Author's Note

From DorisTheYounger: Regarding Sweeney and Johanna, I can only borrow a quote from the estimable Jack Sparrow: If you were waiting for the opportune moment, that was it.

Thanks for the reviews, and welcome back my old readers (and welcome to new ones!)

City on Fire

By the time they arrived in Leicester Square, a huge yellow summer moon was rising up through the sooty clouds. It was twilight. The hour was too late for casual strolling and too early for serious dissipation, so the street was deserted. Through the back window of the carriage, Sweeney Todd caught glimpses of tall grey buildings flanked with gargoyle-topped pillars.

Dew turned the coach neatly around a corner and halted beneath the overhanging branches of a group of trees. As soon as the wheels stopped rolling, Anthony jumped out and gallantly extended his arm to hand down Johanna. Ridiculous boy, Sweeney thought.

But when he took the long step to the street, Sweeney had to concede that it would be a reach for a woman. So he scooped Dew's daughter into his arms and swung her onto the kerb. The girl was no daffodil to carry, but at least she'd dried off.

When he set her down, Meg squeaked, "My slipper!" and bent to scrabble in the dirty street. Dew had bought slippers for both girls from the first Whitechapel street vendor he'd encountered, and apparently they didn't fit very well.

Finally locating her missing footgear, Meg grabbed Sweeney's shoulder and hopped on one foot to put it on. As she slid her bare foot into the leather slipper, Sweeney noticed a hooked coachman's staff under her arm. She must have fished it out from behind the seat during the ride. As he'd expected, the girl wasn't taking her father's order about not attacking people very seriously.

She wasn't the only one.

Anthony and Johanna were standing in the street looking up at the house where she'd spent her childhood. The stone face of Turpin's home was as cold and stern and forbidding as the face of Turpin himself. Sweeney could not see one scrap of greenery anywhere around the building. The ugly wrought iron grating that flanked the front courtyard nicely completed the house's prison-like atmosphere.

"There's the window where I first spotted you," Anthony said—quite unnecessarily—to Johanna. "I heard you singing and I had to stop to look."

Johanna nodded sadly. "Yes, that's the room where Turpin shut me up. I promised myself that if I ever got out that I would never come back again. But here I am."

"We're here on a mission, Johanna—we're not here to stay. Don't forget that!" Meg had joined her father, who was lurking inconspicuously in the shadow of the trees. "I don't see many lights inside—do you think the Judge is home tonight?"

Johanna peered carefully into the windows. "The front hall is lit and so is the parlor. I'd say yes. I suppose he could be in his study."

"Looking at his pictures, perhaps?" Meg said acidly. Sweeney was rather mystified to notice how distressed Anthony became after he heard that remark.

"But never mind that," Meg went on, a little embarrassed herself. "We don't want Turpin to escape us, so you need to know about the exits. Besides the main door, the only other way out is the servants' entrance. It's at the end of the alley on the left side of the house. Most of the windows are barred, and if they aren't barred, they're too high up to climb through. And there are no secret passages."

"I'm sure that you checked," Dew remarked with amusement.

"You needn't worry about the neighbors," Johanna told them all. "No matter what happens, nobody on this street will interfere. The house with no lights to the right of Turpin's house belonged to the Carious—but she died and he went back to Canada. The Thornhills on the left are always at parties—I never see them."

Meg frowned as if she'd heard something and pointed down the street. "Look, we're not alone! Somebody's there!"

Anthony looked in the direction she was pointing. "It's the beggar woman who tried to help me before. She shouldn't be here—I don't want her to be hurt."

Dew shrugged. "She shouldn't be in any danger. After spending this long on the streets, she'll know when to run. We have a mission to complete. This time, let's try the simple approach. We'll just walk up to the front door and knock."

"Be careful with the butler," Johanna warned him. "He's a champion bare-knuckle boxer and Turpin told me that he's killed people in the ring."

Sweeney Todd squeezed the razor in his hand. "I doubt the butler will be a problem."

Dew heaved an exasperated sigh. "Let me make one thing clear. No matter what Turpin has done, he is still a Judge of the City of London. If any blood is spilt tonight, my friends cannot shield us from legal retribution." With an edge to his voice, he added, "I'm talking to you, Todd. I will not allow you to involve these girls in a murder."

Sweeney sneered, but said nothing. Did Dew think he was dealing with an imbecile? The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel had thumbed their noses at the Committee of Public Safety at the very height of the Terror. Was he to believe that Dew couldn't handle a few Peelers?

Dew surveyed the front of the house one more time and grasped his swordcane. Then, with Meg right behind him, he strode across the street. The rest of his band quickly followed.

Dew's foot had barely hit the pavement when the great front door opened and a man in evening dress stepped outside. It was Judge Turpin. The door closed behind him and he walked toward them to the pavement. He was fussing with his cuffs and humming a tune. "Pretty women, fascinating... pretty women, dancing. Pretty women...".

When he noticed that an ominous group of strangers was blocking his way and staring at him, Judge Turpin first stared back at them, then cautiously turned to re-enter his house. Before he could set foot on the stairs, Meg sprinted past her father and bounded onto Turpin's porch. She stood in front of his door and brandished her staff in front of her to bar his way. "No escape for you, Turpin!"

Sweeney Todd unfolded his razor. Turpin was almost close enough to touch. The evil man who had ruined Benjamin Barker's beautiful wife and stolen his daughter had escaped retribution a few weeks ago, but now he was trapped.

A shaft of light from the window struck Meg's face and Turpin frowned in belated recognition. "You're the maid that I sent off with Johanna. What are you doing here?"

"She's helping me." Dew's voice was steely and dangerous as he unsheathed the blade of his swordcane and stepped forward. "My name is Anthony Dewhurst. I've come to bring you to justice—the justice that is a stranger to your courtroom. You have used your authority to imprison innocent men and to free guilty men, but you will do this no more."

"Criminals. You're all criminals. And you'll hang," Turpin muttered.

"We know that you're working for Knight's Ghosts. We have proof that you took Knight's bribes."

Turpin's left eyelid twitched. "I don't know what you're talking about. Get out of my way." Barred from the safety of own household, he tried to sidle around Dew.

Dew's sword stopped Turpin's progress. "For what you have done to Johanna and to Meg, you deserve to be horsewhipped. But I will stay my hand and let the law have you if you tell me what you know about Mr. Knight."

Turpin stared incredulously at the blade aimed at his heart. "What I do with my ward is no business of yours!"

Johanna stepped out from behind Anthony so the Judge could see her face. "What you will do with me is nothing—you are a part of my life no more."

"How did you—how can you be here? How did you get out?" Turpin's own face fell in shock. When he finally recognized Anthony, his mouth twisted in anger. "The sailor! You'd persist in running away with him? I gave you everything, ungrateful child—no, not a child, not a lady, a slut!"

A red haze of fury was swamping Sweeney Todd's brain with blood. He could think of nothing but revenge. "You will not touch my daughter ever again!"

"Daughter?" Turpin gazed at Sweeney's contorted face in puzzlement. "Who are you? You can't be Benjamin Barker."

"The years have changed me, no doubt. And I suppose the face of a barber, a prisoner in the dock, is not particularly memorable." As Sweeney Todd stepped forward with his razor, Turpin backed fearfully away.

Dew was yelling something at him, but for once Sweeney didn't listen. "My wife, my daughter, my life—do not stop me, Dew!"

He shoved Dew's sword to one side and swung his arm back to strike.

CRACK!