THE GREEN FAIRY was gathering herself in the bottom of my glass when the doorbell rang.
‘Who on earth could that be at this hour?’ I wondered aloud.
Shall I go and look? Hefty offered, though he could not possibly do so without my presence. He was being much more obliging since I had allowed him to speak again, though he had yet to apologise for naming me as his primary suspect in The Woman on the Train Disappears.
Stay with me, my absinthe whispered seductively.
Agnust had gone to bed early and Gerrund had retired twenty minutes ago. He would probably still be cleaning his teeth – a prolonged ritual for him since he had adopted a peculiar habit of working a silk thread between them, though heaven only knew what damage that would do to his gums.
I was rising from my chair as the last few drops fell through the corroded remnants of the sugar lump, when the door opened and Gerrund appeared in a rather gorgeous long silk dressing gown, gold with a black floral motif and blue velvet cuffs. Only a few inches of his blue silk pyjama trousers were visible below the hem.
His night attire is more expensive than yours, Ruby observed.
He plays a better game of brag, I told her.
‘Would you like me to answer that, milady?’ he asked while Ruby stifled a laugh.
She had just noticed the cream that he had applied under each eye to ward off wrinkles.
‘Perhaps you could stand in the background,’ I suggested, not wishing him and, by proxy, me to be subject to ridicule.
Gerrund followed me out into the hall.
Keep the chain on, Hefty advised for, if Marianne Crane had followed his advice, she might be on the earth rather than in it.
I had intended to take that precaution anyway, but a contrary part of me was inclined not to.
Fling the door wide open, Ruby egged me on.
When a sixteen stone, axe-wielding, grudge-bearing Albanian had burst into her mansion she had felled him with a secret blow shown her by her Red Indian guide for warding off grizzly bear attacks. Unfortunately Grey Wolf had not taught me that technique, so I kept the chain on while I peered out. There in the yellow glow of the gaslight, stood the tall, forbidding bulk of Wormwood.
‘I am sorry to disturb you at such a late hour,’ he began and, before Gerrund could tell him that he should be, I stepped back.
One glance at his face told me that he had not come to make trouble but to report it.
‘You had better come in,’ I said, half-closing the door to slip off the chain.
‘And no funny…’ Gerrund began before he too caught Wormwood’s grim expression.
Wormwood removed his bowler and we went into the front sitting room where I flicked the light on. The brass toggle was supposed to be hot. Mr Poplar the electrician had told me so. Electrons are like tiny flames, he had explained, which is how they make the element in the bulb glow. If so, Rommy’s switches were seriously faulty for they were always cool though his lights worked as well as mine.
‘Take a seat,’ I indicated but he remained standing, staring at the window though the curtains were closed.
‘I shall not take up much of your time,’ he promised as I went to stand facing him side on.
Not bad, Ruby assessed his profile. I’ll wager there is at least a drop of noble blood coursing through those veins.
We both knew that many a maid had fallen for the lovesick son of her aristocratic master only to find that he had gone off the idea of marrying her when she was with child.
‘I just wanted to say a few things,’ Wormwood continued and ran a hand back through his hair. Could it really have become greyer since I saw him last?
It is the light, Ruby explained. Electricity shows every one of one’s flaws.
She was very proud of her almost perfect skin, though not in the least part grateful for my giving it to her.
‘My mistress, Mrs Poynder, passed away this evening,’ Wormwood announced.
‘I am sorry,’ I said and Gerrund murmured something about God resting her soul.
‘She is at peace now,’ Wormwood said. ‘It was a blessed release after all…’ he swallowed, ‘her sufferings.’ He patted his pockets like men do when they are looking for their matches, but I suspected that he had no reason for performing the action other than it being something to do. ‘I am just on my way back from Thackery’s the undertakers.’
From the strong smell of spirits I judged that he had stopped for a stiffener on the way – the Splendid would still be open – and I could not blame him.
‘They were closed of course and I had to go to Mr Thackery’s house.’ Wormwood slipped his hands into his trouser pockets but pulled them straight out again, it being far too casual a pose for a man of his station in the presence of a woman of my station. ‘My master is anxious to have her made more presentable as soon as possible.’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘How is Dr Poynder holding up?’ I asked and he tapped his pockets again.
‘I think he feels guilty,’ he said and I stiffened but he elaborated immediately, ‘because he cannot truly mourn her death when it has released her from her sufferings.’
He pinched the bridge of his nose.
‘That is understandable.’ I nodded. ‘Would you like a brandy?’
Wormwood raised a hand.
‘No thank you, milady. I must get back to Haglin House. I wanted to apologise for what I did to you,’ he said, his troubled eyes flicking to check my response.
‘You were protecting your mistress,’ I excused him.
And he saved your life by shutting the lid so quickly, Hefty pointed out.
It would not have been in danger had he not forced you back into the ottoman, Ruby argued.
Wormwood nodded gratefully.
‘I wonder if I could trespass on your kindness,’ he said.
You are doing so already, Ruby told him as he delved into a waistcoat pocket again, but this time produced a small oval gold locket scrolled in leaves and handed it to me.
I pressed the catch and it sprang open to reveal a dark lock of hair in the left-hand compartment and a miniature photographic portrait of Martha in the other.
‘I do not think that my master would wish to keep this,’ Wormwood said.
‘I know he was angry with Mrs Ryan,’ I agreed, ‘but she was trying to help the friend that she loved.’
I imagined, with dread, how she would receive the news and resolved to call upon her first thing before she could see an announcement in the newspaper.
‘I understand that,’ he nodded, ‘but my master felt frustrated in his attempts to protect his wife. He did not know…’ Wormwood swallowed. ‘Those things… a demon got inside her, but it left her in her last hours and she became my own sweet mistress again.’ He looked at the ceiling and I glanced automatically up as well. Agnust always claimed to be busy but a spider had been busier. ‘She had no recollection of what the monster had made her do and I shall be grateful to you all my life that you allowed her to leave this world in peace.’
I clicked the locket shut. Martha had been speaking the truth when she said it was nothing like as expensive as the one she had received, but it would still have cost a few guineas. On the back was engraved To my dearest friend Dolly with love from T.
‘I shall give this back to Mrs Ryan,’ I assured him.
‘Thank you.’ Wormwood said and peered more closely at my man.
‘What’s that white stuff on your face?’ he sniffed suspiciously.
‘Pearson’s Cold Cream,’ Gerrund replied unabashed. ‘It stops me getting bags under my eyes.’
‘Pearson’s,’ Wormwood sneered, for surely real men in his world never used cosmetic products. ‘Try Haverstock’s Night Lotion. It’s a bit less greasy and much more refreshing.’ Wormwood picked up his hat. ‘I’ll send you a pot,’ he promised and shuffled his feet. ‘Poor Dr Poynder. I don’t suppose he imagined he would have to go through all this again,’ he sighed and was gone into the night.
Gerrund went to bed shortly after that and I returned to my green fairy.
I am not a fairy, she claimed, I am a nymph – Calypso, the seductress. She sighed, yearning for the love that she had lost. They say I drive men mad, but I say I help them find the madness that is in them all.
That is nothing to be proud of, Hefty informed her primly, but Calypso laughed and lowered her eyes alluringly.
Lord you must be desperate, Ruby commented, but the green fairy made no response for she had disappeared and was coursing through my veins.
‘Damn you,’ I said aloud but to nobody in that room or even in my head, and slammed down the glass.
Martha took the news much better than I expected, her hands not even shaking as she loaded her cigarette holder.
The human brain copes with sudden shocks by sheathing itself in a cushion of denial, Doctor Heinrich Heimhock, the eminent psychiatrist – i.e. quack, Ruby opined – pronounced gravely as I poured Martha another sherry. He had no business at all in my brain for I had not fully imagined him yet. The feminine brain is a confusion caused by its inability to override emotion with logic, he continued, polishing his eyeglasses with an enormous white handkerchief and I resolved to unimagine him at the earliest opportunity.
Martha flipped open her locket and half-smiled at some remembrance.
‘Why did Dolores call you T?’ I asked, not that it mattered.
All facts matter, Hefty lectured me sternly. Remember how I caught the Chessman of Chester by calculating that the king’s pawn was one thousandth of an inch taller than its fellows because he had coated it with curare?
Martha breathed smoke.
‘It was just a silly joke,’ she explained. ‘Dolly called me Tich.’
‘You are not especially small,’ I remarked and she waved her Little Queen.
‘I am compared to her,’ she assured me. ‘Why Dolly is… was nearly as tall as Edward.’
Was she by Jupiter? Hefty exclaimed.
You never told me that, Ruby complained.
I only ever saw her in bed, I protested.
And outside St Etheldreda’s, Hefty reminded me.
Yes, but she was surrounded by a family of giants then and bent over. I thought she was looking for something but she was probably stooped by illness.
And when she tried to stab you, Ruby pointed out.
I was too preoccupied with not wanting to die to assess her stature, I objected.
One should always assess the stature of everyone and everything, Hefty preached, thumbs tucked smugly into his waistcoat pockets. Remember how I caught the Chess…
But, at that moment, a shot rang out. Well, I had to do something to distract them before their distractions drove me to distraction.