do much good, Heedson. The brain’s damaged and there’s nothing left of that girl other than what you see before you. What’s another lifeless patient to you, anyhow?”
“She’s not just anyone,” Heedson said, neatly tucking Grace’s bandages back as if healing her wounds could undo the surgery. “This girl is Nathaniel Mae’s daughter.”
“Nathaniel Mae the senator?” Reed asked, true surprise ringing in his voice.
“The same,” Heedson said, nodding. “She’s here because of her former delicate condition, under my direct care until she was able to return home. How do I explain this?”
“Tell ’im you’ve got a surgeon that’s overly fond of brandy and doesn’t understand plurals, for all I care.” Thornhollow slapped him on the back. “The road is long, gentlemen, and I need to be on it. I’ll send you a bill, old fellow,” he said as he disappeared into the dark hall to collect his valise.
“Thornhollow!” Heedson yelled after him. “You can’t leave me in this position!”
“Nonetheless, I am leaving,” Thornhollow said as he emerged from the shadows, bag in hand. “The girl is your problem. Ohio needs me, and I must go.”
“Ohio,” Heedson said, his beady eyes shooting back and forth as he thought. “Reed,” he said quickly. “The girl hasn’t spoken since she came here, correct?”
“Not a word, sir. I’d give her some bread and she’d eat it just fine, but never a thank-you or request for something more did I hear.”
“Indeed,” Thornhollow said. “I’m not sure I’d have needed to use the ether on the girl; she was as compliant as a lamb. I did, though. A blade has a way of bringing one to wakefulness.”
Heedson closed his eyes. “Reed, do you feel that I pay you well?”
“Well enough, sir. You do know that Maggie’s got another little one on the way, and I can’t say there’s meat on the table every day.”
“If I were to make your life more comfortable, do you think meat is a good replacement for the memory of this night?”
“More than enough, sir,” Reed said. “I’ve no liking for Nathaniel Mae as it is. He seems as like to spit on the poor as to feed them. If you’ll put food in the mouths of my own and I can pull the wool over his eyes at the same time, I call it a deed well done.”
“And do we still have any empty tins at the moment, for the ashes of the dead?”
“Yes,” Reed said slowly. “But I’ll not let you kill her, sir. Trickin’ a man is one thing, but killing a girl to cover your mess is beyond me.”
“And I’m not so drunk that I’d allow it, either,” Thornhollow added.
“Jesus, what do you take me for?” Heedson asked. For the slightest moment Grace saw in the depths of his eyes a hint of sadness, a reflection of a man who had once truly wanted to give care to the insane, now dampened and dulled by years of discouragement.
“Mae will rant and rave at me,” Heedson continued. “But in the end, what can he do? I know the reason why his daughter came to be here in the first place, and he’ll not threaten me for fear I’ll share the story. We’ll give him a tin of ashes with her name printed on it, along with apologies. The girl disappears and no one is the wiser for it.”
“Disappears to where, sir?” Reed asked.
Heedson turned to Thornhollow. “You’ve landed us in this fine mess—you’ll be taking the girl with you.”
“With me! And what am I supposed to do with her?” Thornhollow bellowed, his drunken indignation echoing around them.
“Heal her up and sell her to a brothel for all I care,” Heedson said. “Her story’s sealed inside that ruined mind and the truth dies with it. You and I have our careers to think of, Thornhollow, and you’ll not want it getting around that you hit the bottle before surgery, I don’t think?”
“I take a nip or two to get me in the right frame of mind. I don’t think you’d hold it against me. My work is not pleasant,” Thornhollow said, smoothing his ragged hair and straightening his sleeves as he pulled on his traveling coat.
“Not pleasant, indeed,” Heedson said, his eyes returning to Grace once more. “Reed, bring the girl a decent dress, a coat, and some shoes if you can manage some.”
“Straightaway, sir. I believe a girl’s come in just about her size the other day, died soon after. I’ll just lift her things out of the belongings