for the work.”
He smiled. “I know I have told you this before but I will say it again. You are an amazing woman, Beatrice.”
“One does what one must to survive,” she said.
He reflected briefly on all the times he had stood very close to the edge of the cliffs at his country house and looked down into the roiling sea. Always, he had limped back to the house again, telling himself that he could not take that way out because he had responsibilities.
But now he wondered if the real reason he had turned away from the sea was simply because deep down inside, a tiny flame of hope still burned.
“Yes,” he said. He made his way across the room and stopped in front of her. He caught her chin on the edge of his hand, bent his head and kissed her lightly on the mouth. “And I assure you that I am very glad that I survived long enough to make your acquaintance, Beatrice Lockwood.”
She smiled. Her eyes brightened. “The feeling is mutual, Mr. Gage.”
That was not quite what he wanted to hear but this was not the time to pursue the subject. He released her and went to where his coat hung on a hook in the wall.
“Let’s have some breakfast and then we will catch the train to London. I will send a telegram to Nelson advising him to meet us and take us directly to the offices of Flint and Marsh. I am very eager to chat with Mrs. Marsh,” he said.
He saw that she was still smiling but now there was a sparkle of amusement in her eyes.
“Have I inadvertently managed to entertain you again, Miss Lockwood?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” she assured him.
He winced. “Like hell.”
“Very well, then, if you must know, I cannot help but notice that you appear to thrive on these clandestine plots and counterplots. You were born for this sort of work, Joshua. Really, you should never have retired.”
Thirty-Four
Nelson met them at the railway station in London. They all watched the rest of the passengers exit the train. None appeared unduly suspicious.
“Doesn’t mean he wasn’t on board,” Joshua said. “But in this fog he’ll find it impossible to follow us.”
Nelson escorted them through heavy mist to a nearby lane where a closed carriage waited. When Beatrice briefly heightened her talent she could see the heat in his footsteps.
“I have news, Uncle Josh,” he said, opening the door for Beatrice.
“Excellent,” Joshua said. “Save it until we are on our way.”
He handed Beatrice up into the cab and followed her into the shadowed confines. He sat down beside her. Nelson vaulted up into the small space and took the opposite seat.
Joshua used his cane to rap the roof of the cab twice. The vehicle rolled forward at a fast clip.
One look at Nelson told Beatrice that—a few minor differences aside—she was looking at a younger mirror image of Joshua. This was how he had appeared in the days before the scars, both physical and emotional, had changed him.
The men of the Gage line were not handsome in the classical sense but they were fascinating in their own way. Perhaps it was the masculine strength in their auras that compelled a woman’s attention, Beatrice thought. Whatever the case, Nelson’s barely suppressed excitement combined with the intensity of Joshua’s more mature aura of controlled power infused the atmosphere of the small cab with so much heat that she wanted to fan herself.
“Don’t worry, Miss Lockwood,” Nelson said. “Our driver, Henry, has had a great deal of experience, thanks to my uncle. He will ensure that no one follows us to the offices of your employers.”
“I don’t doubt that,” Beatrice said.
“And as Uncle Josh pointed out, the fog will make it all the easier to evade detection,” Nelson added.
Beatrice slanted a quick, speculative glance at Joshua. “Was this the cab you used to remove Mr. Euston from the garden the night we met?”
“As a matter of fact, it was,” Joshua said. He looked at Nelson. “Tell me what you have learned.”
“I did as you asked,” Nelson said. “I spoke with everyone I could find who had lived and worked in the street where the Academy of the Occult was located at the time of Fleming’s death.”
“What’s this?” Beatrice glared at Joshua. “You never told me that you were making inquiries into Roland’s murder.”
“Did I neglect to mention it?” Joshua frowned. “Sorry. I have had other things on my mind of late.”
“Why did you ask Nelson to conduct