Noir38

Erik splashed back into the river and frantically searched the muddy depths in vain. He dipped his hands into the water to clear away the black and red stains drying on his hands, desperately scrubbing his hands together.

"What are you doing?" Corinna asked as he walked so far into the river that the current swept up to the middle of his thighs.

"His wife might be out there," Erik answered. "If someone killed Joseph then they may have taken Lilian. If something happens to her…" Erik's voice trailed off as he realized he had no idea where to begin his search. By the looks of Joseph's bloated body he had been in the water for some time.

Slowly the fear of drowning replaced his urge to look for Lilian and he stumbled back to Corinna, trembling and barely able to stand.

"Who would do this?" he asked as he blankly stared at Joseph's body. He sat down hard in the tall grass and clasped his hands together, resting his forearms on his knees.

He guessed any number of fathers, mothers, sisters and brothers in France would want him dead. Many women left disgraced and with child would want to slit his throat and toss him into the river.

"We should tell someone," Corinna said, almost begging him to leave the body and come with her. "It's not safe out here."

Erik nodded and glanced up at her as she stood with her back to the sun. He couldn't make out her features as she stood over him with her arms crossed. For a moment he thought she looked powerful, commanding him to rise and join her.

"It's not right to just leave him out here," Erik murmured. He clasped his hands together harder, so hard that his nails dug into his hands. The pain was necessary. It kept him from trembling and forced his stomach to remain still.

"There's nothing we can do," Corinna replied. "What's done is done. If we keep walking perhaps we will find Lilian."

"I know," Erik agreed. He swallowed hard and watched the gnats land on the backs of his hands. The sun was so bright that his skin beneath the residue of river water appeared dull, his nails dark and crusted with mud and muck.

Without looking at Corinna or the body Erik spoke again. "We hated each other. We never said those words, but it was mutual. We absolutely hated one another and wanted to see each other fail." He pulled grass from the ground and ran his fingers along the thin blade, scattering grass seed back onto the ground. "He hated that I spent so much time with his father and I hated him because I wished our lives were exchanged, that I was a child of privilege and he was the son of a servant. I was jealous of him but I had what he wanted. And when I realized it I wanted to make him angry. I hoped he would leave his father's estate."

Corinna looked away, her eyes searching their surroundings every time the breeze made the reeds knock against one another.

"I shouldn't care if he is dead. He did nothing with his father's money save—save terrible things," Erik said, unable to share what he had seen Joseph do to Anisha. "I shouldn't care because I hated him."

Corinna said nothing to his ramblings. She shifted uncomfortably as the breeze rustled her sari. Erik noticed that her hem was damp and then realized she must have followed him into the water. He didn't remember seeing her close enough to him to wet her feet or the bottom of the fabric.

He had taken his eyes off her. Something terrible could have happened to her, something as terrible as what had befallen Joseph DeChantel. He wouldn't be able to forgive himself if something happened to Corinna.

"He was a lecherous man. But not even I think he deserved this," Erik said quietly. He swallowed hard. "No one deserves to die this way...alone…so violently, so…no one deserves to die this way."

"Erik—"

Before Corinna finished speaking Erik pushed to his feet and loped down the hillside to where Joseph's body lay. His throat had turned to cotton, his head pounded and mind was tugged by hatred and remorse.

Erik knelt down over Joseph's body and shut the sightless eyes. He held his breath as he waved his hand above the frozen face to clear away the flies already finding the corpse of interest.

Still needing to do something more, Erik remained crouched beside the dead form for a moment and closed his eyes, asking for God's mercy to save Joseph's soul.

"Perhaps you don't deserve it, but I hope you find peace."

Erik made the sign of the cross and rose to his feet, suddenly feeling a prick at the back of his neck that made him freeze in his tracks and scan the brush like game suddenly alerting to the scent of a hunter on the wind. After several seconds he found nothing and exhaled, forcing his shoulders to relax. Once he started breathing again he ran his hand along the nape of his neck and felt the hairs standing on end. A shiver ran through him, giving him gooseflesh as he glanced around for a second time, certain now that he was being watched.

Something was wrong. He couldn't describe what it was but he knew the feeling well. He had experienced the same sensation his last free night in Persia. The night before the Sultana had him arrested. The night before he was locked in a cell. The night before he was flogged.

His eyes shut, recalling the sound of the whip before it hit his back. He never wanted to hear that sound again, the hiss before the bite of leather tipped with iron tore across flesh. It was like a snake striking pray over and over and over again.

Even the passing thought made him sick to his stomach, made his wrists ache where there had been bindings holding his hands at the small of his back.

Erik bounded up the embankment and took Corinna by the arm. "We need to leave. Now."