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orders, and tasked with restoring order after the devastating effects of the Awakening. The man who, it was whispered, had ordered a thousand tortured souls to vanish without a trace for the ‘greater good’, and who fought every day to destroy the Riftborn that preyed on the innocents of the Empire. At mention of his name, Mr. Dresden gulped.
    ‘I don’t want no trouble,’ he stammered. ‘I took the job, I don’t deny it, because the gent paid cash up front. I drove him around for a couple o’ hours, and I turned a blind eye to his doings, as is the cabman’s code. Everyone does it, from time to time, when pickings is slim.’
    ‘Did the gentleman give a name?’ Lillian grew impatient. It seemed that Dresden was stalling for time, perhaps so that his dull mind could come up with some cock-and-bull story.
    ‘No, but they never does.’
    ‘So you have done this more than once?’ she said. ‘It is, of course, against the law to engage a hansom on these terms. A fine is the usual punishment, but given the seriousness of the crime…’
    ‘Please, there’s no need for that. I’ll help as best I can, but I can’t really remember… it’s been a long while, you see, and—’
    ‘Calm yourself, Mr. Dresden,’ Sir Arthur said. ‘My companion, Agent Hardwick, is simply very eager to get to the bottom of this affair, by whatever means necessary.’
    Dresden looked from Sir Arthur to Lillian. ‘Hardwick?’ he croaked.
    ‘My father would not come all the way out here in person,’ said Lillian, masking her annoyance at the name-dropping. ‘But we do have the power to summon a constable, and take you to him. If we do that, Mr. Dresden, he will have his Majestics help you remember. It would be a great help if you were to comply with them, but it is not without… risks.’
    ‘Mercy!’ Mrs. Dresden whispered, and sat down at once on a kitchen chair.
    ‘Wait… wait,’ Dresden said. ‘I think it’s coming back to me. When I picked ’im up, the lamplighters had just done their rounds. I think I did catch sight of his face in the light, just the once.’
    ‘And?’ Lillian prompted.
    ‘Tall chap. Thin, too. Little black beard and skin pale as you like. Funny spectacles, he wore.’
    ‘Funny how?’
    ‘Coloured glass, like. Red… or maybe purple. The kind you sometimes see blind folks wearin’. But he weren’t blind.’
    ‘And you’re sure he was a gentleman?’ Arthur asked.
    ‘Aye, sure as I can be. He spoke all proper, like yourself, sir, only more so, if you take my meaning. And the girl…’ He paused.
    ‘What about her?’ Lillian snapped.
    ‘She… she called him “my lord”.’
    Lillian looked to Sir Arthur, who frowned. It could have been an affectation, a term of flattery between a bang-tail and her fare; but if not… it was a clue.
    ‘Where you last saw this man, and the girl he was with?’ Lillian said pointedly.
    Dresden paused. His wife prodded him sharply in the ribs.
    ‘Seven Dials,’ he said at last, sullenly. ‘I dropped ’em at Little Earl Street, and they headed up the alley behind the chandler’s shop.’
    ‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’
    ‘No, miss. I swear that’s all I know. I came straight home, and that was that.’
    ‘You did not take the man anywhere else, except between the Ratcliff Highway and Seven Dials?’
    Dresden froze for a moment. Lillian saw something in his eyes—fear, she thought. ‘No miss.’
    ‘You are quite sure?’
    ‘Yes miss.’
    Sir Arthur handed his card to the cabbie. ‘Mr. Dresden, you have been most helpful. If you remember anything else that may be of use—any detail, no matter how small—please do send a message to my club. If we have further questions… well, you’ll hear from us, in due course.’
    Dresden twitched at that. As he took the card, his fingertips brushed against Sir Arthur’s. Lillian noticed that Arthur had removed his gloves, which he rarely did. Dresden flinched as he took the card, as though