Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(23)

In a way, meeting her in the servants' parlor was better, more intimate. We didn’t have to wait long before she entered. She paused in the doorway and shock flickered through her gaze before she turned a sweet smile on us. "Miss Chambers, isn't it? And Mr. Culvert? This is unexpected. To what do I owe the honor of your company?"

"We're sorry to disturb you here at your new place of work, Mrs. White," George said, rising so she could take his seat. There were only two. "But we've had the devil of a time trying to find you, and we're very glad we finally did."

"You've been looking for me?" She bustled into the parlor, business-like. She was a plump, short woman, yet she moved with purpose and efficiency. She sat and George stood at my side. "Does it have something to do with that awful night? I recall it very vividly."

"Not quite," I said. I recalled that night too. We'd killed one villain, sent the demon back to the Otherworld, and banished Blunt from London. Jacob had haunted him until he was out of his wits with fear. No one at the school was sorry he'd departed in the middle of the night without a farewell, particularly the girls he used to visit in the dormitory when he thought everyone asleep.

"We returned to the school recently with the hope of speaking to you," I said. "Unfortunately you'd already left."

"I needed a change of scene." Mrs. White's fingers twisted in her lap, as if she were constantly tying and untying them. "It was a sudden decision."

"You didn't think to give anyone a forwarding address?" George asked, a little too bluntly in my opinion.

Mrs. White lifted her head. Her eyes shone with unshed tears. "I wanted to distance myself from that place. The memories of that night..." She shook her head and did not go on.

George fished out a handkerchief from his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She thanked him and dabbed at her eyes.

"You were very brave, Mrs. White," he said gently, his earlier curtness gone. "Very brave indeed. Not everyone who is confronted with the worst of the supernatural cope as well as you did that night."

I wasn't so convinced she was entirely telling the truth, not after the lie I knew she'd already told. "How is your sister, Mrs. White? That is where you went immediately upon leaving the school, isn't it?"

She sniffed and pressed George's handkerchief to her nose. "I don't have a sister," she said. "That's what I told the servants, so they wouldn't worry about me. A single woman with no family to care for her is a somewhat pathetic figure and I didn't want anyone's pity."

I could not fault her on that. I felt terrible for doubting her honesty. "Yes, of course," I muttered and gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm so glad you're set up nicely here. This is a lovely house. Are the family kind?"

"Very. Thank you for your concern, Miss Chambers. Now, you said you needed to ask me something. Please don't think I'm rushing your visit, but I do need to return to the girls. They're quite the little troublemakers when they're left alone too long."

"Of course," George said. "We hoped you could tell us where to find Mr. Blunt."

"Blunt? But I thought you were pleased to be rid of him. Indeed, we all were." She closed her eyes and shuddered. Her reaction made me wonder if she'd had unwelcome visits from him in the night too.

"Oh, we were," I said. "The man was horrible in every sense of the word."

"Which is actually why we need to find him," George said. At Mrs. White's frown, he added, "Something else is happening and we wonder if he might be involved."

"What do you mean 'something else'?" When George didn't answer, she said, "You can tell me. I know what happened that night at the school, remember. You can trust me not to succumb to hysterics."

"We know you wouldn't," I said. Yet I didn't want to tell her everything. She had not proved to me that she was entirely comfortable discussing the supernatural. So I gave her the shortened version. "There is a problem in the Otherworld that is stopping ghosts from crossing over. Does that make sense to you?"

"In a way." Her frown deepened. "You think Mr. Blunt is doing something to cause this problem?"

"It's merely a thought since he was involved in the demon's release. We think the two events may be connected."

"Of course. As a matter of fact, I do know where he is now."

"Excellent."

"He's gone to another school here in London."

"London! But we told him to leave the city altogether."

"He did," she said. "Very briefly. He found me upon his return only a week ago. He wanted an account of that last night at the school. I think he thought he was a little mad, and needed to be reassured of what he'd seen."

"What did you tell him?"

She shrugged. "I told him I saw flying objects too. I mentioned the ghost and your involvement as a medium...all of it. He seemed a little afraid at first, but then I think he was happy to hear a witness account that matched his own."

"He probably decided that seeing ghosts was preferable to being mad," I said.

"So where is he now?" George asked.

"He's been appointed head master of the Royal Masonic Institution for Boys. It's a charity school funded by the Freemasons to educate the sons of their poorer members."