Come the Fear by Chris Nickson

safe. And in the end even that hadn’t helped to save her. He loved the city but sometimes it seemed cursed and dangerous.
    Someone had bedded her and put a child in her. Whoever had done that had almost certainly been the one to kill her, too. That would take the start of this tale back several months, to when she was working for Cates, and that was food for thought. Men took advantage of girls working for them often enough, then dismissed them if their bodies quickened. He’d never heard of anyone killing a lass because of it, but men had certainly killed for much less.
    By noon there was a high, gentle haze, as if someone had carelessly smudged sky and cloud together. The whores were out on Briggate, touting for business. Some held their fans coyly over mouths of broken teeth, eyes dancing, while others were more brazen, giving loud invitations to the men passing.
    The street was busy as ever, servants and mistresses ducking in and out of the shops, argumentative carters guiding their teams on the roads with raucous shouts, the traffic stuck on either side of the Moot Hall, angry and yelling, fights brewing in frustration. The air was filled with sound, the city loud and vital.
    Sedgwick knew some of the girls, but they were always changing. Lizzie had been one of them when they first met, a life she’d been happy enough to leave behind. Many of these would go elsewhere in a few weeks or months. A few would stay for years, growing old and weary far too soon in the profession.
    He saw Caroline, a girl who’d been fresh on the street back when he’d started out as a Constable’s man. Now lines ran deep on her face, and she tried to hide them with white lead and beauty spots and pulled her bodice lower to try and attract the attention that had come easily when she was young. She’d seen them all and was sometimes a mother to the lasses of eleven or twelve who arrived lost and fearful.
    â€˜Lovely day for it,’ he said with a wink.
    She raised her eyebrows and pursed her lips. ‘If you say so, Mr Sedgwick.’
    â€˜Sun shining, spring and the sap rising, should be good for trade,’ he told her playfully.
    â€˜You’d better not be looking to buy,’ she warned him. ‘Your Lizzie wouldn’t be happy. And don’t you doubt I’d tell her.’
    He laughed. ‘I don’t think I’d dare, love. She’d have my balls off. I’m just asking a few questions, that’s all.’
    She cocked her head. ‘Go on, then.’
    â€˜Did you see a girl with a harelip working a few weeks ago?’
    â€˜Her? You’re asking about her?’ she said and he felt his pulse quicken.
    â€˜You saw her, then?’
    Caroline nodded her head sadly. ‘She never had a chance out here, poor little thing. Who’s going to pay for a lass like that? Especially one who’s carrying a child. Although I know some of you men have strange tastes,’ she added darkly.
    â€˜Did you talk to her at all?’
    She shook her head. ‘Never had the chance, Mr Sedgwick. She were only out here two nights. The first she was too scared to do owt and the next she came all bruised. Then she didn’t come back at all.’
    He could feel the dryness in his voice. ‘How long ago was this?’
    He waited as she concentrated.
    â€˜I don’t know,’ she admitted finally. ‘I can’t think.’
    â€˜Was it before that big fire down on the Calls?’ he asked, using it as a marker. Caroline’s face brightened. ‘Oh, before that, I’m sure of it.’
    â€˜Who was running her, do you know?’
    She frowned. ‘Never heard, and whoever it was, he didn’t show his face round here. She was down by the old chantry chapel by the bridge. They often put the new ones down there. A fresh face to catch trade as it comes into town.’
    â€˜I need a favour,’ he began, then stopped as something caught his eye.