Page 53 of Her Majesty's Necromancer
He rested a hand on the mantel. "About?"
"About the ministry."
He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "Very well. First, tell me how your investigations went this morning."
I told him which orphanages I'd visited and what I'd learned from them, as well as at the cemetery. I didn't mention my detour to the GRO. "The captain hasn't been back to Thackery's grave."
"We'll find him at Lee's or one of the other opium dens," he said. "Not the cemetery."
"You're very confident, but I don't see how you can be. You can't possibly watch all the opium dens in London. There are only three of you."
"I've paid each proprietor a substantial sum to report to me if a man fitting the captain's description shows up and doesn't partake in smoking. I'm confident my money will bring results."
I smiled. "You've thought of everything."
"I know how these operations work."
"How? You said you knew Lee's…" I couldn't meet his gaze anymore and returned to polishing the table.
"You want to know if I smoke opium."
I shrugged one shoulder. "It crossed my mind."
"I have."
His answer startled me into looking at him again. "Oh. I see. Well."
"Don't you want to know more?"
"I don't want to pry."
"Yes, you do." Despite his accusation, he didn't sound angry or offended. "You have a curious nature."
"Some would say nosy."
The corner of his mouth lifted. "I would rather you asked me questions directly instead of others. That way you'll be sure to get the right answer."
If he wanted to answer at all. "Very well. How did you end up becoming an opium addict?"
"I wasn't an addict. I experimented with it as part of my studies when I was younger."
"You experimented with it?" I echoed. "How does one experiment with opium? And to what end?"
"I smoked it five times over five weeks to study the effects."
"Why?"
He shrugged. "Why not? It's just another piece of knowledge, and knowledge is necessary in my position."
"When you put it like that, it sounds quite innocent. I think of opium smoking as a sordid habit that lures desperate men."
"It can be, if one partakes too often. As Gordon Thackery did, by his own admission. An addict is not a pretty sight."
"I've seen men coming and going from a garret in Bluegate Fields, near where I once lived. We all knew it was an opium house. I'd often see the same men on street corners, begging for money that they would spend at the garret later that night. There was such an air of hopeless about them, as if they were caught in a web they couldn't escape. It was awful."
"That's generally how addiction works. It's difficult to break free once it digs its claws in."
"You never felt the pull of the opium when you experimented? You never wanted to partake more than once a week?"
