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"And those be?"
I concluded he was not familiar with the
establishment after all. She whispered something in his ear,
whereupon his face lit up with a degenerate smile. He
turned, walked up to Johnny, and pressed more banknotes
into his hand. The three boys who had remained in the
parlour nudged each other and snickered, and Johnny
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The House in Birdgate Alley Anel Viz
blushed a deep crimson. I would not have cared to
speculate on what he and the Scotsman had done.
Mrs. Lansing, who had momentarily disappeared
into my examining room, returned with a glass of the
Malaga. To my horror, the Scotsman gulped down his wine
I had seen by the label that it was of excellent quality
nodded to all present, and left hurriedly.
Johnny Rice had showed no sign of recognising me.
"Ye're t' go with this gen'leman now," she told him.
"But, Mrs. L& I just been "
"This ain't yer usual work, Johnny," she interrupted.
"This gen'leman ain't a payin' customer."
"It won't take but a quarter-hour, Mr. Rice," I
assured him.
"Mr. Rice 'e calls me! What's this all about,
anyway?"
He shrugged and followed me meekly to the
examination room when she had explained my mission.
He began undoing his trousers as soon as I'd shut
the door.
"That won't be necessary, Johnny," I said. "You
know why I'm here. I rely on you to make sure the others
do not."
"Yer'd better 'ave a look at me anyway," he replied.
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The House in Birdgate Alley Anel Viz
"Someone might just open the door to see what we're up
to."
"I've had no interruptions yet."
"Don't wanna chance it," he said, and pulled his
trousers down around his ankles.
"So you suspect her too& " I began. Then my eyes
bulged.
"What's the matter, Doctor?" he grinned. "Aincha
never seen a naked man afore?"
Now I am not particularly enamoured of the male
organ, and I'd had more than my fill of them that morning,
but if any penis could be called beautiful, it belongs to
Johnny Rice.
Although I could reasonably assume that the fellow
had ejaculated a quarter of an hour ago, perhaps several
times within the last two hours, it pointed straight out,
significantly larger and thicker than the range of sizes cited
in medical textbooks, its bright pink glans exposed. The
taut skin was smooth and very white, the tracery of light
blue veins on the shapely shaft fine and delicate. It pleased
me to see he was cleaner than the others, and I presumed he
had washed after performing the recent perversions I
preferred not to think about. Below it hung a recently
emptied and all but hairless scrotum, the large testicles
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The House in Birdgate Alley Anel Viz
within clearly outlined, and the patch of curly pubic hair at
the base of his flat stomach shone as brightly as the blond
shock on his head.
"Don't be afeared. 'E don't bite. That's me Little
Johnny," he said. "Go ahead an' shake 'ands. Little Johnny,
meet Dr. Williams." And he waggled the thing up and
down less than six inches from my nose.
"Mr. Rice," I said sternly, "this is no time for
levity."
"It ain't time to sit an' stare neither. Go on, touch
'im, squeeze 'im, do whatever it is ye do. Look 'im over real
good, like yer done with the other boys. They'll be talkin'
about it an' comparin', an' if I can't say nothin' or get it all
wrong they'll be wond'rin' why I got the special treatment.
Yer can ask yer questions while yer looks me over."
I gulped, and did my best to carry on in the most
professional manner I could muster. "You also suspect Mrs.
Lansing, do you?"
"Mrs. L? No. 'Oo suspects 'er?"
"I had a conversation with Robert Cockburn and
Lord Alfred Ashton yesterday."
"A conversation, or an inspection as well? Big as
me, Lord Freddy is. But yer'd know that, wouldn't yer, yer
bein' 'is doctor an' all."
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The House in Birdgate Alley Anel Viz
"I am not Lord Alfred's physician." I was by now
completely flustered and in no condition to ask the fellow
anything. He went on unprompted.
"Word leaked out about Nelly's private client. I
known that already when I seen yer at the morgue. 'Where's
Nelly?' I asks the Missus the day after 'e disappeared.
'Gawn. Run off with 'is rich nob is what I think,' says she,
which weren't bloody likely, knowin' 'oo the bloke was,
which she didn't. 'Give 'im a week an' 'e'll come crawlin'
back,' she says then, which weren't bloody likely neither,
but I keeps me mouth shut. Quite the disciplinarians, the
owners are. Think they owns us. I s'pose they do, too.
Never thought 'e'd get killed fer it, though."
So the young man already had his suspicions when
he had gone to identify the body! I remembered his
ingenuous "'Oo coulda done somethin' like that?" and
realised that he had a good head on his shoulders. It had
been most wise of my cousin to suggest we enlist Johnny
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