going to fetch someone to kill me so he could later swear he didn’t do it.”
She gave vent to a strangled sound and managed to get him upright to the point of leaning against the wall. She eyed him doubtfully. “Can you walk?”
He gave her a small smile. “Not yet—and if you try to help me, I’ll just fall on you.” Propping his shoulders against the wall, he caught her hands in both of his and locked his eyes on hers. “Ellie, you have to go and get help.”
“No.” She didn’t have to think; every instinct she possessed insisted she stay with him. She glanced at the door. “I’m not leaving you to face that blackguard alone.”
A stubbornness almost equal to hers filled his face. “But—”
“If I go”—she gripped his hands back—“and he returns with whomever he’s gone to fetch, what’s to stop him—”
She broke off, and they both looked toward the door as the sound of heavy footsteps mounting the stairs—not one pair but two—reached them.
“Too late,” Godfrey murmured.
Ellie slipped her fingers from his, then gripped his hand tightly and turned to stand beside him, facing the door. It was the only way into or out of the attic.
Masterton appeared beyond the doorway, but he was glancing back and waving at someone else to precede him.
“Come on.” He sounded harried and impatient. “All you have to do is finish him off.”
A man in a greatcoat loomed in the doorway, then Jeffers stepped into the attic.
Frowning, he immediately turned to face Masterton. “What?” Jeffers hadn’t seen Ellie and Godfrey, who were gaping at him from the end of the room. Instead, with an expression of utter bewilderment, he stared at Masterton. “What are you talking about?”
“It’s simple.” Masterton walked in and waved toward Godfrey, then he glanced that way and saw Ellie. Masterton’s jaw dropped. For a full five seconds, he goggled at her, then choleric color rushed into his face. “Damn you!” Fists clenching, he came striding down the room, pausing only to kick a box out of his way. “Damn it, woman! What the devil are you doing here?”
His voice had risen to a roar.
Ellie stared—as did Godfrey and Jeffers—as midway down the room, Masterton paused, hauled in a huge breath, then fell to pacing, ranting and raving incoherently. “Damned female! What now? I’ll have to—no, I can’t. She’ll never keep her mouth shut. But what then? What if—no, that won’t do. But if she’s gone…that might work. The others will fall apart. They’ll be ripe for the plucking. Yes, that’s the way forward.”
Abruptly, he halted and swung to face Ellie. Eyes narrowing to slits, he stabbed an accusing finger at her and strode closer, stopping a mere three paces away to jab that finger toward her face. “It’s your own damned fault! There’s nothing else for it. We’ll have to kill you, too.”
Ellie’s breath hitched.
“Wait.” Jeffers had followed Masterton and caught his sleeve. “We who?” Jeffers hauled Masterton around to face him.
His gaze on the two men, Godfrey took advantage of the distraction to test his balance. It was improving—not perfect, but it would have to do.
Masterton scowled at Jeffers. “Here.” He thrust his hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a pistol—an American revolver. He caught Jeffers’s hand and slapped the gun into his palm. “All you have to do,” Masterton continued in the tone of a frustrated adult instructing a recalcitrant child, “is to shoot them.” He glanced at Godfrey and Ellie. “Luckily, I loaded two bullets. I assumed you wouldn’t need more.”
The expression on Jeffers’s face was one of dawning, incredulous, and horrified comprehension.
Godfrey noted it; as Jeffers gripped the gun and stepped back from Masterton, Godfrey returned his attention to Masterton.
“Just hold on a minute.” Jeffers plainly gathered himself, then spoke quietly and distinctly. “You told me that if I came with you, you would be able to repay the money you owe the firm. So where is it?” Jeffers glanced at the gun in his hand as if he’d never seen one, much less held one, in his life. “And what the deuce has shooting them with this gun, two bullets or not, got to do with anything?”
Godfrey braced against the wall and shifted his feet, confirming his control over his limbs had returned.
Masterton’s jaw clenched, and he gritted out, “I keep telling you—it’s simple. For me to get the money I owe your master, Cavanaugh has to die.” His narrowed eyes flashed briefly to Ellie. “And now that Ellie has