A Scandal in Battersea (Elemental Masters #12)(51)



Memsa’b flushed a little, as if a trifle ashamed. “You’re right, of course. I am doing it for her own good is a terrible excuse when there are other things in play. I have no right to impose my will on her at this point.”

She looked at Agansing, who said, before she could ask, “I shall bring the young lady, myself,” and left the room.

“I have one more thing to add,” Sarah said. “We shouldn’t be so sure whoever took Elizabeth lives in Battersea.” She turned to Watson. “If someone just set her somewhere and told her to walk, would she have?”

“As far as I can tell, yes,” he admitted. “The streets were clear of snow, and she was bundled up in her coat. She wouldn’t feel any tiredness. So she could have been walking for hours.”

“So, we should not eliminate Battersea, but we should not confine ourselves to it, either,” Sahib said.

At this point Agansing returned with Amelia.

Sahib motioned her to a chair; she sat down, and looked at the gathered group with a nod of recognition for the Watsons, Nan and Sarah. “Amelia,” Memsa’b said, “You know I have been giving you medicine that prevents you from having visions since you arrived here.”

“Yes, Mrs. Harton,” Amelia said, but with enthusiasm that had been lacking the last time they saw her. Nan eyed her critically; the rest from those horrific visions had done her good. Her complexion was pink again. Her hair was smooth and tended. She looked rested, well, and contented. Happy, even. “And it has been such a relief! I can never thank you enough!”

“Well . . . it may not be a relief for much longer,” Memsa’b said reluctantly, and described everything they knew or had surmised about Elizabeth Penwick. Amelia’s eyes widened and she glanced at Nan, aghast, when Memsa’b described what Nan hadn’t found inside Elizabeth’s head.

“And we have no idea what has done this to her,” Memsa’b concluded. “And it isn’t just that we wish to discover this. It is that, if some of our guesses are right, there may be more girls that become victims. Sarah thinks it is no coincidence that your visions began not that long ago.”

“Sarah thinks that there are probably victims we’ll never know about because they don’t have loving parents to go frantic with worry,” Sarah said, darkly. “Actually, I am wondering if those strange visions weren’t triggered by an abduction of which we know nothing. Girls go missing in London all the time, as I am sure the police told the Penwicks. And no one ever hears about them, because either no one cares to look for them, or it is assumed they ran off with lovers or to escape uncomfortable or intolerable conditions.”

Nan nodded; back when she had been with her late unlamented mother, that had been exactly the case for her. “For all we know, if there’s a human agency behind this, he only moved to abducting girls because he couldn’t find anyone to sell him one at the time,” she said with a grimace. “The Good Lord knows my mother tried hard enough to sell me.”

Amelia’s eyes grew large, and Nan could tell she was bravely holding back tears. But she nodded. “You are right, of course. If there is anything my visions can tell us that will help us find this fiend, then I would be the sinfullest person in London if I didn’t put my own ease aside and help.” She straightened her back and held her head up high. “I will certainly do without the medicine tonight, and as many nights as you think best, until I see something,” she said.

“Well done, Amelia,” Sahib congratulated her warmly. “Don’t worry. We won’t leave you alone with them.”

“We’ll stay here overnight, even a few nights,” Nan offered. “We’ve got the birds with us, after all, and we can send a note to Mrs. Horace to let her know we’ll be stopping away for a visit here.”

And Roan can tell Durwin.

Now Amelia’s eyes did brim over with tears. “Oh, Miss Nan, if you would stay with me in my room, that would make every difference!”

“Then it’s settled,” Nan said firmly. “Why, we’ve even got clothing here that we keep for that very purpose, in case we need to make an unexpected stay.”

“And what you don’t have, I can certainly supply,” added Memsa’b. She looked at the birds, Neville perched on Nan’s chair, and Grey on Sarah’s shoulder. “I assume you two approve as well?”

Grey bobbed—but slowly, rather than enthusiastically as she normally did. Neville uttered a meditative quork followed by a quite clear “We stay.”

Watson added his own approval. “That settles that, then.” Doctor Watson and Mary rose. “Let us know if something turns up. We’ll tell Sherlock where you are. Meanwhile, I’ll see what Elizabeth’s parents want to do about her.” He shook his head. “It’s a heartbreaking situation. They’ll want to think she’ll somehow get better, of course. Every time she obeys a command they’ll take that as evidence that she is improving. And while there is no doubt they’ll take better care of her than an asylum—is it right to ask them to devote their lives to a . . . a . . .”

“Soulless husk,” Nan said bluntly, and shuddered. “It would be kinder if that . . . thing . . . died.”

“But we have no evidence she can’t be restored,” Sarah pointed out. “Let them hope for a while, at least.”

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