in her throat. Tentacles of fear unfurled. She knew her reaction was illogical. She was in no immediate danger. But that awareness did nothing to calm her nerves.
“Joshua, I regret to say that I cannot stay in this place much longer,” she whispered. “I appreciate your high opinion of my spirit but the truth is I have a certain weakness of the nerves when it comes to dark, enclosed places.”
“That’s not a weakness, it’s common sense. Dark, enclosed places can be dangerous.”
She heard a rasping noise. A bright spark flashed and burned steadily, driving back the tide of night. Joshua had struck a light.
“Will this do?” he asked quietly. “It will last for a couple of minutes, long enough for us to get upstairs.”
She took a deep breath. “Thank you.”
She grabbed fistfuls of her skirts and started up the steps, careful to keep to the widest section of each stone tread. She put one hand on the wall to steady herself. Joshua followed, his cane thudding heavily on each step.
When they reached the upper floor Beatrice was relieved to see a small landing and a thin, pale line of light beneath a door.
“It opens into a storage room that, in turn, opens onto the hall,” Joshua said.
He put out the light and opened the door. Beatrice moved into a small space. At the far end of the room she saw another, brighter, strip of light beneath the hall door. Her nerves steadied. The small ordeal was over.
Joshua listened at the hall door for a few seconds. “There is no one nearby. You should be able to make it to your room without being seen. But if anyone does appear, make it plain that you were on an errand for your employer. No one will question that story.”
“I assure you, I am quite capable of inventing my own cover stories,” she said coolly.
“Right. Sorry. I have been out of the field for some time now. I am not accustomed to working with other professional investigators.”
She suspected he was smiling but as it was too dark to be certain, she decided to ignore him.
He opened the door partway and surveyed the hall.
“All clear,” he said.
She started past him and then paused, remembering. “I almost forgot. I brought this for you.”
She removed the small bottle from her pocket and handed it to him. When he took it from her his fingers brushed hers and she got another tingle of awareness. The little jolts of intimacy were getting stronger, she thought.
“What is it?” he asked.
“A pain tonic. Mrs. Marsh brews it in her laboratory. I always travel with a bottle of the stuff. I thought you might want to try some. I believe you will find it helpful for your leg pain.”
“Thank you,” he said, excruciatingly polite but not the least appreciative. He pressed the small vial back into her hand. “Given what I know of Mrs. Marsh’s talent for chemistry, I suspect it works well. But I never use medications derived from the poppy. They interfere with my thinking.”
Beatrice smiled in the shadows. “I’m not the least bit surprised that you would refuse a tonic based on an opiate.”
“You know me so well after our short acquaintance?”
“Naturally you would not want to take anything that might cloud your judgment or your talent.”
“My talent?” The edge was back in his tone.
“Forgive me,” she said smoothly. “I do not refer to a paranormal talent, of course. I meant your acute powers of observation and logic. Trust me, I understand your fear of the opiates. Rest assured there is nothing of the poppy in this tonic. Mrs. Marsh concocts it using salicylic derived from the willow and other plants. It’s her own special formula. Very good for fever and certain kinds of pain. She regularly treats her own rheumatism with the stuff. My friends and I have all taken a dose or two from time to time for the headache.”
“I do not like to take any kind of medicine.”
“Is that so? Are you going to stand there and tell me that you have never downed a quantity of brandy or whiskey late at night when the pain in your leg flares up?”
There was a short pause.
“I will allow you that point,” he said. “But that is different.”
“Are you always so stubborn and hardheaded, Mr. Gage? Or is it something about dealing with me that brings out your illogical side?”
“Something about dealing with you, I believe.”
In the darkness she could not tell if he was teasing her