Burning Lamp (29 page)

How could everything have gone so wrong? The plan had been brilliantly simple. According to Luttrell, Winters had put the word out on the streets that he was willing to pay well for information concerning a scientist named Basil Hulsey. One of Luttrell’s enforcers had accepted the offer. Luttrell had informed him that he planned to take care of the man who had betrayed him tonight. He had explained that Winters would be drawn out of hiding and that there was an excellent chance that he would have the Pyne woman with him.

Luttrell had left the task of seizing her to Smith. The bastard had no interest in Adelaide Pyne and he was not yet ready to take the risk of making an obvious move against the Director. Luttrell did not care about the Burning Lamp. He was concerned only with the crystals.

Smith moaned in frustration. Grabbing the Pyne woman should have been simple. But first he’d had to dispatch the carriage driver who was very likely serving as a guard.

Such a simple strategy. Such a bloody disaster.

He might have succeeded if he’d had the assistance of the three young hunter-talents he was training. But when they had discovered that he expected them to go up against the Director, they had balked. Something to do with the man’s reputation.
People who annoy him have a way of disappearing,
one of the hunters had explained. Not even the threat of depriving the three hunters of the red crystals had convinced them to assist in the kidnapping tonight.

Reliable help was always hard to find.

It was maddening to know that Adelaide Pyne had beaten him again tonight. She was just a woman, a dreamlight reader. According to his research her sort of talent was good only for perceiving the traces of dreamprints. Most females endowed with such a talent eked out pathetic livings as fortune-tellers. Pyne should not have been able to defeat him.

He forced himself to analyze all that had gone wrong. The answer became clear almost at once. He’d lost Pyne this time, just as he had on the first occasion, because he’d been forced to waste too much energy getting rid of someone who stood in the way. He’d made some improvements to the crystal devices over the years but they still burned out far too quickly.

He raised his head. He could not make the same mistake again. The next time he got an opportunity to acquire Adelaide Pyne he would make certain that he was not obliged to exhaust his talent first.

The hansom clattered to a stop in the street outside his town house. He dug into his pocket for a few coins for the driver and then climbed down from the cab. His hand was shaking so badly that it took three tries before he was able to get the key into the lock of the front door.

Once inside the town house he knew he would not be able to manage the stairs. He stumbled into the library, poured himself a stiff shot of brandy and collapsed into one of the reading chairs.

His last thought before he fell into a troubled sleep was that the night had not been a complete loss. He had learned one very important thing about Adelaide Pyne, a small, but intriguing fact that he could use the next time.

Everyone was vulnerable in some fashion. Tonight he had discovered Adelaide Pyne’s great weakness.

 

 

 

SHE OPENED HER EYES TO THE LIGHT OF A GRAY DAWN. IT took her a moment to realize that she was back in her bedroom at the Abbey. Griffin was sprawled in a chair beside the bed, his left hand wrapped securely around the fingers of her own left hand, as though he feared she would slip away from him.

She lay quietly for a moment, watching him through half- closed eyes. He had a pen in his right hand and was making notes in a leather-bound notebook balanced on his knee. She could tell that he had slept very little, if at all. The dark stubble of a morning beard added another layer to the aura of shadows that always seemed to surround him, even when he was not deliberately cloaking himself.

“Good morning,” she said.

His fingers tightened instantly around hers. He looked up from the notebook, eyes heating with relief.

“Good morning,” he said. He leaned close and kissed her gently, as though he thought she was quite fragile.

“How is Jed?” she asked.

“He’s fine.” Griffin closed the notebook. “Sleeping like a baby. What about you?”

She took stock of her senses and sat up against the pillows. “Back to normal. I just needed time to recover. How long was I asleep?”

“I brought you and Jed here shortly after three this morning.” He glanced at the clock on the dresser. “It’s nearly ten.”

She frowned. “Why did you bring us here? I thought you wanted to remain in hiding.”

“Last night was a trap. I had to assume that whoever set it might have the capability of following the carriage back to the room in the lane where you and I stayed earlier. Those lodgings were designed to serve as a secret hideout, not a fortress.”

“I understand.”

“I have altered my strategy. Instead of trying to remain invisible, I have surrounded us with a small army. There are ten men patrolling the grounds at this moment. More will be summoned if needed. I doubt that Luttrell will try the same tactic twice, but just in case he elects to use the gas canisters again, Mrs. Trevelyan has fashioned masks from kitchen towels. Each man is carrying one.”

She shook her head in admiration. “You accomplished all that in the few hours that I was asleep? Amazing. What did you learn from the informant?”

“Very little. He was dead by the time I got to him.”

“Dear heaven,” she whispered. “I didn’t realize that.”

“There was no sign of a wound. I believe that he was killed by psychical means. His name was Thacker.”

“How did you discover that?”

“I found a list of herbs and a receipt for several items from an apothecary shop on his body. It was obvious that he had purchased supplies for a chemist. I sent someone around to the shop early this morning to make inquiries. The proprietor was quite helpful.”

She got a vision of Delbert or Leggett intimidating a terrified shopkeeper.

“I see,” she said, careful to keep her tone nonjudgmental.

Amusement gleamed briefly in Griffin’s eyes. “There was no need for threats. An offer of money worked very well. The apothecary was only too happy to tell Delbert everything he knew about one of his best customers. It is only a matter of time now before we find someone who knew Thacker on a personal basis, perhaps a drinking companion. That individual will provide us with more information.

“How very efficient of you.”

“I have been running the Consortium for some time now, Adelaide. In spite of appearances recently, I do know what I’m doing.”

“Yes, of course.” She frowned, thinking about what he had just told her. “Well, it all seems to indicate that Caleb Jones is right. Hulsey has found himself a new patron.”

“Luttrell.”

“But it was Smith I encountered last night. I am positive of it.” Griffin glanced at his notes. “I am convinced now that Smith and Luttrell have formed a partnership. Such a connection explains a great deal.”

“Who do you think killed the informant? Smith?”

“I doubt it. Killing a man with para-energy would be an enormous drain on the senses, even with the aid of one of those red crystals. Thacker was a fresh kill. I do not think that Smith would have been able to murder him and then, a short time later, try to kill Jed and kidnap you.”

“The killer was Luttrell, then?”

“Most likely. But this is the first time I have known him to kill in this fashion. I’m certain that he has not had the ability to commit murder psychically until quite recently. Believe me when I tell you that if he had possessed such a talent all this time, I would have heard rumors of it long ago. I suspect that he is now using the crystals to enhance his natural talent, whatever it is.”

“So Luttrell is in league with the Hulseys and Smith.”

“One can understand why he is interested in all three of them,” Griffin said. “Any man in Luttrell’s position would be very keen on a business arrangement with associates who can create weapons like those sleeping-gas canisters and crystals.”

She raised her brows. “You mean any crime lord would be keen on such associates.”

His smile was cold. “Let me rephrase that. Any man or woman in a position of power, or any man or woman who wished to acquire power, would be very pleased to go into partnership with those who can provide such weapons.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re right, of course. It isn’t just crime lords who would be interested in the Hulseys and Smith.”

“Well, the list of those who might want to do business with the Hulseys would likely be a long one. But only someone of talent would be attracted to Smith.”

She nodded. “Because only a person of talent would find the crystals useful.”

“Yes.”

“I would like you to view the dreamprints of the person who tried to murder Jed last night. That will confirm that we are dealing with the same man who tried to kidnap you thirteen years ago.”

“Very well, although I am sure the prints will belong to the man I knew as Smith.”

“I don’t doubt it. But I want to be certain.”

“I understand,” she said.

“I would also like you to look at the prints around Thacker’s body.”

“Of course,” she said. She paused. “Griffin, there is one thing I do not understand about last night.”

“What is that?”

She wrapped her arms around her knees. “It is obvious that Smith intended to kidnap me. But what of the Burning Lamp? I’m no good to him without it. How did he intend to get his hands on the artifact?”

“Once Smith had you, he would most likely have tried to negotiate for the lamp.”

Everything inside her warmed gently. “You’d give up the lamp if you thought my life depended on it?”

“Without a second thought.”

“Oh, Griffin, I’m truly touched. I know how important the lamp is to you.”

“And then I’d slit the bastard’s throat.”

She groaned and rested her forehead on her knees. “Two birds with one lamp. Who says a crime lord can’t be a romantic at heart?”

 

 

ADELAIDE BATHED AND DRESSED in a fresh pair of trousers and a clean shirt that Mrs. Trevelyan had meticulously pressed. Before going down to breakfast she went to the room where Jed was sleeping. Leggett hovered on the opposite side of the bed. He noticed her in the doorway.

“Good morning, Mrs. Pyne,” he said. “You’re looking a good deal more fit now than you did last night and that’s a fact. When the Boss came through the door with you in his arms I swear, you looked just like one of those heroines in a sensation play. You know, the sort that is always fainting dead away from some terrible shock to the nerves.”

“How embarrassing.” She walked to the bed. “How is Jed?”

“Still asleep.”

“He’ll be fine,” she said. She touched Jed’s brow, trying not to wince when the churning waves of dreamlight whispered across her senses. “His temperature feels normal and although he’s dreaming, he’s not having any severe nightmares. The damage Smith did to his senses is healing.”

“You saved his life last night,” Leggett said. “He’s my best friend. We’ve been together since our days on the streets.”

“I understand,” she said.

“I just want you to know that if there’s ever anything I can do for you, anything at all, you only have to ask,” Leggett said earnestly. “I’m real good with a knife.”

That made twice in one morning that a man had offered to slit a throat for her.

She blinked back the moisture that had suddenly blurred her vision. “Thank you, Leggett. That is very sweet of you. I’ll remember that.”

 

 

 

ADELAIDE RAISED HER SENSES AND STUDIED THE PRINTS IN the alley. Decades of dreamlight tracks fluoresced on the rain- slick pavement but the most recent prints gave off disturbing currents of dark ultragreen and unwholesome ultraviolet.

“It was most certainly Smith,” she said. “I see his prints in my dreams. I know them well, even after all these years.”

Griffin looked toward the far end of the narrow alley. “He ran off in that direction last night. There was a vehicle waiting for him. I’m certain that I heard a hansom one street over.”

“He is . . . not entirely sane, Griffin. I can see the taint of madness. It is much stronger now than it was all those years ago.”

“A powerful talent who is armed with a crystal that enables him to commit murder and who is going mad. That has to be J-and-J’s worst nightmare.”

“Do you really think Smith is a member of the Society?”

“There is so much that is explained if one accepts that assumption. Let us see what you can tell us about the murdered informant.”

They walked out of the alley and headed down the street. Delbert and three other enforcers fanned out around Adelaide.

Griffin led the way into the small courtyard. The body was gone.

“A shopkeeper or a street lad probably found Thacker this morning and summoned the authorities,” Griffin said. “It doesn’t matter. We are only concerned with dreamprints.”

“Dear heaven,” Adelaide whispered. She stared at the wet pavement, unable to believe what she was seeing. “I know these prints, Griffin. I recognize them.”

He frowned. “Are you going to tell me that it was Smith, after all?”

“No, not Smith.” She looked up. “But I have most certainly seen this killer’s prints somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“In the house where your parents died. Whoever killed Thacker murdered your mother and father.”

“Luttrell,” Griffin said. “Son of a bitch. Should have killed him years ago.”

 

 

 

“THE TIMING FITS,” GRIFFIN SAID. “LUTTRELL WAS WORKING for Quinton during those years, a young man on the way up in the organization. Luttrell was two or three years older than me, probably eighteen or nineteen. He already had a fierce reputation on the streets.”