“Perhaps it was a carriage passing behind in the alley,” Mary offered. “There’s a back entrance for delivering, well . . . There’s a back entrance.”
“Hmm . . .” The answer didn’t seem to satisfy him, but he was quickly on to the next concern, my bruised face. “Heavens, Louisa, what happened? Every time I see you you’ve incurred some new bump or scrape.”
There was so much I wanted to say, but as before, there was no telling what might endanger Lee to hear. For God’s sake, I just watched a kind, gentle young man transfer a human soul into a bird! I would never be believed. The more mundane cruelty of men, I wagered, was something Lee could understand, and so I glanced at Mary, trying to ask the obvious question with my eyes. She gave a tiny nod.
“Dr. Merriman attacked me on the way over,” I said. “It’s a long and ugly story, but luckily he was not successful. Anyway, we have other things to discuss, Lee.”
“Attacked you!? Is he subdued? I should . . . I say . . . A hundred punishments spring to mind. What possible motivation could he have?” Lee drew closer, closing one eye and examining my right temple. “The lout should rot in prison forever.”
“He’ll be rotting for about that long in the ground,” I murmured.
“He’s dead?” Lee considered this for a moment, grimacing. “So soon after Mrs. Eames . . .” I could see him working out the implications of this. More guests were dying, which meant he could be next.
“Try not to worry too much,” I assured him. “He was an evil person. A very evil person. Not like you.”
“I should have been there to help you,” Lee said, lowering his eyes. “I should have insisted on having you come in the carriage with us. There was no need for you to suffer like that.”
“I’m all right,” I stated flatly. Dr. Merriman was dead, his vile soul locked in some poor dove’s body, yet we still lived. I wondered if Mary would even mind if I asked her directly to leave us alone. I could cite the shock of being attacked. I could draw on her obvious sympathy. Would she understand if I wanted to leave? It felt wrong to ask, considering she had just saved my life.
“Where do you suppose your uncle is going?” Mary asked, pointing along the road, tracing the trajectory of the tall, cloaked George Bremerton walking briskly to the west. We were on the very edge of town as it was, and it looked as if he stalked away toward nothing but the horizon.
“I can’t believe it.” Lee took a few steps after his uncle. “He wanted me to stay in the inn and threatened to box my ears if I left it. I didn’t realize it was so he could go somewhere without me. This is about my parents; I have a right to know what’s going on . . .”
“Didn’t you say the address in his case was in Derridon?” I couldn’t help but watch with the others. Mr. Morningside had said he didn’t know what to make of Bremerton, but all his doubts seemed silly to me. He was intent on killing the man anyway. Why fuss over the ins and outs of his delinquency?
“Of course, Louisa!” Lee turned back to us, his smile as bold and bright as ever. “Well? Are you not coming along?”
I looked closely at where George Bremerton had gone. The edge of town. We could hail a wagon or simply find a good hiding spot and wait for Mary to get bored of searching. Even if she joined us, it would get her farther away from Chijioke, farther away from alerting him to the fact that we had run off.
“Won’t you get your ears boxed?” Mary asked with a giggle.
But Lee was already leaving us, tiptoeing down the lane and gesturing for us to follow. The full moonlight made his skin glow like polished bone.
“Oh, but I would suffer far worse to have this mystery solved.”
I believed him, and it frightened me to my core.
Chapter Thirty
“Is this the place?” I asked as we approached a trio of cottages a half mile from the village center. They were set back from the main thoroughfare leading through town. A single unmarked dirt path led to a smattering of trees ringed like a wall around the houses. We clustered together closely as we walked, Mary’s hand brushing mine as we avoided the noisier gravel of the road and kept to the overgrown grass.
“To my knowledge, yes,” Lee whispered back. “Not that these homes are particularly well marked.”
“How do you know of this place?” Mary slowed down a little. We were nearing the trees. The cottages beyond lay dark inside. I glanced back toward Derridon, its limits shaped roughly like a potato on its side. The inn was still lit and inviting, and the quaint homes laid out in orderly rows were so different from these homes that seemed to want nothing to do with the town.
“My uncle and I are looking into a matter of inheritance,” Lee explained. He pulled back a few branches on an elm and surveyed the way ahead. “I found the directions to this place in his things.”
“Why didn’t he show you himself?”
“I don’t know.” He let the branch swing back into place and turned to us, rubbing his pointed chin. “His heart doesn’t seem to be in the search. He’s hardly mentioned it since we arrived. I have to wonder . . .”
I thought again of Mr. Morningside’s suspicions but said nothing. What was the point in making him worry about that now? If anything, we could look in after George Bremerton and see just what he was up to first.
“Either he doesn’t care or he thinks it’s a lost cause,” Lee concluded. He inhaled deeply, moving carefully through the trees. “We’re here now; we might as well see what’s what.”
“At this hour? Isn’t that terribly rude?” Mary asked sheepishly.
“My uncle is going, isn’t he? He must know them. . . . I’ve waited long enough. This is my parentage, yes? I want to know what it is he’s found.”
I was less certain, and so was Mary, judging by her furrowed brow and pursed lips. Tarrying, I watched Lee push the branches and brush aside as he went ahead, and Mary grabbed my hand, squeezing it.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” she mouthed.
“Just be careful,” I replied silently.