Evermore (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #3)(29)

"The same can be said of Blunt, yet you consider him the villain."

George said nothing to that, probably because whatever argument he used would also throw suspicion on Price. Instead, he opened the coach door.

"Let's go and see what they're up to, shall we?"

Theo caught his arm. "I don't think that's a good idea. We don't want to alert them to our suspicions."

George sat back with a sigh and shut the door again. "We need Jacob."

They both looked to me. "He's terribly unwell," I said, then I realized how absurd it was for a spirit to be described as ill. "I don't want to summon him. I think we should wait a little longer."

"What if they're putting a curse on the Otherworld right at this moment?" George said. "We should go in."

"You're right." Another curse might spell the end for both Jacob and the Waiting Area. "Let's go."

"It will serve to eliminate Price, if nothing else."

Theo shook his head and stayed me with a hand to my arm. "I don't think Blunt would be in any state right now to enter the Otherworld, or assist Price to."

"I give you that point," George said, sitting back down. "Once he takes the opium, he'll be useless for a while."

So we waited. And waited. George's stomach growled every minute, without fail. It was mid-afternoon and we'd not had luncheon.

"My apologies," he said after each gurgle.

I rubbed my temples where a dull ache had taken up residence, tapping against my skull. "Perhaps we should go. Nothing is happening here."

Jacob appeared on the seat beside George but I could see right through him. He slumped forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and looked up at me through tired, flat eyes.

"Jacob." I stifled a sob. "Oh, Jacob."

George and Theo followed my gaze.

Jacob held up a hand as if to assure me he was fine, but it was unconvincing considering the look of him. "You're right," he said, his voice thin. "Nothing will happen here now."

"You've been inside?"

He nodded. "Briefly. Blunt is lying dazed on Price's sofa. He's an opium addict."

"We know. We found a small amount on his person. What about Price? What was he doing?"

"Reading the newspaper near the fireplace."

"So he supplied Blunt with the opium." I relayed the details of Jacob's account to Theo and George.

George blew out a breath. "I suppose you're right. I cannot believe it. Leviticus Price, an opium supplier."

"Emily, I have to...go." Jacob faded away and I thought that was it, he'd gone, but he returned, albeit faintly.

My heart jumped into my throat. I wanted to hold him, but that wasn't possible with an audience and he looked much too ethereal to grasp anyway. "Go if you must. Rest."

He weakened again, only to flare up, as if he'd used some energy he'd kept in reserve. "There's...I need to...you..." His words faded in and out with his body.

"You need to tell me something?"

He nodded. "Mrs. White..."

"Yes, you said Seymour earlier. Is she related to Frederick in some way?"

He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "I found...type."

"You found a type? Type of what?"

With a frustrated click of his tongue, he became as solid as he used to be. "Daguerreotype."

"You found a daguerreotype in her room?"

He nodded. "It was of Mrs. White and a young man. I recognized him."

My knees bumped his. I had not known I was leaning forward. Theo and George leaned forward too even though they could not hear Jacob.

"Frederick," I said on a whisper. "It was Frederick in the picture, wasn’t it?"

"The one I fought," Jacob said with a nod. He began to fade again at an alarming rate.

"Do you think they are related?"

"Yes. It...family portrait."

I pressed my hand to my mouth. It was too strange, too amazing. Just as I was about to ask more questions, Jacob disappeared. He did not come back.

"What is it?" George asked.

"Emily, are you all right?" Theo frowned at me. "You look quite pale."

"Mrs. White," I blurted out. I told them about the daguerreotype in her room. "To have a portrait of just her and Frederick, that must mean they are, or were, very close."

"His mother?" George said. "Surely not."

"What do we know of her?" Theo asked.

"Very little," I said. "Your cousin, Wallace, told us Frederick lived with his father. Wallace assumed the mother had died until one day Frederick told him she was very much alive. He never did find out what happened to her."

"So Mrs. White is cursing the Otherworld?" George stuck his head out of the window and called instructions to return to the Grosvenor Street house.

"It is certainly looking that way." The coach moved off. I thought George was about to say "I told you it wasn't Price," but he caught my glare and shut his mouth.

"What will we say to her when we see her?" Theo asked. "We cannot accuse her of being Mrs. Seymour without proof."