The Affair of the Porcelain Dog Read Online Free PDF Page A

elbow, rubbing my eyes. Goddard slid beneath the covers, punching his pillow into submission, and rolled onto one side to face me.
    "I ran into his little friend Lazarus at the dollyshop," I continued. "He said they're getting the lavender letters, too."
    "Indeed," he said.
    He was forty-two to my twenty-five, but the soft light smoothed the lines around his eyes, giving his face a porcelain vulnerability that made him seem much younger.
    "Why? Who's doing this? What does he want?"
    Goddard drew a long breath.
    "Do you trust me, Ira?"
    "Of course," I said. "I--"
    "Then don't ask these questions, I beg you." He let out a long breath and began amusing himself with my curls. "Besides," he said, "none of it matters now that you have the dog."
    "Um."
    The gloom seemed to close around us. I hadn't thought it possible this could be even more difficult than I'd imagined. My imagination was second to none when it came to predicting the worst.
    "You did find it," Goddard said.
    "Yes, I...found it."
    "And you brought it back?"
    I sucked in my breath. He sat up.
    "Ira, where in God's name is the dog?"
    His voice rose in a way that would have sent his stoutest thug diving under the sofa. My gut clenched, but I held my ground. Goddard shouted occasionally, but had never laid a hand on me.
    Yet.
    I watched, heart pounding, as he forced himself to inhale deeply and count. He exhaled with excruciating deliberation. He looked down at me with nothing more than simple expectation.
    "It's no longer in my possession," I admitted.
    "That much is clear, but--"
    "I'll get it back, I swear. I just need a few hours' sleep."
    And for the sickly sweet smell of the lotus to clear out of my nostrils.
    "Hmm," he said doubtfully. Then his gaze fell to my midsection. He teased open the front edges of my pajamas to reveal a large bruise blooming beneath my sternum. "What the devil is that?"
    "Sodding Lazarus." I pulled my pajama top closed. "He's quite good with his fists, you know."
    "So Lazarus took the dog from you."
    He sounded relieved.
    "Not exactly," I said.
    "Then who did?"
    It would have saved everyone a lot of trouble, had I told him everything at that point. I could still see the woman in my mind's eye--her coarse, dark hair and almond-shaped eyes. I could hear her too-perfect Cockney, feel her strong, mannish hands rifling through my pockets. If she was staying in Whitechapel, Goddard's men could have had her on our doorstep by luncheon.
    But the shame of my failure would have killed me. Goddard had given me so much--a home, an education, companionship, and material generosity that knew no limits. And in return, he'd asked one simple errand. Even if we did both somehow escape prison now, I'd never be able to live with myself if I didn't at least try to complete it.
    Moreover, the woman had nicked the statue off me as easily as if I'd been some Piccadilly fop with no more street sense than an infant. She could not be allowed to get away with it.
    I could make this right. By God, I would.
    "It's a long story, but I'll get it back by day's end," I swore again.
    "All right, all right. Rest now. You've had quite a night."
    He patted his thigh, and I gratefully laid my head down upon it. Now that his anger had run its course, he was thinking. He hummed softly as he teased the tangles from my hair, pausing to run his manicured fingernails over my cheek now and then. His skin smelled of bergamot, jasmine, and musk. If I weren't so knackered, it would have made me harder than the Rock of Gibraltar.
    "It's almost dawn," he finally said. "A few hours won't make a difference, and you're useless without your beauty rest." A smile crept into his voice. "But you must find it, Ira. Our blackmailer mustn't get his hands on it. And that goes double for that prick, St. Andrews."
    "Why?" I asked.
    I tried to sit up, but he gently held my head against his thigh. The rhythmmic stroking began again, and he said, "The mistakes of youth, dear boy. That's all I can tell you