Page 109 of Affair

Baxter turned slowly around to face her. “I saw him briefly on the street once several years ago. He told me that I was a fool because I had not used my knowledge of chemistry to forge a grand destiny for myself.”

“You said that you thought he was dead. What happened to him?”

“Do you recall my small adventure on behalf of the Crown?”

“Baxter, are you telling me that was connected to Morgan Judd?”

“Yes. He was working for Napoleon. Creating lethal chemical vapors intended to be used against our people. I used our past friendship to convince him that I wished to work with him. I told him that I had changed my mind about forging a great destiny.”

“I see.”

“I betrayed him,” Baxter said. “I told him that I wanted to share the wealth and power that Napoleon had promised. But once I had verified what he was about, I destroyed his laboratory and notes. There was a terrible explosion. I barely escaped with my life.”

“The acid,” she whispered.

“He threw it at me in the course of the struggle.”

“Dear heaven. He could have blinded you.”

“Yes, well, I was trying to ruin him at the time.”

“He deserved it.” Charlotte paused. “You believed him dead in the explosion?”

“I was certain of it. A body was found two days later. Burned beyond recognition. But Morgan’s rings were on the fingers of the corpse. There was no reason not to think that it was Judd who had perished.”

“It is very strange.” Charlotte’s voice was so low that it was barely audible. “But I am almost convinced that I once encountered Morgan Judd myself.”

He turned to look at her. “The monster in the hall outside Ariel’s door?”

“Yes.” She shuddered and hugged herself very tightly as though she had suddenly become very chilled. “That night he asked me if I believed in destiny. The man in the black domino who gave me the rose asked the same question.”

“Bloody hell.”

“But the speech of the two men was so vastly different.” Charlotte searched his face. “The monster I met five years ago had a voice that could have lured one down into hell.”

“That is the thing that makes no sense.” Baxter took off his eyeglasses and plucked the handkerchief from his pocket. “Morgan Judd’s voice was a well-tuned instrument. There is no other way to describe it. When he read poetry aloud, his listeners were enthralled. When he spoke, heads turned to listen. He could have given Kean competition on the stage had he chosen to tread the boards.”

“But the magician’s voice is just the opposite. It makes me think of shattered glass.” Charlotte frowned. “Although it is strangely fascinating in a bizarre fashion.”

“If I am right and we are dealing with Morgan Judd, then there are two possible explanations for the change in his voice.”

“What are they?”

“The first is that he is deliberately manipulating it so that he won’t be recognized.”

Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t think that is the case. You would have to hear him to understand. His is a voice that has been damaged.”

“Then we must consider the second possibility.”

“What is that?”

“I did not escape that explosion and fire unscathed.” Baxter finished polishing his eyeglasses. “I was marked for life. Perhaps Morgan was also.”

“I don’t understand. Miss Post said nothing about scars or injuries when she described him to us. She said that he was as handsome as Lucifer himself. Except for his voice.”

“There were many unusual and dangerous chemicals in Morgan’s laboratory that night,” Baxter said. “Who knows what caustic vapors were released during the explosion and fire?”

“Do you think that some of them might have been powerful enough to affect a man’s throat if he inhaled them?”

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