Gilded Hearts (The Shadow Guild Series) (22 page)

Dennison chuckled and didn’t stop even when Samuel thumped his head against the wall. “She won’t remember you or what you’ve done in the past few days, will she?”

“This isn’t about Piper.”

“No?” Extracting himself from Samuel’s grasp, Dennison straightened his shirt and righted his jacket. “I find that hard to believe. To answer your question, yes, I learned something about our friend Doctor Constantine.”

“Out with it, boy.” General Collingworth plopped his mass into the chair beside Ryerson and peeled his gloves off a finger at a time. “I’m scheduled to have lunch with the Earl of Luff. If I need to cancel then I’d at least like to give the man a respectful amount of notice.”

“Doctor Constantine has been working as a consulting doctor for the Archives for the past decade,” Dennison explained to the general. “When he is not assisting the guild, he has his own practice, a private hospital on the outskirts of the Dover ruins.”

Dover had been the first town attacked in the first Great War against the combined forces of the French and Spanish. Buildings had been leveled by the giant spiderlike walkers the French soldiers dropped from airships onto the unsuspecting populace. Little remained of the once-thriving port after the enemy had been driven back. The few survivors had fled to New London, refusing to risk living so close to the channel and the continued threat of possible attack.

“You found a connection between the doctor and the prostitutes?”

“There were rumors of the good doctor making not-so-subtle offers to prostitutes in Whitechapel. Seems he bought the services of five women for several days.”

This could be it, what they’d been looking for. “Where did he take them?”

“I’m not certain, but the fact I was unable to locate Constantine anywhere in New London would suggest that he’s gone to his facility.” Dennison’s grin had his eyes sparkling with dark mischief, a look Samuel had seen many times when they were boys. “It would be a private enough place to entertain his men. A good location for a cult, even. What do you say, sergeant? Are you up for a trip to the coast?”

Samuel turned to face the general, but the older man held up his hand. “I’m not giving you one of my airships, so don’t even ask.”

“Of course not, general. An airship might draw unwanted attention. I was thinking something a bit more subtle.”

“What might that be? While I want to see this killer caught, I won’t explain to His Majesty how precious resources were wasted to catch a killer who targeted whores.”

No wonder Annie hadn’t trusted them. She’d been faced every day with this type of behavior from the society who used her services, only to throw her aside when they were done. “No, sir. I believe the Driller is available.”

Dennison frowned. “What the hell is that?”

“A special train.”

“How is a train any less subtle than an airship?”

“This one is underground.” Ryerson and Dennison shared a look of disbelief, but Samuel kept his attention on the general. “It would keep things quiet, we can expand the tunnel network toward the coast, and no one would observe our departure from New London. We’ll disappear for a few days, and anyone watching will suspect we have simply holed up at the Tower.”

General Collingworth slapped his thigh and hauled his heavy frame to a standing position. “Very well, I’ll give you the Driller. You have today and tomorrow to find your doctor and report back.”

“Thank you, general.”

“Sergeant, make sure that tunnel gets as close to the cliffs as possible. You never know when we will need to be ready for another attack.”

“Then if you are going off in search of this Doctor Constantine,” Ryerson demanded, lacing his hands behind his back, “please ensure Miss Smith is returned to the Archives before your departure.”

“No.” Even if it cost him his position with the King’s Sentry, Samuel wouldn’t willingly deliver Piper back to that hell. When the time came, if she chose to return, he wouldn’t stand in her way. But until then he’d do everything in his power to keep her safe and free from the Archives. “Dennison, are you accompanying us as a representative of the Archivist Guild?”

“He shall do no such thing.” Ryerson’s face was growing red, a stark contrast to the pure whites of his ghostly eyes. “Mr. Dennison is an archivist, not a Guild Master. He has no right to represent us.”

“Actually, sir, I have every right.” Dennison withdrew a message tube from his coat. “Orders directly from His Majesty himself and verified by Guild Master June. It seems he’s concerned about public perceptions and the deaths of the less fortunate. He wants to show the residents of New London that he cares about the well-being of all her people. I am to work with the Sentry and provide them with any assistance they require.”

It was Samuel’s turn to smugly grin, knowing Ryerson would be powerless to countermand the directives of the king.

“He’s got you there, man.” The general tugged on his shirtsleeves. “Check in, Hawkins, when you get back.” And he waddled out of the office.

“Don’t you dare think this is over, boy.” Ryerson shoved a finger in Samuel’s face. “You think you’re so clever keeping Miss Smith from me while you run around playing detective. You don’t have a clue what you are dealing with.”

“I’m conducting a murder investigation, not playing a game. If these killings are somehow linked to Constantine and the Archives, you better be damn well certain that I will follow the investigation where it leads.” Pushing past his onetime mentor, Samuel took the message and the tube with him. “Dennison, come with us. We need to get ready for our departure. I trust you can see yourself out, Ryerson.”

Timmons and Dennison fell into step behind Samuel, leaving Ryerson behind spluttering in his office. He marched down the hall and into the dressing room where all members of the Guard could prepare for any mission.

“We can suit up here.” Samuel rummaged through one of the storage boxes and pulled out a leather cap with flaps. Tossing it to Dennison, he began to search for the other bits they’d need. “Timmons, mind checking in with David? I’d like an update before we go anywhere.”

“I’ll send a message through the tubes. Give me a minute.”

Dennison waited until Timmons left. “He’s going to check on Piper, isn’t he?”

“Not your concern, Emmet.”

“Of course she’s my concern. This is no different than us getting her out of the Archives. Where the hell is she?”

Samuel grabbed a heavy leather coat and boots, tossing them Dennison’s way. “She’s safe. Her mind has been scrubbed and she won’t remember any of our time alone together. Happy?”

“Of course I’m not happy.”

“I was under the impression you wanted her for yourself.” Dennison had always been attracted to Piper. With her memories gone, Samuel would be little more than the man who’d run from her, leaving her to wake up disoriented, among strangers. Depending on how far back David had blanked her mind, he might be even less than that. Dennison would be able to side-step Samuel and reclaim Piper’s interest.

“You were always a blind fool.” Dennison pulled on the leathers and replaced his shoes with the knee-high boots. “It never mattered what I tried, she was content to be on her own. She’d rather that than settle.”

“Settle for what?”

“Anyone who wasn’t you.” The flash of hurt across Dennison’s face was fleeting, but the emotion lingered. “The money, influence, my standing and future with the Guild—none of that mattered. I wasn’t Sam and could never take your place.”

“She said that?”

Dennison ignored him and turned his attention to the boots. “Why is all of this necessary? Is there no protection on this train of yours?”

“You’ll see.” The fact of the matter was that Samuel had been on the Driller only thrice in all his time with the King’s Sentry, and he hardly relished going on it again. He wasn’t showing that weakness to Dennison, nor did he feel kind enough to forewarn the man what to expect.

His first trip on the contraption had damn near scared the wits out of him. Samuel had only been on the Sentry a few weeks when he’d been assigned to spend a week on the train. He’d thought it was punishment or an initiation into the Sentry. It was, to a degree, but in those seven days Samuel learned more about the secrets hiding under New London than most of the citizenry would gather in a lifetime.

They prepared in silence, Dennison following Samuel’s lead as they filled a bag with everything Samuel thought they might need. Every second that Timmons didn’t return wound Samuel’s internal springs tighter. He was so keyed up that when Timmons finally marched down the stairs into the room, he’d forgotten about needing to keep the truth from Dennison.

“Is she well?”

The muscle in the side of Timmons’ jaw jumped. “She’s awake.”

“What does she remember?” She wouldn’t remember anything of what they were slowly becoming, but perhaps there was a chance that a glimmer remained behind, something he could work with.

“Well, you’ll be able to ask her yourself. She’s on her way here now.”

Pain lanced through Piper’s skull with the blunt force of a pipe hitting an apple. The jostling of the steam carriage did nothing to help matters, serving only to increase her nausea and irritation.

There was a hole in her mind.

This wasn’t the same as what she’d felt after her first extraction. Then she could practically feel the edges, a distinct line between the things she knew and things that no longer existed in her memories. This time, when she awoke in a house she’d never seen before, faced with two people she’d never met, the distinction between remembered and forgotten was blurred. The hole hadn’t grown wider, but deeper. More raw. Information hadn’t been erased but shoved into that abyss, inaccessible but still somehow, disturbingly,
there
. Like a word stuck on the tip of one’s tongue, stubbornly refusing to come forth.

She’d gotten to her feet, body shaking, and grabbed the first thing she could use as a weapon. The ten minutes following would have been amusing if her head hadn’t been pounding like a music machine. David rambled through an explanation, while Aiko disarmed her, her weapon replaced by a cup of tea and plate of biscuits.

The images from David’s recording device confirmed what they’d said, that Samuel and she had planned the entire event. The stuttering images and choppy voice recording allowed Piper to watch herself speak with another woman’s words before the personality was ripped from her mind and soul. It was fascinating as much as it was unnerving. Piper couldn’t feel the smallest trace of the woman once known as Annie. She was truly gone now.

“Can’t this thing move any faster?” Piper leaned her head out the window, ignoring the sting of her eyes as the wind blew in her face. “I could have walked to the Tower by now.”

David sat in a small chair facing forward. From his post he controlled the horseless carriage with a series of levers and pedals. The glass was blackened, providing protection from the glare of the day’s sun. Not that it kept the inside cool, as the heat from the engine was suffocating.

From the outside, the carriage must have appeared odd, its horseless box propelled forward on large spoke wheels by a steam engine in the boot. Piper had heard of such horseless contraptions, but had never once seen one. It was turning out to be quite the adventure.

“Of course it can. But if I opened up the throttle I’d be sure to run over a large portion of the walking populace. Better to go slower and not be hanged for murder.”

The Japanese woman, Aiko, had chosen to stay behind when David offered to take Piper to the Tower. Piper had assumed it was because the woman had other responsibilities. Now she suspected it was more to do with avoiding this mode of transportation than any sense of duty or work ethic.

Smart woman.

Another burst of steam filled the small cabin, sucking a generous portion of the fresh air from the space. “Are you certain this contraption is safe? I’d hate to have to throttle you for killing me.”

“Quite. I built it specifically for the king. If there is ever another war he will be safe to travel straight to the front of the enemy lines if he so chooses. The French could drop a bomb from the belly of an airship and we would emerge unscathed.”

“Impressive, and a claim I’d rather not test.” The carriage lurched to the side as David took the corner onto Cannon Street at a particularly sharp angle. “How exactly did a clockwerker manage to get a commission to build such a method of transportation for the king?”

David threw her a grin over his shoulder. “A clockwerker with very good friends. The Tower is just ahead.”

“Excellent.” She wasn’t certain her stomach could take much more of this. “I’ll hunt Samuel down once I get there.”

“Are you certain you want to go alone? I would be more than happy to accompany you. It would give me an opportunity to see what my big brother is trying to hide. Rory never lets me go anywhere near the Tower.”

“Perhaps he is trying to hide you from them?” While she might not exactly remember meeting David or their mutual experiences over the past few days, Piper could tell from simple conversation that he was a man of great intelligence who wasn’t exactly who he appeared to be.

“Perhaps it’s just as well. I don’t think the King’s Sentry could handle having another Timmons walking about their halls. I shall deposit you out front and allow you to face your sergeant alone.”

“You are a good man, David.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “I promise Samuel won’t be too angry with you.”

“Are you insane? He’ll be furious with me for even letting you out of bed, let alone bringing you here. My only saving grace is that you will have to face him first. Soothe the beast, as it were.” He clicked his tongue and grinned.

The carriage lurched to a halt before a small crowd. Most of the pedestrians milling about turned and gaped at them, waiting to see who would emerge from such an odd contraption. Now that she was here, Piper wasn’t as certain that her impulsive decision was at all wise. She couldn’t remember exactly why she and Samuel had come to Timmons’ house, despite having seen the recording. There’d been danger, so much so that Samuel had hidden her away from the Archives, Dennison, even his own people.

While Piper had never been one to sit by and let another step in to protect her, she didn’t want to put Samuel into any danger through thoughtless actions. He might have had good reason for wanting her to remain at Timmons’ house. Reasons that had nothing to do with him being patronizing or thinking her incapable of defending herself.

If only she could remember.

“Are you certain you want to do this?” David shoved his goggles high up on his forehead. “I can take you back to the house and no one will be any the wiser.”

Sit back and let Samuel solve the murder of these innocent women, and possibly uncover the rat in the Archives, when she might be able to help? “I’m going. I will send word once we’ve learned something.”

“Good luck!”

The air outside wasn’t any cleaner than inside David’s device, but it was considerably cooler. A bead of sweat rolled down Piper’s back, beneath her corset, to tickle her skin where she couldn’t reach. The weight of the crowd’s stare was enough to set her skin crawling, encouraging her to walk as quickly as she dared.

She wouldn’t run to avoid those stares. She was an archivist, after all. They were the guardians of the dead, not criminals.

No one questioned her arrival at the Tower, nor did they try to stop her entrance. At first she thought it was because she’d been here before, the other guards recognizing her as a friend of Sam’s. It wasn’t until she turned the corner and came face to face with Master Ryerson that she realized it was because she wasn’t the only archivist in attendance.

“Sir!” Piper stepped back, remembering Aiko’s warning about avoiding the guild. “What are you doing here?”

“Miss Smith. I thought you were in the care of a doctor?” He advanced, forcing her to move farther down the hallway to keep her distance.

It was bizarre, the immediate feeling of mistrust toward her mentor. She had a vague recollection of a fight she’d had with him, though none of the details were fixed. Memories of a carriage ride with him and Dennison made her brain itch and her stomach sour. The blackness swallowed up everything after that.

“I was in his care, but I needed to see Samuel.”

“The sergeant has gone off on a wild goose chase.” Master Ryerson tried again to get closer to Piper. “Why don’t you let me look at you? I don’t trust whatever quack that man was able to dredge up to perform some dark wizardry on your precious brain.”

Piper suspected David would be highly amused at being called a wizard. “Both my body and my brain are fine. Now if you’ll excuse me, we have a murder to solve.”

“I’m telling you he’s gone. Now come with me.”

Her anger flared, blotting out what little reason she had remaining in her head. “No.”

Piper slammed her foot on Ryerson’s toes before she drove her knee into his crotch.

Ignoring the Guild Master’s shouts, Piper turned and bolted down the hall, looking for the first person she could find to help her. She eventually found one lad who looked to be several years younger than her and persuaded him to take her to Samuel.

She was surprised when, instead of leading her to Sam’s office, the boy brought her to a wide staircase that led to the lower levels. The smell of damp earth and wet foundation stones grew stronger with every downward step they took. By the time they reached a large staging room, Piper was as chilled as she had been hot in David’s carriage.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

Piper didn’t need to turn around to know the fury she would see on Samuel’s face. Instead, she thanked her guide. “You might want to flee now.” He didn’t wait around to be told a second time.

“I asked you a bloody question, Pip.”

Taking a breath, Piper faced the man who’d been her obsession as a child. It was as if she were seeing him for the first time. Samuel’s blue eyes were bright, wide, reflecting back his anger. But there was something else, concern tinged with relief. He was happy to see her, despite the situation, though she knew he would never admit it.

“I came because you need my assistance.” She smoothed down the front of her skirts, refusing to give in to his bullying.

Samuel grabbed Piper’s hand and pulled her to his body. The smell of his aftershave and oil filled her senses, forcing her to relax against him. “Did it work? Is she gone?” The words were spoken against her hair, half kisses.

“I don’t remember her.”

“What
do
you remember?”

Something had happened between them. Even if Aiko hadn’t said anything to her directly, the way he asked the question would have told her as much. Looking up, Piper cupped his cheek and vainly wished things could have been different.

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything since before Annie’s death.”

Samuel closed his eyes and eased out a breath before taking a step away. “I see.”

He ran his thumb beside her eye and gently beneath it. Despite David’s technique being fundamentally different from that of the Archives, the residual white ring had widened. It had been the first thing she’d checked once she’d had a moment to herself. Bit by bit her eyes would lose their brown, turning her into one of the zombies the citizens of New London accused the Archivists of being.

“Sam—”

“Piper, you’re not well. We are about to embark on an unpleasant journey to Dover. The Driller isn’t an easy ride when a person is at full health.”

“You fool, Hawkins. Now she’s certain to come.” Piper hadn’t noticed Dennison lounging against the wall until then. “Nice to see you again.”

She nodded at him, noticing his attire. “It appears I need to suit up.”

“Here’s an overcoat, cap, and gloves. I see you have your goggles.” Dennison tossed her the items of gear and Piper quickly put them on. “Anything else she’ll need, Timmons?”

“A strong stomach.”

She followed the two men, ignoring Samuel’s growl. “I promise to be on my best behavior. Mostly.”

“Pip!”

Refusing to give Samuel any opportunity to turn her away, Piper followed Timmons through a large double door and out into a huge underground cavern. The wooden planks beneath her feet creaked as she walked across them toward what looked to be an ordinary steam locomotive. It wasn’t until she got closer that she could see the fundamental difference between this engine and the ones that flew across the land.

Large brass wheels that rose to nearly the midpoint of the car were encased in thick metal spikes. Taller than she by at least half, they looked as if they could propel the mass of the engine through solid rock. In place of a cowcatcher was a massive metal cone, grooved in deep spirals that looked sharp enough to split a hair. Not brass or iron, but Carborundum, hard as adamant. The wicked tip shone in the gloom of the tunnel entrance, pointing into the blackness. It was then she realized there were no tracks on the ground, nothing to guide and direct them through the tunnel. The Driller wouldn’t need them.

“What is this?” Getting close enough to touch, Piper stopped short of letting her fingers caress the rivets that held the brass plating in place. “Are the Guild Masters aware the King’s Sentry possesses such a contraption?”

“What they think this is and what we actually have are two different realities.” Samuel reached up and pushed a button high on the side of the machine, next to the door. A blast of steam rolled out and a set of stairs slowly ground their way down to reach the platform. “I’d tell the two of you that none of what you’re about to see is to be put into any report or even mentioned to the guild. There is nothing to report.”

Piper rolled her eyes. “Of course not.”

“I can’t imagine what they would do with something of this nature, at any rate.” Dennison stepped beside her, his gaze fixed up. “Why does the King’s Sentry have this in their possession? Where did it come from?”

“A gift from the Hudson’s Bay Company.” Timmons moved past them and up the stairs. “I’ll check with William to see if we are ready to go.”

Samuel took Piper by the hand, turning her to face him. He looked so tired, his eyes having lost some of their shine. “This won’t be a pleasant journey. It will be hot and dangerous, and the air will be thin. Dirt will cover every inch of you, and by the time we reach the surface you’ll be begging for daylight.”