“I have a guest in the house,” she said. “I wonder if you can tell me who it is.”
“I haven’t the vaguest,” I admitted. “I cannot guess.”
“It is Bok Fu Ying. Her husband still has not returned. He was seen a couple of nights ago in an opium den, badly burned from the fire. Fu Ying doesn’t know what he will do. She also had no one to help her, since some people I will not mention by name were out chasing Japanese delegates all over town.”
“We forgot,” I said.
“You forgot?”
“There has been a lot going on. I need the den’s address. I promised Barker to track him down.”
“Then tell us. Fu Ying is in the parlor.”
She led me into the room. Fu Ying was seated in an easy chair in her widow’s weeds. In fact, both of them were wearing black.
“Come in. Fu Ying has told me how you two first met. Did you really drop her from an upper window onto a mudflat?”
“Guilty as charged, I’m afraid. I throw myself on the mercy of the court.”
“The jury is still considering whether we’ll forgive you.”
“Thick as thieves now, eh?”
“Indeed.”
“My only hope is clemency, then.”
“How is Sir?” Fu Ying asked. “Is he well?”
“Ah,” I responded. “I need to tell you both about that. It’s a bit of a story.”
I told them and it took even longer than telling Jenkins. Rebecca had never heard of such a thing, and vacillated between wanting to know the details and not knowing them. Fu Ying, with her knowledge of Asian culture, understood.
“Is he really quite up to traveling alone?” Fu Ying asked when I had finished.
“Oh, yes. He’ll get through this. He just needs to see Philippa’s face again.”
“I’m sure you are right. If anyone can soothe him, it will be her.”
“I cannot wait to meet this woman who embodies the Virgin Mary,” Rebecca said.
“Look who’s talking about the Virgin Mary.”
“Just because I’m a Jewess doesn’t mean I haven’t read widely.”
At the same moment we looked at each other. We were squabbling like an old married couple. I hoped it was a sign of good things to come.
“When shall he return?” Fu Ying asked.
“It could be days, I suppose,” I said. “Why?”
“I hoped he would find my husband. He has been seen in the lowest of opium dens, trying to stop the pain of his burns. I have awaited his return for three days. I’m very worried about him.”
“Mr. Barker has asked me to look for him. He’s probably weak as a kitten somewhere and wishing he were home with you.”
I couldn’t read her expression. It hadn’t been an easy time for her these last few weeks.
Rebecca leaned forward and looked at me. “Fu Ying has something else to tell you.”
“I need you to find my husband so he will know that he shall become a father.”
I glanced at her momentarily, and then away, trying to make sense of her statement. Then, suddenly, an image came into my mind: Cyrus Barker at his most monolithic, towering like a mountain over a tiny morsel of human flesh, just two days old.
“Oh, please,” I said. “Let me be the one to break it to him.”
Also by Will Thomas
Some Danger Involved
To Kingdom Come
The Limehouse Text
The Hellfire Conspiracy
The Black Hand
Fatal Enquiry
Anatomy of Evil
Hell Bay
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
WILL THOMAS is the author of the Cyrus Barker and Thomas Llewelyn series, including Hell Bay, Anatomy of Evil, Fatal Enquiry, and the Shamus and Barry Award–nominated Some Danger Involved, among others. He lives in Oklahoma. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Also by Will Thomas
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
OLD SCORES. Copyright © 2017 by Will Thomas. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein and Sara Wood
Cover artwork © Mark Owen / Arcangel
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Thomas, Will, 1958– author.
Title: Old scores: a Barker & Llewelyn novel / Will Thomas.
Description: First edition. | New York: Minotaur Books, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017018848 | ISBN 9781250077967 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781466890299 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Barker, Cyrus (Fictitious character)—Fiction. | Private investigators—England—London—Fiction. | Great Britain—History—Victoria, 1837–1901—Fiction. | GSAFD: Mystery fiction.
Classification: LCC PS3620.H644 O43 2017 | DDC 813/.6—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017018848
eISBN 9781466890299
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First Edition: October 2017