they know each other well, too well to pretend. It was an uneasy truce, a natural enmity held at bay by a certain common interest, and a thread, very fragile, of respect, not unmixed with fear. Jamie MacPherson was a brawler, hot-tempered, he carried a grudge and he despised cowardice or self-pity. But he was loyal to his own, and far too intelligent to strike out without a reason, or to act against his own interests.
He was smiling now, his eyes bright. "Throw you out, eh? Runcorn. Yer should o' seen that coming, man. Waited a long time to get his own back, that one."
Monk felt a shiver of cold run through him. The man not only knew him, he knew Runcorn also, and he knew more than Monk did of what lay between them. The chatter and laughter washed around him like a breaking sea, leaving him is landed in his own silence, not a part of them but separate, alone. They knew, and he did not.
"Yes," Monk agreed, not knowing what else to say. He had lost control of the conversation, and it was not what he had intended, or was used to. "For the time being," he added. He must not let this man think he was no longer a force to fear or respect.
MacPherson's smile widened. "Aye, this is his patch. He'll no' be happy if you take his case from him."
"He isn't interested in it," Monk said quickly. "I'm after the rapists, not the murderer."
"Are they no' the same?"
"No... I don't think so... at least, one is, I think!
"You're talking daft, man," MacPherson said tartly. "Ye know better than to take me for a fool. Be straight wi' me, an' I'll maybe help ye."
Monk made up his mind on the spur.
"A woman in Seven Dials hired me to find who was raping and beating factory women over there. I've followed it for three weeks now, and the more I learn, the more I think it may be connected with your murder here."
"Yejust said it was no' the same people!" MacPherson's blue eyes narrowed, but he was still listening intently. He may dislike Monk, but he did not despise his intelligence.
"I think the young man who was beaten but lived may have been one of the rapists," Monk explained. "The man who died is his father..."
"Aye, we all ken that much..."
"Who followed him, having learned, or guessed, what he was doing, and got caught in the fight, and he was the one who got the worst of it."
MacPherson pursed his lips. "What does the young man say?"
"Nothing whatever. He can't speak."
"Oh aye? Why's that then?" MacPherson said sceptic ally "Shock. But it's true. I know the nurse who is caring for him." In spite of all he could do to prevent it, the picture of Hester was so vivid in his mind it was as though she were sitting beside him. He knew she would hate what he was doing, she would fight desperately to protect her patient. But she would also understand why he could not leave the truth concealed if there were any way he could uncover it. If it were not Rhys, she would want it known just as passionately.
MacPherson was regarding him closely. "So what is it ye're wanting from me?"
"There have been no attacks or rapes in Seven Dials since the murder,"
Monk explained. "Or for some short time before. I need to know if they moved to St. Giles."
"Not that I heard," MacPherson said, his brow puckered. "But then that's a thing folk don't talk about easy. Ye'll have to work a little harder for that than just come in here and ask for it."
"I know that. But a little co-operation would cut down the time.
There's not much point in going to the brothels; they weren't professional prostitutes, just women in need of a little extra now and then."
MacPherson pushed out his lip, his eyes hot and angry. "No protection," he said aloud. "Easy pickings. If we knew who it was, and they come back to St. Giles, it'll be their last trip. They'll not go home again, an' that's a promise."
"You'll not be the first in the line," Monk said drily. "But we have to find them before we can do anything about it."
MacPherson looked at him with a bleak smile, showing his teeth. "I know you, Monk. Ye may be a hard bastard, but ye're far too fly to provoke a murder that can be traced back to ye.