The Mystery Woman (Ladies of Lantern Str - By Amanda Quick Page 0,96

figure,” Clement said.

“There are thousands of paranormal practitioners in London.”

“But the vast majority are frauds,” Clement said. “I require a true talent.”

“How did you identify me as the one you wanted?” she asked.

“That was Victor’s doing,” Clement said.

Victor touched the top of the sarcophagus with a reverent hand. “We were getting desperate. I knew I had to take some risks. I used Hannah Trafford to locate you.”

“I don’t understand,” Beatrice said.

“Hannah has always considered herself a student of the paranormal,” Victor said. “Josh never believed in that sort of thing so he has always dismissed his sister’s interests. I, on the other hand, am well aware that the paranormal exists. I have some psychical talent myself.”

“A gift for strategy, perhaps?” she asked coldly.

Victor inclined his head. “Indeed. Because of my long and close association with Josh, I knew a great deal about his family. During my years as Mr. Smith I made it my business to learn as much as possible about my agents’ personal lives.”

“In other words, you spied on your spies.”

“Of course. Hannah is something of an expert on the subject of the paranormal, although I’m not sure she knows that. I wouldn’t be surprised if she has a touch of talent herself. After she attended a few of Fleming’s seminars at the Academy of the Occult and booked some appointments with you, she informed the members of her little society of researchers that you were the genuine article, a woman endowed with true psychical ability.”

“You hired the Bone Man to kidnap me,” Beatrice said. “Why in heaven’s name did you order him to murder Roland Fleming?”

“Fleming’s death was regrettable but I had no choice. I knew that if you simply disappeared, Fleming would go to the police and demand an investigation.”

Beatrice pushed herself to her feet. “So you told the Bone Man to silence him.”

“But you slipped away that night,” Victor said. “At first I did not think it would be difficult to find you, but eventually I realized that you had literally vanished. It was . . . astonishing, to tell you the truth.”

“The Bone Man found Roland’s stash of blackmail material that night, didn’t he?” Beatrice said.

“Yes. He brought it to me. I had no interest in the items at the start of the affair but later, when I realized I could not find you, I took the biggest risk of all.”

“You blackmailed Hannah and made it appear that I was the extortionist. You knew that would draw Joshua into the hunt.”

Victor sighed. “By that time I was quite desperate. I feared that I might never find you.”

“Was there anything in Roland’s collection of extortion material that involved Hannah?”

“No. But Hannah and Josh had no way of knowing that.”

“You knew about the man who had died in Hannah’s kitchen,” Beatrice said. “How did you discover that?”

“Josh kept that a secret, even from me, the one person he trusted outside the family. But as I said, I made it a practice to keep an eye on my agents. There was no way I could get a spy into Josh’s house, but Hannah’s housekeeper was my unwitting informant. She was there that night and afterward badly shaken. She confided in her sister, who had been on my payroll since soon after I began to train Josh. I had no particular interest in the death at the time.”

“But when you realized you had to send Joshua after me, you knew you possessed the perfect bait,” Beatrice said. “Blackmailing Hannah yourself, however, would have been far too dangerous.”

“It would have drawn Josh straight to me,” Victor said. “I required a distraction that would satisfy him.”

“You found a cheap, somewhat inept criminal who was more than happy to try to extort money from some wealthy people. You faked a couple of pages from a nonexistent diary hinting at the death in Hannah’s kitchen.”

“The fool required considerable guidance, but in the end my strategy worked,” Victor said.

“You ordered the Bone Man to kill your handpicked blackmailer at Alverstoke Hall.”

“I couldn’t allow the extortionist to live after he had served his purpose,” Victor said. “He knew too much, you see. There was always the chance that, even though I had been careful to keep my identity a secret from the blackmailer, Josh might be able to find me by following the trail.”

“You do realize that Joshua will even now be searching for me,” Beatrice said.

“Assuming he survives the encounter with the Bone Man,” Victor said. “But by then it will be finished.