Gray Lady, page 7
What Tristan thought or wanted out of this, I wasn’t sure. It was probably best not to think of that right now and let things happen. Besides, I wasn’t sure what my own expectations were. I couldn’t see myself giving up my pleasant life at the Crown to be his hostess at Hartwood. What a bore that would be!
For now, was it not enough to have tender endearments whispered into my ear? Didn’t I deserve that?
I sighed and pulled the covers up to my chin.
There was a bigger problem, though. Putting aside a problematic love, what was wrong with me? For something was seriously not right.
Charlotte had told me that in examining the mixture of drugs Lafayette had had me drink, she’d been able to identify most but not all of them. She was running tests, but with Lafayette’s notes gone it would take time to figure out what he had done, if it could be deciphered at all.
At the time I had not been worried by this and just assumed that my body would dispose of it, like it did anything else I drank or ate. Now? I wasn’t sure. For what was wrong with me, if not some sort of poisoning?
Thinking over yesterday, I realized that I hadn’t eaten anything except my breakfast that morning. I’d eaten nothing with Lady Odette. Since my time in the Beyond fighting Vonn, I had had little interest in food, yet felt tired all the time.
Next was this strange lack of ghostly connection. I rubbed my arm, feeling the tingle where Vonn’s knife had sliced me. There was no visible wound for anyone to see, but the area often felt tired and achy, and it had become fire when the Gray Lady appeared.
Since my time in the Beyond, I had followed Madame Granger’s advice and avoided anything to do with the spirit realm, thinking I needed time to heal. Was this the best thing, though? Perhaps the questions as to what I needed could be answered by ghosts? I certainly wasn’t getting anywhere or improving on my own.
Anne-Marie tiptoed into the room. Seeing I was awake, she asked – in a motherly tone that would have been laughable, considering her youth, if I had been in the mood – “How are you feeling?”
“Better,” I assured her. A solid night’s sleep did feel good.
“His Grace wanted me to make sure you ate.” Anne-Marie brought over a tray with bread, cold ham, and a bowl of fresh strawberries and grapes. “If you don’t finish everything, I’ll tell him.”
“Don’t worry, I’m very hungry.” From now on, I was going to force myself to eat, regardless. I could see that Anne-Marie wanted to ask me something, so I said, “Go ahead. What is it?”
“The staff are about to leave, and I was wondering—”
“Oh yes, go ahead. I can dress myself for one day. Hand me my purse.” I took out some money and gave it to her. “Go off and have some fun.”
Chapter Nine
When I came out of my room, heading down the hall, I heard voices raised in anger. Looking over the banister rail, I saw Coralie’s mother, Madame Rochelle Floquet, speaking harshly with Lord and Lady Montaine. Standing beside her was a man I did not know, dressed in a city business suit of gray.
“Yes, Lord Montaine, I have brought my lawyer, Aldert Schimmel. Indeed, you might gawk! But this house is aligned against my dear girl. I heard about that flower pot and the attempt to murder her!” She stripped her gloves off with savage ferocity. Beside her, Schimmel pushed a pair of glasses with round lenses up his long nose.
“There was no need to do that, Madame Floquet,” said Lord Montaine.
“It was simply an unfortunate accident,” said Lady Montaine.
“Accident? You think if my daughter dies that a legal engagement gives your family a right to her fortune? Think again,” snapped Coralie’s mother. Her hat had a bird form mounted on top, and every time she spoke it bobbed as if alive, shaking its tail-feathers.
“Not at all!” Lord Montaine said in an affronted tone. “Perhaps it is you who is worried about losing a fortune. I’ve had my man go over the accounts you supplied of Coralie’s trust, and things don’t add up – literally. Perhaps your lawyer can explain that!” He must have gotten a broadside hit, for some of Madame Floquet’s temper seemed to deflate.
Perhaps it was because I moved, but Lord Montaine suddenly saw me poised at the head of the stairs. Stretching his open palm towards the library, he told her, “Let us go in here, madame, and discuss things privately.”
Lady Montaine went first, Madame Floquet more reluctantly, followed by her lawyer. I heard her say before the doors closed, “How dare you insinuate—”
Sometime during all of this, Tristan had materialized behind me and taken in most of the scene. He commented disdainfully, “Aldert Schimmel. What a vulture.”
“You know him?”
“Unfortunately. He was used by my in-laws in an attempt to get my dead wife’s marriage portion returned to them. Not the most scrupulous vulture, either. He’d do anything if there was money in it for him.”
“If you disliked her so much, why not return it to them? Surely you’re wealthy enough.”
“At first I had planned to do so, but the more her parents insisted, the more their request stuck in my craw. After all, Minette had already taken more from me than I had ever given her. Did I truly owe them?”
Before I could reply, Coralie Floquet appeared in the foyer, exiting the morning room. With her was Sir Corbin, who was trying to comfort her. It seemed to be a continuous role for him.
“Your father’s impossible!” cried Coralie.
“Everything will be worked out. Don’t worry.”
She gave him a glare from eyes that were decades older than her face. “You don’t understand, Corbin. He’s not the man you think he is. I’m doomed!”
Coralie pushed him away and rushed up the stairs, running by me to make it to her room, where she slammed the door.
“There seems to be a lot of drama going on here today,” observed Tristan. “I say we depart.”
He picked up my arm, tucking it under his elbow, and guided me down the staircase. Our steps matched each other’s, right and left. In the front hall he opened the door for me and we sailed out, turning right in order to enter a path to the gardens. It was another beautiful day. Shining and practically vibrating with potential.
“How are you doing this morning?” he asked me.
“Better. Thank you for asking.”
We walked on in companionable silence. He had a very firm arm. If I were to lean my head against it, the top of my head would be right at his shoulder.
“You made me worried. Do you think you need to see a doctor while you are here?”
“No. I saw Charlotte before I left town. Thinking about it, I only had breakfast yesterday. I won’t let that happen again.”
“Hm,” was his doubtful answer.
“I promise!” I insisted. I told him what Charlotte had said about Lafayette’s concoction. “I fear that whatever he gave me is making my recovery take longer than I expected.”
“If he wasn’t dead, I’d kill him.”
I couldn’t deny that the tone in his voice gave me a thrill. Perhaps I was a more bloodthirsty person than I’d imagined? Or perhaps it was just the valiant idea of a man protecting me, even if I could protect myself.
After the events of Lafayette’s death, I had felt so ill that there had been no opportunity to discuss fully with Tristan my suspicions or what had happened in the Beyond. I didn’t know when we would have time again to speak without an audience, so I told him quickly, “I know you think I was foolish going with Parnell, but he promised me information about my father’s murder. He said he knew the man! That he would reveal his name only when he was safely in the Beyond, because it was dangerous. And then he died. Conveniently, don’t you think?”
Tristan frowned. “The inspector’s man said he jumped to his death. He was dying from a terminal disease, so perhaps the despair over his plan not working destroyed his ability to cope. Trapped, he took the quickest way out.”
“I don’t believe it. He had too good an opinion of himself to take that way out of a situation he probably thought he could talk himself out of,” I said stoutly.
“Then the only conclusion that can be made is that Sergeant Dupont is lying.”
“Exactly,” I said. “And there’s another thing.”
“Somehow, it being you, I knew there would be.”
I shook his arm. “Are you going to listen or just condemn me for being foolish?”
“Go ahead. I’m listening, and will not share my criticism about you running off alone with a madman until after you finish.”
I told him about the attempts on my life when in Alenbonné. Before he could say I was wrong, I insisted, “I am not inventing things.”
“Of course not! You are not a person to imagine things. Your feet are firmly on the ground, despite being a Ghost Talker,” he reassured me. “Consider this. Lafayette warns you that knowing the name of the Master Criminal puts him in danger. He dies. Then the one person he spoke to in his last moments has attempts made on her life? It sounds very logical to me. We have someone who doesn’t want you to speak, because they fear you know something.”
“But I don’t know anything!” I wailed. How I wish I did!
By this time he had guided me to a path through the small wooded lot that was at the end of the cultivated flower garden. Under the dappled shade, we were the only ones about, if you didn’t count the birds flitting from tree to tree singing their songs.
“There’s something that has been puzzling me over the murder of Hannah Wahl,” said Tristan. “From Vonn, you learned he killed her, and I don’t doubt he spoke the truth, but Vonn’s pattern of murdering women was well known. While he loved his knife work, he did not usually beat his victims to death. Yet poor Mys Wahl’s body had evidence of severe abuse.”
I had thought the same. “Why was she in that alley? What brought her there? Someone who knew that Vonn would kill her once she entered his hunting territory?”
“If that was intended, then they knew of Lafayette’s ghost plot and that Vonn could become solid in our world. Which indicates someone who knew Parnell.”
Emerging from the trees, we could see the sea now. Tristan pointed out the old lighthouse silhouetted on the horizon. “I thought you’d like to see it. Are you up for the walk?”
“Yes! I’d love to see it close-up.”
We continued along the sandy walk that ran parallel to the sea cliff.
“So, it seems we have several mysteries to solve.”
“I think it is one mystery,” he said. “Who is our Master Criminal?”
There was not much to see, for the inside of the lighthouse was only a shell. The old staircase that Lord Montaine had described from his childhood had collapsed, which was probably best for the neighborhood children. With the roof gone, you could look up and see the sky. The gallery walkway which had wound around the outside circumference was gone. Birds flew in and out, giving the structure an abandoned feel.
“Not much, is it?” commented Tristan. “Do you sense anything here?”
“Only emptiness. Not a whisper of a ghost.”
We stepped back outside and took in the view, for that was the real treasure. The Hightower lighthouse was at a promontory, and the inside of the crescent curve below us showed the town buildings like a row of dollhouses. Across the bay was the other, newer lighthouse.
“The driver who brought us up from town said they built that one because it was in a better position for arriving ships. Do you think it is?” I asked.
Tristan pointed across the water, sketching out with his finger as he explained. “This side started as a more defensive outpost for what might come down from the north, but with the trade routes changing to the south, that promontory projects further out and is more helpful in alerting ships that are incoming.”
While bare land gave a view, it didn’t shield against the wind, and I leaned against Tristan. He looked down at me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “Tired?”
“Just a little.”
“Here, there’s some shelter over this way.”
Going back in the direction we had come, he stopped at a small berm where a rock projection made a natural sloping table. As I sat down, he settled himself down next to it, bending back the tall sea grass to make a pillow for his head. He had also left the house with no hat, so I moved slightly to give his face shade from the sun.
“What progress have you had in catching our Master Criminal?”
“Some, I think. My secretary wrote to me that gossip in town declares I’m a traitor to the king.”
Outraged, I exclaimed, “What?! Who is saying that?”
“Stand down, Elinor. No need to fight for my honor. Trying to squelch gossip only makes it grow faster, like a wildfire on summer grass. Besides, it’s actually an interesting development, and one I had not foreseen.” He picked a long blade of grass and started chewing its seed head as he continued. “I’ve written to Stephan and told him not to deny it. I’d like to see where this goes.”
I didn’t like it. “But King Guénard? What will he think? Who will he believe? Won’t this put you in danger?”
He gave me a sideways look that revealed a book written in a language I could not read. “You really are worried! That’s sweet of you. But Guénard won’t call for my head, or at least not just yet. It’s not the first time he’s been told I was a traitor to the crown.”
“I think anyone who maligns your character should be shot!” I said stoutly.
“Well, she was. By me.”
It took me a moment to realize who he meant. Shocked, I gasped and demanded in disbelief, “Are you saying Minette told His Majesty you were a traitor?”
“Better. She stole state secrets from my desk, and when His Majesty was told they were in the hands of the Zulskaya government, she accused me of passing them on for cash.”
I sat there stunned, my mouth agape. How could the woman!?
“You seemed shocked, Elinor. Well, I wish my friends had shown some doubt, but they were all too quick to cut me in public. Or go and whisper in Guénard’s ear about how he should never have trusted me. Chasing an increase in their status, I imagine, with my downfall. It was an interesting time. Being accused of treason gives you insight into your relationships.”
“You sound so calm about it, but I cannot think you were at the time!”
“I wasn’t. I always knew Minette had married me to rise in society. And for money. Still, I’d never thought of her as a traitor – only a determined flirt who quickly went through lovers like other women do hats. To know she would betray her own country… Well, that was a surprise.”
He paused, his mind clearly reviewing past events, then shook his head, still disbelieving at the level of his wife’s betrayal. “After telling Guénard her pack of lies, she fled back to Chambaux. I quickly followed in order to confront her. You know what happened next.”
I thought of the nightmare when I had been trapped in the Beyond. A meadow of wildflowers, snow-capped mountains, and a woman who screamed for death. My hand went down to him, and he gripped it tightly. We held on to each other as he continued.
“I was planning on hauling her back to Alenbonné, to make her explain what she had done to Guénard. Even if a public trial would humiliate me and my noble name, she needed to make it right, but I hadn’t thought it through. She had. She reminded me that the penalty for treason is a hanging followed by being drawn and quartered.”
His other hand covered his eyes as he said harshly, “She challenged me to a duel. Said she’d rather have a fair chance at surviving. She loved to gamble. Foolhardy and brave. I was forced to admire her, even though she had betrayed her country and me for her lover.”
“She had a lover?”
“Many, but from the hints she dropped, it sounded like she planned to run into the arms of some Zulskayan.”
“It… cannot have been easy, no matter how much you pretend,” I told him hesitantly.
The corner of his mouth gave a sad quirk upward. “I let her get the first shot. It was the least I could do. It caught me high in the arm. Foolish woman. She couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, even on a good day.”
In my emotion, I tugged on his hand and it tipped me off balance. I slid off the rock into his arms.
“I had to take the shot. I could not let her escape with even more state secrets, and I thought it a mercy over hanging. So I shot her, like you do your favorite horse after it’s broken a leg. It can’t be fixed, you see.” His arm, stroking my back, stopped for a moment. “Why are you crying?”
“For you, Tristan. For you.”
“Dear girl, it was long ago.”
“But your heart remembers.”
His arms around me grew tight as he whispered against my hair, “So it does. So it does.”
Chapter Ten
We returned to the house some time later, and on the walk I had a lot of questions.
“When did you first realize you wanted to seduce me?”
Tristan burst out laughing, something I had never seen him do before. “Have you not finished punishing me for my arrogance? I’ll never live this down, I see. I should have held that as a secret to the grave – but knowing you, you’d come after my ghost and reveal it anyway.”
“It’s not about punishment. I’m simply curious,” I told him. We were holding hands as we walked down the path, and since it wasn’t designed for people to walk side-by-side we had to squeeze together.
“Your curiosity bounds about like a new puppy, do you realize that?”
“But when?” I asked stubbornly, for I could hardly believe what had happened between us in the last twenty-four hours. He needed to convince me, and besides, I didn’t mind hearing it all over again. And probably would not mind hearing about it tomorrow, or the day after.
“Hm. Probably when you had the audacity to squeak that toy at me when I was making my big speech at the morgue.”
This time it was I who laughed. “I couldn’t help it! It was too tempting.”
