Midnight Harvest (78 page)

“Its profits are going into the restoration work at Ponderosa Lodge,” said Saint-Germain. He noticed the clock on the mantel was about to chime one. “Is there some reason to be doing accounts at this hour?”

“It’s time for the monthly review,” said Rogerio.

“And that, my friend, is not an answer,” said Saint-Germain, coming to take his seat opposite Rogerio. “How long did you wait?”

“Ninety minutes, all told. Miss Saxon was worried when I came home without you. I tried to comfort her, but she was disinclined to accept it.”

“I’m sorry she had any distress on my account,” said Saint-Germain.

“I told her you would be all right, that you had come through far worse, and not so long ago,” he said with a suggestion of a smile. “She acted as if she almost believed me by the time she went off to bed, but I could see she was still apprehensive.” He paused to turn one of the ledger pages. “She would be glad of your company, now you’re back.”

“Then perhaps I should go up to her and let her see I’m safe.” Saint-Germain waited for Rogerio to object; when he said nothing, Saint-Germain went on, “I surmise we can deal with the other considerations in the morning, when we leave.” He rose. “Thank you for all you’ve done.”

Rogerio looked slightly astounded. “You have nothing for which to thank me. I am always at your service.”

“You’ll permit me to disagree, on both points,” said Saint-Germain as he started to climb the stairs; he heard Rogerio chortle as he continued up to the guest room to wish Rowena good night, and then to finish his packing.

T
EXT OF A LETTER FROM
O
SCAR
K
ING IN
S
AN
F
RANCISCO TO
F
ERENC
R
AGOCZY, SENT IN CARE OF
M
ILES
S
UNBURY IN
L
ONDON VIA AIRMAIL
.

K
ING
L
OWENTHAL
T
AYLOR
& F
ROST

ATTORNEYS-AT-LAW

630 K
EARNY
S
TREET

S
AN
F
RANCISCO
, C
ALIFORNIA

November 29,1937

Ferenc Ragoczy

c/o Miles Sunbury, Esq.

Sunbury Draughton Hollis & Carnford

Solicitors and Barristers

New Court

City of London, England

My dear Ragoczy,

I understand you reached London from Canada more than a week ago and may already have left England for wherever your next residence may be. This will catch up with you, I am certain, for Mr. Sunbury will forward it to you. I, for one, am sorry to see you go, but I can understand the reasons you felt you had to depart.

This is to bring you up-to-date on your affairs in California: the title of your house on Clarendon Court has been transferred without condition to Miss Rowena Saxon for the sum of one dollar ($1.00), and she is now in residence there. The title to the Auburn driven by Mr. Rogers has also been completed, and Miss Saxon is now the duly registered owner of the car, in accordance with your instructions to me.

The sums you have set aside for the Pietragnelli Winery have been conveyed to Carlo Pietragnelli, who expresses his gratitude to you most effusively. His remedies, provided by the settlement that was negotiated before the incidents of September, have been put into motion, with regular judicial review. The Attorney General of the State of California is going to investigate the White Legion, and will vigorously prosecute any infractions of the law that may be laid at their door. With the strong likelihood of Culbert Olson winning against Frank Merriam, the political climate will tend to support that kind of inquiry. It has been more than forty years since a Democrat occupied the Governor’s Mansion, and it strikes me that this is a good time for such a change, at least when it comes to putting a stop to this kind of trouble.

I have been visited by Inspector Porter twice since you left; I have said nothing of your whereabouts, which I am ethically bound to do, being your counsel of record in California and therefore required to keep total confidentiality in your regard—not that the Inspector has anything beyond suspicions that you have been party to the apparent disappearance of a reputed European assassin, yet I know he is eager to settle the matter, at least in his mind. Without an actual complaint, his hands are legally tied. I have indicated to him that I will release to him only such material as you provide me written authorization so to do, and he must abide by this, since, little as he may like it, it is completely in accord with the law and the ethics of my profession.

The management of your Ponderosa Lodge contracts has been transferred from J. Harold Bishop of Horner Bishop Beatie Wentworth & Culpepper to this office. Both Bishop and I agree that it is sensible for all those matters to remain in California, and since Mrs. Curtis is amenable, I have filed the necessary forms. I have enclosed copies of all the applicable paperwork, with an amended contract for your signature. Please initial where indicated, sign in the presence of a notary or of three witnesses, and return it to me as soon as is convenient for you.

It has been an honor to know you and to represent you: I will continue to execute your orders to the limit of the law, for as long as you require. I thank you for conveying your power-of-attorney to me for the purposes of filing tax returns. That will simplify my ongoing work for you, and maintaining your various accounts at Bank of America, the details and balances of which are included in the rest of the enclosures.

The investigation in regard to the failure of the brakes on your Pierce-Arrow Silver Arrow has not made any progress, although there is some indication that the steering-linkage was actually cut What cannot be determined is whether this was the result of the impact of the car’s fall, or due to prior mischief. The Marin County Sheriff has declared the case no longer active, and neither the District Attorney nor the police are inclined to do anything further. Should the case be reopened, I will inform you, but as things stand, I would suggest you accept that it will not be possible to bring the incident to the conclusion for which you had hoped, and I am sorry to say that without an identified culprit, not even a civil suit would prosper; all my avenues for remedy are exhausted.

May I say that I look forward to seeing you in San Francisco one of these days again? This goes beyond the courtesy of professional representation: my wife and I have truly enjoyed your company; you will be welcome in my house at any time. I wish you safe travel and success in all your ventures.

Sincerely at your service,

Oscar King

enclosures as indicated

OK/jmm

E
PILOGUE

T
EXT OF A LETTER FROM
M
ADELAINE DE
M
ONTALIA IN
C
ARACAS,
V
ENEZUELA, TO LE
C
OMTE DE
S
AINT
-G
ERMAIN AT
M
ONTALIA,
P
ROVENCE,
F
RANCE, SENT BY AIRMAIL.

Hotel Los Ingleses

Avenida Ancho

Caracas, Venezuela

22 January, 1938

le Comte de Saint-Germain

Chateau Montalia

nr. Saint-Jacques-sur-Crete

Provence, France

My most cherished Comte,

I cannot thank you enough for being willing to take up residence at Montalia, for I am not going to be able to leave my work here for at least two more years, and I am very reluctant to cut my dig short, considering all I have had to do to get here. It took me almost eight years to get the necessary permissions to undertake this exploration, and I fear if I leave now, I will be unable to return for perhaps a decade, and the sites are already in a compromised condition—another decade and the destruction may be too extensive for anything beyond the most elementary recoveries, which would please none of the sponsors of the dig, to say nothing of the loss it would mean to the records of human experience it would represent.

At the same time, I hear the rumors of war growing louder and louder; I share your apprehension and I dread what is to come. I am helpless to stem the tide that is rising, much as I may deplore it And I fear for what I have, and while that may be callous, I find that my homes are one of the few things I can protect from the havoc that is coming. Without a dependable friend at Montalia, I fear it will suffer as Monbussy-sur-Marne did in the Great War. The armies never intend the wreckage they cause, but it happens, in any case, and I believe it will not be long until more than Spain is up in arms and guns are pounding again. You have seen the signs many times before, and you know how quickly peace can erode once the generals begin to tell the government what has to be done. I look at Europe and I despair.

It is probably very wrong to ask you to put yourself in harm’s way by living at Montalia, and it may be that I should abandon this dig and return to face whatever is in store for France, but I cannot bring myself to do that, and not only because the prospect of war is so pervasive—it is also because I have come so far to do this expedition, and I would rather not give up the prize, which is finally within my grasp, for no more purpose than to be shot at in my own home. What benefit the world would derive from having me endure another war, I cannot imagine, but if you tell me it is worthwhile, I’ll do as you advise. Yet I must admit I would prefer to remain here, doing the work I love, and for which I have labored so long to bring within my grasp. I hope that you will not hold my decision against me, and if you think it is too cowardly, tell me so, and I will return to Montalia for the duration of whatever is to come.

Paradoxical as it may seem, I do so long to see you, although I also recognize how difficult it is to be with you, to love you as I love no one else, and yet have no means to express it beyond the sense of the Blood Bond. If only there were a way that those of our blood could impart life to one another! But to do that, we would have to be living, and so the longing will remain unfulfilled and our intimacy as intense as it is unrepeatable. I will treasure you and all we have had together even while I cherish the living who accept my love knowingly, as you taught me to do almost two hundred years ago.

Always your

Madelaine

Also by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro

Hôtel Transylvania

The Palace

Blood Games

Night Blooming

MIDNIGHT HARVEST
. Copyright © 2012 by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro.

All rights reserved.

For information, address TOR
®
, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010

e-ISBN 9781466807679

First eBook Edition: August 2012