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“Of course.” He set his tools down and came toward her. She brought her hand up from behind her back to show him. “Is that blood?”
She nodded, tears pricking her eyes. “I … killed someone. Not just anyone, though. An authority. Charles. He attacked me.”
“Show me where,” he whispered, his voice calm.
Cricket led him through the crowd, not looking at anyone directly, too fearful that they would know what she’d done if they could see her glistening eyes. Twigs snapped below their feet as they reached Charles’s dead body. Blood stained his white shirt a bright shade of ruby, the knife still protruding from his chest.
“Charles called me an abomination, then started choking me. I had no other choice. Or I did—I could’ve died, but...” she trailed off, taking deep breaths of fresh air.
Zephyr clenched his jaw. “I should’ve been with you.” He knelt, pressed his hand into one of Charles’s pockets, and pulled out a gold watch, the others empty. Lifting the authority’s satchel, he opened it and let out a string of curses. He showed her the contents resting inside—a knife and at least ten black dahlias.
“That bastard,” Cricket gasped, covering her mouth and dropping to her knees beside Zephyr. “Charles did it. He’s the one murdering these innocent women. And what he wanted was for me to die again.”
“We need to let Mistress Eliza know, but I don’t know if I trust the other authorities after this.” Zephyr’s expression hardened, his knuckles turning white around the satchel.
Charles had always been a stuffy man, yet she never would’ve thought he could do something heinous like this. But there was one authority she would always trust. “We can trust Bram. I need to speak with him.”
“We’ll get one of the performers to bring him here while you wash the blood from your hands.” Zephyr closed the satchel and held onto it tightly. “If I’d been with you, the bastard would’ve gotten worse than a stab to the chest. I would’ve ripped off his damn head.”
Chapter Seventeen
Even though Cricket could’ve easily washed Charles’s blood from her hands herself, she let Zephyr do it for her, comforted by his gentle touch. Her chest continued to heave as she splashed her face with cool water, attempting to rid the memory of Charles’s hand around her neck.
After they’d gone to Mistress Eliza’s tent, she’d sent Wilder to go into town to fetch Bram. Mistress Eliza closed the carnival, ordering the performers to return to their homes.
She and Zephyr met Mistress Eliza and a group of performers near the woods where Charles’s body still lay. The necromancer wanted to ensure no one would venture there until Bram arrived.
It took a little while for Bram and Miles to reach the carnival. Wilder and a carriage trailed behind them.
Bram held his hat in place as he slid down from his horse.
Mistress Eliza placed her hands on her hips and glowered. “You need to tell me why one of your men attacked one of my performers.”
“Which performer was attacked?” Bram asked.
“I was,” Cricket said, and everyone’s gazes fastened on her.
“What happened?” He briskly approached her, and she could see the concern flickering in his eyes as he studied her. “Your throat’s red.”
“Charles attacked me, and I killed him to defend myself,” she whispered. “He choked me, called me an abomination, and was going to murder me.”
“That’s not all,” Zephyr said. “Charles is the murderer. We found a blade and black dahlias in his satchel.”
Bram turned to Miles. “Question the performers and find out if anyone saw anything. I’m going to take a look at the body. You three come with me.” He pointed toward Cricket, Zephyr, and Mistress Eliza.
They stepped into the woods behind him, and he knelt beside Charles’s dead body. Cricket averted her gaze from Charles as Bram peered inside the satchel. “I knew he didn’t believe anyone should be brought back from the dead, but I didn’t know he held such a hatred to do something like this.”
“Why kill the other women, then? They weren’t brought back from the dead,” Cricket said.
Bram held up a hand. “You’re leaping ahead. We don’t know if he killed the others.”
“What other proof do you need?” Zephyr asked, incredulous. “There’s a satchel full of black dahlias right there.”
“Which are rare and hard to find,” Cricket added.
“It doesn’t matter at the moment,” Bram said. “I need to first compare his writing with the one in the note you gave me.”
“What note?” Zephyr’s brows pinched together while Mistress Eliza spat, “What are you talking about?”
