The Mystery Woman (Ladies of Lantern Str - By Amanda Quick Page 0,95

said. “You have given us a great deal of difficulty. We were forced to go to extreme lengths to find you, but you, are here at last and in time. That is all that matters.”

Clement Lancing was a striking figure of a man—tall, broad-shouldered and endowed with an athletic physique. His dark brown hair was unfashionably long, as if he had not bothered to go to his barber in many months. He wore it brushed straight back from a sharply defined widow’s peak. The style framed a high forehead, aristocratic nose and piercing gray eyes.

“How odd,” she whispered in her drug-thickened voice. “You don’t look mad.”

She had expected the remark to send him into a rage. Instead, he startled her with a sad, knowing smile.

“Is that what Gage told you?” he asked. “That I was insane? Well, he would say that, wouldn’t he? He is the madman in this affair. He murdered my beautiful Emma.”

“Rubbish. You’re the one who killed her.”

Clement’s eyes flared with an unholy light. “That is a lie.”

“Enough, both of you,” Victor snapped. “We do not have much time. We must conclude this business tonight.”

Beatrice sat up cautiously and eased her legs over the side of the cot. Instinctively she searched for the source of the strong chemical odor and saw the massive sarcophagus on the far side of the chamber. She knew at once that the smell was emanating from it. An icy thrill of horror spiked through her. Death leaked from the ancient quartz box. She could feel it all the way across the room.

A tall statue of Anubis with a human body and the head of a jackal stood next to the sarcophagus. A length of gold wire was wrapped around the god’s throat. The obsidian eyes glittered in the glary light. She could sense the paranormal energy infused into the statue.

With the horrible exception of the ancient burial box and the statue, the rest of the chamber was unsettlingly similar to Mrs. Marsh’s basement laboratory. Workbenches covered with an assortment of chemical apparatuses were arranged around the room. The shelves set against the walls were lined with boxes and jars that she knew very likely contained chemicals.

She pulled hard on her talent and some of her unnatural lethargy receded. The skirts of her gown were crushed and someone had removed her cloak, but she was relieved to note that at least she was still fully dressed. When she looked down she saw that her chatelaine with the small vial containing Mrs. Marsh’s special smelling salts was missing.

Her talent was flaring and sparking but she could see the hot footprints that covered the floor of the chamber.

She looked at Clement. “You may like to think yourself the sane one in this affair, but it is clear from your psychical prints that you are quite mad.”

Another flash of strange fire lit Clement’s eyes. But he managed to suppress it to some degree.

It was Victor who responded to her statement.

“I told you, the line between genius and madness can be difficult to detect,” he said quietly. “Believe me, Miss Lockwood, I have been attempting to find it for the past year. In the end, it seems, one must go on faith alone.”

Clement held out a mug. “Have some tea. It will restore your nerves, Miss Lockwood.”

“No, thank you,” she said. “You will understand when I tell you that I must assume that any tea brewed by you would be poisoned.” She looked at the sarcophagus. “Like everything else in this place.”

“You are wrong, Miss Lockwood,” Clement said. “There is no poison here. Quite the contrary, what you are going to witness is a triumph of the science of chemistry. Actually, you will be more than a witness to history tonight. You will make a great contribution.”

She looked around the room. “Joshua was right. He said that if you were still alive, you would be found in a laboratory.”

“Gage knows me well,” Clement said. “It has not been easy hiding from him for the past year. I was fortunate in that he chose to become a recluse on his estates after he murdered my beloved, but in a very real sense, I, too, have been in prison because I dared not leave this place. But that is all finished. What matters is that I have you here in my laboratory at last. I have been searching for you for months.”

“Why me?” Beatrice asked.

“Because only a woman with genuine paranormal talent can release the energy in the Anubis