"Yes. There isn't enough room in the regular prisons to keep them."
"But the article said that they are all packed on those ships, and every night the hatches are screwed down—how can those men even breathe? And what about disease and sickness, and what if a fire starts?"
"Only the strongest survive. There are many deathsin the hulks." Alec shook his head slightly, losing interest in the cards and putting them facedown on the table. "And in the cases of the boys who end up there, it's better to die than to become what they are forced to become. The only activities for them are gambling and bullying or slaying each other. Some of the larger ones are put to word dredging and cleaning the river, while others make convict uniforms."
"And then they are set free," Mira said, greatly perturbed at the thought.
"It's just like Newgate—the hell of being imprisoned in such a place makes every man who is released determined to take revenge on the system and the society that put him there."
"And that is why they all band together in these crime organizations? To take revenge on society?"
Alec nodded, and Mira suddenly thought of Guil-laume with a stab of sadness. She prayed that after they had parted company, her brother had not become a member of such a group. Although Guillaume had done many immoral and illegal things in his life, she hoped that there had been enough decency in him to help him avoid such a fate.
"What are you remembering?" Alec asked quietly.
"Nothing," she replied with forced lightness, sending him a smile that he did not return. Alec's expression was carefully blank as he tamped down an unexpected surge of frustration. When, he wondered bleakly, was she going to trust him? Would she ever? "I'm… I'm going to ring for some tea," Mira said, standing up and pushing her chair back. As she moved by the table, the draping material of her sleeve brushed a large portion of the deck of cards to the floor. They fluttered downward like a flock of descending birds.
Alec stared at the cascade of fallen cards. A closed door in his mind was abruptly battered down. For a second Mira saw a flash of something like fear or horror darkening his eyes, and she was at his sideimmediately. He did not look at her but continued to stare at the floor.
"Alec? What is it?" she demanded, kneeling by his chair and looking up at him. He closed his eyes and turned his face away.
"God. I hadn't remembered." His voice was rough and very low.
"Remembered what? Why did you look at the playing cards like that?" Turning her attention to the offending objects, Mira scowled at them, scooped them up quickly, and shoved them out of sight.
"I was the one… I was the one who found Holt's body," Alec muttered. She gazed at him compassionately and stroked his arm in a gesture of comfort. "It was late at night, in a dark alley. I didn't notice any details about it then… I was half-drunk to begin with. I just realized all at once what had happened, and… there were signs of a fight, a vicious one. The bruises on him…" He stopped suddenly and then resumed more calmly. "Just, now I remembered that there were playing cards scattered on the ground."
Mira did not understand why the fact was significant to him. "Perhaps Holt was carrying them," she suggested, and he looked at her seriously.
"Perhaps he was."
Again she had the feeling that the observation held a meaning for him that escaped her. "How did you find him there?"
"I was supposed to meet him at the Rummer, which isn't far away from the spot. He had sent me a message saying that he had something important to discuss with me."
"What about?"
"About a girl named Leila. He loved her… she disappeared, and he was looking for her." Alec seemed to look right through her as he added distantly, "I
think he had found out what had happened to her, ft who had taken her."Mira stroked his arm once more and sighed. "It's so very late… let's go to bed."
"Why don't you go on? I'll join you soon." Picking up a card, Alec stared at it absently, seeming to forget her in his preoccupation. Mira smiled uncertainly at him and left the room.
He came to bed much later. Mira stirred groggily as he unfolded his long body beside hers and forced himself to relax. Willing himself to sleep, he shoved aside the thoughts that riddled his mind and shut his eyes tightly, but in sleep there was no escape from the questions and the memories. Restlessly he fought to escape the disturbing dreams, kicking the covers off and moving his head from side to side. He woke up from the middle of a nightmare with a muffled curse, his whole body jerking awake. Overheated and uncomfortable, he drew a forearm across his perspiring forehead, brushing aside the hair that clung to his skin.