Chapter Twenty-Six

Before heading downstairs, I peered through the window to make sure Ben hadn’t brought the police with him. To my great relief, it was just him and his ever-present shadow, Callie, standing there in the gray of the afternoon sun. She wore a somber sweater and skirt in dark charcoal, while Ben looked like he’d grabbed the nearest items off the floor, stained pants and a gray cotton shirt he hadn’t bothered to tuck in.

“Stay up here and don’t make any noise,” I cautioned Flora. “I’ll send him on his way and then we can depart before he returns.”

Already I had a story in mind, one that would put him off our track long enough for us to make our escape.

Flora nodded and I went down to get the door before Ben’s continued knocking drew unwanted attention.

“All right, all right, what’s all the ruckus?” I said by way of greeting as I threw open the door. I’d mussed my hair and left my shirt over my pants to lend credence to my story, that they’d roused me from a deep sleep.

I’d also slipped my pistol into my pants pocket, just in case it came to that.

“What in blazes have you done with her, you morbid bastard?” Ben’s eyes were alight with fury and he pushed past me in rude fashion.

“Here, now!” I cried. “Have some manners.”

“You deserve no courtesies beyond the one I’ve already given by not going to the police first off. I’ll give you this one chance to tell me where the body is, or I’m off to the nearest precinct.”

“I tried to stop him,” Callie said, worry etched on her face.

“What body?” I asked, ignoring her. His talk of the police brought a weakness to my legs that I fought to hide. I couldn’t let that happen. “You’re talking like a crazy man.”

“Don’t play games, Henry. I’m in no mood.” He clenched his fists and red fire colored his cheeks.

“Flora,” Callie said, positioning herself between her brother and me. “Flora’s body is missing.”

“And you stole her.”

“Missing?” I feigned astonishment. “How can this be?”

“You know damn well how it can be.” He pointed a thick finger at me. “You went to see her and now she’s gone. I don’t know what sick thing you’ve done with her, but I want her back so she can get the decent burial she deserves.”

“I swear, I had nothing to do with it.” I held up my hands. Putting my fear to good use, I went into the sitting room and collapsed into a chair. Ben and Callie followed, him looking ready to beat the truth out of me, her with a slight frown of uncertainty. I had to play to that, build up their doubt so that they’d follow other possibilities. Possibilities I would bring up.

“I went to see her, yes. Of course I did. I loved her, same as you. More so, I’m sure. After I left her on that slab of ice, I returned here and went to bed, and I’ve not left the house since.”

“It had to be you. Who else would do it?”

I waved my hands around the room. “What, you believe I’ve got her hidden in the house? That I’d bring a corpse here? For what purpose? And how would I do that without being seen? Did I walk across town with a dead woman on my shoulders?”

Ben opened his mouth to speak, but Callie interrupted. “His words make sense, brother. Perhaps there’s another explanation.”

Callie regarded me with a strange look in her eye. Not suspicion but something else, almost as if she were the one keeping a secret.

“You just want to believe his story because you fancy him.” Ben’s accusation brought color to her cheeks but to her credit she didn’t back down. Seeing the distress he’d caused his sister, Ben took a deep breath, and when he spoke next his voice had lost a good deal of its former rage.

“Well, if you didn’t take her, who did?”

I pretended to think, while silently thanking the gods for him giving me the opening I needed.

“Perhaps, with everything that has been happening recently, the grave robbings and such, some sick person thought to—”

Crash!

All three of us looked up at the sound of glass breaking in the room above us.

“Someone else is here.” Ben started for the hallway and I leaped up.

“Wait!”

He paid no heed and pounded up the stairs. I followed, with Callie behind me.

“Mother of God.”

I was three steps from the top when Ben’s startled cry told me Flora hadn’t hidden herself as I’d prayed she would. I entered the bedroom and found Ben and Flora equally pale and wide-eyed as they stared at each other.

“I can explain,” I began, but Callie gasped and clutched my arm.

“She’s alive! It’s a miracle!”

“No, it’s blasphemy.” Ben pointed at Flora. “She’s a demon, like the ones that attacked us.”

Ben raised his walking stick and I pulled free from Callie’s nails to step in front of Flora.

“No! Callie is right, it’s truly a miracle. She’s as alive as you or I, I swear on my own soul. I can explain everything. Hear me out before you make a terrible mistake.”

Things might have gone horribly wrong except that Flora chose that moment to speak.

“Ben Olmstead, are you threatening me? You know damn well I’ll put foot to arse if you so much as try to lay a finger on me or Henry. Now put that cane down and listen to what he has to say.”

With my back to her, I could have sworn it was the Flora of old. I pictured her eyes afire and ready to back up her sharp tongue with physical violence. The words had the desired effect, giving Ben pause.

“Is this more witchery?” he asked, his eyes narrowed.

“Not the kind you’re thinking,” I answered. “But whether science or sorcery or God’s grace, it’s truly Flora who stands before you.”

“Perhaps we’d all best sit down,” Callie said, pushing me out of the way and taking up a sheet to wrap around Flora’s body. Shame brought heat to my face as I realized she only wore the nightshirt I’d given her. Even a schoolchild could infer what had happened between us. I saw the color rise in Ben’s cheeks as he comprehended the situation as well.

“Let’s retire to the study,” I said. “I’ve got brandy, and I’ll explain everything.”

“Go.” Callie motioned us out. “We’ll be down momentarily.”

She meant to dress Flora more properly, and I gave her a nod of thanks before ushering Ben down the stairs. By the time Callie and Flora – now clothed in one of my shirts and a pair of ill-fitting trousers – joined us, I’d already poured four glasses and taken a seat on the couch. Flora joined me, sitting close enough that our shoulders and legs touched, a fact that didn’t go unnoticed by our unwanted visitors. Ben’s scowl grew deeper, until his eyes nearly disappeared. Callie, on the other hand, favored us with a pleased smile, not the reaction I expected from her.

I launched into my sordid tale without any preamble, knowing Ben’s notoriously limited patience. When I got to the part about encountering the demon creature in the caverns, Callie gasped and held both hands over her mouth. Ben made as if to get up and then sank back into his chair while I described the struggle to obtain the otherworldly fluids I needed to return Flora’s life to her. For her part, Flora merely stared at me with raised brows, showing no sign of wrath for my previous falsehood regarding her condition.

As I spoke, my mind raced ahead of my words, selecting and discarding things to say so that I might portray my wicked actions in the best light. And in the midst of my despair and worry that I’d never convince Ben to keep our secret, I hit upon an idea so outlandish, so unbelievable, it might just work.

“You have to understand,” I pleaded. “As evil as my father was, this creature was not the hell-spawn he believed it to be.”

“What?” This time Ben leaped to his feet. “How can you say that? Just hearing your description tells me the opposite is true. It infected the dead with its vile progeny, turned them into bloody monsters.”

“Yes, it did,” I agreed, and that stopped Ben in his tracks. “But think on this: does not a fly do the same to a cow, laying its eggs in the flesh so they can consume it when the maggots hatch? Does not a leech attach itself to your skin and feast on your blood? And yet these awful creatures can also be used for good. Maggots eat decayed flesh from wounds, leeches heal bruises and swellings. How many of our medicines come from toxic plants? Penicillin comes from bread mold.”

“None of them create monsters.”

“No, but used incorrectly, left to their own devices, they can injure and kill. What I’m trying to say is, curatives can be found in the most unusual of places. And this creature, this terrible beast, is not a demon. Rather, it is a form of life humans have never before encountered, because it came from the stars. Its eggs are deadly inside the human body. But its blood…it has amazing regenerative powers. Think how a lizard will regrow its own tail. This is a thousand times beyond that. Something in that alien fluid can cause a heart to beat again, the brain to think again. It’s not evil, it’s a miracle of science.”

Ben started to object, but Callie put a hand on his arm. “Brother, if what he says is true, then Flora really has returned to us. You can’t consider hurting her.”

“It is true,” Flora said. “I’m right here, good as new. Look.” She held her arm up, showing the pale scar that was the only sign of her former injury. “I’m healed. Thanks to Henry.”

She took my hand in hers and squeezed it. I returned the gesture.

“I still think it’s an affront to God.” Ben shook his head. “Man shouldn’t have the power over life and death.”

“Really?” I asked. “Isn’t that what physicians do in hospitals all the time, with their medicines and their surgeries? Try to prevent death? What purpose do doctors have if not to keep people from dying? I’ve merely succeeded at the one thing where all others failed.”

Ben scratched at his thick beard. He wore a different scowl now, one that indicated he was thinking hard on what he’d heard. The weight of my gun against my leg reminded me that if he decided to come at me with his cane, or run outside to call the police, I still had a solution, although I was loath to use it.

“How is this possible—” he gestured at Flora, “—without deviltry? The Lord doesn’t work this way.”

“Who are we to know that?” Callie asked, firmly in my camp now. “People have spoken of miracles throughout the ages.”

“Exactly.” I leaned forward, focusing my gaze on Ben. “I don’t pretend to understand what’s happened. Magic, medicine, or God’s favor, it doesn’t matter to me. I’m simply grateful to have her back and I don’t intend to let anyone take her away again. Not you, not the police, not the small-minded people of Innsmouth. That’s why we’re leaving.”

“Leaving?” Callie started as if poked. “But where will you go?”

“Away from here. Someplace we can commence a new life together. Out west, perhaps.”

“And you’re fine with this?” Ben turned his attention to Flora. “Leaving behind all that you know.”

“I am,” she said, and my heart soared. “As long as Henry and I are together, that’s all that matters.”

Ben’s face grew red again, but for a different reason. The game we’d played for so long had reached its conclusion, the decision cast in my favor. Callie did a better job of hiding her regret, only a narrowing of her eyes giving away her distress.

Seeing them that way, my oldest friend and the woman who might well have been my wife had it not been for Flora, I experienced a tug at my heart that I hadn’t expected. That is my only explanation for the words that escaped me next.

“You can come with us, if you wish. But we leave today.”

“No.” Ben spoke as if I’d asked him to cut off his own legs. “I won’t be party to your insanity.”

“I’ll go.”

“What?” Ben turned sharply to face his sister. “You’re considering this madness?”

Callie shook her head. “Not considering it. I’ve made up my mind. I will accompany them.”

“You can’t. I forbid it.”

“You don’t own me, brother. I am an independent woman, with my own money.” She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders, the Miskatonic brooch on her chest glinting in the lamplight, a subtle reminder to me of all she’d be giving up if she joined us. Her expression acquired a defiant cast I’d never seen on her before. “Henry and Flora are like family, the only family we have left. They’ll need my help. Besides, what if those things Henry encountered aren’t dead? Could you really ever sleep soundly in Innsmouth again knowing what lies beneath the streets?”

“You’ve all lost your minds.” Ben stared at each of us in turn. “How can you consider this?”

“How can you not?” Callie asked.

“My friends, Flora and I have no choice in the matter. The council will drive us out of town or hang us the moment they find out what I’ve done. You two, though, you have jobs and you have each other. If you choose to stay, I don’t hold it against you.”

Secretly, I hoped they would remain behind. I didn’t need Ben around, for he’d either eventually want Flora for his own or act on his belief she was an abomination. And Callie…it was obvious why she wanted to come, why she was willing to leave her position at the university. She still pined for me. And that, too, would only lead to trouble at some later time.

I stood up, and Flora rose with me, still holding my hand. “Our decision is made. We’re leaving tonight. If you’re coming, you need to pack. If not, this is where we bid you farewell.”

To my surprise, Ben heaved himself out of his chair, a broad grin on his face.

“Well, I guess I’m daft as a bedbug as well. I can’t let the three of you go off on some wild adventure without me.”

Callie clapped her hands and lifted her glass.

“To adventure.”