Read Ghost of the Thames for Free Online

don’t know
if I can lay open all of their heads with this oar before the
others notice and come after me.”
    “And what do you hope to
accomplish?”
    “It is quite simple, Captain. Free the
women and children.”
    “And do you think this will be the end
of their troubles?”
    She glared at him.
    His hands dropped from her
shoulders. “I read in the Times not a fortnight ago that there may be over eighty
thousand prostitutes walking the streets of London. Most of them
live in slums and opium dens. Do you know where they end up? In the
Thames. Their bodies fished out and dumped in Cross Bones
graveyard. Now what do you think is to become of these that you
rescue . . . if you are able to free them?”
    “It cannot be worse than what was
happening right here a moment ago!” she snapped. “This woman wasn’t
willingly giving herself to that jackal for a fee. She was being
forced. And I was floating in that river not too long ago, if you
recall. Perhaps I was one of them. Perhaps I was destined for your
Cross Bones graveyard.”
    Her words silenced him. The anger was
roiling inside of her.
    “Not recalling any of my
past, one thing I do remember is this. I would prefer to die than let this happen
to me or to any other woman. I’ll fight them with whatever means I
have. I shall use my bare hands if I must. Now, will you loan me
your pistol or not, Captain?”
    His dark eyes bore into hers for a
moment longer.
    “No,” he growled. “But I shall see to
this matter.”
    “But—”
    “You go find my driver. My carriage is
at the top of this lane. Tell him to go to the constable’s house by
the village square. We passed it on the way here; he’ll remember.
And you will wait in the carriage. Do you hear me?”
    Sophy held her ground, unsure that she
wanted to go.
    “Go,” he barked.
    The sound of voices came from the
closed door of the shed. It was true that if they were to do any
good, they would need help. If that shed led into the inn, then she
had no idea how many men might re-emerge.
    She ran through the dark alley and, at
the end, turned up the lane. There was no one in the lane or the
cross street at the top. The Captain’s carriage, however, were
exactly where he said it would be. The driver was standing by the
horses, a heavy-headed cudgel in hand, ready for any trouble that
might surface. With wariness in his stance, he watched her
approaching at a run.
    “Captain Seymour sent me.”
    Sophy doubted the driver recognized
her. Hurriedly, she relayed the Captain’s instructions. With a
frown he nodded, turned, and ran toward the market square to fetch
the constable.
    She stood by the horses, absently
stroking their muzzles and sleek necks, and considering whether she
should go back to the yard behind the Broken Oar. Perhaps she
should at least return to the woman who had been attacked, she
thought.
    When she’d followed the ghostly figure
from Urania Cottage to this village, Sophy hadn’t known what to
expect. The young woman had simply gestured and Sophy had silently
followed until they reached the inn and tavern. Then, still hidden
in the darkness of the alley, she’d heard the noise and commotion
of the group being forced out of a boat and herded toward the shed
on the far side of the yard.
    The women were speaking in a variety
of foreign tongues, but in spite of that, it was clear they were
frightened. Some sounded sick. Many were sobbing.
    Too angry with the scene unfolding
before her, Sophy had paid little attention to the danger or to the
fact that her guide had disappeared. She only knew that something
needed to be done, and when one of the men had pulled the young
woman out of the line and thrown her against an overturned boat,
Sophy’s sense of judgment sailed away on the breeze. She had picked
up the first solid piece of wood that she could find.
    Now, out of the darkness, the driver
reappeared with two men in his wake. They ran past with barely a
glance in her direction and disappeared down