CHAPTER THIRTY
EVE WAS BACK IN HER SUITE. HER MEETING WITH MARGARET Michaels had gone better than any of their earlier appointments. They had talked about death, this time in a far less general manner. Eve had asked questions about Margaret’s husband, asked if John had visited her at any time after he’d died.
Mrs. Michaels, a tiny, prim, silver-haired woman, looked astonished by the question but clearly intrigued.
“It’s something that’s commonly reported by widows,” Eve continued, having done some research after their last meeting. Though she hadn’t intended to mention it to Margaret, after last night, her attitude had changed.
Margaret’s fair complexion colored to a soft shade of rose. “If you want the truth, there I times I can feel him. It’s like my John is lying right there in our bed, curled by my side the way he did for nearly fifty years. I know it’s only my imagination, but it feels so real, and it comforts me.”
Eve reached across the table and took Margaret’s hand. “Other women have reported the same kinds of things. I think when the time is right and John knows you’re going to be okay, he’ll go on to where he’s meant to be.”
Margaret gave her a watery smile. “I knew when I picked you, I picked the right person. Thank you so much for saying that.”
Eve just nodded and smiled, but a feeling of rightness settled over her. The rest of the hour was relaxed, the conversation light and hopeful. Margaret’s shoulders seemed straighter when she left the café, and Eve felt as if she had done her job.
Back in her suite, she changed into more casual clothes: stretch jeans, a long-sleeve jade-green velour, and flat-heeled boots. Weather at the beach was still chilly. More storms were predicted, but no rain was expected today. Ran had mentioned a drive along the shore, and she was excited to escape her worries for a while.
At the sound of a firm knock, she hurried across the room. But instead of Ran, when she pulled open the door, Detective Inspector Daniel Balfour stood in the hallway.
“I have some news I thought you’d want to hear.” His British accent matched the tweed jacket he usually wore, today with a pair of jeans instead of slacks. She wondered if he was off duty.
“Of course, please come in.”
He stepped into the suite, a handsome man with his thick brown hair and dark brown eyes.
“I have soft drinks in the fridge. Would you like something?”
“I wish I could, but I don’t have time. I just wanted you to know they identified the man whose body was found in the tunnel.”
Since he seemed to be in a hurry, she didn’t invite him to sit down. “Tell me about him.”
“His name was Asif Rahim. He was an immigrant, twenty-three at the time of his death. He was arrested three years ago on a burglary charge but was released. That’s why we have his DNA. Rahim was known to run with a group of young men called the East End Boys. Most of them have been arrested. Charges ranged from burglary to assault, even attempted murder. They may be the men your security guard saw at the old asylum. Of course, there’s no way to know for sure.”
“Do you think they killed Asif Rahim?”
“These men are violent. If Rahim did something the rest of the gang didn’t like, there’s a very good possibility.”
“What will you do now?”
“We’ll continue our investigation. And we’re following up on the incident at the orphanage. Unfortunately, we don’t have much to go on. If Tanner remembers anything else, be sure to have him contact us. That goes for King as well.”
Eve just nodded. “I appreciate you coming here to tell me.”
The detective shrugged a set of wide shoulders. “Rahim was found in the tunnel under your house—or near enough. I figured you deserved to know.”
Eve walked him to the door.
Detective Balfour turned to her as she pulled it open. “So you and King . . . you’re together?”
Were they? Not really. “We’re friends. He lives in Seattle. I live in England. That isn’t going to change.”
A smile broke over his face. “Then I hope you’ll call me Daniel. With luck, maybe our paths will cross again.”
Eve managed to return the smile. “If it happens, I hope it isn’t official police business.”
His smile widened. He was a very attractive man. “So do I.” Walking past her, he headed out into the hall.
Eve had just started to close the door when she spotted Ran striding down the corridor, passing the detective on his way. Neither man paused to say hello. Ran was frowning when he walked into her suite. Even with the dark look on his face, her breath caught, her mind flashing back to the morning they had spent together in bed.
She forced the embarrassing thought away. “You don’t have to look like that. Detective Balfour only stopped by to let me know they’ve identified the man we found in the tunnel.” She went on to tell him about Asif Rahim and the East End Boys, surmising that they were the gang involved in killing the man, perhaps the same group who had kidnapped Anya.
“Sounds like the police are making progress.”
“Detective Balfour said if you or Zane thought of anything that might be useful to please give him a call.”
“I’ll give it some thought.”
She knew Ran’s first concern was for Anya and her mother. Their safety had to come first.
Ran’s cell phone rang just then, putting an end to the conversation. He pulled the phone out of his jeans pocket and looked down at the screen.
“It’s Zane.” He listened for a moment, then turned and walked a few feet away. He returned when the call was over. “Zane wants to talk to me.” She could read the turbulence that had turned his eyes a darker shade of blue. “He asked if we could speak privately. We’re meeting in my suite. I’ll be back as soon as we’ve finished.”
Eve didn’t ask what the meeting was about. There was something grim in his features that said he wouldn’t tell her if she asked.
As Ran walked out the door, a sliver of ice slid down her spine.
* * *
Ran was pacing the living room when the knock came at the door. It had been only minutes since Zane’s phone call. He had found the information they were looking for, Zane said. He needed to speak to Ran in person and requested Eve not be included.
The grim note in Zane’s voice put Ran on alert. He walked over and opened the door to find Katie, Jesse, and Zane all standing in the hallway. He had never seen darker looks on three people’s faces.
His worry kicked up a notch. “Come on in.”
They walked inside and Ran closed the door. No one said a word.
“That bad?” he asked.
“Worse,” Zane said. He was carrying a folder tucked under his arm. It was thick with sheets of copy paper. Apparently, there was a lot of information. Ran’s stomach knotted.
“We figured you’d want to be the one to tell Eve. We haven’t told Violet yet. We thought the women would take it the hardest, especially Eve.”
“Sweet God, what is it?”
Zane passed the file to Ran. “This is what we’ve found so far. There’s a lot more out there. When it happened, the story was in newspapers all over the country.”
“But that was a hundred and forty years ago,” Katie added. “At the time it was considered the greatest tragedy in the history of Britain.”
Ran frowned. “So it happened right here in the area.”
Zane nodded. “I think the people who lived around here were consumed by it for decades afterward. All of their lives were affected. They just wanted to forget it. Make it go away.”
“I guess that’s why they don’t talk about it anymore,” Jesse said. “Even now, it’s still too painful.”
Ran carried the file over to the sofa, sat down, and opened it in his lap. His stomach churned as he read the headlines.
Victoria Hall Disaster
On June 16, 1883, at the Victoria Hall in Sunderland, England, a massive stampede for free toys caused 183 children to be crushed to death.
The last words rang in his head. 183 children. Crushed to death. Ran closed his eyes. The file trembled in his hands.
No words broke the silence. None of them moved. Ran reopened the file and forced himself to keep reading.
On a summer afternoon in June, laughter turned to screams in a tragedy that broke the hearts of people across the nation.
The paper went on to describe Victoria Hall, a large Gothic brick structure seating 2,500 people, in three tiers of seating. Located on Toward and Laurel Street, it was used for public meetings and entertainment.
On that Saturday, the Hall was offering a pair of entertainers called The Fays in a special children’s matinee performance. There was a chance for presents, too.
Ran could feel every beat of his heart.
Alexander Fay was a magician and illusionist. Annie Fay gave what was called Spiritual Entertainment, which included demonstrations of clairvoyance, seances, and strange manifestations. One of their most popular acts was the Great Ghost Illusion.
Toward the end of the performance, the children began to rush down a narrow staircase to collect the toys they had been promised, but the door at the end had been bolted. They began to fall, one of top of the other . . .
Ran closed the folder, nausea roiling in his stomach. He took a deep breath to collect himself.
“The date of the newspaper is June 30th,” Zane said. “I put that one on top. The articles written in the days right after it happened. . .” He shook his head. “They give firsthand accounts by the children who survived. There are drawings, etchings of what it looked like inside the stairwell where it occurred. The pictures are horrifying, Ran, the articles are too awful to describe. I wanted to give you a chance to understand what happened before . . . before you had to deal with the details.”
“It’s bad, Ran,” Jesse added. “Little kids, ages from three to thirteen. What they suffered, it’s one of the worst tragedies I’ve ever heard of.”
Ran took another breath and let it out slowly. “I’ll read the file. Violet needs to know. I’ll have to find a way to tell Eve.”
He didn’t want to imagine what it would do to Eve to find out the terrible way Wally and the other children had died. And not just 13 of them, but 183.
Ran scrubbed a hand over his face. His chest felt like a bulldozer sat on top of it. He thought of the death of his own wife and child, and fresh grief rolled through him. He closed his eyes, trying to block the memory. At least their deaths had been mercifully quick.
“I can talk to Violet,” Katie offered softly.
He glanced over to where she stood, her fingers curled into her palms. “You sure?”
“Violet understands this stuff better than the rest of us. Except, I guess, for Father Luke.”
Ran’s gaze drifted over the three of them. “I’ll speak to Eve. I think it might be good to have Luke there.”
Katie’s features darkened with concern. She knew him, knew what had happened to his family, perhaps understood how strongly this affected him.
“That’s a good idea,” she said. “Luke always seems to know what to say.”
Zane shifted. “There’s so much information in those newspapers. There was an inquest to find out who was responsible. Two inquests, in fact. It’s all in there.”
Ran nodded. “I’ll need some time to go over it.”
Jesse rubbed a hand over his dark face. “After what we saw last night at Eve’s place, there’s one thing about this that stands out.”
Ran rose to his feet, the folder gripped firmly in his hand. “What’s that?”
“The Fays. They were dabbling in the occult. Seances, magic, the Great Ghost Illusion. Now, some kind of evil spirit has the souls of those poor dead kids trapped in the orphanage.”
“Fay,” Ran repeated. “One of the voices Eve heard in the hall that first night said a word that sounded like Kay or Hay. It could have been Fay.”
“I bet you’re right,” Jesse said. “Another word was accident. Fact is, he was one of the people responsible. Maybe he’s still here, too.”
Ran mentally logged the information. “What proof do we have that the orphans were actually in Victoria Hall?”
“Aside from their injuries?” Zane said. “What else could have happened to them on that same day?”
“Good point.”
“I’m still digging,” Zane said. “I may find something more tangible.”
Ran nodded. “We’ll go over all of it later. I’m going to postpone the trip to the asylum. Eve’s going to need some time to deal with this.”
“The three of us talked about it,” Katie said. “Whenever you decide to go, we’re going with you.”
“We’re all in this together,” Jesse put in.
“You’ll need someone on the outside,” Zane added.
“Jesse and I both have a few extra pieces of handheld equipment,” Katie said. “We might be able to document something.”
“Even if we don’t, it doesn’t matter,” Jesse finished. “As long as we help those kids.”
Something warm filtered through him. They were a team. Team members stuck together. Ran was proud of them. “All right, we’ll tackle the problem together. I’ll keep you posted as things move along.”
Zane, Jesse, and Katie turned and walked out of the suite. File still gripped in his hand, dreading to read the articles, Ran returned to the sofa.