Chapter Eleven
I saw the rest of the company and Doctor Mac off the next morning with as much calm as I could muster. I wanted badly to be along on the company’s first promise of real action. And I was more than a little conflicted by the prospect of another encounter with Visha Kanya. The time dragged on until the clock struck a quarter to eleven as I pretended to write letters to no one, paced, rearranged the ornaments in the sitting room, and generally tried not to let the image of the Indian woman fill my thoughts.
Turning sharply as a door opened behind me, I faced what seemed to be a room full of women. Except Elinor, who was at Archie’s bedside, all of them stood looking at me as if they intended to confront the sham housekeeper themselves. The children had been bundled off to the country by the nannies, all of whom had been vetted for years in Rose Campbell’s charity for “decayed gentlewomen” and were thoroughly trustworthy. Sluefoot Sue had most reluctantly sent her husband along as well, and the man Dobbs had accompanied him. I colored deeply and tried to meet squarely the angry eyes of Rose Campbell, Annabelle Fun, Sahara and Abdalla Gafur.
“Ladies, I--” I stopped, then began again. “I must ask you to allow me to receive this woman alone. I cannot but think that her message was directed at me, since she mentioned Trevor. I must know why she chose to contact me instead of just carrying out her assignment to its logical end, or at least attempting to. You may range yourself about Mr. Campbell and defend him if I fail in my task of preventing her from doing him further harm.”
A clamor of dissent arose among the women until Sahara interrupted with a wave of her hand. “It shall be as the bearded one says. All of us would pounce upon this she-devil and tear her to bits as she walked into the room. We must have patience, as those who go to the docks have been patient. We seek to learn how to defeat evil. We must not be too quick or we will only temporarily stay its hand. The Bohemian will summon us if he needs assistance in subduing this creature.” She nodded to me and herded the other women out of the sitting room.
I let out a pent-up breath and turned back to the lift as a faint ringing of the chimes drew me. I activated the lift and stared down at a girl in a baggy black uniform and white apron who rode up and shuffled out. She kept her head tucked firmly down and dropped a tight curtsey.
“I come to clean.” She rattled a basket of supplies as evidence. I stood aside and she shuffled past me. She wielded a feather duster and I watched her in frank amazement. I had no doubt it was Visha Kanya. Yet her whole character was so changed I could hardly believe she had accomplished this transformation. She made no great show of actual cleaning.
“See here, my girl,” I finally managed to say, “I must point out that you are the worst housekeeper I have ever had the misfortune to watch at work. You are not even trying.”
“Well, it’s not as if it is my real profession. I am not even being paid for it,” Visha Kanya purred and turned to face me. I gaped. Even without her garish makeup and outlandish costume she had suddenly become breathtaking.
“I still have to turn over my salary to the real maid, Prince Florizel. We meet again.”
“I found your message. Just how is it that you need my help? If Trevor is in danger, isn’t it your job to protect him?”
“I have judged you to be an intelligent man, Florrie. Don’t be absurd. I am employed by one of the most dangerous men in the world. My job is to keep Trevor in obedience to him, and only secondarily to protect him from harm.”
“Who is your employer?”
“Dodge is the name we all know him by. If there is another, I know of no one who is privy to it.”
“Where can we find him?”
“It is a terrible cliché, I know, but one does not find Dodge. He finds you.”
“And where did he find you?”
“I was sold into slavery by my aunt at the age of ten when my parents died. In her defense, they told her I was to be trained as a caterer and event hostess. I became a drudge for the cook at a Khanda school. Every moment I wasn’t working I was hanging over the fence watching the fighters train. I imitated them with sticks and fireplace pokers. One day when I reached thirteen a student came to get friendly with the cook. I grabbed his weapon from him and started to work on what I had mimicked with sticks. The student and the cook both chased me round the yard to get the sword back.
“The Englishman who financed the school was there in the yard as I came windmilling out of the back. He stood his ground when everyone else fled. ‘You are the little urchin I have seen hanging over the fence. Your technique is pathetically clumsy but your enthusiasm makes you worth training. Stop chopping and come with me.’
“The cook started to wail that she couldn’t spare me. The Englishman said, ‘Suppose I don’t sack you and throw your lover out of my school. Will that be payment enough? You’ll get nothing else.’ My hands gripped the sword so tightly the Englishman had to pry it loose when he took me to his house and gave me to his servants to clean up.”
I swallowed several times. “Who was the Englishman? Was it Dodge?”
“No. my Englishman was called Yancey Mortimer. Besides financing the Khanda school he was a scientist experimenting with exotic botanicals. He asked me if I wished never to fall under the power of anyone again and made me the subject of an experiment. He lied when he said I would be free but at least now I have the satisfaction of knowing people will leave me alone when they are cold and still. Do you not know what a Vishkanya is, you man of the world, Bohemian prince?”
“I do now, since Mr. Campbell’s poisoning came to light. You are not a poisoner, you are yourself the poison.”
Visha smiled and removed a little white glove. She licked a finger with sensual slowness, then held it out to me. I drew sharply back. She giggled and slipped glove back on.
“Professor Mortimer refined the ancient technique considerably. By the time he died he had developed eight separate plants that I could ingest which have the most interesting effects on other people. One simply makes people sleepy. One makes them itch all over. One makes them vomit uncontrollably. One knocks them out at least a day. One causes blinding headaches. One causes extreme dizziness and disorientation. One drives them mad with tingling pinpricks. And one kills over the course of a few weeks or a few hours, depending on how I administer it.”
“You still have not told me about Dodge.”
“I met Dodge when I was eighteen, alone in London, bereft of what passed for father, friend, mentor, or whatever Mortimer was to me as I stood at his graveside. Why is it always raining at funerals?”
“To remind us that God weeps in sorrow at the death of the lost, or in joy at the homecoming of His servants.” Visha started out of her supercilious mood and narrowed her eyes.
“You speak as if you believe that. In any case, a small, bowlegged man wrapped up to the eyes and wearing an oversized top hat joined me at the headstone and said, “You may call me Dodge. I have a job for you.” I looked up and saw a glint of bronze and glass -- a pair of goggles peeked out between the muffler and the beaver. The lenses were almost opaque with condensation and yet I could see in the misty depths of one side the brightest, bluest eyeball I have ever seen.”
“His eyes are blue?” I grabbed at that detail.
“Pay attention, Florrie. I didn’t say blue eyes. It was one eyeball, which rolled about in a grotesque fluid bath whenever he moved his head.”
Merciful heavens!”
“He says it is his own eyeball. I do not know. With Dodge, it could be anyone’s. God will not cry when Dodge is dead. I expect He will laugh. And when I die as well, no doubt.”
“He takes no pleasure at the death of sinners, and rejoices over each one who repents.”
“Why would God weep at the death of sinners? He would be glad there are fewer of them.”
“Why would He sacrifice His own Son if he simply wanted sinners to die? Sin makes Him angry. Sinners break His heart.”
“Tell me more. I know a th
ousand gods of India. When I was twelve I wanted to worship Kali and keep the skulls of the men I would behead for a necklace. But I am sick of death. Tell me about a God Who loves instead of hates.”
“Tell me what poison is killing Archibald Campbell, and what the antidote is.”
“You would bargain with a lost soul eager to repent?”
“I would see the life of a good man preserved and have some small proof that your longing to repent is genuine.”
“It is a mutated variety of Hellbore,” Visha said after a long pause.
“And the antidote? Remember, you are the one claiming to be a penitent.”
“I have not dosed him too deeply. He will recover if I simply stop. In fact, the doctor’s purgatives actually slowed the process. Dodge did not want there to be any traceable evidence in the body. Mr. Campbell would have succumbed more to dehydration than poison in the end, though the poison weakened him.”
“Why was Archibald Campbell poisoned?” I snapped.
“First, please, about my soul…”
I stared at her, trying to discern whether she only mocked me. To my astonishment, Visha bowed her head and tears flowed down her pale cheeks. She lifted her eyes to me.
“Do you not see that I have been taught there is no hope, no life, only power and death? I have heard that this God gives hope but I know nothing beyond the mockery I have heard all my life. They say I must beat my breast and say, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner,’ and then they laugh. I cannot tell if this is truly what I must do, or if God would strike me dead with lightning for speaking to Him.
“Does not God open the earth and swallow the proud alive? I have been very proud of my beauty, of my skill with the sword, of my poisons. Does He not chase those who worship idols with poisonous snakes? I have clasped the knees of Kali in prayer a hundred times. Is there not a plague that devours prostitutes? I have received many men into my bed. And do not murderers go into a lake of fire burning forever? I have been told at one time or another that all these fates await me. And then the teller laughs and laughs at my fear. But whether any of these things are real or not, I know that my fear is real.”
“But there was also a seditionist and a murderer who was pardoned, in whose place Jesus Christ was condemned and crucified. That man, condemned to death, went free, and Christ died instead. Another criminal hung on a cross beside Him, confessed himself worthy of death, but asked Christ to remember him and was told he would join the Lord in paradise that very day. The Lord is gracious, slow to anger, and of great mercy.”
“I have much need of mercy.”
“Will you acknowledge Christ as your Savior and turn away from your sin?”
“Yes.”
More tears flowed. I did not know what to do. Nothing had prepared me for this event. No killer I had ever faced had begged to accept Christ. I had long since ceased to expect repentance from the wicked people I pursued.
“Will you surrender yourself to the authorities to answer for your crimes?”
“Florrie, I should, and I am willing, but I have an idea that I had better help you stop Dodge first.” Visha flashed the first full, genuine smile I had seen on her beautiful face.
“Can you truly help us?”
“You asked me why Dodge poisoned Archie Campbell. The timing was off. It was intended to prevent Doctor and Mrs. Mackenzie Campbell from leaving; to force the good doctor to remain to tend his cousin for as long as Dodge needed to rob them of their fortune.”
I started violently. “He wanted their fortune and that of Lady Anne?”
“The plot against Lady Anne was his contingency if he should lose his grasp on the Campbells’ money.”
“But why does he continue to send you if his plan for obtaining money has changed?”
“He still thought perhaps Doctor Campbell would receive word of Archie’s illness and return. Dodge is happy to keep after as many funding sources as he can. Even if they only return to help with funeral arrangements, that may be enough time for Dodge.”
I shivered at her lighthearted way of saying this. I forced myself to go on questioning her. “Dodge’s slaves must be making millions of pounds for him. What is all this money for?”
“Most immediately, the answer is to ensure Trevor’s rise to Parliament. It is critical that he win election.”
“Trevor’s campaign is Dodge’s masterstroke? Even if Trevor wins, how can that be so important?”
“You really have no idea? Do you not know that Trevor was estranged from his mother’s family, but now, if he wins this election, all will be forgiven and forgotten? Think, Florrie. How powerful is Trevor’s mother’s family, really?”
I forced myself to recall bits and snatches of dull recitations of pedigree at Trevor’s graduation ceremony. “At one time they were very, very powerful. Was not the family in line for the throne?”
“And what legislation will Trevor be compelled to put through to do what his family has wanted for centuries but never been able to accomplish?”
“He will ... Will he try to tip the balance back in favor of the House of Lords?”
“That is only the beginning. England will go back to being an absolute monarchy if Dodge has his way.”
“That is absurd. The English monarchy has no power. It is a costly ornament scarcely attended to.”
“You really are ignorant of politics, aren’t you? All of Dodge’s schemes, all the money he is earning, the people he has trained and scattered, are being poured into one goal: To aggravate the class schisms, to leave behind only the very rich and the very poor, to supply weapons, build fortresses, and to enslave so many that his new aristocracy has leverage to seize the power of the British Empire and eventually control the world. Some ruler will rise and take the throne of a true empire where the sun never sets, and where the people will never again be free. Possibly it will be Dodge himself. His mania knows no bounds.”
“But Trevor is a good man. At least he was. What has happened to him?”
“Trevor has no idea how he is being used. He has been petted and flattered and encouraged to spread his goodness until he has no concept of how infected he is with empty notions of goodness. Mama’s family chafes at the bit to see him elected but they are also being manipulated into Dodge’s power play, thinking they will only restore the English aristocracy to glory and be themselves the most aristocratic of all.”
“How do you propose to help us stop him?”
“I must go back and pretend nothing has happened,” Visha responded. “If your comrades succeed down at the docks today they will deal Dodge a serious blow. Control of the Rum Queen’s empire would have all but financed the next step in Dodge’s plan after Trevor’s election.”
“What do they have to do to succeed?”
“Simply let the authorities confiscate the papers. The British legal system can drag the examination of the state of the assets out and thwart Dodge better than any deliberate action. Dodge must not get the papers in the first place, and he must not insert himself into the examination proceedings or the documents will disappear into his clutches and he will have nearly limitless capital.”
“Where will he look next for capital if this source is denied him and he cannot obtain that of the Campbells?”
“I am not sure, but I will be there to hear whatever it is.”
“Must you return? Will you not be in great danger?”
“For the first time, I am not afraid. I must go. I must do what I can to make this right.”
Unexpectedly Visha stretched up on tiptoe and kissed me on the cheek. While I digested that shock she picked up her cleaning basket. I seized her as she tried to depart.
“How will you communicate with us when you know the next funding plan?”
“Remember, ‘I come to clean’. I have tarried too long. Send Archie to the country, wherever the children went, and pretend there is still no hope for his recovery. Do not let that doctor near him again.”
“Doctor Campbell has
returned and will tend him personally.” I paled suddenly. How had she come to know everything she knew about them? Had I casually given her all of this knowledge, just as I had let slip that the Campbells had returned? I started to speak but Visha cut me off.
“Send him and his pretty little wife to the country as well and try to keep their return secret. They are in great danger. Dodge has slathered over Mrs. Campbell’s fortune ever since he became aware it existed. He will somehow attack them next if he loses the Rum Queen’s assets and learns they are here, or even if he succeeds.”
“How do I know you will truly help us? Can you not understand that I fear to release a murderess, and a schemer, a person who seems to know all our plans, onto the streets again? “
“I understand your fear,” Visha said, casting her eyes down. “I swear I have not told Dodge any of these things I have learned by coming here pretending to clean. He did not ask, did not know there was any danger to him in this place, from these people, and one does not volunteer to tell Dodge what he does not ask.
“I do not know how I can pledge proof of Christ ruling in my heart. You must see fruit, is that not so? Good fruit, not evil fruit? Here.” From her bosom she extracted a small leather bag on a thong. She broke the cord and handed it to me.
“What is this?”
Have Doctor Campbell analyze it. I did not tell you the whole story about the poisons I take in. While I have them in my system, I must take another drug every three days to remain immune. I am giving you my entire supply of the drug that counteracts the Hellbore. To anyone else it is just another poison. It is very rare, besides being illegal to have it in this country, so it will be very difficult for me to obtain more. Doctor Campbell should be able to confirm that I am telling you the truth. Within three days you will hear from me, or I will be dead.”
I still stood staring at the small bag Visha had given me when the Legacy company wives once more converged upon me. I tore my eyes from the bag and met their expectant faces with reluctance. How can I explain what I have just done? Why did I just let her go?
“My dear Mr. Florizel,” Elinor Ferrars said, patting me on the arm, “You can keep a woman from attending a meeting, but you cannot keep her from eavesdropping. This has been true at least since Abraham and Sarah. You had to make a very hard decision, and we must all pray it was the right one. Should you not hurry down to the docks now and intercept Doctor Campbell before he exposes himself to Dodge’s notice?”