A nod over his shoulder: no one in sight. He proceeded up the last few steps, his body crouched, his steps careful. I followed suit, keeping my progress as silent as possible.

We made our way to the basement door. It was still dark outside, but dawn could not be far away. A half hour, perhaps. If they were going to move a body under the cover of night, they would have to work fast.

With care, Evan opened the basement door.

“For chrissakes, get it flatter or it won’t fit in,” the voice of Reed said.

They were in the yard, above our basement-level sight. Which meant we were beyond theirs. I tapped Evan’s arm and pointed to the arched coal store across the small basement courtyard. He nodded and we slipped through the doorway, a few steps taking us across the cobbles. I pressed my back against the brick archway, Evan beside me.

I pointed my finger upward: I’m taking a look.

He shook his head vigorously: Too risky.

Perhaps, but I was still going. I crept along the wall and climbed the first few of the rough steps, crouching so that I would not be visible as I ascended toward ground level. Halfway up I stopped and, holding my breath, peeped over the edge. Reed and Gibbon stood at the end of a large wooden wheelbarrow, manhandling the sack into what looked like a false bottom beneath the tray. I ducked back down. So that was why Dorothy the flower seller had only ever seen an empty cart. The body of the girl was underneath, in a hidden compartment.

Clever. And despicable.

17

I crept back down the steps to where Evan stood.

He raised his brows: See anything?

I nodded and mimed pushing a cart, my charade interrupted by a clank and thud above—my guess, the hidden compartment being slammed shut.

“Finally,” Reed’s voice said. “You sure know how to make a simple job damn hard.”

“Screw you,” Gib said, without heat.

Then one of them made a huff of effort and the yard was full of the sound of heavy footsteps and barrow wheels grinding across the cobbles toward the lane. We both stood motionless, listening as the sound of the men and the cart’s progress slowly receded.

When they had, by my reckoning, turned into the side lane, I told Evan what I had seen.

“So, they can move through London without anyone knowing, even when it is daylight,” I concluded.

“Even so, I still think they’ll want to get rid of her before dawn,” Evan said. “Let’s follow them.”