A Dangerous Liaison With Detective Lewis by Jillian Stone

enough for the officers to jump aboard.
    He searched the man’s trouser pockets. “Check his waistcoat and jacket. She opened his coat with two fingers. “Quickly, Fan.” A grimace readily changed to a triumphant grin when she pulled out a small notebook and billfold.
    “You’re a damn fine partner, Fan.” Rafe took the items from her with a wink. “Come.” He grabbed her hand and they moved silently down the corridor. At the end of the carriage, they reached the public water closet.
    “Might I?” Fanny looked as though she almost hated to ask.
    Rafe peered out the window. The uniformed men had begun to board the train one car ahead. “Make this the fastest piss ever.”
    He opened the door and she screamed. “Bollocks.” A man lay curled up on the floor of the loo, dressed in nothing but his unmentionables. A deep crimson stain covered the back of his undershirt. Rafe slammed the door shut.
    Fanny swallowed. “The real ticket collector?”
    He nodded. “Poor bloke—”
    She backed away from the water closet and reached out. Without a word, Rafe took hold of her hand. He inched the passenger car door open and poked his head out. A few people lingered on the platform, none in uniform.
    The silver-gray sky marked a fine, lingering twilight, which would last for the better part of the next hour. He’d not chance a run for the station house. Dark glazing signaled the office had closed for the evening. Rafeand Fanny tiptoed down the steps and struck out along the edge of the platform, holding to the shadows alongside the train. A cool mist hung in the air, and the paved stone beneath their feet was slick from a recent shower. At the end of the platform, he jumped onto gravel-covered ground and helped Fanny down. Behind them, the silhouette of a man exited the train. He looked east and west along the rails. Rafe crouched and pulled her against him.
    The dark character, dressed in a natty suit, peered down their way. The man shouted something back inside the train.
    “We’ve been spotted.” Rafe yanked her up and they quickly rounded the end of the train. They made a good run along the back side of the track, but there was no exit in sight. They were caught between a retaining wall to one side and the train on the other.
    “There, up ahead.” A narrow set of crude stairs led up the side of the embankment. Fanny picked up her skirts and they clambered up the steep, uneven steps, arriving in a backstreet behind a terrace of buildings. A horse nickered in a public stable at the far end of the alley.
    “You know this town?”
    Panting, Fanny nodded toward a break between buildings. “I believe there are several shops and a few pubs up the lane.” Racing down the dark passage, they jumped over pools of fetid water and stumbled over a drunk. Out on the street, she pointed farther up the hill.
    A group of shabbily dressed men, likely shale miners, bargained with two bawdy street whores. They passedby several quiet establishments before coming upon a smoky, crowded pub. This might prove to be excellent indeed, exactly what they needed for cover. Rafe gripped her hand tight and steered a path through the lively room.
    He slid a large coin across the bar to a rough-looking character. The man in charge, it would seem. “Might there be a cabinet particular available?” Rafe didn’t have to look; he was quite sure Miss Greyville-Nugent blushed cheek to toe.
    “Got no fancy dining room with a hidden bed, mate.” After a rude and lusty perusal of Rafe’s pretty companion, the man gave him a wink and a nod. “Got rooms by the hour.”
    “Should anyone inquire, you haven’t seen me or the young lady.” He dropped a few more coins on the bar in exchange for a key. “Have a good whiskey and sandwiches sent up.”
    “Up the back stairs. Last door on yer left,” the bartender grunted. Rafe led the way upstairs and unlocked a sparely furnished room. A plain cast-iron bed filled all but a small corner of space where a