“Then,” Fletcher said, “we need to sort out why it’s important to the Mastiff.”

He was right, of course. Everyone—from Martin to Kumar, Stone to Hollis, Brogan to Elizabeth—looked as convinced as Barnabus felt. The Mastiff’s connection to that murder and that trial was the key.

“How do we find that out?” Kumar asked. “We can’t exactly ask the fellow directly.”

“We could ask Serena,” Brogan said. “She likely learned a great many things about the Mastiff.”

“I’d not advise pressing the matter yet,” Barnabus said. “In my experience, women who have only just escaped abusive and dangerous situations need time to feel safe and secure again. She’ll not reveal secrets yet, and I can’t blame her for that.”

There were no arguments.

“While we wait and while we search, we need eyes on Chelmsford’s house,” Fletcher said. “I can have my urchins judge the weather from the outside. But we need one of us on the inside.”

“I can do that,” Martin said. “I’ve experience working in fine houses. Might be enough to get a position there.”

Elizabeth looked to Brogan. “Have you the means of getting word to Mr. Sorokin? He apparently knows someone on Chelmsford’s staff. He might be able to get Martin a position.”

Brogan shook his head. “We haven’t the first idea where he is.”

“Never fear,” Fletcher said. “The Dread Master’ll know how to get word to him.”

Get word to Mr. Sorokin. Or the Dread Master was Mr. Sorokin. Though Barnabus’s primary guess had always been Stone, the secretive Russian was quickly proving himself as likely a candidate.

“That leaves only one matter,” Fletcher said. “Soon enough, the Mastiff’ll begin killing people just so he can have them dug up. Might be doing it already. This fight is growing and swelling, and I don’t know how we thwart ’im.”

“The Tempest is coming,” Stone said, arms folded across his chest. “It’s a fight we’re unlikely to win, and he knows it.”

“There’s some merit to Gemma’s theory,” Barnabus said. “The Tempest might be a person.”

“Whatever or whoever it is,” Fletcher said, “it’s coming, and we are all that stands in its way.”

“And we do not relent,” Elizabeth said.

“And we do not forget,” Hollis said.

“We are the Dread Penny Society,” Fletcher said. “This is what we were made for.”

Bodies of Light

Bodies of Light

being a Fictionalization of Reported and Corroborated Mysterious Phenomena

by Dr. Barnabus Milligan, physician

Chapter Three

The paper Dr. Palmer submitted to the College of Physicians on the luminescence he had observed was met mostly with silence. Though he was frustrated, he was not surprised. He’d filled the submission with details and theories but no data, no scientifically sound information. His next paper, he vowed, would be overrun with both.