The Paid Companion | Herophine

Chapter Thirty Seven

Hero

Hero jumped out of the carriage before it had come to a full stop in Rain Street and went up the steps.

“Do not put the horses away,” he called to Jenks over his shoulder. “We have another call to make this afternoon.”

“Aye, sir.”

The door opened before Hero reached it. Ned stood in the opening, his face stark with dread.

“Ye got my message, then, sir?”

“Yes.” Hero moved impatiently into the hall. “I was still at Parker’s address when the boy found me and said that there was a matter of great urgency. What is it? I have another call I want to make today and I do not want to waste time.”

He saw Sally standing in the hall behind Ned. The stricken look on her face made his stomach knot.

“Where is Miss Langford?” he rasped.

Sally handed him a sealed letter and started to cry.

“He threatened to cut my throat if she tried to run away or call for help,” Sally said through her tears. “And he would have done it. I saw his eyes, sir. They weren’t human.”

Josephine

“It is true that my grandfather failed in his attempt to complete Jove’s Thunderbolt,” Parker founded against the workbench, arms folded. “But the fault lay in his instruments, not in the old alchemist’s instructions.”

“What do you mean?” Josephine asked, trying to sound genuinely curious. She edged closer to the workbench, as though intrigued by the strange machine. Parker was eager to talk about the device and his own genius. He had assumed the air of a lecturer.

“The directions in the old lapidary call for using a cold fire to excite the energy sealed in the heart of the three stones,” Parker said. “That was the great stumbling block. My grandfather reported in his journal that he tried heating the gems in several different ways but nothing worked. Nor could he decide what was meant by a cold fire. He was conducting researches into the production of a suitably powerful heat source when he was killed in that explosion.”

Josephine stopped on the other side of the table, pretending to study the device. “You believe that you have found the answer?”

“Yes.” Parker’s face lit as though with passion. “Once I had read my grandfather’s journals and considered the instructions in the lapidary in the light of modern science, I understood at last what could be used to apply a cold fire to the gems.”

“What is it?”

Parker caressed the device. “Why, an electricity machine, of course.”

Hero

Hero ignored the distraught butler who was attempting to announce him and walked swiftly into the study.

“Parker has kidnapped Josephine,” he said.

“No.” Lady Wilmington rose quickly from the chair behind the writing desk. “No, that cannot be possible.”

“He escaped from that private asylum where you sent him.”

“Dear heaven.” Lady Wilmington sank back down onto her chair, stricken. “No one sent word that he was gone. I swear it.”

“I believe you. No doubt they have not told you yet because they are hoping to find Parker before you learn that he escaped. After all, you are a very wealthy client. The proprietors of the asylum would not want you to take your business elsewhere.”