shared an alarmed glance with Alice. “What do you mean? Where is she?”
Drawing his hands down his face, Billy gave a hopeless shake of his head. He looked like he wanted to bolt from the office. Alice must have seen this too, because she stationed herself more squarely in the doorway.
“You need to tell us, now,” Caleb said in the sternest voice he’d ever heard come out of his mouth.
Billy closed his eyes. “Whitby,” he finally whispered. “And Dr. Jameson.” He brought his gaze up to meet squarely with Caleb’s. “Do you know who they are? Do you know what they are?”
“I know that Whitby is a conniving son of a bitch, and that he killed Rose Hammond.” He knew it, but he wanted to hear it from Billy’s lips. He wanted vindication, he wanted justice. But nothing could have prepared him for what came next.
* * *
The sound of men talking in the hall drifted in, and the air in the office strained with heavy expectation as Billy finished telling his tale of grave robbers, mediums, the resurrection men, and their morbid exploits trying to bring the dead back to life. Eyes cast down and fingers drumming nervously against the desk, he ended with his role in exposing Tabby to the worst possible people. Caleb and Alice shared a look; it all corroborated what she had told him in Edinburgh.
“You protected them,” Caleb said, breaking the silence. “You looked the other way, and then when I told you about Tabby and her gift, you delivered her up to them.” His fists flexed at his sides, his blood rushing hot and fast to his head. He could never take on a man like Billy in a fight, but still he imagined his fists connecting with his jaw, pummeling him into a bloody pulp.
“They paid me handsomely for turning a blind eye, and made sure that I climbed the ranks. And I wanted to contact my mother, was desperate to speak to her one more time. I knew the information about Tabby would be valuable to them, and that I could use it to my benefit, as well.” His voice dropped and to his credit, he looked genuinely miserable. “I was always fond of Miss Cooke, exceedingly fond.” He paused. “I’m not proud of what I did.”
Alice spat on the floor. “You’re pathetic,” she ground out.
“I’m prepared to make amends, but I have to know for certain before I do that you are truly innocent. I cannot have something else on my conscience.” He hesitated. “Did you kill Rose Hammond?”
“On my honor, I did not,” Caleb said, before adding: “I think we both know that it was Whitby.”
Billy gave a slow, heavy nod. “With this kind of work, you develop a sense for these things. You want to believe that the charming and the wealthy are above such barbarity, but often they are the ones hiding the darkest sins. I saw Whitby watch as that doctor strapped her to the table. I should have known that they wouldn’t be true to their word, but I so badly wanted to believe that their goal was admirable.” He looked up at Caleb. “We played cards together, and I came to think of us as something like friends. You betrayed that trust, but whether it makes me a fool or not, I believe you.”
Caleb’s heart raced, went light, and felt as if it might fly away from him. He wouldn’t have to go back to prison. He wouldn’t hang for a murder he didn’t commit, and Rose would finally have justice.
Billy must have seen the hope on his face, because he shook his head. “I can’t let you go. Even if you are innocent of the murder, you still escaped custody. That’s a serious crime in and of itself. I can’t expect that they will be so lax as to overlook my letting you go a second time.”
“But Tabby—” Caleb started, only for Billy to stop him.
“I am giving you her whereabouts in exchange for your freedom.” Billy took out a leaf of paper and scrawled something on it before handing it to Alice. “Take this and find her before something terrible happens to her.” He turned back to Caleb. “But I cannot let you go, and I think you know that.”
Well, what had Caleb expected? That he would waltz in, apologize for escaping, and then go on his merry way? Given what he knew about Billy’s involvement in the scheme, Caleb would be