Tremble in the Dark: A Gwen Farris Novel (3 page)

The woman simply was, but she demurred
calmly and then winked.

"You need the practice. You do have
a point though. We could do it right now? Before we practice?"

Gwen shook her head. "We can't.
We're invited to tea. I couldn't tell if it was for a regular chat, or
something more involved. I'm coming to collect you now, actually. If you want
to come?" She could beg off and not be impolite, but you had to be careful
with things like that. One refusal was fine, but two or three indicated that
you didn't like someone. Ethyl was a nice woman though, so it was easier to
just try to say yes all the time.

"I'd love too. She always serves those
wonderful biscuits, on top of being excellent company. Shall we?"

"Let's." The word felt funny
in her mouth and came out with a slight accent. Gwen had learned to fake one,
in order to pretend to be Katherine for a long time, and now it just popped out.
Beth, detective or not, didn't seem to notice it.

Gwen did, and focused again, like she
just had been, trying to find the girl in her head, and make sure she was
staying dormant. If she wasn't, there was only one way for Gwen to hold her
back.

It wasn't something that she'd discussed
with anyone, but if Katherine Vernor tried to take over, as evil as she was, as
spoiled and despicable, Gwen wasn't going to let her do it. Well, she'd
mentioned it to the girl in her head, who was stirring ever so lightly, listening
to her thoughts.

No, if the other girl ever got the upper
hand, which was very possible, given that she was the actual owner of the body
they were both in, then she would be stopped, permanently. Imagining the scene
rather intensely, knowing that it would be seen, she envisioned taking the Crin
that she'd been carrying, and putting the business end in her mouth, then
reaching down and squeezing the odd handhold on it, causing her head to
explode.

True, that would mean killing herself,
but if Katherine Vernor hadn't picked up on the fact that she'd really do it,
then she wasn't very bright at all.

Thankfully, she just whimpered a few
times, internally, then went still again.

Gwen knew that one of these days she
wouldn't, and then they'd have to finish things, but for the time being, they
seemed to have worked things out decently well.

"What
I mean, is that, well... It's been a little difficult lately. Robert's business
hasn't suffered, thankfully, but socially things aren't what they once were.
We've been thinking about moving to one of the country estates for a time, to
wait for things to pass. I simply don't want you to think that we're planning
to abandon you Gwen. That isn't the case. You're welcome to join us, if you
wish? I'd rather stay, but," Ethyl, who was only in her forties and rather
well preserved at that, showing where Katherine got her looks from, stopped
speaking altogether and waited for a reaction.

Bethany
merely nodded, her tiny china cup in her left palm. That was the proper way of
doing it, and Gwen was mimicking the movement. She bought a little time to
think by lifting her own and taking a sip of the still warm tea. She'd skipped
the cookies, not wanting to risk her new body to being overweight. It was a
gift, after a fashion, and she wasn't going to let it be ruined, unless
circumstances demanded it.

After
a moment, she set her cup on the little saucer, and fixed Ethyl with a hard and
rather cunning, she hoped, look.

"No.
You're both staying here." She looked at Beth and flipped her hands, then
went on. "We'll Lizzy Borden the heck out of these people, and they won't
know what hit them."

Ethyl
leaned in, looking interested suddenly, since it was a plan that didn't mean
going to the country to hide. That had to be a good thing in her book, since
the woman's only occupation seemed to be alternating between good public works
and charity projects, and having the occasional dinner party. If at least once
a social season was occasional. They had three of those a year, and it was just
starting into the summer section. That generally meant garden parties and
outdoor concerts, Gwen thought. Picnics even, but it would be weeks before the
really nice weather started, if what she'd heard was correct.

"Excuse
me, but I don't think I understand? Whom is Miss Borden? Or is that a thing
from your world? A kind of activity?"

Gwen
winked, and then smiled, because she'd finally managed to get it right. It felt
like it, at any rate.

"Goody,
story time, and for once it isn't
my
turn to sit on the floor and
listen." She held up her hand, ready to explain that little kids in
schools had to do that, but oddly enough, both women merely nodded. Apparently
everyone had story time. Even Westmorland kids.

"Please,
go on." The slightly older woman seemed interested enough, but she would
have if Gwen had gone into a long discussion of the martial arts too, and the
woman found
that
kind of talk not just boring, but bordering on rude.
She was a master of social interaction however. It was fun to finally be able
to add something to her own area of interest. It would probably be considered
too crude, but it was better than running from the bullies. If you ran, they
chased you. Always.

If
you fought, you might be hurt, but they'd think twice the next time they came
for you.

"It
starts with a little rhyme, one that almost everyone knows where I come from.
'Lizzy Borden took and ax, she gave her mother forty whacks. When the ghastly
deed was done, she gave her father forty-one.' This happened, the real event,
some, I don't know hundred and twenty years ago? I'd have to look it up to be
sure, but something like that."

Ethyl,
for some reason, didn't frown, and simply raised her head slightly, looking
odd.

"Are
you going to give me and Robert those whacks then? Or... Do we hunt down our
enemies and to it to them? I'm not certain that will help us seem more
civilized and welcome in social circles particularly." She seemed
relatively certain that Gwen wasn't planning on the first part at least, but poor
Beth just looked baffled.

"Ah,
you see,
that's
the next part. Lizzie was put on trial for the famous
murders, and actually found not guilty, but
everyone knew
that she'd
done it, and the facts be damned. So she started her own campaign of social
combat, and even though the little ditty remained to follow her for the rest of
her years, she ended up becoming a major player in the entire nation's social
structure. This was a long time ago, and people traveled hundreds, sometimes
thousands of miles to attend her parties. She held one every Saturday, for
years. Everyone that was anyone went to a Borden party, just to say they had."

This
got Beth to sit back a bit and look miserable, but Ethyl didn't. She actually
leaned forward a little.

"So,
you suggest that Robert and I stay the season and confuse the issue with
parties
?
Will anyone come?"

Gwen
shrugged and didn't correct it. "They'll pretty much have to, especially
after you get your well connected friends to put the word about that you're
having a 'ghastly and tacky' party, and that they're only going to see how you
can manage to hold your head up at all, given everything. Everyone will come,
just to see what you do. Save me a seat. For that matter, invite some
Westmorlands. We'll even see if some of the ones that explode can come. That
ought to get people going. Plus, they don't always get to go to nice parties.
It will be good for them. I'll ask if Mr. Grimes can be my date." That was
the family Solicitor, and one of her favorite people there. He actually
explained
things from time to time. He was too old for her, being in his fifties, but
that's why it would be slightly shocking. Especially if she could get him to
hold her hand in public.

The
equivalent would be her and him actually having sex in the middle of the ball
room, back home. She was willing to risk it.

Ethyl
set her own tea down, hardly any of it being consumed at all, and stood
suddenly.

"I,
excuse me please, I won't be but a moment." The speed she left at could
mean almost anything, from her running to the bathroom, to her needing to
attend to a fire in the kitchen. It was nearly a jog, which for her was
positively rapid. Nearly undignified.

Gwen
glanced at Beth and shook her head, slightly worried. "Too much?"

"Not
at all. I don't know if it's the best plan, mind you, but she didn't seem
upset. Excited I'd say."

They
chatted for a bit, going over the travel plans several times, in case they
became separated. They had real tickets for all their transportation, and they
would, she was assured, be able to get sleeping quarters on the various trains.
They also had hotel accommodations, though they were referred to simply as
sleeping arrangements. That might mean they were in a tent or something, or
even outside, but they'd live, if that was the case, so she didn't ask about
it. They were going to find a murderer, or murderers. Not a vacation.

Charles,
the butler, came a few minutes later, and bowed slightly at the door of the
room. He was fit, had slightly silver hair, and was in his forties too, or
looked a little old for his late thirties. He was some kind of ex-military
special forces, unmarried and
far
too cute to be gay, Gwen decided
again. Well, lucky men at least.

"Miss
Farris? Miss Westmorland? Mrs. Vernor has asked me to invite you to the
Telestator room? She's currently on with Agatha Longbranch?" That last was
a question, but she actually got the meaning for once. He knew it was Agatha,
and was asking, without doing it directly, if he needed to make up an excuse
for her not to go and talk to the women. Because the man would totally lie for
her, if needed. He was cool that way.

Gwen
smiled, doing it without thinking, which shocked her into a brief silence,
since it was close to the first time that had happened. She did manage to
recover before anyone asked her what was wrong. She stood and nodded.

"Brilliant.
I see the point. Yes, we should go and see if we can help."

Agatha
was a Newsie, which generally meant a person that read the news on the Telesar.
Right before they laid into the people involved, as if they were Satan. She'd
heard little children called morons, just for having very normal accidents by
some of them. The level of Westmorland hate speech...

Well,
they actually had entire stations devoted to it. Given that there were only a
few thousand of them in the entire world, it seemed a bit over the top, but
everyone needed someone to dislike, apparently. This place didn't have Hitler
after all. Or if they did, he'd found his calling plumbing, or being a school
vice-principal. Something that would fit his overall character better than
genocide. At least she hoped so.

Though
poor kids, if he'd run their school. All that saluting and marching...

Agatha
Longbranch was a local, so they'd actually met several times. More than that,
the woman was actually decently nice, for a Newsie. She never, ever called
names, letting her disapproval only show in her tone, which was generally a bit
matronly, but not uncaring. Ethyl however had gone to school with her. They were
friends. And if anyone knew about how to engineer a social gathering under
harsh conditions, it would be her. Really, they should have thought of it two
months earlier, but this might work better, people having had a chance to
finally realize that the terrorists were gone, and that they were safe again.

As
long as they didn't ride on the trains.

That
part had taken a lot longer to put together than anyone had thought it would.
They'd known about the murders for weeks, but the locals had been resistant to
the idea of them coming in and taking over. It was like some kind of bad cop
movie. All the different branches of law enforcement jealously guarding their
territories like dogs. There was even some real growling and teeth gnashing, if
you were willing to count fairly polite ribbing to be that.

Gwen
decided to do that, as she walked and Bethany followed nearly on her heels.
Agatha wasn't the kind of person you wanted to keep waiting after all. There
was just something about her that made you want to please, even if it didn't
make sense. It was probably some kind of magic. If so it was pretty unique, but
that had been in her lesson books. Sometimes people showed up with abilities that
no one had ever seen or heard of before. They weren't really new powers, since
there were basically only the five that humans had. It was more that some
people's brains had just found new ways to use those five basic things.

She
almost started to review them all in her head when they got to the Telestator
room. It was sort of like a telephone, and an old fashioned one at that,
because every call you made went through an operator. At the moment Ethyl was
standing in front of the polished wood table, from which five dowels stuck up,
all the same color of shining gloss. On top of those were five lead colored
balls, all just slightly larger than a grapefruit. Her right hand was on the
center one, her nails buffed, but not polished.

"Ah,
here they are now Agatha. Gwen dear, I was just talking about your party idea.
I was hoping that you might add some of your ideas to it? You mentioned some
unusual guests?"

That
was more than a little leading, and she had to grin. This time it was a bit
forced, but she meant it to be. It was about two in the afternoon, if she had
it right, and that meant that Agatha Longbranch was on the air.
Live
. Ethyl
wasn't going with her plan, but a new one. Gwen knew it and after a few seconds
could feel her combat linked precognition kick in, even though there was no
fight happening. It was an ambush, and involved people, so her subconscious
mind might just take it that way.

It
was a habit nearly as old as she really was, and a good twelve years older than
the body she was in.

"Oh,
yes!" She sounded bright and cheery suddenly, since slightly miffed or
not, you went with the plan that was happening, unless it was an awful idea.
"I'm thinking that we should have the Westmorlands over. Some of those
trained to Rift. After the events in the Capital, it will be good for people to
understand that we have people that can do that on our side too. Also that they
aren't dangerous. Not unless called upon by the King to do their duty."
She was nearly done, but something made her look at Beth and then start
speaking again. "I was also thinking that it might be good if Martin Cordell
could come. We had a rather unfortunately tense time the last we met at a
party, but I'm hoping to smooth things over."

That
got a raised eyebrow from Beth, but it was followed by a smile. Cordell was one
of the leaders of the national Westmorland hate group. One of them at least.
Ethyl stiffened at the mention of the name, which was fair, since the man had
tried to ruin her last birthday party. Mainly by calling Beth a whore, several
times, in front of about five hundred people. He'd said something similar about
Gwen, but that memory was actually one of the more pleasant ones that she'd had
of being insulted by anyone. After all, saying she was a whore kind of implied
that someone would want to have sex with her, didn't it? No one had ever said
that about her before, back in her own world. She'd been called a monster, an
abomination and even a demon, but whore had been a new one to her.