A Dangerous Madness by Michelle Diener

after the shot rang out. Someone called for the doors to be closed, but people were rushing in from outside, and they stayed open. He could have walked out unnoticed and no one would have even known who had done the deed. Not even me, and it happened right in front of me.”
    James thought about that. “What did he say, when he was confronted?”
    “That is the strange thing. The very reason many think him sane is one of the strongest reasons I think him mad. Even though he was shaking, even though he was in obvious distress, he spoke calmly, at odds with his physical reactions. There is something wrong with him. He is not in his right mind.”
    James sat quietly for a few minutes, and Jerdan seemed unable to say any more. He sipped at his coffee, though by now it must surely be cold.
    “Thank you for your honesty.” James stood and gave the big man a bow. Jerdan had sunk back into the gloom he’d been in when James arrived and he gave a nod, but didn’t reply.
    James left him at the table, grateful that the journalist had been too preoccupied to ask why he was looking into the details of Perceval’s assassination.
    He stepped into the darkening street and realized it was too late to chase down Dowling. But he would. As he walked back to his coach, he wondered what the significance was of a Home Office informant being at the scene of the prime minister’s assassination.
    It would be interesting to find out.
    But first, he had to get home for dinner, or his chef might think him unappreciative and leave him, and after that, he had an appointment with a lady in a garden.

Chapter Nine

    P hoebe gripped the handles of the French doors leading to the back garden, pushed them slightly outward, and paused.
    The night was fresh and fragrant, the air moving over her like a cool compress over hot skin. Usually she would step out into the garden on an evening like this with delight.
    But tonight Wittaker was lurking out there, a dark shadow waiting for her to lay her secrets bare. She shivered, wanting nothing more than to close the doors and avoid him.
    He would not stand for that. The steel beneath his genteel façade had come more to the surface as the day had progressed. This morning he’d been civil enough. Outside Newgate, his demeanor was less accommodating, and this afternoon in the garden she had seen the gleam and shine of the metal.
    There would be no delay in their meeting, if he had to storm the barriers and search every room in the house to find her.
    She straightened her spine and pushed the doors out completely, taking the shallow stairs down into the deep, lush greenery that was her haven.
    She saw him immediately.
    He was standing beside the trellis arch to the herb garden, all in black.
    The moon was almost full, and the light shone down on him and lit one side of his face and body.
    He was looking at her, and she lowered her gaze as if to watch her step as she made her way cautiously across to him.
    She was afraid to look in his eyes again.
    “Thank you for being on time.” He kept his voice low, but that was still too loud for her.
    She shook her head, lifting a finger to her lips, and walked past him into her little enclosed garden.
    He followed her, his steps almost soundless.
    When she stopped and turned, she found him closer than was comfortable. Was forced to look up at him.
    “Might I remind you, you’re here to explain yourself to me, in the hope I will do the same.” Fear and dread gave her voice a sharper edge than usual. “Don’t loom over me and try to intimidate me, Your Grace. It won’t work.”
    He lifted his brows. “I wasn’t aware I was intimidating you, Miss Hillier. My apologies.” He stepped back a little, but there was a gleam in his eyes, of challenge and determination, that made her heart sink.
    She would not get out of this garden without parting with at least some of what she knew.
    He stared at her for another long moment, and she understood that he was as unwilling to