The Mystery Woman (Ladies of Lantern Str - By Amanda Quick Page 0,64

doubt once been the eyes of a statue. Someone had removed them at some point, most likely to sell them.”

“She found the damned eyes,” Joshua said. But he was speaking to himself, mentally rearranging pieces on an invisible chessboard in his head. “That explains a great deal.”

Alverstoke scowled. “I say, what’s this about eyes?”

“I think I can save you some time with your inventory,” Joshua said. “Start with those two obsidian jewels. You will discover that they have gone missing. They disappeared a little over a year ago, in fact. About the time that the woman who called herself E. Baycliff got that telegram informing her of a death in the family.”

“You believe Miss Baycliff stole them? Nonsense. She was a lovely young woman, I tell you. Very charming.”

“Yes,” Joshua said, remembering. “Beautiful, charming and an expert in antiquities.”

“Even allowing for the outrageous possibility that she was a thief, why would she take such unimportant relics? Those stones are not particularly valuable.”

“If I’m right, those jewels were the Eyes of Anubis.”

“What of it? A large number of Anubis figures have been discovered. I’ve got several in my own collection. Why would Miss Baycliff want the eyes of a particular statue?”

“To raise the dead.”

Twenty-Eight

I don’t understand, Josh,” Hannah said. “Why are you and Beatrice leaving the train here in Upper Dixton? We won’t reach London for another hour and a half. This is nothing more than a small village.”

Beatrice looked out the rain-streaked windows as the train pulled into the small station. There were only three people waiting on the platform. They were all huddled under umbrellas. The rain was unrelenting. It was late afternoon but the storm had brought on an early twilight.

The news that the body of one of the local fishermen had been discovered on the beach had reached Alverstoke Hall just as she and the others were preparing to leave for the railway station. Lord Alverstoke and almost everyone else had been shocked by word of another mysterious death in the vicinity coming, as it did, on the heels of the murder in the antiquities chamber.

Joshua was the only one who had not exhibited surprise. “He got rid of the oarsman” had been his only comment. It was clear that he had been expecting the news.

“Miss Lockwood and I are stopping here because I am convinced that there is a high probability that we are being followed,” Joshua said to Hannah.

He was on his feet, pulling his black bag down from the luggage rack. Beatrice waited in the aisle outside the private compartment, her large satchel gripped in one hand, an umbrella in the other. Joshua had informed her that they could not afford to be burdened by her traveling trunk.

She had been as surprised as Hannah and Sally by Joshua’s sudden announcement a few minutes earlier. He had not informed them of his plan to depart the train in Upper Dixton until shortly before they arrived. She wondered if he had made his plans before they even boarded at the Alverstoke railway station forty-five minutes ago. Really, the man needed lessons in communication.

But she concluded that this was not the time to lecture him on the subject. The icy intensity that swirled around Joshua had set her own nerves on edge. She knew that he believed that she was in danger. He was no doubt convinced that his conclusion was founded on cold logic and his knowledge of his opponent. But she suspected it was his intuition, not sound reasoning, that was riding him so hard. Either way it all came to the same end. If Joshua feared that someone was planning to snatch her at the first opportunity, it was best to assume that he was right.

“I beg your pardon, sir,” Sally said. “But how does a person follow a train?”

“Think about it from the follower’s point of view,” Joshua said. “If someone watched us buy tickets for London, as I suspect, that individual will be convinced that he knows our destination. He will lower his guard and tell himself that he can simply pick up the trail at the other end—in London.”

“Yes, I see what you mean, sir,” Sally said. “What a chilling thought.”

“I sent a telegram to Nelson before we boarded,” Joshua said. “He will meet you at the station in London. He has instructions to watch for any indication that someone suspicious is waiting there or if a suspicious person alights from the train.”

Alarm sparked in Hannah’s eyes. “Do you suppose the