Page 41 of Cloaked in Deception (Spencer & Reid Mysteries #4)

So, Esther had the altercation with Harry.

Jasper wanted to know more about the details, but this wasn’t the time to press for them.

She had come to the point where she either needed to follow through with her threat or give up.

As she had yet to shoot him, Jasper was more apt to believe that if she were to pull the trigger, it would be due to a quiver of her finger. He needed her to lower the gun.

“Kill me or my sergeant, Mrs. Goodwin, and you will get the noose yourself,” Jasper informed her. “Lay down your weapon. Sergeant Lewis will escort you from the theatre.”

“Do as Inspector Reid says, Mrs. Goodwin.”

Jasper’s heart lurched. He twisted around at the new voice and saw Leo directly behind the older woman. She was holding something against Esther’s back. A sword?

Christ . It was a sodding theatre prop.

“You didn’t have a blade before,” the woman said incredulously. And then, as if figuring it out, Esther grated out a bark of anger and whirled around. Leo’s prop sword sliced downward against the woman’s hand, and the report of a gun rang out.

Jasper pushed off Felix and rushed forward, like a battering ram, straight into Esther Goodwin. They slammed against the floor, the woman wriggling and wailing. He closed his hand around her left wrist, and a blink later, Leo’s foot came down on top of her hand.

Esther’s screams became sobs as Leo bent forward to pluck the weapon from the woman’s weakened fingers.

Jasper pushed Esther onto her stomach, and Lewis was there in an instant, clapping his own pair of handcuffs around her wrists, one of which appeared to be bleeding.

Leo dropped the prop sword to the floor with a clatter. “Gracious, I didn’t think it was real,” she said, breathing heavily.

Jasper got to his feet, his breath coming in short puffs as he took in the sight of her, searching for any sign of injury. Her dark hair had come loose from its combs and pins, but she appeared to be unharmed.

At last, the knot in his stomach unfurled. He didn’t know if he wanted to throttle her or take her into his arms. He restrained himself from doing either, though just barely, as Lewis brought Esther to her feet.

“Bring her out,” Jasper told the detective sergeant. “I have Felix.”

The man was attempting to get onto his knees and then push himself to standing. Jasper took the gun Leo had recovered from Esther’s hand. “Go with Lewis,” he told her as he pocketed the weapon. “No arguments, please.”

She glared at him. “I wasn’t going to argue.”

“Yes, you were.”

With a defiant huff, Leo turned on her heel and followed Lewis.

Jasper hauled Felix to his feet. The man was tall and heavy, but all Jasper needed to do was remember how he so callously shot Martha Seabright, then took Leo from the dining room at gunpoint, and Jasper found he had all the strength necessary to push him forward and up the stairs. Felix chuckled darkly as they went.

“Now I understand why you looked as if you wanted to gut me at that dinner,” he said.

“Be grateful I am a police officer,” Jasper replied, giving him a hard push as they reached the top of the stairs.

The man guttered a laugh as they exited the building. “I can see that leaving Miss Spencer alive was a mistake. Had I killed her, I doubt the incompetent police would have ever found me.”

Once they had moved into the alley, Jasper shoved Felix up against the exterior brick wall. He bent the man’s hands upward at a painful angle.

“I would have hunted you down, Goodwin, no matter how long it took. And the moment I found you, I would have happily neglected my oath to preserve life.”

He yanked Felix from the brick and pushed him forward, toward three approaching uniformed constables. They introduced themselves as officers of D Division, and Jasper handed Felix to them, with instructions to escort both him and Esther Goodwin to Scotland Yard.

Farther up the alley, Lewis was leading Esther toward the gate, where more constables had gathered to assist. Leo had stopped to wait for Jasper and now stepped aside, far out of the way of the D Division constables as they passed with Felix.

“A wooden stage sword? That was your weapon of choice? You could have been killed,” Jasper said once they were alone. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I didn’t want Esther Goodwin shooting you in the back,” she replied.

“I saw the lantern when I was searching for a place to hide and suspected she was down there somewhere. After I pushed the mantel over onto Felix, I saw her sneaking up on you from behind. If I’d shouted to warn you, she might have fired off a shot before you could even turn around.

” Leo shrugged a shoulder. “I remembered the box of prop swords I’d knocked over earlier.

It might not have been an entirely sound plan?—”

“It wasn’t a plan at all,” he snapped. “You should have gone for help.”

Her eyes flashed with defiance. “I wasn’t leaving you, Jasper.”

The rebuttal snuffed out the tension that had been stringing him tight. He released the breath he’d been holding and took Leo’s shoulders in his hands. The desire to kiss her pounded through his veins. But he couldn’t, not here.

“You’ve not been hurt?” he asked softly. She shook her head. Jasper allowed himself a quick sweep of his thumb against her cheek, then stepped away.

“Paula is Edward’s— George’s —mother, not his sister,” Leo said. “I noticed the mole on her cheek?—”

“There you are, Reid.” Oliver came through the alley gate. Jasper glowered at the viscount for interrupting them. He was intrigued to hear more about what Leo had discovered. That Paula was, in fact, the boy’s mother gave her motive for taking George more substance and reason.

Oliver slowed when he saw Leo. “Miss Spencer, I’m glad to see you’re safe.”

She cleared her throat as she turned to the viscount. “Is George well?”

“He’s just fine, in no small part thanks to you. Reid, my uncle would like to take him home if that’s all right. My aunt is waiting there for them.”

Jasper had questions for the boy but nothing urgent enough to keep him from being brought home to his family. “That’s fine. Tell Stanley I’ll call at the house tomorrow.”

Oliver nodded, then looked to Leo. “And you, Miss Spencer. May I escort you home?” He glanced at Jasper with a raised brow. “Unless the inspector plans to bring you into Scotland Yard for questioning?”

He did have questions for Leo—a lot of them, in fact. Including what had occurred inside the theatre and how she’d convinced Paula Blickson to reverse course and give up George. But for now, at least, he had his hands full with three suspects under arrest.

He nodded reluctantly, and Oliver extended his arm to Leo. She peered at it as if taken aback by the viscount’s offer. Hesitantly, she linked her arm with Oliver’s, and they started for the street.

Jasper followed behind them, slightly envious of his friend as he helped Leo into a cab, then climbed up to sit beside her.

“Guv,” Lewis called as the cab rolled away into traffic.

The detective sergeant stood outside their waiting carriage. Warnock had seated himself next the driver on the bench to guard the ride back to the Yard. “Mrs. Blickson says she’s ready to talk.”