Her Majesty's Necromancer (The Ministry of Curiosities #2)(3)

"Aye, sir, real late this afternoon it were. They took a corpse from the East Cemetery."

"Was it a recent burial?"

"Aye, sir."

"Did you get a look at them?"

"No, sir. I was doin' the rounds, as I do every day since you reported the last robbery, and saw the dug up grave. I came here directly, sir, as you asked."

"Had it definitely been dug up today?"

"Aye, sir. In the last two hours."

Lincoln suddenly walked off and headed back along the corridor. We all stood and watched, as if we expected him to return any moment, but he didn't.

"Thank you, Mr. Tucker," I said to the groundsman. "Mr. Fitzroy is very grateful to you for notifying him immediately. If you'll wait here, Gus will fetch you something to show our employer's appreciation.

Gus didn't move until I elbowed him in the ribs, then he scuttled off, back toward the kitchen.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the body snatchers?" I asked Mr. Tucker. "Any clues as to their identity?"

"None, miss." He shrugged an apology.

"Who do you think would do such a thing?"

"Doctors. Ungodly fellows, if you ask me." He hawked up a glob of saliva and spat it on the stoop. It would be my job to clear it away. Ugh.

"Amen," Seth muttered.

"Most doctors are good men," I said to them both. Just because Dr. Frankenstein, my real father, had proven to be a madman, it didn't mean they all were.

"Ain't nothin' good about a man who wants to chop up a dead body, miss, and they all want to do that, if you ask me."

I shivered. Frankenstein had chopped up bodies, only he hadn't been doing it to understand anatomy. "It's for the advancement of science," I said, shoving aside the awful memories of Frankenstein's monsters. "Their intentions are good, mostly."

Gus returned with something wrapped in a cloth. "Ham," he said as he handed it to Tucker. "That do?" he asked me.

Tucker's face lit up as he accepted it. "I think it will," I said. "Thank you again, Mr. Tucker. Take care."

He bobbed his head as he backed away. I sighed at his glob of spit before closing the door.

"Why do you think Fitzroy walked off like that?" Seth asked.

"He's going to the cemetery." I didn't return to the kitchen, but headed up the service stairs to the second floor. I emerged from the hidden doorway in the corridor and knocked on Lincoln's door.

He opened it and pushed past me. He was dressed in long black coat, boots and gloves but no hat. With his dark hair, he wouldn't need one to blend into the night, and it would only hinder him if he needed to give chase.

"You're going to investigate," I said, trotting after him since he'd not stopped to speak to me. When he didn't respond, I added, "I'd like to come with you."

"No." At least he spoke to me.

"Why not?"

"There's no need."

"I could try to raise a spirit who can help identify—"

He rounded on me. "You are not to use your necromancy, Charlie."

"It's dark now. No one will see."

"No." He strode off again, with more determination in his step than ever. It was as if he were trying to get far away from me as quickly as possible. "Besides, unless the spirit was present at the time of the robbery, they couldn't have seen anything. They would need to be very recently dead, and not yet crossed to their afterlife, to be of use to us."

I followed at a rapid pace behind him down the stairs. "You would think a cemetery would have a few new ghosts floating about, ones who haven't yet crossed for one reason or another."

"Ghosts that remain to haunt are confined to the place where they died, not where they were buried."

"Yes, thank you, I have read the books in your library on the subject. I only thought…" I sighed. "Never mind. It would seem my necromancy will be of no use to you. How about my keen powers of observation, instead?"

"Stay here. It's warm and there's food."

I pulled a face at his back, only to have to quickly school my features when he glanced over his shoulder. He speared me with that dark gaze of his and then looked forward once more. The man had an uncanny intuition sometimes, which made his lack of empathy all the more baffling.

"There'll also be warmth and food upon my return," I told him, as he opened the front door.

"Do not make me you lock you in your room again." He shut the door before I even had a chance to gasp at his response.

I marched back to the kitchen. "Of all the ill-advised things to say!" I waved away Seth's questioning look and accepted a plate from Gus.

"Did I hear the front door?" Seth asked.

"He's gone out." I spooned peas onto my plate. "To investigate the robbery."

Gus accepted the bowl of peas from me. "What's he expect to find in the dark?"

"P'haps he's expectin' another robbery tonight," Cook said as he placed slices of beef on our plates.

"It's been two months since the last one," I said. "I doubt there'll be two in one night."

We ate and waited patiently for Lincoln to return. Or rather, I ate little and my heart leapt at every noise. The men finished their meals, and mine, then collected the plates.