Page 61 of The Last Necromancer
They set the trays down and began to pour and pass out plates. There was enough for them too. It would seem they were to join us. The household arrangement was odd, and I still wasn't sure whether the two men were supposed to be servants, assistants, or something else. Not friends. Fitzroy certainly didn't treat them as equals.
"You need a maid," I told Fitzroy.
"Aye," Gus muttered, as he handed me a plate.
"Or dress these two in livery."
Seth had been about to hand me a cup and saucer, but he held it back. "I am not wearing livery."
"We're not bloody footmen," Gus added, pulling up a chair. He sank his teeth into his slice of cake, scattering crumbs over his chest.
"Then you definitely need a maid," I said. "And footmen too. Is money a concern?"
"No," Seth said.
I arched a brow at Fitzroy, but he didn't notice. He pushed my plate closer to me. "You should eat."
"I told you, I'm not hungry."
"Eat."
"Better do as he says," Seth warned me. "He likes getting his own way."
Fitzroy shot him a flinty glare that turned Seth's face pale. He cleared his throat and sipped his tea.
I nibbled the cake to appease them. It gave me time to think anyway. It seemed I knew something Fitzroy didn't—what V.F. looked like.
"I saw him at my father's house," I said. "V.F. I assume it was he. Father called him 'doctor.'"
"Doctor?" Gus shook his head as he swept crumbs off his jacket. "If it's the same man we're after, the one who chopped Mrs. Calthorn's husband into pieces, then he don't cure people."
Fitzroy sat forward. "When was this?"
"The day you kidnapped me. I sometimes sit in the garden of my old home." I looked into my teacup, not wanting to see what they thought of my pathetic behavior. "I overheard this doctor ask if there was a girl living there—he even mentioned my name. He must have learned about me having gone missing through neighbors or parishioners."
"Or via publicly available birth records. Either way, he'd done some research before his visit. What did he look like?"
I described the doctor as best as I could. "I would recognize him again if I saw him." When I saw him. I had no doubt I would be seeing him again. "I think he gave Father his name, but I didn't catch it."
Seth set down his cup in the saucer with a loud clank, and Gus stopped chewing. "Why didn't you say so?" Seth said. "Sir? Shall we go now?"
"Prepare the coach and horses," Fitzroy said.
Both men ran from the room. Their keenness unnerved me. Neither man had shown much intensity until now. It seemed I'd given them the first true clue for discovering V.F.'s identity they'd had in a long time.
"Can you learn where a man lives from his name?" I asked Fitzroy.
"Yes, particularly if he's a practicing doctor. If he's not, there are still ways." He got up and strode from the room.
I raced after him, almost tripping over my skirts in my haste. I picked them up to keep them away from my boots and caught up to him in the entrance hall as he retrieved his hat and gloves from the hallstand.
"You're going to my father's house," I said.
"Yes."
"And then on to the doctor's, as soon as you can connect his name to an address?"
"It might take some time to find the address."
