Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,37
own tour, but I think it’s great for comedic effect.”
There was some tittering, but then we got underway. Much to my surprise, he was quite knowledgeable.?As the tour went along, we found out that he was a professor. Which made sense for why he loved doing the tour so much.
The whole time, Olivia was mostly quiet and introspective. I had expected her to continue chatting, but she seemed to retreat more and more into herself. I still didn’t understand why she’d wanted me to come.
As nights out went, it wasn’t bad, but I expected her to engage more.
We stopped along the river for a moment, and Jack was giving us more history about the brutality of the murders and the speculation about who Jack was, but my gaze was on her lithe form as she crossed the street to the river, took something from her pocket, and then seemed to pour it out. Then she put something back in her pocket and came back to the group.
“Olivia, are you okay?”
She sniffed, wiping away a tear with a knuckle before giving me a tremulous smile, her eyes a little misty. “Yeah, I’m fine. And it’s Liv or Livy. I figure if you can join me on this, then you might as well call me that. I had to spread my Mom’s ashes. It was one of her requests.”
Jesus. I’d stepped in it,?but I couldn’t help but ask, “Isn’t it a little odd doing something that important with a stranger? What about the woman with the black hair? Wendy?”
She laughed, and the sound hit me right in the dick. Christ, she needed to warn someone before she did that. “Telly. She would have come, but I guess it’s sometimes easier to do things with strangers.”
“Less judgmental?”
“Something like that.” She shrugged. “Well, you can judge, but I don’t have to listen to you. And your opinion isn’t weighted that much.”
“That’s good to know.”
She chuckled then. “Sorry. I just didn’t want to do it alone.”
“I make a good stand-in.”
“Yeah, you do.”
“Right. Anything else you need me to stand-in for?”
“Now that you mentioned—”
We both glanced around then realized that, somehow, we’d lost the rest of the tour. We’d kept walking across the Thames, and they must have ducked in somewhere. “Ah, it looks like they’re probably back there.”
She frowned. “Yeah, let’s go.”
“I have to say, this wasn’t terrible. It’s pretty informative. And kind of fun.”
We turned around at the sidewalk, and two men approached. One was a big guy, taller than me.?Broader too. The other was shorter, average height, but also broad-shouldered.
“You can always count on Jack the Ripper for a barrel of—” She froze. “Shit. Not again.”
I frowned. “What are you talking about?”
When she planted her feet and her hands balled into fists, her body went rigid. “Olivia, what’s wrong?”
The two men were several feet closer now, and one of them had a knife. I could handle them, but would Olivia be a liability? I needed to keep her safe. On my own, I’d have taken them on. But with her there, I needed to play it safe, play it cool.
I turned my head at them. “Mates, I guarantee you don’t want to do this.”
The large one pulled out a gun, and I frowned.
“Come with us, beautiful.” His voice was all cockney.
My brows snapped down. “She’s not going anywhere with you. What the fuck do you want?”
They both angled their heads toward the alleyway to our right. With a gun and knife in play, we didn’t really have much choice. I raised my hands, but Olivia stayed frozen. “No. No way is this happening twice in a week. I’m not letting this happen again.”
I finally had to grab her by the upper shoulders and move her along. I said, “Look, you can have my wallet. Anything you want in there.” Why did she have a death wish?
I started to take off my watch and he laughed at me. “We’re not here for you, Ritchie Rich. We’re here for her.”
I frowned. “Her? Why?”
“She knows why.”
The one with the gun loomed over her, and she backed up against the alley wall. I stepped between them. “That’s enough. I’ve already said I’ll give you what you want, but she’s not going anywhere with you. Back off.”
The short, stocky git smirked. “And we’ve told you, we want her.”
Okay, so we weren’t doing this the easy way then. I shoved her behind me and squared my shoulders. “In that case, you can fuck right off.”