The Mermaid in the Basement (38 page)

“Why do you think so?”

“All the other books are very slightly used, as if they had been read once, but look at this one, Dylan. The spine is almost broken on it, and some of the print is smudged. Pages are turned down. It’s been used a great deal.”

“You’re right. Here, how can we test it?”

“I made a copy of Kate’s diary and brought the first page with me.” She reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a paper. She pointed at the first line of numbers, “123-16-4 210-10-2 323-5-6 98-7-1 269-21-5 322-18-3.”

“We can test it like this. I’ll call out the numbers, and you find the page numbers and the lines and the word. All right?” She looked down and called out the first number. “One twenty-three, sixteen, four.”

“No.”

“You mean k-n-o-w?”

“Just n-o.”

“Try the second one.” She called out the second number. “Two ten, ten, two.”

Dylan looked at the book. “One.”

“No one.” Her voice quickened. “Here’s the next number. Three twenty-three, five, six.”

Dylan quickly found the page. “Will.”

“No one will.” They both felt the glow of excitement. They worked out the next few lines, and when they did, she looked up and reached out and seized Dylan’s arm as she read: ‘No one will ever be able to read this journal.’ This is it, Dylan! This is the key!”

“It is. You’re a smart woman, Serafina Trent. Do we take it with us?”

“No. Dora gave me a copy of this book, so now we won’t have to worry about the police discovering this one missing. And we can put the other items back too.” Serafina moved over to the doghouse while Dylan put the books back in order.

“Let’s hope we can get out of here without being caught,”Dylan said.

She turned to him and said, “It’s hard to believe that we found it.”

“Why, it almost seems like we had help, doesn’t it?”

She saw Dylan’s smile that he tried to hide, and knew what he was thinking. “You think God had something to do with it?”

“He could. I don’t think we ever would have found it without a little help. Look at it. The diary falls into our hands—that’s a miracle. Secondly, you’re a woman that knows how to do cyphers. That’s a miracle. And then the greatest miracle of all, an inspector from Scotland Yard betrays his trust to give us a chance to find this book, which your sister already gave you. I’d say that God is helping us.”

The Viscountess Serafina Trent bit her lip and saw that he was waiting for her reply. She discovered that all of her scientific training had no answer for this. She cleared her throat and said, “I—I can’t explain this, Dylan.”

He laughed softly in the darkness and took her arm. “Come along. You’ll be able to someday.” The two left the house, and as they did, Serafina felt a hope being born within her, a hope that this would lead to the freedom of her brother.

TWENTY

D
ylan stepped into the Trent mansion and started to speak, but one look at Serafina’s face gave him pause. She looked unhappy, which surprised him. She had sent him word to come, saying that she had made a discovery, and he had assumed that it was one that would be helpful in freeing her brother.

“Come into the library where we can be alone, Dylan.”

The two went into the library, and as soon as she closed the door, she turned to him, saying, “I’ve translated all of Kate Fairfield’s code.”

“Well, God love the day, that’s good news!”He saw that her full, composed lips were tight, and her eyes mirrored an unhappiness that ran deep. “What’s wrong, Serafina?” he asked.

She hesitated, and in that moment the barrier she kept between herself and Dylan fell, and he became aware of the mystery that cloaks a woman. She finally said, “Come and sit down, and let me show you what I’ve done.”

The two sat down at a table, and she spread sheets of paper out, saying, “At first the translation was slow, but then I got accustomed to it, and it went much easier. Certain combinations occurred over and over, so common words like
and
and
the
I didn’t have to look up.” She pulled over a sheaf of papers and removed the first sheet. “Here’s the copy of her diary. Look at the first page.”

Dylan took the sheet and read what she had written aloud: “No one will ever be able to read this journal, but it gives me pleasure to keep a record of the fools who chase after me. How pitiful they are! They come to me with lust in their eyes, promising me all sorts of wonderful things. At first I scorned them, but then it became a game to me. The first fool was a member of the House of Lords. I called him the Worm, which is what he was.” Dylan looked up and said with some surprise, “She didn’t give his proper name?”

“No, she didn’t. She made up nicknames for them.”

Dylan nodded and then began reading again: “He was disgusting, but I let him think I was in love with him.He was easy enough to handle. I got him to write me some letters, which would have been the ruin of him if they were made public.When I threatened to turn them over to the press, he curled up and begged.How I loved it! I bled him dry, then I taunted him with the threat that I was going to turn the letters over to his wife anyway. He got down on his knees and begged me with tears running down his silly face! I simply laughed at him and left him thinking I would have done that. Maybe I would, too, but the next day I read in the papers how he had died.

Dylan read the words quietly, his watchful eyes half hidden behind their lids. His mouth was drawn into a tight line, and he looked up to meet Serafina’s eyes. “A good woman I will leave my dinner to see, but a bad woman puts some kind of dread in me. I knew she was a bad woman, but I never thought she was this evil.”He studied the page and said, “Mr. Worm. That doesn’t help us much.”

“She gave nicknames to all her victims,” Serafina said. “I think it’s probably because the names wouldn’t be found in the novel. She was a clever woman to think of a code like this, but she made a mistake. Remember the list of names I found on the brown paper,Dylan? We put the paper back in Kate’s room, but I made a copy first.”

Serafina took out her copy. Beside each name was what was obviously a nickname. Dylan read the first entry again: “James Fitzsimmons Hartwell, a member of the House of Lords. Is he the Worm?”

“I remember reading about his death in the
Times
, but the paper never did say anything about suicide.”

Dylan stared at the paper, then shook his head. “Is the rest of the diary as bad as this?”

A slight smile turned the corners of Serafina’s lips up, and something like amusement touched her eyes. “You’ll like one entry she made.” She gave him a sheet and touched an entry. “Read that one to me.”

Dylan read the passage: “I’ve always said I could get any man I want, but Apollo is different. He’s the best-looking man I’ve ever seen, and the women fawn over him. But he resists them all.He’s religious. I’ve tried all the things that lure men, but Apollo just smiles and ignores them. But I’ll get him into my bed yet!”

“Apollo, that’s you,” Serafina said. She saw that for once Dylan was at a loss for words and laughed softly. “You’re blushing, Apollo! I didn’t think there was a man in all England who could still blush like a schoolboy!”

Dylan met her eyes, then laughed ruefully. “Don’t be bringing this up to me, Viscountess, or I’ll sling you into the river!” He cleared his throat and asked, “Are the rest of the entries as bad as Mr.Worm’s?”

“Some of it’s worse, but I’ve translated this entry almost at the end of the journal.”

Dylan took the sheet she handed him and read aloud what she had written: “The Puppy comes sniffing around, his stupid face filled with love for me. I’ve gotten a few pieces of jewellery from him, but he won’t be good for much. His sister has money, but I doubt if the viscountess will ever give him money to spend on an actress.He is amusing, and I will toy with him until he has nothing more to give, then I’ll tell him I can’t stand him and to leave me alone. It will be amusing to see the sick look on his face!”

Dylan glanced at the sheet with the names of Fairfield’s victims, but he already knew what he would find. Next to Clive’s name was the label

“Puppy.” “Poor fellow,” he whispered. “She tortured him, and then she laughed when she cast him off.”

“I doubt this diary will help Sir Leo win Clive’s freedom,” Serafina said. “It doesn’t prove he didn’t kill her.”

“But the name of the killer must be in there. She wrote everything else in there, didn’t she?”

“Yes.You remember that Helen Morton told us that Kate had a secret lover?”

“Yes, I remember that.”

“Read this, Dylan, the last entry in the diary, dated the same day she was murdered.”

Once again Dylan read the passage aloud: “I’ve stripped many men of their money and of other things, but this one will be my masterpiece. He is my ‘Secret Lover.’ Even my maid, Helen, is curious about him, but she doesn’t know who he is. He’s more careful than the others, takes me to an apartment for our tryst. He’s like a cow to be milked, and I’ve been draining him dry, the pious hypocrite! He will come for me tonight, and I’m going to laugh in his face. He will claim he can’t get more money, but I know that he can. I have a letter from him, though it’s not signed. There are handwriting experts, I understand, who can identify the writing of an individual. ‘Secret Lover’ I call him.He’s secret, but he’s no lover at all, the clumsy oaf! I’ll tell him tonight that he’s no man at all and that I’ve got to have more money. It will give me pleasure to see him squirm. He’s grown tiresome, and I’ll be glad to be rid of him.”

Dylan finished and quickly looked down the list of names. “Why, there’s no ‘Secret Lover’ on this list.”

“No, there’s not.” Serafina’s voice was flat, and when Dylan looked up, he saw the disappointment in her eyes. “The one name we need—and she never put it down,” she said bitterly.

“Well, I think Sir Leo can use this diary at the trial.”

“I don’t think so. If she had put a name to Secret Lover, it would be enough to arrest him—but she didn’t.We’re not a lot better off, Dylan.”

“Let’s show this to Sir Leo,”Dylan said.“He’s a smart fellow, him, and

I think he’ll find good use for this.” He saw that Serafina was almost sick with disappointment, and he said gently, “There’s a verse in the Bible that I like very much. It’s very simple. It says, ‘Wait on the Lord: be of good courage and He shall strengthen thine heart.’ Isn’t that a fine verse now?”

Serafina listened intently, but no cheer came into her expression. “I know you believe the Bible, Dylan, but I don’t.”

“You will someday, Lady Serafina Trent!”

Dylan spoke with such certainty, his voice ringing and his face fixed in an attitude of hope, that Serafina stared at him with something like envy in her expression. But she shook her head and said in a heavy tone, “We’ll give this to Sir Leo, but I have no hope that it will save Clive.”

Sir Leo had listened as Serafina explained the diary and how it worked. He looked at it, then when she was finished, he said slowly, “This diary of the murdered woman tells quite a bit. It’s a record of how she made men fall in love with her and give her expensive presents—and then she cast them aside and blackmailed them. She blackmailed many prominent men. She meticulously lists the dates and how much she made them pay.”

“Will you be able to use it in Clive’s favour?” Serafina asked at once.

“I think I’ll use it, but it isn’t conclusive. It doesn’t name the killer, but it does show that your brother is a minor player in the murdered woman’s scheme of things. It’s all we’ve got now unless you find the woman that Clive was with. By the way, where did you get this?”

“This isn’t the original. This is a copy.”

“Where’s the original?” Sir Leo demanded instantly.

“We think it’s in the hands of the police.”

Sir Leo stared at the two and asked,“And how did you get access to it?”

“I think it’s better that you don’t know everything, Sir Leo. The police have the diary; I’ve got a copy of it. That should be enough.”

Serafina glanced at Dylan and saw that he was looking as innocent as possible. They had been in a quandary as to how to make sure the evidence got into the hands of Scotland Yard, and it had been Dylan who had suggested that Grant would be their safest bet. Serafina had spoken with him, hinting about what evidence might have been overlooked. She had not deceived Grant for one second—in fact, he had smiled at her, saying, “Wonderful how some evidence just turns up by chance.” Serafina had no answer, and Grant had seen to it that the Roi Blanco cigar, the book, and the contents of the box hidden in the doghouse were “found” and taken as evidence.

“If I introduce it as evidence”—Sir Leo frowned—“they’ll want to know what it means.Obviously they haven’t been able to break the code.”

“I’ll be a witness. I have some small reputation as a woman of science,” Serafina said.

“Yes, you do,Viscountess.Very well. It would have been better if Kate had named her so-called Secret Lover.”He looked at them and shook his head slowly. “This trial is going to be a circus, you know. A famous actress, beautiful and rich, killed by a member of the peerage.”