Beyond the Grave (9 page)

"Thank you," I said. "I heard you take the blame."

"I thought so. I knew you were hiding there."

Had he sensed me or had he seen me? "Is that why you did it?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"It was easier."

"For me, yes, but not for you."

He folded his arms over his chest.

"Lincoln, I do appreciate what you did. Very much. I will set it to rights at the first opportunity, and tell them I acted without your consent."

"And give them more ammunition to send you away? No, Charlie. I forbid it, and this time I'm deadly serious. It's better for you if they think I ordered you."

"But—"

"No!" He grabbed my shoulders and shook me, though not hard. "Will you never listen?"

I wrenched away and his fingers sprang apart. He scrubbed a hand across his chin, over his mouth. I blinked at him, my throat tight, my heart trying to punch a hole through my ribs. "If you think it's for the best, then I'll abide by your wishes."

He nodded, calmer. "Good. Now come inside before it rains again."

He held out his hand for me to go ahead. I gave him a sideways glance, which hurt my eyeballs, and saw that he was looking at me too.

"You don't seem as angry with me now as you were this morning," I hazarded.

"You think I was angry with you for raising Estelle Pearson's spirit." It wasn't a question, but I took it as one.

"Aren't you? You did tell me not to, and I went ahead and did it."

He looked up at the gray sky and let out a breath that almost seemed like a sigh. "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but I can't be angry with you for that, since I would have done the same thing if I were in your position."

My step faltered. He stopped and caught my elbow, steadying me, then let go. Neither of us continued on. "You…you would have?" I frowned and thrust my hands on my hips. "Then why order me not to?"

"Because there is always the chance that something will go wrong. Aside from the obvious dangers of having a corpse wandering around the city, you cannot afford to have a strike against your name. The committee, especially Gillingham, will seize upon any opportunity to send you away. It's why I haven't wanted you to help look for Buchanan. It's best if you stay at Lichfield, out of trouble."

"Then why involve me in the Captain Jasper affair? You
asked
me to raise Gordon Thackery and scare answers out of Jasper's men."

"And I came to realize that was a mistake, an almost fatal one." His jaw hardened and a muscle in his cheek jumped. "After your abduction, I concluded that I should not have involved you. Not only for your own safety, but because the committee will use Jasper's interest in you to support their argument and send you away. Lady Harcourt admitted as much to me."

I stared at him. It was a relief to hear that he wasn't too angry with me, but this… It was one thing to dismiss any feelings he had for me, but quite another to exclude me from ministry business. I could not be just a maid at Lichfield. Not ever.

The realization struck me as severely as a blow to the body, knocking the breath out of me momentarily. I pressed a hand to my chest. "But I have to help you fix this, Lincoln. I need to find Estelle Pearson and send her back."

"Only you can send her back, that's true, but I will find her and bring her to you."

"No, I have to help. I
have
to."

"You don't!"

"I would rather risk being sent away than have you face dangers alone because of me. Lincoln, please, if I do nothing…" I shook my head, unsure if I could put into words how I felt. "I won't be able to breathe. I am a necromancer, and I must be allowed to use it to help you or what's the point?"

"This is not open for discussion," he growled, striding off.

I ran after him and caught his elbow. He stopped and did not shake me off, but nor did he look at me. "Stop trying to protect me. You're smothering me. You are not my parent, and I don't need one anyway."

His entire body jerked. "I am not trying to be your parent, I am trying to be your employer, your protector. You are under my—"

"Care. Yes, I know, so you keep reminding me. But I don't want to be
under
your care, Lincoln, I want to be alongside you."

"That's not possible. There's only one leader of the ministry."

"More as an assistant, then."

"I have Gus and Seth to assist me."

I sighed. The conversation had veered in a direction that he wasn't ready to travel down and I wasn't prepared to fight for. Yet. "Let me help you find and return Estelle Pearson. We'll be together, where you can keep an eye on me, and I will only do as you instruct."

"The committee would not want you to be involved," he said, setting off again.

"Since when do you tell them everything?"

He grunted. "I wasn't going to. I was just pointing out that if you want to help, they are not to find out."

"We'll be sure to swear the others to secrecy then." I smiled and almost felt bold enough to slip my hand inside the crook of his arm. Almost.

We reached the courtyard before I thought of another question. "How did the committee members find out that I'd raised Estelle Pearson's ghost?"

"I don't know, but it's something I've been trying to work out since their arrival."

"You didn't tell them?"

"Of course not."

"But no one else knew. I saw one groundsman as I left the cemetery, and a coach or two passed by as I walked home, but that's all."

"Did you recognize any of the coaches?"

"No, but I wasn't really looking. I was too distracted."

"Was the groundsman the one with the birthmark?"

"I couldn't tell."

"I wouldn't put it past them to each have spies planted over the city, including the cemetery, particularly since you came to live here."

"Why do they need spies?"

"To gather information for ministry business, and to be made aware of potential supernaturals for me to investigate."

"If it's ministry business, why not tell you who their spies are? Why keep their networks a secret, rather than incorporating them into your own and making the ministry even more powerful?"

"That, Charlie, is a good question." He pushed open the back door and ordered Seth and Gus to join us for tea in the parlor.

Ten minutes later, Lincoln told the two men what had happened. I kept my hot face lowered, so I didn't see their reactions, but their weighty silence felt like a noose around my neck, condemning me. It served as a good reminder that no matter how lenient Lincoln had been, I was still guilty of disobeying orders and endangering lives.

"Our priority now is to find Estelle Pearson," Lincoln said. "Once Charlie has sent her back, we'll resume the search for Buchanan."

Gus held the delicate teacup between both hands, not even attempting to fit his stubby fingers through the handle. "Can't be too hard to find a walkin' corpse."

"Try parliament." Seth lifted his teacup in salute when Gus laughed.

I giggled with relief that they could make jokes about it. "I think once we find Estelle, we'll know where to search for Buchanan," I said.

"You're convinced her name meant something to him?" Seth asked.

"I am. She promised she'd give me answers about Lord Harcourt. She said she had a tale to tell, and it's likely her tale has something to do with Buchanan's disappearance."

"Why should we believe her? She could have said that so you would take her to her body."

"I'm certain she was telling the truth. The name certainly meant something to her. Her reaction when I mentioned Lord Harcourt was telling."

Gus twisted the cup in his hands and studied the liquid. "No disrespect to your instincts, Charlie, but I don't think we can trust a dead woman. She ain't got nothin' to lose."

"She's the only hope we have at the moment," I said, a little miffed that he wasn't on my side.

"I believe you." Lincoln surprised me with his conviction when Seth and Gus seemed to lack it. "But if she's acting dangerously, we have to send her back before she can harm anyone. Public safety, as well as our own, is paramount."

"Yes, but it won't hurt to ask her for her story first."

He arched his brows. "Did you not just say you will do only as I instruct?"

I bit my tongue. It wouldn't do to argue with him so soon after making up, but I felt my instincts should account for something. I'd met Estelle Pearson—they hadn't—and I didn't think her a bad person. She could have hurt me, but she hadn’t.

"Problem is," Gus said, "
how
do we send her back? If Charlie can't force her, and if she don't want to go…"

"We restrain her and remove her from the public," Lincoln said. "As to the rest, we'll simply have to find her weakness."

"But she's bloody strong!"

"A different sort of weakness. Almost everyone has a loved one."

Oh my god! He meant to threaten to harm her loved ones if she didn't comply. The notion made my stomach roll. I set down my teacup. "Do you think we'll find her with one of her loved ones?"

"Perhaps." Lincoln gathered up the riding coat he'd slung over the chair arm. "But it's just as likely that she's gone to the place where she worked and died. We'll begin at the hospital."

Q
ueen Charlotte's
Hospital for Lying-In was located in Marylebone Road, behind a low brick fence topped with iron spires. The five-story utilitarian red-brick building was hardly a pretty sight for expectant mothers but at least it offered a place for poor women to get the care they needed during childbirth.

Gus acted as coachman, and remained with the horses and carriage, while Seth and I went in through the front door, where a nurse greeted us from behind a desk in the sparse reception room. Lincoln had already disappeared around the back of the hospital, where he would sneak in. He wouldn't tell us what he was going to do, once inside. I had a suspicion that he didn't know himself, but I didn't say as much to Seth as I took his arm like a happily married woman.

"Good morning," I said, smiling at the nurse. "I do hope you can help us. We are Mr. and Mrs. Guilford."

Seth tensed beneath my hand. Had I done the wrong thing using his real name?

"How may I help you, sir, madam?" Her crisp tone reminded me of Estelle's, but this woman was younger and her features not as pinched as the spirit's.

"Our housekeeper's niece was a patient here, some six months ago," Seth said cheerfully. "She received excellent care and her boy is now thriving after a difficult, er, time of it."

Good lord, could he not say "delivery" or "birth?" Being brought up to be polite and avoid immodest words might set the upper classes apart from the lower but such politeness and avoidance became a little ridiculous at times. Particularly with a man who'd had to make his way by bare knuckle fighting.

"Our housekeeper mentioned a certain midwife had been wonderful throughout the delivery." I squeezed Seth's arm as he tensed again. "Since our housekeeper is dear to us, and her niece dear to her, we wanted to show the family's appreciation by giving the midwife a token of our gratitude."

The nurse's face brightened, and I knew what to expect next. "How very generous of you. Do you know, the patient sounds familiar. I recall a young woman who gave birth to a boy around six months ago, and she said her aunt kept house for a lovely family. What did you say was the patient's name?"

"Perhaps it was you she was referring to," I said with pleasure in my voice to match hers. "Only you seem too young. The nurse's name is Miss Pearson."

Her face fell. "Oh. No, I am not her." Clearly she didn't think she could lie her way through to the end. "Miss Pearson, you say. That's very unfortunate."

"Why?"

"She died."

I turned to Seth and placed a hand to my chest. "Oh my. Oh, that's quite, quite awful."

Seth patted my hand and frowned deeply. Then he turned his full attention on the nurse, smiled sympathetically and reached for
her
hand. "How tragic for you and her other colleagues here at the hospital. How did it happen?"

If I were the nurse I would have been immediately alerted that something wasn't right by his abrupt question, but she seemed not to notice. She was far too busy falling into Seth's beautiful eyes. He certainly had a way with women.

"She hit her head, down in the basement supply room."

"Hit her head?" he echoed. I was content to leave the questioning up to him since I suspected my interruption would be unwelcome and cause the nurse to close up. He was doing a marvelous job without my assistance. "How? Was she alone?"

"One of the doctors was with her. He witnessed the entire thing. He said she simply collapsed. He tried to revive her, but she lost too much blood from the head wound. The coroner later found that she had a weak heart that gave out on her and caused her to fall unconscious."

"I see. What a tragedy."

"Very much so. Miss Pearson was well liked here, and she was extremely dedicated and clever." She leaned forward and lowered her voice. "Much cleverer than some of the doctors, including Dr. Merton who was with her." She sounded quite pleased about that fact, then her eyes grew sad again. "She's a loss to the hospital. A real loss. If only we'd known she had a heart problem, we would have urged her to take on lighter duties. But she never breathed a word."

A thought took hold and wouldn't let go. A rather sinister thought.

"Do doctors usually go down to the supply room?" I asked. "I thought fetching supplies would be a nurse's job."

"It is." She busied herself with some papers on her desk.

"And yet Dr. Merton was there."

"Yes." The crisp tone had returned, along with a flattening of her lips.

I nudged Seth. If anyone could get her saying more it was him, if he used his charms correctly.

But before he could take her hand again, another nurse bustled up. "Have you seen Dr. Merton this morning?" she asked the midwife on the desk. "He's supposed to have begun his rounds but no one's seen him."

"Have you checked his office?"

"I knocked but there was no answer." She wrinkled her nose. "I suppose I should try again."