Cross pushed me aside and stood over Kitty, his shadow falling across her face. ‘Move, hussy. You heard Mr Acton, he’s for the Strong Room.’
She gripped the boy tight. ‘Just you try it, Joseph Cross,’ she snarled. ‘I’ll rip your eyes out their sockets and shove ’em up your arse.’
Cross blinked, then shot her a grudging look of respect.
Woodburn appeared from the coffeehouse, eager to help now that Acton was gone. ‘Come now, Joseph,’ he said, gently. ‘Let’s clean the lad up first, eh? Fetch the nurse, perhaps…?’
‘Thoughtful of you, sir,’ Cross sneered. ‘Will you pay her fee?’
‘I’ll tend him,’ Kitty said firmly. She was already checking her patient, fingers prodding and testing along his sunken ribcage.
Cross glanced back towards the Lodge. ‘Governor won’t like it.’
‘Governor won’t like it,’ Kitty mimicked. ‘You wouldn’t rub your own prick without asking him first, would you?’
The turnkey laughed, despite himself. ‘Oh, go on, take him if you must,’ he said with a shrug. ‘We’ll sling him in the Strong Room once he’s cleaned up.’
I lifted the boy to his feet, wrapping his arm about my shoulder for support. As he stood up he gave a scream of pain.
‘His ankle’s broken,’ Kitty said. ‘What were you thinking, Jack?’
He sank hard against my side. ‘Acton saw me climb the wall. He made them cut the rope.’
‘We can tend to him in the chapel,’ Woodburn said, gesturing to the house next to the Palace Court. ‘Run and fetch water, Kitty.’
‘Oh, am I your servant now, sir?’ she muttered, but she did as she was told.
Woodburn took Jack’s other arm and we lifted him together. The boy was so thin I could have easily carried him on my own, but now that Acton was gone the chaplain seemed almost desperate to help.
‘That was brave of you, Mr Hawkins,’ he said, as we made our way to the chapel.
I frowned, remembering Samuel Fleet’s observation up in the Tap Room. Had I been brave? Or just foolish? Was there much difference in a place like this?
Thinking of Fleet, some instinct made me look back at the Tap Room window. And there he was, watching us from above, leaning over the balcony. As I caught his eye he grinned and clapped his hands, as if this had all been a play for his benefit. The applause echoed around the empty yard.
‘Look at him.’ Woodburn clenched his jaw. ‘The black-hearted fiend. God forgive me, but I’d wring his neck if I had the chance.’
