The Watchmaker's Daughter (Glass and Steele #1)(72)

But his freedom was short lived. The last of the constables threw a punch at Matt's jaw. While Matt managed to dodge it, the interruption gave the other bobbies precious seconds to recover and throw punches of their own. One hit Matt's mouth, the other his stomach. He doubled over, coughing.

Miss Glass whimpered and clutched her throat. I turned her so she wasn't facing the scene and patted her back. Yet I felt anything but soothed myself. My heart thundered and every part of me shook.

"Stop at once!" I shouted. "Inspector Nunce, control your men. You're upsetting an elderly lady with this unnecessary display."

But it was Matt who responded, not Nunce. He stopped fighting. "I'll go with you," he said. "Willie and Duke too."

"No!" Willie shouted. "Why should you go, Matt? You've done nothing wrong."

"We'll sort it out at the station. Vine Street?"

Nunce nodded. "Check they have no weapons hidden on their person," he said to his men.

His constables checked pockets, removing every item they found and placing them on the hall table. Among the handkerchiefs and coins sat Matt's special silver watch.

"Take them away," Nunce said.

Willie and Duke gasped. "Your watch!" Willie cried. "Matt!" She struggled against the constable trying to force her through the door.

"May I take my watch with me?" Matt asked Nunce.

Nunce pursed his lips, looked at the watch, looked at Matt, then said, "No. You have no need to tell the time in the holding cells."

A bead of sweat trickled down Matt's temple. His breathing turned ragged. His face was the color of cold ash. The two constables on either side of him marched him forward.

"He has to take the watch," Duke said to Nunce. "Please. It's important. He'll die without it."

Die!

Miss Glass sobbed into my shoulder. I tried patting her back harder, but it was useless. I couldn't offer support when I needed it badly myself. My gaze connected with Matt's over the top of her head. What I saw in his eyes brought burning tears to mine. His illness savaged him, yet it wasn't that which made my heart ache. It was the sorrow and disappointment I saw in his face.

He thought I'd betrayed him. He thought I'd told the police that he was the Dark Rider.

He wasn't the only one. "You did this!" Willie hissed at me.

"No," I said. "I didn't."

But she shouted over the top of me, and couldn't have heard. "You heartless witch! If he dies, I'll come looking for you. I'll cut you up—"

"Willie!" Matt's sharp voice could hardly be heard over her ranting.

Nunce and his constables marched Duke and Matt outside too, and my heart sank even further when I saw Cyclops join them, restrained by another two bobbies. Everyone seemed to be shouting. I caught snatches of pleas, begging Nunce to allow Matt to have the watch. The inspector continued to refuse.

"It's her fault!" Willie screamed. "You've condemned him to death, India!"

I shook my head, but they weren't looking at me and wouldn't have seen.

"If he doesn't get that watch," she continued, "his death will be on your conscience."





Chapter 15





Miss Glass and I stood clinging to one another in silent horror. Willie's words rang in my head, clanging like a bell. She thought I'd been behind the arrest. They all did, including Matt. Yet it wasn't that which made me feel sick to my core. It was Willie's desperate pleas, her wild, fanciful claims that he would die without that watch. There must be medicine inside it, not opium as I first thought.

I handed Miss Glass over to Polly, who emerged from the rear of the house with raw fear in her wide eyes. "Everything will be all right," I assured them both. My calm and confident voice seemed to rally Polly, at least. "Take Miss Glass upstairs," I told the maid. "See that she has everything she needs."

I felt anything but calm and confident. I couldn't stop shaking. He needed the watch or he'd die. I picked it up by its chain. A wave of heat washed over me, rushing up my arm from my hand.

I dropped the watch and jumped back. It throbbed once then stilled.

Throbbed.

Inanimate objects did not throb. They didn't grow warm. They weren't alive.

I must have been mistaken. I picked up the watch again. Once more, heat flooded me, beginning at my hand and traveling up my arm with such speed and force that my breath whooshed out in surprise.

But I didn't let go. I cradled it in my palm, its chain dangling between my fingers. The case pulsed, like a heart restarting after a stoppage, but did not do so again. It remained warm, though not hot as it had been on initial touch, and I could feel the warmth through my entire body, as if my veins carried it along with my blood. When Matt held the watch, his veins glowed, but mine did not.

It was an incredible device. I couldn't feel any medicine seeping into me, yet somehow it must be able to emit a substance. I turned it over and studied the back. There were no distinguishing features, no holes or slits for medicine to seep through.

I opened the case. My breath hitched. Not because it was filled with medicine, but because it wasn't. The watch looked like every other watch I'd ever worked on. The dial and hands were simple, plain, the Roman numerals clearly marked in bronze.