The Medium (Emily Chambers Spirit Medium Trilogy #1) (22 page)

"But—."

"Mother,"
Adelaide said, placing her hand over both of her mother's, "I think we
should listen to what Miss Chambers has to say."

"She's a
fraud." Her face contorted into a sneer. I think I preferred the
blandness. "She wants to make money from our loss but I'll have none of
it."

"No, I've
heard of her." The knuckles of Adelaide's hand went white. "I
wondered why her name sounded familiar and now I recall. She and her sister
hold séances to communicate with the dead. They're very popular."

"That
doesn't mean she's not a fraud."

"I am not a
fraud," I said. "And I can prove it to you."

Adelaide shifted
forward on the sofa without letting go of her mother's hands. "Please do,"
she whispered.

"She must
be a fraud," Lady Preston said again as if neither I, nor her daughter,
had spoken. "Because Jacob is not dead."

Shadows of pain
passed over Adelaide's face. She momentarily closed her eyes, breathed deeply,
then opened them again. "Mother, we've been through this. We don't know
for sure—."

"
I
know. He's my son and he is not dead until
I
say he is." She shot
to her feet and strode to the window, keeping her back to us. From the slight
shake of her shoulders, I knew she was crying.

For the first
time since my arrival, I began to doubt my reasons for coming. Would proving to
Lady Preston that her son really was dead help her move on, or simply send her
over the edge she so precariously clung to?

I looked to
Adelaide for an answer but she wiped a tear from her cheek and shook her head
at me.

Just as I
thought about leaving, a tall man with steel-gray hair and a bushy moustache
strolled into the drawing room. He took in the scene but instead of going to
his wife, he lifted a thick brow at Adelaide.

"Father,"
she said, "this is Miss Emily Chambers. Miss Chambers, this is—."

"Chambers!"
He snorted. "I know that name."

"She's a spirit
medium," Adelaide said.

"She's a
fraud," he said, with much more authority but less malice than his wife. "What's
she doing here?"

Adelaide glanced
at her mother then back to her father. Her gaze didn't falter beneath his cold
one. But it wasn't directed at her. It was directed at me. "She's been
telling us that Jacob truly is...dead." She looked to her mother again but
Lady Preston didn't move. She stood completely still, staring out the window.

Lord Preston stepped
closer and regarded me down his long nose. He appeared to be a good twenty
years older than his wife but was strongly built nevertheless. He was as tall
as Jacob but his features were bolder, heavier, not refined and handsome like
his son's. In some ways he reminded me of the sketches I'd seen of
cavemen—big-limbed and thick-browed, but not nearly as ugly. He was handsome in
his way, but intimidating, particularly when he stood so close.

I tried not to
shrink away. "Good afternoon, Lord Preston." I held out my hand in an
attempt to maintain some semblance of civility.

He ignored it. "I've
been looking into you and your operation."

"He belongs
to the London Association of Skeptical Scientists," Adelaide explained.

"Ah. Jacob
told me he was a scientist."

There was a
moment's silence then, "Bah!" The sound came from deep within Lord
Preston's chest. "I'll not listen to another word of your nonsense. You're
a trickster, Miss Chambers, just like the rest. And if you think you'll get any
money from us—."

"I don't
want your money, Lord Preston. I don't want anything from you."

That stopped him
momentarily. "Why are you here?" he asked after a long pause in which
he watched me through narrowed eyes.

"To give you
all some peace. He wants me to tell you that he is dead and that he's happy—."

"Happy! How
can he be happy if he's dead as you claim?" Lord Preston had a way of
bellowing rather than talking. It was quite deafening. "Get out of my
house or I'll have you thrown out."

I gritted my teeth.
I couldn't afford to ruin this one chance. "I am not a fraud, Lord
Preston. And I would appreciate it if you'd refrain from judging me until
you've heard what I've come to say."

He bristled,
straightening to his full height. "I do not like your tone, young lady. Your
boldness does you no credit. No son of mine would
ever
communicate with
the likes of you, whether he was alive or dead."

"The likes
of me? As I said, I am not a fraud and I'll—."

"I wasn't
referring to your so-called occupation."

I felt the
impact of his words like a slap to the face. He was referring to my un-English
appearance or my lowly birth or perhaps both. There simply was no argument to either
of those facts so I said nothing and glanced at Lady Preston then Adelaide.

The former remained
standing at the window, unmoving, but the latter had lowered her gaze to her
lap. I couldn't see her expression. It didn't matter. What mattered was that
she no longer tried to defend me. I had no allies in that room.

Jacob had been
right. It was wrong of me to have come.

Oh Jacob. I'm
so sorry I couldn't help them.

I glanced once
more at his mother. She was terribly thin. I'd never seen a waist so tiny or a
neck so delicate. A big sneeze might snap her. She moved but only to reach out
to the window and slide a finger down the glass as if caressing it. What did
she see out there? Did she hope to see Jacob strolling past? Would it be so
awful if she knew he was dead?

"You used
to sing
These Rolling Hills
to him when he was young," I said to
her.

She spun round
so fast it caught us all by surprise. No one else spoke, not even Lord Preston
to chastise me. "How do you know that?"

"He told
me."

"Jacob?"

I nodded.

"Enough!"
Lord Preston strode to the door and called for the butler. "You'll disrupt
this house no more with your lies, Miss Chambers."

But I wasn't
watching him anymore, I was looking at his wife. She came towards me, slowly,
almost gliding across the floor the way people who can't see ghosts expect them
to move. "How do you know that?" she asked.

"She made
it up of course," Lord Preston blustered.

"She can't
have."

"She must
have heard it from someone. Paid a servant, Jacob's old nurse...someone like
that. Don't fall for her lies, my dear, she's a fraud."

"A fraud
who doesn't want money?" Adelaide scoffed but her flare of defiance
dampened beneath her father's glacial glare.

"You
stopped singing it to him after he left for school," I went on. "And
you never sang it to him when he returned for the holidays even though he
wanted you to." I tried my hardest to direct all of my attention onto Lady
Preston but it wasn't easy to ignore her husband, looming beside me like a
beast ready to pounce. "He wanted you to sing it to him again but you only
did once, when he was ill with a fever and you thought he was delirious. But he
heard you."

Her own eyes
glistened with a kind of fever as she sat down slowly on the sofa, never taking
her gaze from mine. Her lips parted and she pressed her thin fingers to them. "No
one could possibly know that," she said in a small voice. "No one."

"A servant,"
her husband said.

"None were
there."

"Outside
the sick room. Or Jacob mentioned it to this girl before he...disappeared."
He nodded, seemingly satisfied with his own explanation.

I ignored him. Both
his wife and daughter did too. Their full attention was on me.

"Jacob told
you this?" Lady Preston asked. "Please, please don't lie to me, Miss
Chambers. If you have any compassion in you...tell me the truth."

Tears sprang to
my eyes. How could anyone lie to such a fragile creature about the one thing
that could break her entirely? "I would not lie to you. Jacob told me,
Lady Preston. At least, his g—."

"Where is
he?" She was off the sofa and kneeling beside me in the time it took to
blink. "Where is my boy?"

Oh God, she
still couldn't see! "He's dead, Lady Preston. His
ghost
speaks to
me." My frustration made me speak a little too harshly.

"No!" She
clasped my hands. Her grip was surprisingly strong. "He can't be! He
doesn't
feel
dead.
You
know where he is, don't you? Tell me!"
She shook my hands.

Adelaide came to
her mother's side and gently gripped her shoulders. "Come sit down,
Mother. And listen to what Miss Chambers is saying."

"I am
listening!" she screeched. Tears streamed down her cheeks and dripped off
her chin onto the thick Oriental rug. "She knows where my boy is. She
knows where to find Jacob."

Adelaide
struggled with her but Lady Preston wouldn't budge until Lord Preston took
over. He drew his wife up then pressed her face against his chest where she
sobbed uncontrollably into his waistcoat.

"Quiet, my
dear, the servants will hear," he said, patting her back. To me, he said, "See
what you've done! Now get out. You are not welcome here."

I was too dumbstruck
to do anything except obey, so I left without saying another word. The butler
waited for me at the door and escorted me out. I wasn't unhappy to leave—the
scene had been truly a heart-wrenching one—but I was disappointed. Immensely. That
poor woman. I had a feeling she might never find peace, no matter how many years
she had left. She truly could not accept that her son was dead.

Tears trickled
down my face as I descended the steps to the pavement. It was raining again so
I raised my umbrella and began the trudge home.

"Wait!"
someone called from the stairs leading down to the basement area where the
servants worked. I looked over the iron railing to see Adelaide climbing the
steps to the pavement. She was breathing heavily. "Come with me." She
glanced up at the main door and took my arm. I tried to hold the umbrella over
her head too but because she was so much taller than me, I ended up getting a
little wet.

Once around the
corner we were able to huddle beneath the umbrella better and use the side wall
of the house as a bit of cover. "Miss Beaufort," I said. "What is
it?"

"Please,
call me Adelaide." She clutched my free hand and gave me a small smile. "Tell
me, do you really know my brother? His ghost I mean?"

Did she actually
believe me? Was she prepared to give up on the idea that Jacob was alive
somewhere when her parents were not?

"Oh, forgive
me," she said, "I should apologize first."

"There's no
need to apologize. Your parents' grief is affecting their judgment at the
moment. Besides, I'm used to not being believed." Although not usually so
vehemently.

"It was still
a horrible thing to sit through, wasn't it? I am sorry for the things my father
said. He didn't really know Jacob, you see. Not very well."

"Oh?" Here
was my chance to finally find out more about him. I held my breath and gave her
an encouraging nod.

Adelaide glanced
back the way we'd come. "Father doesn't know the sort of people Jacob
liked, that's why his comment about you was so terrible and wrong. You are
exactly the sort of girl that would have appealed to my brother."

I stared at her.
I think I made a small sound in the back of my throat. "Sort of girl?"
I croaked.

"Yes. Speaks
her mind, is courageous, poised, pretty."

I laughed. "I'll
give you the point about speaking my own mind but as to the others, I'm afraid
you're wide of the mark."

She waved a hand
and glanced over my head again. "There isn't much time. I snuck out while
Father took Mother up to her room but he'll be looking for me soon. Tell me, is
Jacob really...dead?"

I squeezed her
hand. "I'm so sorry but...his ghost visits me often." I decided not
to tell her about him being assigned to me because of the demon. It was much
too complicated and she had enough to take in already. "He tried to visit
you and your parents once a long time ago but it was too traumatic for him."
I hoped that went some way to explain why he haunted me and not them.

"I
understand. Oh Miss Chambers I'm so pleased you came." Tears filled her
eyes but didn't spill. I felt the responding sting behind my own eyes. "Jacob
and I were so close, you see, and this wondering...hoping..." She shook
her head and pressed her fingers to her nose.

"It's been
hard, hasn't it?" My words were almost drowned out by the rain drumming on
the umbrella. It came down in heavy sheets, soaking our skirts and forming
muddy little streams between the cobblestones. I let go of her hand and pulled
my shawl closer then realized Adelaide had come out with nothing for warmth. I
stretched one side of it around her shoulders, enclosing us both, and she gave
me a grateful smile.