The Dark Between Part 25

"What?"

"I'm scared, miss. It's not right me being here. It's too far away, and I'm afraid I'll never get back."

No spirit had ever spoken to her like this. She'd seen confusion and fear-anger even-but not this particular sort of desperation.

"I'm afraid I don't know how to help you. What happened?"

"Same thing as happened to Billy, I think, but Billy's gone for good. The gentleman said it would work this time. But, miss, I fear I'm stuck here."

She took a breath. "Tell me your name."

He frowned. "It's Thomas."

The poor boy didn't understand. She had to tell him, but gently. She took a deep breath. "Thomas, you have died. As soon as you realize that, you will be able to move on."

He shook his head. "But, miss, I ain't dead. And I don't want to be stuck here no longer!"

He lunged forward, forcing her to step back. His urgency was alarming-all she wanted in that moment was to be far away from him. With that thought she felt the familiar pulling, spinning sensation. It was almost a relief to fall.

She woke to find herself on the dusty floor, cradled in Asher's arms. Kate crouched next to them, clutching Elsie's camera.

"Elsie!" Kate laid a cool hand on her forehead. "Are you all right? I never expected another seizure." She turned to Asher, as if seeking confirmation. "The last two times we were near the old lab, nothing happened."

"This is the first time we've been inside it, though," said Asher.

"Did you see Billy?" Kate said.

Elsie allowed Asher to help her sit upright. "No. This vision was ... so very strange." She s.h.i.+vered. "The spirit I saw seemed unusually aware, and yet more vulnerable than any other I've encountered."

"Another victim of Marshall's experiments?" Asher asked.

"Yes. A recent one, I think. Otherwise I would have felt him before, wouldn't I? He was tall and thin with unruly dark hair. Close to our age, I think. He said his name was Thomas."

"No!"

Elsie turned to Kate. "What is it?"

"I just saw him yesterday," Kate moaned. "He can't be dead."

"Who?"

"Tec. My friend in Castle End-I took you to his house. His real name is Thomas."

"I thought you said he was rough with you." Asher pointed at her lip. "He did that, didn't he?"

"He must have been trying to get me as far away as possible." Kate slumped against the table, her eyes glistening in the torchlight. "Maybe he knew something terrible was going to happen."

Elsie took both her hands. "I'm so sorry, Kate."

"Was he scared?" Kate finally asked. "Did he know what had happened?"

"I don't think so. He said he wasn't dead, and that he thought I was coming to fetch him." Elsie shook her head. "I've seen other spirits who weren't yet aware-Billy was that way-but this boy was different. He said the same thing that happened to Billy happened to him, that Billy was gone for good, but he was stuck. I don't know. I can't quite make sense of it."

"He can't be gone," Kate whispered. "I never got to ... I mean, there never was a chance for me to say ..."

Kate began to cry, and Elsie pulled her into an embrace, stroking her head until the shuddering and sniffling eased. She'd a.s.sumed Kate cared for Tec as a friend, but clearly it ran deeper than that. "I'm sorry," she whispered, drawing a handkerchief from her pocket and gently wiping Kate's face.

Asher stood. "That makes three deaths now." He helped Kate to her feet, holding her until she was steady. When he extended his hand to Elsie, she took it gratefully.

"What do we do?" she asked.

"We break into Dr. Marshall's rooms tomorrow night," said Kate with grim determination.

Elsie looked to Asher, almost wis.h.i.+ng he would say no, that after this night, these revelations, he wasn't willing to risk it.

"Tomorrow night, then," he said.

Chapter 32.

Kate looked up from her sewing to glance at the sitting room clock. "Four more hours."

Since they'd settled on their plan, she'd lost her nerve at least a dozen times. The scheme was preposterous, after all. Breaking into a college? What did they expect to find-a signed confession? But then she remembered Billy's pale corpse, and her last encounter with Tec, and she regained her resolve.

"I hate waiting," Asher muttered. "Wish we could just get it over with."

"It'll come soon enough," said Elsie. "I'll hate staying behind while you two do your sleuthing."

Kate turned to her. "Surely you didn't want to go."

"I can't. Millie will be hovering-Aunt has given her orders-and there's no way she'd keep silent if I left the house. I'll have a hard enough time explaining your absence."

"It's difficult imagining two of us sneaking into Trinity," Asher said. "Three is just asking to get caught."

They fell silent again. Kate gave up watching the clock and turned back to the trousers she was hemming. Once worn by the gardener's young a.s.sistant, they'd been consigned to the ragbag when he outgrew them. Elsie had fished them out that morning, arguing that Kate couldn't well enter Trinity College wearing a skirt. Kate warmed to this immediately. She rather liked the idea of trousers-much easier to sneak about that way.

All of this would have been much easier had she been a boy.

She'd thought to be gone by now. Gone to London with coins in her pocket from Mrs. Elizabeth Gardner. Gone with Tec to find a new scheme in the biggest city in all of England, far away from Robert Eliot.

Had he learned her name yet? Perhaps he'd already reported her to the police.

"I think I should tell you both something," she said quietly, keeping her head down. She could feel their eyes on her.

Elsie's voice was gentle. "What is it, Kate?"

Kate set the trousers aside. "Do you remember the night I didn't go to dinner because I heard Robert Eliot's voice?"

"Of course. You seemed very frightened of the man."

"I told you he was Martineau's patron. He was her lover, too, I think. His behavior during seances was often ... unseemly."

"In what way?" asked Asher.

Kate swallowed before answering. "He couldn't keep his hands to himself. There were other male sitters like that, of course, but there was always something especially rough about him. And when I was sacked, Martineau threatened to have him punish me if I didn't leave right away."

"He certainly seemed like a beast that night at dinner," Asher said. "He mentioned you. Not by name, of course, but that he wished the police to get hold of you. Mr. Thompson betrayed nothing, however."

"What is it you wished to tell us, Kate?" Elsie prompted.

"That day by the river-when I said I'd seen someone I knew?"

"And you ran after him in the rain. Yes, I remember."

"It was Tec. I never could catch up to him, but I ran into someone else instead."

"Eliot?" asked Asher.

"Yes. And he threatened to drag me to the police right then and there. He was still angry with me for ruining things with Martineau and making him look a fool. I tried to break away from him, but I couldn't get free. I was frightened, and I didn't want to be locked up as a fraud and a thief. So I ... well, I had a knife that Billy gave me, and I was just so scared-"

Elsie gasped. "Kate, did you kill him?"

"No! I'm not sure I could have even if I'd wanted to. But ... I stabbed him." Her voice pitched higher. "Just enough to make him let me go."

"Good Lord," said Asher.

"He never knew my name, but it wouldn't be that hard to discover it. What will happen to me? I'm an orphan, a swindler, and a stabber of gentlemen-for the last few days I've been plotting to run away to London."

"Why didn't you tell us?" asked Elsie.

"Thought I could manage on my own, but I've just made things worse."

Asher straightened in his chair. "Well, no one's going to drag you off to prison. We won't let that happen. We'll get you a lawyer if we must."

"And perhaps Eliot will let the matter drop." Elsie's eyes brightened. "Or we could have Aunt Helena speak to him. I'm certain he's quite intimidated by her."

"If Eliot was fool enough to take a fraudulent medium as mistress, we can figure out some way to get around him," Asher said. "Even if it comes to blackmail."

"Blackmail can prove a deadly scheme," said Kate.

Asher closed his eyes. "Of course. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about Eliot. We'll get that sorted later." Elsie rose from her seat. "I've finished this jacket, but you'll need braces if you're to keep the trousers up. I'll go poke about in Uncle's things. He's grown so thin he's hardly bigger than you, Kate."

Once Elsie was gone, Kate found it hard to concentrate on sewing, especially with Asher staring at her from across the room.

"What is it?" she finally asked.

"I'm just thinking."

"About?"

He frowned. "Robert Eliot."

"That's a waste of time, unless you've discovered a way to make him vanish from the earth."

"No, I'm thinking of him and Martineau. Wondering why a gentleman would lower himself like that."

"I rather thought of it the other way around. He's a disgusting brute."

"So is Martineau." Asher's voice was harsh. "She's yet another example of why I detest Spiritualism. It's a con game, and half the time the medium uses her beauty to seduce her patrons."

"You talk like someone who's been conned," said Kate.

Asher was silent for a moment. "Not me, exactly."

Kate leaned forward, interested. "Who, then?"

Asher shook his head and picked at his fingernails.

"Does this have something to do with your father? The day we met you mentioned a quarrel, and since then you haven't read any of his telegrams."

Asher stared at the floor in silence.

Kate took a breath, striving to gentle her tone. "Your father was conned by a medium?"

"Seduced more than conned," he finally said.

She waited for him to elaborate, but he continued to stare at the floor.

"Tell me, Asher. Unless you wish to hold on to this anger until it burns you up."

He rolled his eyes. "I hate to even think about it ... much less talk about it. But you deserve to know. Father's been collecting data on a Boston medium for years-a Miss Let.i.tia Smith." He laughed bitterly. "An una.s.suming name for such an accomplished schemer."

Kate nodded, trying to keep her expression open.

"Father's certain she has legitimate ability, but doc.u.menting it has been a trial. He's worked so often and so closely with her that even Mother complains."

"So he spends too much time with her?"

He shook his head. "He's in love with the woman. She told me so."