Chapter 3

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"My patience is wearing thin, ma'am." Samantha heard as she peeked from the wall. "If you indeed will tell me the truth, then tell me of the man who is causing mischief among your fellow shopkeepers."

"If you truly wish to condemn someone, Mr. Starrick, then you should look to whoever has lied to you about this stranger. I have not faced any man who brings me trouble. Please, I am speaking the truth."

Starrick made a loud sigh; clearly, he did not believe a word Mrs. Evan's was saying and was close to resorting to violence if Samantha hadn't made her presence known.

With a soft cough, Samantha appeared from behind the counter and tilted her head to the right. "Forgive me for interrupting, but Mrs. Evans had been gone for so long I was worried something terrible might have happened."

Though calm and composed on the outside, Samantha was going through hundreds of scenarios in her head of how this could go wrong. Not only was she a disheveled mess, but she was mimicking their accent in a small attempt to not be a sore thumb (though she was certain was doing the opposite), and now she was beginning to doubt that she was helping the situation at all.

"Dear me, I had forgotten that I had a customer in waiting." Mrs. Evan said, playing along with Samantha's lie. "Forgive me darling, I'll only be a moment longer so please settle yourself."

Samantha nodded and gave Starrick a slight bow of her head before turning away, however she would not be permitted to leave as Starrick asked for her to stay. She had feared that maybe he had caught on to her rouse and she tried to think of an escape plan.

"Young lady come here." Starrick called to her, "Come and join us for a moment."

Samantha did as she was told and approached the group. "Yes, sir."

"I can to enquire about a man, most loathsome of his kind, who harasses those who work for me. Have you seen him?"

Samantha quickly came up with a reasonable response that would throw off the man. "How could I know such a man when you have only described the public perspective of him? Do you have a detailed profile of this alleged man?"

Starrick was taken back by her question and looked to the Blighter who had brought him here, "Mr. McMichael, have you an image or physical description of the gentleman?"

"I-I have none sir."

"If you have no description then it would be sufficed to say that this man might as well not exist." Samantha said with confident and a touch of sass. "Sir, I have not been in London long, but if you are so eager to catch a culprit, might I suggest that whoever allows these men to speak to you should undergo a procedure to ensure you are not wasting your time."

"Indeed." Starrick agreed, giving the Blighter a cold side glare. "Well, thank you ladies for your cooperation, have a good day."

The women bowed slightly, believing that the unwanted group would take their leave, but Starrick didn't leave like the others did. Instead, he remained in the shop and approached Samantha, nearly scaring her.

"S-Sir?"

"Forgive me, I had no intention of frightening you." He spoke to her in a soft tone, nearly equivalent to tender. "I wanted to know your name, if you would be willing to give it."

"A-Ah! Um...it's..." Samantha would have given her real name, however, she remembered that Jacob intended for her to join the Brotherhood and telling the current Grandmaster her name seemed like a terrible idea. Her problem was that she couldn't think of a suitable fake name that she could go by and remember should she need to. "u-um...it's Elizabeth..."

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