The Sin Eater(92)

‘Where are we, d’you think?’

‘I don’t know, but it doesn’t matter,’ said Declan. ‘Because we’re going to get out of London. We may have to walk most of the way, but we walked in, and we can walk out.’

‘They’ll be looking for me though,’ said Colm. ‘For both of us. Have we money?’

‘Some.’ Declan had brought the remains of the money from Bullfinch’s wallet. He hated doing it, but he could not see any other way.

‘Enough to get to Liverpool and the ferry?’

Declan paused and looked at him. ‘Are we going home? I mean – back to Kilglenn?’

Colm sat down on a little low wall overlooking a patch of green. ‘We are,’ he said. ‘But you don’t have to come with me. And if I can get there I can hide out in the shack. No one will know I’m there if I’m careful.’

‘But . . . why? Colm, all the world’s at our disposal! I thought we’d cross to America – they say there’s plenty of work to be had—’

‘We thought there was plenty of work to be had here,’ said Colm bitterly. ‘And yes, we’ll go to America afterwards. But there’s something I have to do first.’

‘What?’ But Declan already knew.

Colm said, ‘I have to get that accursed chess figure back to the watchtower.’

‘Because the other pieces are there,’ said Declan after a moment.

‘Yes. I know they’re cinders under the burned-out tower,’ said Colm, before Declan could go on. ‘And I don’t understand it, not really. But I think it’s got to be done.’

Declan said, ‘But I didn’t bring the chess piece. I brought all the things I thought we’d need, so we wouldn’t have to go back, but I left the chess piece at Holly Lodge.’

‘Then,’ said Colm, ‘we’ll have to go back and get it.’


They argued for hours, sitting in the unknown park with London’s life teeming all around them. At midday Declan bought food from a passing street vendor.

‘You have no idea how good that tastes after Newgate fare,’ said Colm, eating hungrily.

‘Is it really bread and water they give you?’

‘It tasted like it.’ He finished the food and stood up. ‘I’m going back to Holly Lodge,’ he said. ‘I’ll find my way somehow. I’ll meet you here as soon as I can.’

‘I’ll go,’ said Declan. ‘You daren’t be seen.’

‘Nor dare you. The police will know you were the one who caused the escape.’

‘But no one at Holly Lodge will know that yet,’ said Declan. ‘So you’re the one who’ll wait here until I come back.’

‘All right,’ said Colm. ‘If you see anything of Romilly’s while you’re there, bring that as well, would you? I think she had some photos from Kilglenn.’

‘For pity’s sake, I can’t go rummaging through all the rooms—’

‘I suppose not. But there’s one very important thing—’

‘Yes?’

‘See if you can find the Title Deeds to the house,’ said Colm. ‘For I’m damned if I’m leaving without getting something out of this.’

It was vital not to feel angry or annoyed with Colm. Declan, threading his way through the streets, watchful for police, reminded himself that the request to find the deeds to Holly Lodge was reasonable – even sensible. They had hardly any money between them, and they would be fugitives for some time to come. To own a house would be a fine thing. But how could it possibly profit them? They would not dare live in it, nor would they dare sell it or rent it out. And were you allowed to profit from a crime you had committed? Declan had no knowledge of the law, but he thought it was a reasonable assumption that you were not.

Still, if he could get the Title Deeds he would do so, although he would not endanger either himself or Colm in the process.

The chess figure was another matter entirely.

Thinking furiously, Declan began to make his way across London.

In the end he simply walked openly into Holly Lodge. If anyone appeared – police or any of the girls – he would say he was collecting a couple of items of clothing he had left behind and he would be ignorant of Colm’s escape.

But no one did appear. Declan heard faint sounds of crockery from the kitchens, but he was able to go up to the room he and Colm had shared. Moving quickly, listening for footsteps on the stairs, he scooped up the few odds and ends that were there. Then, taking a deep breath, he opened the bedside drawer and took out the chess piece, dropping it into his pocket. It felt heavy, as if it was dragging down the cloth of his coat.

There did not seem to be anything in the room that might have been Romilly’s though, and Declan went back down the stairs. No one seemed to be around, although he could still hear someone moving around the scullery. Dare he go into Flossie’s part of the house? Surely the police would have taken away all her papers and documents anyway? But Colm had been insistent, and Declan, remembering the way Colm’s eyes could blaze with anger, did not feel like returning without having at least tried to find the Title Deeds. His heart thudding, he went through to the little sitting room where Flossie had died.

Everything was neat and tidy; furniture stacked to one side, a tea chest standing in the centre, containing what looked like a miscellany of Flossie’s possessions. Declan made a cursory search of this, but there was nothing except ordinary household goods, a few sketches of local scenes, some china and glass ornaments. Where would papers be kept? There was a small bureau-cum-desk in one corner; it was almost certainly locked, but it was worth trying.