Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
When Phoebe and Lady Wynwood had been called away so suddenly, Keriah had been filled with dread. One look at Aya’s expression had informed her that the maid felt the same.
Her emotions distracted her as she was mixing a new recipe of the sedative paste, causing her to pour too much henbane into the mixture. When she realized what she had done, she looked down at the bowl and cried out in dismay.
“Did you hurt yourself, Miss Keriah?” Aya asked as she entered the kitchen.
“I am well.” Keriah frowned at the bowl, her mind racing. The extra henbane, combined with the other ingredients, would cause this soft paste to harden quickly into a stiff, slightly sticky block. “I have quite ruined this recipe.”
“Can this not be used on daggers?”
“No. Once applied, it will become hard and coat the blade like a sheath. When stabbing a man, a full minute would be required for the coating to dissolve and enter his body.”
“How do you know this, Miss Keriah? I’ve never heard of you making this recipe before.
” Aya had not helped Keriah with making sedatives quite as often as Phoebe, but she had been invaluable in helping to procure the ingredients.
While Keriah could have bought them herself, it had been convenient to send Aya out shopping while she and Phoebe worked in the stillroom.
“I have made something similar before, when I was testing different recipes at Stapytton House.” The stiffness of the henbane mixture not only made it difficult to dose a man, but when testing with mice that had been given the Goldensuit, she had discovered that it also had an unexpected effect.
Once the mice had been given even the tiniest amount of this sedative, they grew wild and violent, attacking their surroundings and any other mice in the vicinity.
But the effect only lasted a few seconds, a minute at most. The animal died from exertion.
It was far more dangerous than the other mixtures she had made, for any of Jack’s men who were stabbed would viciously attack everyone around him for a short time, perhaps as long as five minutes. In the midst of a fight, it would endanger the other team members.
Keriah’s family was not so wealthy that she would be uncaring of the cost of things, and her work with her surgeon uncle and with Dr. Shokes in the Long Glades had caused her to become more knowledgeable about the price of ingredients in the medicines she made.
The henbane she had just poured into the bowl had been quite expensive because Aya had bought it from Lady Nola, an herb woman who lived in Rasken Hill.
She had first heard of Lady Nola from the young hackney driver at the stable where Dr. Shokes worked.
He had said she was at Brannon Church, which was where Keriah sent Aya to look for her.
But the curate mentioned she no longer came to the church and graciously gave directions to Lady Nola’s home in Rasken Hill, where she treated her patients.
Aya managed to find her home after much searching and a substantial “tip” to a street urchin.
Lady Nola’s medicines were known to be exorbitantly expensive and only of dubious efficacy, but she had been most likely to have the ingredients on Keriah’s list. Unfortunately, she had charged twice as much as they were worth.
Keriah had not yet begun to mix the henbane with the other powders in the bowl, but even if she did nothing, it would start to harden in a few minutes, and it would be wasted.
It would be dangerous to stab a man, leaving the blade in the wound, and attempt to escape before the sedative had begun to work.
They also did not possess so many daggers as would be needed to use up all of the sedative.
Perhaps throwing knives? Phoebe owned but five of them, for she was not as proficient as Calvin and Clara.
Keriah suddenly realized the obvious solution. “Aya, quick! Bring me Phoebe’s arrows.”
She waited until Aya had returned before she began mixing the sedative. She was glad for the maid’s help as they coated each of the arrows, resting them on the small worktable with the tips hanging over the edge to dry.
Within an hour, the sedative had hardened, looking much like a slightly sticky veneer.
Another disadvantage of this particular recipe was that the sedative lost its potency within only a day or two. If Keriah was mistaken and nothing of note occurred within the next day, the henbane mixture would be wasted. But she felt it was more prudent to be prepared.
As she looked at the gleaming arrow tips, she asked herself, Prepared for what?
These arrows would mean certain death for anyone whom Phoebe targeted—a normal man would die from the overdose of henbane, and one of Jack’s men would become wild before dying from exhaustion.
And Phoebe could not use the arrows if any of their teammates were nearby, except perhaps Mr. Coulton-Jones and Phoebe herself.
Keriah and Aya were bundling the arrows back into Phoebe’s quiver when Mr. Drydale returned to the tannery. He looked exhausted.
“Where is Laura?” he asked.
“She and Phoebe left—” Keriah was interrupted by a firm knock on the door.
Mr. Drydale looked to Aya, who nodded at his unspoken request and stepped forward to open the door. He pulled Keriah back into the shadows of the hall.
However, his caution was unnecessary as they saw Mr. Verling framed in the doorway.
Mr. Drydale let out a relieved breath. “You brought her to her mother’s house?”
“Yes, sir.” Mr. Verling entered the small home. “Unfortunately, I lost my way and needed to ask for directions to the tannery, else I should have returned here an hour or two past.”
“Was Lady Aymer able to convince her mother to leave?”
Mr. Verling shook his head slightly. “Not during the half hour I was at the house. Mr. Rosmont sent me back here in the event you needed assistance, and to tell you that he will come when Mrs. Coulton-Jones does leave at last.”
It seemed everyone arrived at the same time, for they heard carriage wheels outside. Through the thin front door, Keriah heard Lady Wynwood say, “Phoebe, if you would be so good as to pay the driver?”
A young boy’s voice answered, “No need, miss.”
At first, Keriah thought it was Calvin’s voice, but then she realized the timbre was different. As Phoebe opened the front door of the house, Keriah saw the hackney driving away.
The wrinkles on her ladyship’s brow and the firm set of Phoebe’s mouth told Keriah that their meeting had been distressing.
As soon as Mr. Drydale saw their faces, he exclaimed, “Whatever has happened?”
“We must prepare to leave immediately.” Lady Wynwood caught sight of Mr. Verling and asked, “Has Mr. Coulton-Jones returned from his mother’s house?”
“No, he has not returned, but Lady Aymer will surely convince their mother to leave London.”
“It may not be until tomorrow morning,” her ladyship murmured. “That poses a problem.”
“Whyever is it a problem?” Mr. Drydale demanded.
“Miss Phoebe,” Aya said in a careful voice, “there are drops of blood on your dress.”
Phoebe had been unbuttoning her pelisse, but Keriah noticed nothing until Aya pointed it out. Looking closely, she could see tiny red dots sprayed across the fabric of her bodice.
Alarm shot through Keriah, and she quickly looked over the rest of Phoebe’s body for injuries, but found nothing. “Are you wounded?” she asked sharply.
“I am not wounded.” Phoebe held a hand out to reassure her. “The blood is not mine.”
Mr. Drydale’s face grew thunderous, but his voice was low-pitched, if tight, as he asked, “Whose blood is it?”
“Miss Phoebe, let us change your gown.” Aya firmly led Phoebe away while Lady Wynwood entered the small sitting room. Mr. Drydale, Mr. Verling, and Keriah trailed after her.
Keriah had no sooner closed the door behind her when Mr. Drydale demanded, “Laura, where have you been? What has happened?”
“If you will sit and be silent, I will tell you,” Lady Wynwood said with a touch of exasperation.
Keriah dropped down onto the sofa immediately, while Mr. Drydale grumbled under his breath as he lowered himself into a chair. Mr. Verling sat quietly next to Keriah on the sofa.
“The Senhora sent a note that it was imperative she see me immediately, and she asked that I bring Phoebe.”
His frown deepened. “Why would she wish to see Phoebe?”
“She suspected that spies from the Citadel had wormed their way into her house.”
Keriah almost forgot to breathe. The information about Bianca had come from the Senhora. If the Citadel knew she had told Lady Wynwood about his late lordship’s mistress …
“Phoebe was able to recognize him immediately by the smell of the Goldensuit,” her ladyship said. “It was the Senhora who dealt with him. Phoebe was unfortunately standing a little too close.”
There was a tremor to Lady Wynwood’s voice that made Keriah look more sharply at her face. She knew that her ladyship had undergone terrible pain and suffering at the hands of Maxham, Dr. Heddetch, and Jack. She had witnessed Jack killing Dr. Heddetch directly in front of her.
Her ladyship appeared to be shaken by what had occurred at Saffron House, and Keriah suspected it was because the man’s death had reminded her of her prior experience with Jack.
“Did Phoebe find all of them?” Mr. Drydale asked.
“Yes, as far as she can tell. Do allow me to start from the beginning, Sol.”
He reddened slightly, but nodded and sat back in his chair.
“The Senhora had instructed her most trusted girls to inform her if they heard any sort of rumor about Jack. Two crazed men, at two different times, had killed people in the Orario area, including three of the women who worked for her. The others knew that the Senhora suspected Jack and his Root potion had been the cause of the disturbance, and so they did not wonder at her request.”
“I know of those two incidents near Saffron House,” Mr. Drydale said somberly. “One man killed twenty people, while the other killed fifteen.”