Page 37 of Beyond the Grave
Lincoln pulled out a length of rope from beneath his jacket. One end was tied into a loop with an impressive looking knot. Was he going to capture her and tie her up?
"There is no need for that," she said, her hand out to placate Lincoln as if he were a maddened animal. "I'll come with you and return to my grave. I've finished my business here." She cast another glance at Dr. Merton's body. "He'll not harm anyone again."
The spirit twisted and twirled like a pile of leaves caught in a whirling breeze. Then he suddenly whooshed down from the ceiling, straight at Estelle. "You bitch!" he cried. "You raving, maniacal bitch! You killed me!" He crashed into her.
And came out the other side. She'd not felt a thing and didn't bat an eyelash. In her reanimated form, it would seem other spirits were invisible to her. She glanced around the room, as if she suspected his spirit was there somewhere, listening, and one side of her mouth lifted in a bitter, gruesome grin.
"Do you hear me, you monster? You can't hurt anyone now."
He swished around the room, dashing up to the ceiling, down to the floor, left and right, shouting vile words I'd not heard since leaving the slums two months ago. He seemed unaware that I could hear him, and I had no intention of telling him.
"Enjoy your afterlife in hell, doctor." Estelle picked a hat off the floor. It must have come off during a scuffle with the doctor. It wasn't the same hat she'd been buried in, but had a wider brim to cover her face. She also wore a long coat over her dress. "Perhaps we'll meet there, if my actions today outweigh all the good I did in life. If so, it will still have been worth it." She rose. Her knees creaked and cracked, as if her bones were grinding together. "We should go before someone returns. I don't want anyone accused of this."
It was going to be difficult to blame natural causes with a bruise on his throat shaped like hands.
The door suddenly opened and Seth tumbled inside, shutting it behind him then turning the lock. "That nurse is coming back and she has another doctor with her. We need to leave. Now."
"But we'll have to go past them," I said.
Lincoln nodded at the window. "That way."
"It's too high," Seth said. "For Charlie, I mean."
The spirit chuckled from its resting place on top of the filing cabinet. He crossed his arms and watched the proceedings with interest.
I crossed to the window, gratified that Lincoln had faith enough in my climbing abilities to suggest it. "I can manage. There's a drain pipe just there."
"Indoor plumbing," Estelle said. "I'll go down first and break your fall if it comes to that."
Voices filtered to us from the corridor outside. "Go," Lincoln hissed.
Estelle was already through the window and climbing down the pipe like it was something she did every day. It was amazing what a lack of fear could do. She slipped when she was still some feet off the ground and fell the rest of the way. She landed on her back, cracking her already caved-in skull. She got up and signaled for me to hurry.
I hiked up my skirt and petticoat to above my knees, wishing I had some way of securing them there, and slung them up over one arm. Lincoln and Gus helped me through the window, and I let the skirts drop. Climbing down pipes wasn't as easy, dressed as a girl, but at least I could breathe properly since I refused to wear a corset.
I glanced down to see Estelle standing below, her arms outstretched to catch me. She wouldn't be the most comfortable cushion to land on but she would be enough to break my fall. Above me, Seth emerged through the window.
Beyond him, I heard the office door rattle. Thank goodness we'd locked it. Hopefully they would need to fetch a key from somewhere, giving us time to escape.
I glanced up again, but Lincoln had not followed Seth through the window yet. What was he doing? I continued to climb down and reached the ground safely, some considerable distance ahead of Seth, who felt carefully for every foothold.
"Where's Fitzroy?" I planted a hand on my hat and craned my neck back to look up. "He's taking too long."
"What are you doing?" cried the voice of Dr. Merton's spirit.
A gunshot cracked. Birds in Regent's Park squawked and screeched. Seth's hand slipped and he let go of the pipe. Fortunately he was close enough to the ground that he landed without hurting himself.
I opened my mouth to scream Lincoln's name, when he suddenly leapt out of the window, planting his feet on the pipe. As quick as a monkey, he descended. He dropped beside me before Seth had even picked himself up. He grabbed my hand just as raised voices from the third floor window exclaimed in horror.
We ran to the front of the hospital, then walked in a calm, civilized fashion toward Gus and the waiting coach. "Was that a gunshot?" he asked.
"Yes," Seth said, assisting me up the steps and into the cabin. He practically shoved me inside at the last moment. "Fitzroy shot a dead man."
Seth handed Estelle up behind me, his fingertips barely touching her boney ones, then he and Lincoln followed.
"Highgate Cemetery," Lincoln barked. Gus had the horses away before we'd even shut the curtains.
"You shot him?" I asked as we rounded a sharp corner.
