Playing With Fire (20 page)

Jack lifted an eyebrow. "So the mesmerist got mesmerized."

"I'm not a mesmerist. I'm simply curious about you two."

Jack grunted. "We were orphans together, living on the streets."

Samuel sat back in his chair and didn't take his eyes off Jack. "Go on. Tell me everything."

Jack did indeed tell Samuel everything. At least, everything that I already knew. He left out nothing, not even the part where he and Charity had been lovers, although he didn't express it in quite so bald terms.

Samuel was silent for a long time afterward. He made no comments, and it was impossible to tell from his face what he thought of it all. I was just wondering how to break the unsettling silence when Jack spoke again.

"I've answered your questions, now you answer mine," he said." Why are you at Frakingham?"

Samuel crossed his arms and for a moment I thought he'd refuse to answer. But he must have thought better of it because he let out a long breath and nodded. "I came to study Hannah."

"Me!"

"After hypnotizing you in Dr. Werner's rooms, I decided I'd had enough of trying to cure hysteria and melancholy in ladies with nothing better to do than think up ailments for themselves. I needed to work with people with real problems related to hypnosis, and you were the only one I knew about. I hoped to find out more about the memory block that was put on you, and study how it affected your thought patterns and behavior."

"But the block has been lifted. You know that."

"August Langley suggested that I remain at Frakingham anyway. I felt comfortable there, being something of a freak myself, so I took him up on the offer."

Jack held up his hand. "Wait. You're telling us you're not doing anything at all at Frakingham? No research, no studies? You're wasting our time and money, Gladstone."

"
You
don't do anything there," Samuel shot back.

"I manage the estate and August's financial interests. He wants to work purely on his science these days."

Samuel accepted this was a nod. "I can assure you, I am not wasting anything. I'm conducting research into my hypnosis as well as observing the behavior and thought patterns on everyone in the house."

"Whatever for?" I asked. "I mean, I understand you wish to know more about your ability, and that's only natural, but
our
behavior? Why?"

"You're a small community with little outside influence. Two of you have extraordinary paranormal abilities, another is a mute, one is a temperamental cripple, and Sylvia is…well, she's just Sylvia. Having a normal member in the household is helpful as a control."

"I don't know if my cousin could be described as normal," Jack muttered.

"Each of you behaves in a certain way under certain circumstances, and that in turn affects your thinking and actions. That's how the neurological aspect enters the equation. I'm merely observing at the moment and then I'll try to make conclusions. I may even devise some specific tests."

"I'm not sure I like being part of an experiment," I said.

"I know I certainly don't," Jack said, glaring at Samuel. "You'll not wire me up to any machines."

Samuel smiled. "Don't worry. It won't hurt."

Jack's eyes narrowed further.

"Here's Mrs. Dodd," I said, looking past Jack's shoulder. "Behave nicely, or she won't give us any answers."

"Yes she will, because Samuel'll make her."

"I won't hypnotize unless I have to," Samuel whispered as Mrs. Dodd walked up.

We greeted her and she sat beside me. Jack ordered her a glass of sherry and another for me. He and Samuel drank ale.

"Twenty years is a long time to work for someone," I said as way of beginning the conversation.

"Actually it was more," she said. "I started just after my husband died. He was a foreman in one of the factories in Hackney Wick and there was an accident."

"How awful. I'm terribly sorry, Mrs. Dodd."

She thanked me and sipped her sherry. She was a gentle-looking woman with warm eyes and soft features. I could see the resemblance with her sister in her loose cheeks and chins, her large bosom, but it ended there. Fortunately she seemed more eager than her sister to talk.

"Do you know where Tate might be hiding now?" Jack asked. "Does he have a house in Hertfordshire or friends there?"

She shook her head. "He doesn't have friends."

"None?" Samuel asked. "That's odd. What about female companions?"

Mrs. Dodd sipped her sherry and kept on sipping.

"Mrs. Dodd?" I prompted.

She set the glass down. "I, uh… Well. I've never known him to have a
female
companion."

Perhaps she didn't understand. "Mr. Gladstone is referring to company," I said. "Of the, er, intimate nature."

"I know."

"So…"

"Hannah," Jack whispered. He shook his head, warning me. I got the distinct feeling I'd missed something. Being locked up in an attic for fifteen years out of eighteen meant I didn't always follow the nuances of conversations and the unspoken messages. I would ask Jack later what she meant.

"So you can't think of anyone he might stay with in Hertfordshire?" Jack asked Mrs. Dodd.

She shook her head. "Of course he may have rented a place under an assumed name. That horrible Hamley, for example."

"What do you know of him?"

"Very little. He came to live with Mr. Tate only a few weeks ago. I suspected they were, uh…you know." She blushed fiercely and sipped her sherry.

Jack and Samuel looked down at their ales. I was left to stare at them all in turn. Was she implying that Tate and Ham were lovers? Surely not. They were both men. So…how did that work? None of the biology texts smuggled in by my tutor at Windamere had covered that topic.

I was contemplating the answer when Jack cleared his throat. "If you've been with Tate for so long, you must know August Langley, my uncle."

"Yes, of course." She made a face. "I can't say I was sorry to see him leave. He wasn't a bad man, but the two of them together was not a happy mix. They argued a lot, mostly over their work."

"Do you know how he lost the use of his legs?" I asked.

"It happened in a fire. The same fire that cost Mr. Tate his arm."

"How awful."

"It was. They both nearly died."

"Do you know how the fire started?" Jack asked.

"It was an accident with Mr. Tate's chemicals, so he said. There were a lot of fires in those days, all started the same way. Chemistry is a dangerous business, but they were trying to do good things with it. Mr. Tate has developed some wonderful cures for all sorts of ailments. I'm very proud of him." Her eyes clouded and she looked down at her glass. "Or I was. So why does he want you specifically, Miss Smith? Does it have something to do with your name?"

"My name?" I rubbed my temple where a headache hammered my skull.

"What about her name?" Jack asked.

"Hannah Smith. I recognized it, but couldn't place it until after you left earlier. Then I remembered. It was a name I heard repeatedly many years ago."

"Eighteen years?" Samuel asked.

"Oh no, longer than that. It was very soon after I began working for them."

"That can't be right," I said. "I'm eighteen."

Mrs. Dodd shook her head. "It couldn't have been you. The other Miss Smith was an adult. Perhaps you were named after her."

"Who was she?" I asked.

"I don't know and I never met her. Mr. Tate and Mr. Langley mentioned her name often, which is why it's stayed in my mind all this time. Their discussions concerning her were sometimes heated, but they always ended them when I walked into the room. I thought perhaps they were rivals for her affections, but back then I didn't know about…you know."

"Could she have been somebody they worked with?" Jack asked. "Another scientist?"

Or someone they experimented upon?

"Perhaps," Mrs. Dodd said. "I don't know what happened to her. They stopped talking about her after a while. I hadn't heard the name in years until you turned up. Do you think your parents knew her?"

"I never knew my parents," I said. "All I do know is that Mr. Langley and Mr. Tate took care of me when I was a baby."

She gasped. "Oh! My! I remember you!" She pressed a hand to her breast and stared at me in wonder. "I'm so happy to see you again, dear. So happy. You cannot begin to know how relieved I am that you've turned out well. Look at you. What a beauty. And red hair too. You had none then. Completely bald, you were."

My heart swelled unexpectedly. I didn't remember her, but clearly she remembered me and had worried for me. Her reaction connected me to her, and I felt lucky that someone had cared enough to be happy to see me again.

"What about Jack?" I asked.

"You mean Mr. Langley here?" She shrugged. "What about him?"

"He lived with Langley and Tate as a baby a few years before me. Do you remember that?"

"Oh yes, of course I remember a baby. You mean to say
this
Mr. Langley is
that
baby?" Her eyes brightened then filled with tears. She clasped her hands over her mouth. "My goodness. I can't believe it. I simply can't believe it. To find both of you after all this time is wonderful. A miracle."

Jack looked a little unnerved by her reaction, but he managed a smile. "How did I come to be in the household?"

"Your arrival was most strange. I'm not even sure how they got you. Mr. Langley simply came home with you one day and said you were given to him to care for. Do you mean to say you're his nephew?"

"So he told me," Jack said quietly.

"Now that is a surprise. I didn't even know he had family. He never told me. You don't look like him either. I do remember you though, Mr. Langley. And you too, Miss Smith. He was gone by the time you came along, though. Both orphans, you were. Poor things. You were both lucky they took you in, or so I thought at first. I often wondered what happened to you." She bit her wobbly lip and gave us a watery smile. "It warms my heart to see you both again."

"Tell me what you knew of Jack as a baby."

She sipped her sherry and frowned. "Nothing really. He was a sweet little thing. You both were. Then again, I always did have a soft spot for babies. They wouldn't let me near either of you though. You had nurses, and you were mostly kept in the nursery."

"Why did Jack leave?" I asked. "And where did he go?"

"Ah." Her face darkened and she glanced at Jack. "That was my fault. It was the fires, you see. There were so many at that time, and I feared for his life. He was so little and the experiments Mr. Tate and Mr. Langley were conducting were extremely volatile. The nursery adjoined their laboratory, and I begged them to move the baby to a safer room, but they refused. In the end, I informed the authorities of the danger and they took him away. He was sent to an orphanage and then a family adopted him. I didn't know he was Langley's nephew," she muttered. "Good lord, I wonder why he never said."

Probably because he wasn't related to Jack at all.

"Did you ever hear about me again?" Jack asked.

She shook her head. "Both Langley and Tate tried to find you for a while. They never did, nor did they learn of my involvement, thank goodness. I would have lost my position, and I did like working for them. They were kind and generous for the most part."

"What about when I arrived?" I asked.

"By then the fires weren't as frequent, although they still occurred from time to time. You weren't there for long anyway," she said.

"What of my parents? Mr. Langley told me my father died in one of the factories and my mother died soon after putting me in their care."

"That's right. Terrible business, it was. That poor woman. She was desperate. I knew her a little. Our husbands had worked together before Mr. Dodd died. When she came to the house, I promised her I'd look after you, and so did Mr. Langley and Mr. Tate. I was shocked when Mr. Langley informed me one day that he'd given you away to a nice family. Shocked and a little saddened, but I knew in my heart it was best for you. Were they kind to you?"

"They were." I saw no reason to tell her otherwise. Her life had been sad enough. There was no reason to add the burden of my confinement to it.

"Mr. Tate was shocked too," she went on. "Indeed, he was furious and ranted for days. He searched everywhere for you, but to no avail. Mr. Langley refused to tell him where you'd gone, and I didn't know either. Mr. Tate never really gave up looking for you entirely. He employed private enquiry agents all over the country, but none found you. I began to think he'd cared for you like a father, he was so persistent. And now you say he's trying to kidnap you. How awful. I still find what he did in the factory a few weeks ago quite unfathomable. I admit that I don't understand him at all."

"His mind isn't right," I said. There simply was no other explanation for it without going into details.

"Indeed it's not." She shook her head. "He's changed dramatically these past few months."

"In what way?" Jack asked.

"Ever since he found out he was dying—"

"Dying!" the three of us said as one.

"Oh yes. Didn't you know? He told me so himself. Ever since then he's been like a man possessed, trying to cure himself. It's all he thinks about."

"Dying?" I frowned. "What from?"

She shrugged. "He never told me. But I noticed him getting more and more tired, and he seemed to always have a fever. He was burning up. Couldn't you tell?"

My heart ground to a halt. I looked to Jack. He stared back at me. Samuel too. I could feel their eyes on me even when I looked down at my hands resting on the table. My hot hands. I swallowed the lump in my throat, but another replaced it. My face heated. Exhaustion clawed at me, trying to drag me down.

Tate was dying, and if I had to guess, I'd say he was dying from the fire within him. It was consuming him. Growing hotter and hotter, drawing on his energy. He'd infected himself with the fire years ago, and now he was paying the price for his desire to be powerful. A much higher price than not being able to control it when he grew angry.

He had infected me with the same compound.