Revelation

She looked at me through her swollen lids. 'Why? It is not your fault.' Her voice came thick and distorted.

I hesitated. 'How much has Jack told you of the work we have been engaged on?'

'Nothing. Only that it was a secret matter. I feared it was politics again.'

'It is something worse than that.' I rose to my feet. 'Tamasin, do you know where Jack is?'

She sighed wearily. 'His usual haunts, I expect. The Turks Head tavern by Newgate, or the Red Dog near the Old Barge. He missed lunch, he came back late and we — we had an argument. He stormed out again.'

Damn him, I thought. 'I am going to get the gatekeeper to send someone to find him, and Guy too. You need attention.'

She nodded. 'My face — hurts so much.' She looked at me. 'Do you know who he is, the man who attacked me?'

'I fear it may be the man we are seeking. He attacked you just outside the gate?'

'Yes. He leaped out between two houses. When he left me I managed to get up. I would have gone to the gatekeeper, but his lodge was dark; I came in, I thought I would be safe inside the Inn, and perhaps you might be working late

'I was at Mrs Elliard's,' I said. 'You are sure he said Jack and I were hunting him?'

'Yes.'

Sitting there, I felt my hair rise on my scalp. The killer knew who Barak and I were, that we were after him. But how? 'You said his voice was strange.'

'Yes. Harsh. Guttural. As though he were disguising it.'

'Thank God I was here tonight. Listen, Tamasin, I am going now, to rouse the gatekeeper. I will lock the door.'

'Take care, sir, he may be out there still.'

I TOOK THE DAGGER I kept in my desk and slipped it into my sleeve. In the main office I doused the candles and stood for a moment looking through the mullioned window at Gatehouse Court. A few upper windows were lit. Dorothy's windows were all dark now. The courtyard was empty. I took a deep breath, transferred the dagger into my hand and stepped outside.

I crossed the yard rapidly. Ahead, the gatekeeper's lodge was dark. Either he or his deputy was supposed to keep watch all night, but I knew they often drank themselves to sleep. I took pleasure in banging on the door as loudly as I could. After a minute the gate-keeper opened up. An old soldier, a big, red-faced man, his breath stank of beer. I quickly told him a woman had been attacked and her attacker might still be around, ordered him to rouse himself and send his assistant in search of Barak and Guy.

Back in chambers I did what I could to help Tamasin, fetching water and a cloth for her to wash her poor ravaged face.

'Jack should have been with me,' she said. 'He should not have left me in fear.' Shock had been replaced by anger.

'Tamasin, you said you had feared someone was outside your apartment.'

'This last few days, when Jack has been out, several times I heard a footstep outside. Tonight I went up to the door to listen, and — I heard breathing, as though someone had their head right up against the door on the other side.'

'Did you tell Jack?'

'He said I was full of fancies. But tonight, listening at the door, I did hear a footstep, someone leaving. The outside door creaked. It was so silent then, I could no longer stand it, and I ran out of the house. It was foolish.'

I sat back. He must have been waiting outside, perhaps he waited outside every night. I felt a creeping horror again. He must have followed Tamasin to Lincoln's Inn. And he had been following me, I had been right there. Tamasin began to cry, softly, and I laid a hand on her arm. It seemed to be my job tonight to comfort innocent women tormented by this creature.

BARAK ARRIVED half an hour later, rousted from the Newgate tavern by the gatekeeper's assistant. He rushed in, wide-eyed. 'What's happened? They said Tammy's been hurt!' He hurried over to his wife, but halted as she lifted her head and turned her ravaged, angry face to him.

'Yes, Jack,' she said. 'By the imaginary fellow outside our door, by my fancy, my phantasm.'

He turned to me. It was one of the few times I had seen him at a loss. I gave him some wine, sat him down and told him what had happened. All the time he kept glancing at Tamasin, who still sat looking at him fiercely. She was very angry.

'I never thought he could know where we lived,' Barak said to Tamasin. 'Or even who we were. How could I?' He turned back to me. 'And why do this? It's almost as if he was taunting us!'

'You know I thought I too was being followed,' I said quietly.

'Do you think this could be someone we know?' Barak asked.

'I hardly know what to think. Tamasin, did you see nothing of him?'

'No. He jumped out at me from behind. I closed my eyes when he started hitting me. He was very strong. When I fell to the ground he kicked me once and then said what I told you, that he knew you were hunting him, but you would not stop his mission.'

'That settles it. It was him.' Barak's face was ashen.

'Who?' Tamasin's voice was suddenly shrill. 'Who is it you are hunting? Who has he killed?'