Odette Speex: Time Traitors Book 1 (26 page)

A millisecond later his vision sharpened, and he stared hard at the patiently waiting man. “You needed my tech. You need a safer technology.”

“Bravo, Speex! Bravo!” Bradley slowly clapped his hands. “I repaired my machine and was even able to make some slight improvements. Quite brilliant, I might add, particularly with the limited resources this century possesses. But while I was willing to risk Drake’s life, I have no intention of risking my daughter’s, or mine, for that matter. Although I don’t think I’ll be bringing my wife along. Not what she used to be, if you take my meaning.”

He made for the door and stopped just before opening it. “You can’t imagine the years it took me to teach Drake to be a convincing man of the twenty-first century. The years of planning, building his network of supporters here. All put at risk because he got greedy.” Bradley frowned in disbelief. “He could have lived here in great wealth and power and yet, he wanted more. He wanted the utopia I was creating in the future for himself. I can only imagine he somehow killed me and took you back with him as a safeguard. With his supporters in place, the plan would have gone forward regardless.” He nodded his head decisively. “But it is better this way, cleaner. I only needed Drake as a front man. He was really no longer necessary.”

“Your plan?” Odell asked with studied indifference. “What is it?”

Bradley wasn’t fooled. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He opened the door. Odell forestalled him with another question. “My sister?”

“Odette is just as much a troublesome cow as your mother ever was,” he growled over his shoulder before shutting the door firmly behind him.

Leaving Odell to wonder how Arthur Bradley knew anything about his mother.

Chapter 30

“Sorry, miss, I
have one more stop to make before returning to the house,” the coachman said while handing Odette into the luxurious carriage. Caroline had been very strict in her instructions to be vague when referring to what that stop entailed.

She needn’t have worried. Odette was less than curious. She nodded a listless acknowledgment to the coachman and settled herself against the soft cushions. She welcomed a long, solitary carriage ride.

After last night’s encounter with Gabriel, Odette had slept poorly. Before retiring she listened to the excited chatter from Wu and Fancy and tried to join in with questions and exclamations. Both competed to outdo the other in describing the social whirl in the boxes and among the masses in the pit.

“Really, Odette, it was quite wonderful,” Cara told her in a quiet aside. “Although Mariah has her limitation, she did a lovely job. David was very pleased, but I’m sure he’ll be even more pleased when you return.”

It struck Odette forcefully that Cara would speak as if her tenure at the Theatre Royal was a real job—as if they were actually living this life. Odette had made that same mistake too many times in the past.

She looked around the cozy sitting room at the two laughing teenagers and at Cara with her stockinged feet propped up on an old, overstuffed ottoman and made a decision.

“Cara,” she said under her breath so as not to attract the attention of Wu and Fancy. “I am dining with Lady Caroline tomorrow night to discuss our options.”

Cara merely raised her eyebrows, so Odette continued, “I’m convinced we need to make a move. We are clearly in someone’s crosshairs, and I’m not comfortable being a target. Odell has been here for days. We need to find him, and whoever is behind this plot.”

“We will follow Drake,” Wu said. “He may lead us to your brother.”

Odette checked herself to find that Wu and Fancy had stopped talking and were listening intently to their whispered conversation.

She shook her head. “No, it’s—”

“Too dangerous,” they finished in unison.

“We know,” Fancy added. “But we’re good at it, really. And there’s no other way.”

Odette sighed in defeat. “I know.”

They had arrived home from the ballet less than a quarter of an hour after Gabriel had left. Odette barely had time to change before Fancy came tripping gaily in through the front door. She was followed at a more sedate pace by Cara and Wu.

Odette had convinced herself that telling them about her disastrous first meeting with Benjamin Franklin and equally fruitless revelations to Gabriel would only spoil the evening for them. But somehow the next morning did not seem any more propitious, and she had successfully avoided telling them throughout the entire day.

Sitting now in Lady Caroline’s carriage watching the busy cityscape flow by, she felt this omission was yet another indication of her failings. She was tired, frightened, and, above all else, longed to see her brother.

Darkness had diminished the view from her window when the carriage came to a smooth stop outside a walled courtyard. The door opened, and Odette stiffened in her seat to see the coachman admit Gabriel. He sat down opposite her and waited until the door was closed to glance at her impassive profile.

He cleared his throat nervously, but she ignored him and steadfastly stared out the window. She was furious. It radiated out from the pit of her stomach and whipped like fire through her brain.

“…it’s mother and Barbara really,” he had been speaking for a few moments unheeded when Odette finally turned to look at him. Her eyes hardened as he continued, “I can’t risk putting them in harm’s way. And then treason, Odette—”

She let out a bitter little laugh that caught him off guard. He looked at her uncertainly, and she looked back at him with eyes stripped of love, tenderness, understanding, even anger. All he could see was steely determination.

Odette was tired of being afraid, tired of beating herself up for every misstep, and especially tired of Gabriel’s excuses. “Your mother and sister is it, Gabe?” she replied harshly, her words striking out like the lash of a whip. “You wouldn’t be afraid for yourself? Would you?” She laughed mirthlessly again and leaned intently toward him. “Well, I’m afraid too. I’m afraid for everyone I love, but mostly I’m afraid for everything I know to be right.” As she spoke, her voice gathered strength and a resolve she had not felt before. “Because you know what, Gabe? You can’t protect them. Not unless you give up everything you believe in. And even then, you can’t be sure.”

She sat back against the cushions and folded her arms firmly across her chest. “So let me reveal another secret of the future. All those men you so admire. All those good men who meet in coffeehouses and churches and homes to talk about new ideas and new beginnings, are going to be dead. In a few short years, they will be imprisoned and hung for treason.”

He looked back at her stony-faced, his lips set, his breathing quick and angry. She barely noticed. “Every one of them, Gabe. No one is spared. Not even their families. It’s called the Progressive Purge. And in the history books I studied as a child, it was considered a good thing!” she exclaimed scornfully. “All of that death and destruction so the aristocracy you’re so worried about committing treason against can continue to suck the life out of the vast majority of us poor, lowly peasants!

“So go ahead, Gabe!” she cried, her voice breaking. “Go back to the inn. Lock your doors and board up the windows. Turn a blind eye and deaf ears to what’s to come. And when you see them hanging from the gallows and their families dragged from their homes, you can at least find comfort in keeping your mother and sister safe!”

She barely had enough oxygen to finish her last sentence. She was appalled at her outburst. But it was like a fog had lifted from her brain. She wanted to strike. She wanted to find whoever was doing this and hurt them badly.

Odette sucked in a lung-full of air and stole a glance at Gabriel. He was looking blindly out the carriage window, his clenched jaw the only sign of his anger and troubled thoughts.

She looked away. She couldn’t worry about him now. If he wasn’t with them, so be it. She needed to speak with Lady Caroline and Aamod. They needed to find Odell and Master Yuan. They had to stop the assassination of Benjamin Franklin and the impending purge.

Her mind was churning over the possibilities when a scream pierced her jumbled thoughts. The carriage came to an abrupt, jerky halt. Odette and Gabriel exchanged alarmed looks. Both lunged for the door only to topple out over each other as it was suddenly opened by the coachman.

They stood facing Lady Caroline’s residence on the east side of Grosvenor Square. The scream had definitely come from within the impressive mansion that stood seven bays wide. Odette’s alarm deepened as she realized that all the houses on this side of the central garden were unnaturally dark and quiet. Only a few dim lights flickered through securely drawn drapes. Lady Caroline’s house was completely dark. The windows stared down at them like dead lumps of coal.

No other sound interrupted the night as Odette lifted her skirts and ran for the door. Gabriel was before her.

“Take the horses round to the mews!” he threw over his shoulder to the coachman. “And tread carefully, man. We have no idea what we will meet.”

The first thing they met was Graves, the butler, lying in a pool of blood. Only dim moonlight illuminated the foyer from the open door so Odette had to kneel and bend over the stricken man. She drew back in horror at the gaping wound across his neck.

“Gabe!” his name came out in a strangled choke as she tried to hold back the rising bile. “His throat has been cut!”

She looked at Gabriel as he knelt across from her on the other side of Grave’s body. He wasn’t looking at her or the dead man. He was surveying the foyer. His eyes moved up the grand staircase and down the darkened hallways.

“How many servants?” he murmured almost to himself. “Graves, Mrs. Crawford, Cook, the coachman.”

“Aamod,” she added.

“Of course, Aamod,” he agreed and stood. “Five, plus Caroline. No footmen or scullery maids? No others?”

Odette stood as well. “None that I can recall. It seemed as if Graves and Mrs. Crawford did everything.”

They both started violently as pounding footsteps sounded from inside the wall on the far side of the foyer. A discreetly recessed door burst open, and the coachman ran into the great hall only to stop hastily at the sight of the dead butler.

“My God! My God!” he gasped and brought his hand up to cover his mouth. His terrified eyes met theirs. “Cook’s dead too! She… she…” he stammered. “Her head’s been mostly cut off.” He turned around and was sick all over the polished parquet floor.

“That leaves only Caroline, Aamod and Mrs. Crawford.” Gabriel looked again at the coachman, who kept his eyes carefully averted from the butler’s dead form. “Did you see anyone out back? Anything suspicious?”

“No.” He shook his head, then stopped and looked intently back at them. “’Cepen, it’s all quiet. Unnatural-like. There should be lots of comins’ and goins’.” He looked out the open door. “Where is everybody? Why hasn’t anyone come? That scream could’a woke the dead.”

“We need to find Caroline and Aamod,” Gabriel declared and turned to firmly grasp Odette’s hand. “You should go—”

“No! I’m coming with you.”

He didn’t waste time arguing with her. “What’s your name?” he asked the coachman.

“Tom, sir.”

He was young, younger than Odette had at first surmised. He looked to be no more than nineteen or twenty.

“Well, Tom. Grab anything that looks like a weapon,” Gabriel instructed, himself picking up a heavy silver candlestick. “I think I know where to begin our search.”

Tom unhesitantly pulled an ornate iron rod from its decorative perch on the wall and turned to follow them down the wide corridor.

“Where are we going?” Odette whispered.

“To the library,” Gabriel responded in a low voice. “There’s a kind of hidden room where… where I think Caroline and Aamod practice their religion.”

“I know it,” Tom added in a hoarse whisper. “There’s a golden statue in there. Crawford, she don’t like it much. Says it’s idollory or som’em like that.”

“Idolatry,” Odette corrected automatically.

“Yeah, that’s it.” Tom’s voice was steadier, but he still swallowed reflexively as if trying to keep the contents of his stomach in place.

“Where is Mrs. Crawford?” Gabriel asked, swiveling his head from side to side as if trying to keep at least a 180 degree field of vision.

“She’s gone to Norfolk to visit her sister.”

“Did she know Miss Odette was dining with Lady Caroline tonight?”

“I don’t see how she could of. Her Ladyship only just told Cook this morning.”

They stopped in front of a large oaken door, swung inward and broken on its hinges. They walked to a corner of the library that housed an inordinate amount of potted plants. A dim light filtered out from behind the leafy jungle. It looked as if the plants were set against the wall. Closer inspection revealed a narrow corridor which opened into a fair-sized room. There were no windows. Light glowed from several candlesticks.

Elegantly carved and covered in places with rich tapestries, Odette barely registered the fragrant sandalwood paneling. She didn’t see the golden statue, inlaid with rare gems and draped in garlands of colorful marigolds. Her eyes were glued to the center of the room where Aamod had been stripped naked and disemboweled. His long black hair spread out beneath him in a tangle of blood and vomit.

The smell of blood was so thick, she could almost taste it. She felt her head swim and reached out, finding the support of Gabriel’s broad chest. She brought her hands up and clutched at his waistcoat. Her forehead came to rest just below his chin. She heard retching and knew that Tom had, once again, lost the battle with his stomach. This time he deposited its contents into the potted palm tree.

Odette took a deep breath and looked up into Gabriel’s face. It was white to his lips, and she wondered if it was a reflection of her own.

A low moan brought them both around sharply. Almost hidden among the plush cushions at the opposite end of the room sat Lady Caroline, or rather, she squatted. Her hair was loose down her back and her arms dangled between her knees. The heavy silken robe that was her only garment slipped down over one breast and was luridly splattered with blood. She looked right past them. Her eyes were wide and glassy.

They ran to her. Kneeling down, Gabriel grabbed her by both shoulders. “Caroline! Caroline!” he cried, almost shaking her in desperation.

Odette leaned close and squinted in the dim light. She reached out to touch gently a large lump on Caroline’s forehead. Even this slight touch caused her to whimper and cower back into the cushions. The light caught a glint of metal. Odette looked down and saw clutched in Caroline’s hand a large, blood-stained butcher’s knife.

“My God! Gabe! Look!” She pointed to the knife, and they both started back in horror.

“That’s a lie!” Tom’s indignant voice brought them to their senses. “She wouldn’t do no such a thing!” he declared angrily. He stepped in between them and knelt down to gently remove the knife from her listless hand. “You see, she can’t even lift it. She’s not herself. She don’t know what’s happenin’.”

“You’re right, Tom,” Gabriel agreed. “Someone else has done this, and left Caroline to take the blame.”

“Gabriel, we have to get her out of here!” Odette exclaimed urgently. It was all coming together in her mind. The deserted street, the missing housekeeper, a scene of murder and mayhem so ghastly no one would come to the defense of a woman merely tolerated by most of polite society.

Gabriel was already gathering an unresisting Caroline into his arms. “Tom, is the carriage still harnessed?”

“Yes, sir. I left it out back.”

Gabriel turned to leave but stopped and looked back as Tom hesitated. “What is it?”

Tom walked grimly over to Aamod and knelt down. His gaze never left the dead man’s face. “It ain’t right to leave him like this.” He reached out and closed the lifeless eyes then stood up and tore one of the heavy tapestries from the wall. His cheeks were wet with tears as he covered the mutilated body. “He may have been a Hindoo. But he was a good ’un, Mister Aamod. He was a good ’un.”