first time I'd stared into a dead man's eyes, but Pete didn't flinch. "Is this some kind of magic trick to get us talkin'? You ain't the first one to ask these questions. Maybe the gypsy put you up to it, or the pigs."

"You've sparked some interest," Gordon said. "Nobody likes a grave robber. You're revolting, depraved."

"Aye, but the pay's good." Pete poked him in the shoulder. "I think you're usin' the night to play tricks on us. We shouldn't have fallen for it, Jimmy. It ain't the body in the cool room come back to haunt us. It's just a cove who's covered his face in chalk—"