Forty-Nine
Seriously, Josh, how did you and Nelson know where to find me?” Beatrice asked. “And please don’t give me that line about looking in the right place. I want details.”
She and Joshua and Nelson were gathered around the dining table with Sara and Abigail in the cozy morning room in Lantern Street. Thankfully, Sara and Abigail appeared none the worse for their encounter with the incense drug. To all outward appearances, Joshua was his usual cool, controlled self but whenever he looked across the table at Beatrice she detected a little telltale heat in his eyes. For his part, Nelson was still brimming with excitement. He had been the one who had relayed every detail of the rescue to Sara and Abigail.
Mrs. Beale had also recovered from the hallucinogenic fog. She had served up a hearty early morning breakfast of eggs, potatoes and toast. Everyone was drinking a great deal of very strong coffee because none of them had yet had any sleep. Beatrice doubted that any of them except Joshua—who evidently could put himself into a trance whenever he wished—was capable of sleep. They were all still dealing with the edgy energy that followed violence.
“It was simple logic,” Joshua said. He reached for another slice of toast and slathered it with jam. “Once I realized that Victor was involved in the affair, everything else fell into place. I knew that if he had established a properly equipped laboratory for Lancing, it would be in a location that Victor deemed safe and under his full control. That location also had to be close to London because Victor would want to make frequent visits to make sure that progress was being made and to be certain his daughter had the appearance of being alive.”
Sara looked thoughtful. “It would also need to be a location that was convenient to Mrs. Grimshaw, the apothecary in Teaberry Lane.”
“Yes,” Joshua said. “I naturally concluded that the most obvious place was Exford Castle. It has been in Victor’s family for generations.”
Beatrice raised her eyes to the ceiling in a give-me-patience manner. “Naturally.”
“Victor knows how I think,” Josh said quietly. “That’s why he was always one step ahead. But I know him, too. Once I realized that he was the one plotting the strategy, I was able to second-guess him.”
Abigail frowned. “What on earth was going on with that statue of Anubis? Did it really have paranormal powers?”
“No,” Joshua said flatly.
“Yes,” Beatrice said at the same time.
Everyone looked at her. She put her cup down and thought about what had happened in Clement Lancing’s laboratory.
“The statue is a kind of engine,” she said slowly, “similar to an electricity machine, I think. It requires some psychical ability to activate the forces but the power that is released is just that—raw energy.”
“Like the energy released by a steam engine or a generator,” Nelson said. “You might be able to use it to turn a wheel or ignite a lamp but that’s all.”
“Exactly,” Beatrice said. “The Anubis energy is certainly not magical in nature. It has no special properties. The currents conducted into the preservative fluid agitated the Egyptian Water but that was all they did.”
“I would very much like to examine the statue,” Sara said eagerly.
“It’s yours,” Joshua said. “Consider it a thank-you gift for all that you did for me.”
Sara’s eyes widened. “That is very generous of you, sir.”
Joshua’s mouth twisted wryly. “Trust me when I tell you that I have no desire to install that antiquity in my own household.”
“I understand.” She sighed. “In spite of everything, I do feel sorry for Victor Hazelton. All these months he has been living on a false hope offered up by a madman. In the end his grief drove Hazelton mad, too.”
“How true,” Abigail said. “And how sad. I doubt that he will go to prison. He will probably be declared insane and likely spend the rest of his life in an asylum.”
“No,” Joshua said. There was quiet certainty in his voice. “Victor could not endure an asylum. And now that he knows that Emma has been dead all along he has nothing else to live for, so I do not think that he will survive for long.”
Nelson looked up from his eggs, startled. He frowned. “You believe that he will die of grief?”
“In a manner of speaking, yes,” Joshua said.
Beatrice understood. She knew from their silence that Sara and Abigail did, too. It took Nelson somewhat longer to grasp Joshua’s meaning.
“I see,” Nelson said, abruptly subdued. “You expect him to take his own life. But you can’t know that for certain—”
“I know him,” Joshua said. “I know how he thinks.”
Because you believe that Victor thinks a lot like you, Beatrice thought. But she did not say it aloud. At that moment Joshua met her eyes across the table and she knew that he was aware of her thoughts.
“You’re wrong, you know,” she said simply. “You are two very different men, in spite of your philosophical training and your martial arts abilities. You would never have allowed yourself to believe what you know is impossible—that the dead could be brought back to life by magic. And you would never have murdered people who had done you no harm in order to achieve your objective. You would have found other ways.”
Joshua’s brows rose. “Because I am a man of logic and reason?”
She smiled. “No, because you are a good and decent man.”
Sara chuckled. “She is trying to tell you that you are a hero, Mr. Gage, and I do believe she is correct.”
“There are no heroes,” Joshua said. “There are only those who try to make the right choice when choice is thrust upon them.”
Nelson grinned. “Is that one of Hazelton’s sayings?”
Joshua surprised everyone with a smile. “Actually, I made that one up myself.”
Beatrice looked at him. “What will you do now?”
Joshua’s smile vanished. “I’m going to do the only thing I can for Victor.”
“I understand. May I come with you?”
“Are you certain you want to accompany me?”
“Yes,” she said. “I want to be with you when you say your goodbyes to both of them.”