Page 34 of Molly Boys

Ev was not unused to people staring at him, he was well aware he was considered very favourable-looking, but there was something in the intensity of the man’s stare that set a skitter of unease crawling across his skin. There was something malevolent in those black eyes.

Wanting to get away from those eyes, Ev turned abruptly and found himself colliding with a hard body. He stumbled back a pace and dropped his hat, his stomach jolting in recognition upon finding himself face-to-face with none other than Detective Inspector Franklin.

“Lord Stanley?” a familiar voice interrupted.

Tearing his eyes away from the piercing gaze of the policeman, Ev turned his head to regard the man standing beside him and found Reverend Edwin. It seemed he could not escape the man today.

“Reverend.” Ev nodded, his voice sounding strained to his own ears.

“Are you quite well, my lord?” Reverend Edwin asked, his forehead crinkling in concern. “You look a little pale.”

Unable to help himself, Ev glanced behind him but the unsettling man was nowhere to be seen.

“I”—Ev cleared his throat and tried again—“I’m fine, thank you, Reverend.”

He nodded in acceptance. “May I introduce you to Detective Inspector Franklin? He has been quite instrumental in trying to make the streets of Whitechapel safer for us all.”

Ev watched as Inspector Franklin slowly leaned down and retrieved Ev’s hat from the ground, brushing the dust from it before handing it back to him.

“I wouldn’t say that. I simply try to make sure everyone adheres to the law,” Archie rumbled as he inclined his head slowly. “Lord Stanley.”

“Thank you,” Ev muttered as he accepted his hat, surprised by the sudden warmth that filled his belly at the timbre of the inspector’s voice. At the inquest, he’d been direct and authoritative. There was no mistaking the working-class roots in the roughness of his speech, but up close like this? There was something innately appealing in his voice. It wrapped and coiled around Ev, as slow and sinuous as a serpent, but Ev would not be lulled by him. The good inspector was every bit as dangerous. He was the law and, as such, a threat to Ev and everyone he cared about.

Straightening his spine and lifting his chin, he assumed what he hoped was his haughtiest expression.

“So you’re the new inspector that’s set everyone’s tongues wagging? What was it the Herald called you?” He lifted one brow. “A relentless street dog viciously snapping for scraps?”

“I prefer to think of myself as fair but tenacious,” Inspector Franklin replied, his mouth twitching in amusement.

The inspector was nothing like Ev imagined; he’d expected an older man, gruff and cantankerous, not this younger attractive man that seemed almost human. Damn it, Ev didn’t want to be intrigued by the man.

“What brings you to the inquest?” Inspector Franklin asked.

“Lord Stanley is soon to take the vows himself. It’s good for him to familiarise himself with the state of the common man so he best knows how to counsel through such dark and trying times,” Reverend Edwin answered for him. And although Ev would have liked to deny the reference to him taking the vows, the good reverend had just inadvertently provided him with a plausible reason for being at the proceedings. Ev kept his mouth closed.

“Is that so?” the inspector muttered, his dark eyes studying Ev with interest. “You’re joining the church?”

“Is that so inconceivable?” Ev answered with a hint of challenge.

“No,” Inspector Franklin said as his head tilted a fraction. “You just seem…”

Reluctant, angry, resentful… not at all interested?

“Young,” he concluded. Which startled Ev—of all the ways he’d finished the inspector’s sentence in his mind, that word had not been on the list.

“I’m really not that young,” Ev replied stiffly.

“No, not that.” Archie gave a slight shake of his head. “Most of the priests and reverends I’ve crossed paths with have simply been much older.”

Reverend Edwin chuckled. “We all have to start somewhere, Inspector, or do you suspect all men of faith spring from the womb fully formed as balding old men with rounded bellies?”

“Forgive me, Reverend, I meant no offence.”

“None taken,” Edwin said absently with a faint smile as he raised his hand toward someone who had caught his eye from further down the corridor. “I’m afraid I’m needed elsewhere, would you excuse me?”

Archie nodded. “Of course.”

“Lord Stanley,” Reverend Edwin added, “I do hope you visit the rectory. I know Reverend Jacob would be pleased to welcome you.”