Page 110 of The Paid Companion

“Lancaster’s death was an accident, you know. At least, I thought so at the time. I did not intend to kill him, not until after he had witnessed the success of my project. I wanted him to know that he was wrong when he jeered at my grandfather and called him a crazed alchemist. But the old man surprised me that night when he walked in on me while I was searching his laboratory.”

“You were looking for the snuffbox.”

“Yes. Jove’s Thunderbolt requires all three of the stones, you see.” He slipped the second dark gem into the device. “After George Lancaster was dead, I thought perhaps I had misinterpreted my destiny, but when I learned that St. Merryn was hunting me, it all became clear. I understood at once that he, not the old man, is the one who is meant to witness my great success. It is perfectly logical.”

“How is that?”

“George Lancaster and my grandfather lived in a different time. They were men of an earlier generation. They belong to the past. But St. Merryn and I are men of the modern age. It is only fitting that the earl, not his ancestor, be the one to witness my triumph.” Parker patted the machine “Just as it is right that I, not my ancestor, untangled the last mystery of Jove’s Thunderbolt.”

“Where did you discover this supposed destiny?”

“It was all there in my grandfather’s journals.” Parker eased the last stone into the machine, closed the opening and turned to look at her. “But like any good alchemist, Treyford often wrote in a coded language that is not easy to unravel. I made a few errors along the way.”

“What makes you think that you have not made a huge mistake in bringing me here?”

“I admit that some parts of my grandfather’s writings were quite murky. But they were all clarified when the Earl of St. Merryn ensured that our paths would cross.”

“You mean when he set out to find the man who killed his great-uncle?”

“Precisely. When I realized that he was hunting me, I understood at last that we were, indeed, destined to be opponents in this generation, just as Lancaster and my grandfather were, all those years ago.”

She understood now. “You have brought me here tonight because you knew that would be the simplest way to get St. Merryn here and take him prisoner.”

“You are a very clever woman, Miss Lodge. St. Merryn chose well when he went to the offices of Goodhew and Willis. It is a great misfortune for you that he dragged you into this affair. But that is how destiny works sometimes. It is often the lot of the innocent to play crucial roles as pawns.”

37

Arthur 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 Arthur reached it. Ned stood in the opening, his face stark with dread.

“Ye got my message, then, sir?”

“Yes.” Arthur 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 Lodge?” 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.”

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

“What do you mean?” Elenora 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 a number of 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.”

Elenora 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?”

---