Chapter Two #2
Five people sit around it—six when Mr. Parsons takes his seat.
He’s beside a woman in her early thirties, dressed in a gown that is dark but not mourning wear.
On her other side is a younger man with shaggy brown hair and a broad mustache, and he bears enough resemblance to the woman for me to surmise they’re related.
Next to him is a young woman, maybe in her twenties, who seems lost in thought.
The last is an older, well-dressed gentleman who sits next to Lady Adler.
Gray is speaking to him now, which suggests he’s Lord Adler.
He looks uncomfortable, as if he’s embarrassed to be here.
Huh.
I don’t see anything untoward about the gathering. It’s a little odd, with the darkened windows and the candles and the black tablecloth and—
Holy shit.
Did we just walk into a séance?
I try to catch Gray’s eye, but he’s focused on Lord and Lady Adler. And the more I think about it, the less certain I am. Why would anyone summon Gray to a séance?
Isla and I share a love of the macabre, including things like spiritualism, and so I know we’re right at the rise of it in the UK.
It’s much bigger in America, but it’s growing here, led in part by the fact that the Queen herself believes in it.
After her husband died, in 1861, Victoria started contacting him via a thirteen-year-old medium.
She continues to do so, allegedly seeking Albert’s advice that way.
And anything that catches the interest of the Queen catches the interest of her country.
As much as Gray would hate me saying it, part of the popularity of séances comes from the explosion of science.
So many new discoveries are being made, seemingly every day, that people’s minds are being opened to all possibilities.
If we can now communicate by the “magic” of telegraph, does it really seem so impossible to reach into the beyond and communicate with the dead?
It isn’t just spiritualism that gets a boost. Many of the paranormal sciences saw their start in the Victorian era.
Another thing that fascinates me about the rise of spiritualism is that it happened in parallel with the rise in women’s rights.
Mediumship is a female-dominated profession.
We’re considered more in touch with our spiritual side, and so in this one arena, we can dominate and even be considered the “superior” sex.
It’s a very small arena, to be sure, but it’s something, including a place in the “sciences” where women can establish themselves.
While I know there is no such thing as ghosts, I’m still fascinated. Gray is not, which is why I really hope that’s not what this is.
I remind myself that darkened windows, a black tablecloth, and candlelight could also indicate someone has died, probably a relative of the others sitting with the Adlers. Their clothing suggests they are upper middle class.
Gray said that Lady Adler is heavily involved in charity alongside Isla.
Not that these guests require charity—their clothing says they do not—but they might work with her in that area.
She would be something of a patron to them as well, maybe to one of the women.
They’ve had a sudden tragedy, like the death of a child, and they’ve come to Lady Adler, in their grief and confusion.
She has said she knows just the person to help and summoned Gray.
That would explain the one man looking solemn. It doesn’t explain Lady Adler’s excitement and her husband’s discomfort.
“You are in need of my services?” Gray says, having finished the small talk.
“We are indeed,” Lady Adler says. “Desperately.”
“There has been a death?”
She nods vigorously. “My maid, Nellie.”
“I am so sorry to hear that,” Gray says, without missing a beat, though I know his mind will be whirring to make sense of this.
Summoning an undertaker because a maid has died?
It would be unusual to summon him at this hour even for a family member.
Still, that could explain Lord Adler’s embarrassment, if his wife insisted on calling in Gray for a “mere” maid.
“I presume you need arrangements made?” he says.
“Oh no. Not yet. We don’t even have a body to bury, poor child.”
“You do not have…” He trails off and then clears his throat. “Tell me what I can do, Lady Adler.”
“Find the monster who has murdered her.”
Here Gray’s composure finally slips. “Find…?”
“Her killer. That is what you do, is it not? My daughter has told me all about your grand adventures. She reads every installment. She says you are a great detective.”
“I…” Gray clears his throat. “That is very flattering, but I fear the chronicles of my adventures are written for entertainment. While I do assist, it is the police who solve murders. My friend Hugh McCreadie is a criminal officer, and as your daughter will know, he features heavily in those stories. Please, allow me to summon him.”
“But she asked for you.”
“Your daughter?” he says.
“No, Nellie. She asked for you by name. Not but an hour ago. Right here. In this room.”
“I … I do not understand.”
“Her spirit,” says the woman at the other end of the table, her voice so soft it barely carries to us.
“Her … spirit.”
“Yes,” Lady Adler says. “Madame Paix was trying to contact a dear friend of mine who passed recently, but instead, it was Nellie who responded. And she was very clear.” Lady Adler peers down the table. “What did she say, Madame Paix?”
“‘I have been murdered,’” the woman says in that same soft voice. “‘Tell Dr. Duncan Gray that he must find my killer.’”