Wilbraham lunged forward, knocking Monk aside, but he did not stop and strike at him with the knife in his hand. Instead he ran onward toward Hester, knife blade gleaming for an instant in the sun.
A gunshot rang out.
Wilbraham froze.
Monk turned to see Ossett standing with a pistol raised in his hands, pointing toward Monk’s chest. He had his back to the sun and the burnished river mud of slack tide. Wilbraham was balanced on the edge of the shingle, yards from Hester.
There was no sound but the faint ripple of the water.
Wilbraham took a step toward Hester, the knife blade raised again.
“Take him,” he said to his father. “I’ll take her.”
Very steadily, Ossett raised the barrel of the pistol as if it were of immense weight, and moved his aim from Monk to Wilbraham.
Wilbraham stood smiling. He barely had time to register surprise when the bullet hit him between the eyes. He crumpled into the slick, shining mud, which almost immediately, as if it had been waiting for him, began to suck him down.
Monk lurched forward and struck the gun from Ossett’s hands. Then he hesitated, filled with a scorching pity, not knowing what to do. How could he attack a man in such agony?
Hester was running toward him, tears of relief streaming down her face.
Ossett shook his head. “You don’t need to shackle me. I have a debt to pay. I shall not evade it. I have lied to myself far too long. It is the end.” He began to walk blindly up the shingle toward the edge of the road.
Monk stood on the shore in the waning light and held Hester so close, at any other time he might have feared hurting her. Now, at this moment, nothing could be close enough.
To Victoria Zackheim,
for her unfailing friendship.
By Anne Perry
FEATURING WILLIAM MONK
The Face of a Stranger
Defend and Betray
A Sudden, Fearful Death
The Sins of the Wolf
Cain His Brother
Weighed in the Balance
The Silent Cry
A Breach of Promise
The Twisted Root
Slaves of Obsession
Funeral in Blue
Death of a Stranger
The Shifting Tide
Dark Assassin
Execution Dock
Acceptable Loss
A Sunless Sea
Blind Justice
FEATURING CHARLOTTE AND THOMAS PITT
The Cater Street Hangman
Callander Square
Paragon Walk
Resurrection Row
Bluegate Fields
Rutland Place
Death in the Devil’s Acre
Cardington Crescent
Silence in Hanover Close
Bethlehem Road
Farriers’ Lane
Hyde Park Headsman
Traitors Gate
Pentecost Alley
Ashworth Hall
Brunswick Gardens
Half Moon Street
The Whitechapel Conspiracy
Southampton Row
Seven Dials
Long Spoon Lane
Buckingham Palace Gardens
Treason at Lisson Grove
Dorchester Terrace
Midnight at Marble Arch
Death on Blackheath
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANNE PERRY is the bestselling author of two acclaimed series set in Victorian England: the William Monk novels, including Blind Justice and A Sunless Sea, and the Charlotte and Thomas Pitt novels, including Death on Blackheath and Midnight at Marble Arch. She is also the author of five World War I novels, as well as twelve Christmas novels, including the upcoming A New York Christmas. She lives in Scotland.
WWW.ANNEPERRY.CO.UK