"And you met Helen at the Audubon museum across the street?" D'Agosta hoped to steer the conversation back to the task at hand.
Pendergast nodded. "Some years ago I loaned them our double elephant folio for an exhibition, and I was invited to the opening. They were always keen to get their hands on our family copy, which my great-great-grandfather subscribed to directly from Audubon." Pendergast paused, his face spectral in the stark light of the parking lot. "When I entered the little museum, I immediately saw a young woman across the room, staring at me."
"Love at first sight?" D'Agosta asked.
The ghostly half smile returned. "It was as if the world suddenly vanished, no one else existed. She was utterly striking. Dressed in white. Her eyes were so blue they verged on indigo, flecked throughout with violet. Most unusual--in fact, in my experience, unique. She came straight over and introduced herself, taking my hand even before I could collect myself..." He hesitated. "There was never any coyness about Helen; she was the only person I could trust implicitly."
Pendergast's voice seemed to thicken and he fell silent. Then he roused himself. "Except perhaps for you, my dear Vincent."
D'Agosta was startled by this sudden praise thrown his way. "Thanks."
"What indulgent rubbish I've been spouting," said Pendergast briskly. "The answers lie in the past, but we mustn't wallow there ourselves. Even so, I think it was important for us--for bothof us--to start from this place."
"Start," D'Agosta repeated. Then he turned. "Say, Pendergast..."
"Yes?"
"Speaking of the past, there's something I've been wondering. Why did they--whoever theywere--go to all the trouble?"
"I'm not sure I follow you."
"Acquiring the trained lion. Setting up the death of the German photographer in order to lure you and Helen to the camp. Buying off all those people. That took a lot of time and money. It's an awfully elaborate plot. Why not just stage a kidnapping, or a car accident back here in New Orleans? I mean, that would have been a much easier way to..." His voice trailed off.
For a moment Pendergast didn't reply. Then he nodded slowly. "Quite. It's a very curious thought. But don't forget our friend Wisley said one of the conspirators he heard speak was German. And that tourist who the lion killed first was also German. Perhaps that first murder was more than just a diversion."
"I'd forgotten that," D'Agosta said.
"If so, the trouble and expense become more justifiable. But let's hold that thought for the time being, Vincent. I'm convinced our own first step must be to learn more--if we can--about Helen herself." He reached into his pocket and took out a folded paper, handing it to D'Agosta.
D'Agosta unfolded it. Written in Pendergast's elegant hand was an address:
214 Mechanic Street
Rockland, Maine
"What's this?" D'Agosta asked.
"The past, Vincent--the address where shegrew up. That is your next task. My own... lies here."
14
Penumbra Plantation
WOULD YOU CARE FOR ANOTHER CUP OF TEA, sir?"
"No thank you, Maurice." Pendergast regarded the remains of an early dinner--succotash, field peas, and ham with redeye gravy--with as much complacency as he could muster. Outside the tall windows of the dining room, dusk was gathering among the hemlocks and cypresses, and somewhere in the shadows a mockingbird was singing a long and complex dirge.
Pendergast dabbed at the corners of his mouth with a white linen napkin, then rose from the table. "Now that I've eaten, I wonder if I couldn't see the letter that arrived for me this afternoon."
"Certainly, sir." Maurice stepped out of the dining room into the hall, returning shortly with a letter. It was much battered, and had been re-addressed more than once. Judging by the postmark, it had taken almost three weeks to ultimately reach him. Even if he hadn't recognized the elegant, old-fashioned handwriting, the Chinese stamps would have indicated the sender: Constance Greene, his ward, who was currently residing at a remote monastery in Tibet with her infant son. He slit the envelope with his knife, pulled out the single sheet of paper within, and read the note. Dear Aloysius, I do not know precisely what trouble you are in, but in dreams I see that you are--or soon will be--in great distress. I am very sorry. As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods; they kill us for their sport. I am coming home soon. Try to rest easy, everything is under control. And what isn't, soon will be. Know that you are in my thoughts. You are in my prayers, as well--or would be, if I prayed. Constance
Pendergast re-read the letter, frowning.
"Is there something wrong, sir?" Maurice asked.
"I'm not sure." Pendergast seemed to consider the letter a moment longer. Then he put it aside and turned toward his factotum. "But in any case, Maurice, I was hoping you could join me in the library."
The elderly man paused in the act of clearing the table. "Sir?"
"I thought perhaps we could have a postprandial glass of sherry, reminisce about the old days. I find myself in a nostalgic frame of mind."
This was a most unusual invitation, and the look on Maurice's face implied as much. "Thank you, sir. Let me just finish clearing away here."
"Very good. I'll head down to the cellar and find us a nice moldy bottle."
The bottle was, in fact, more than nice: a Hidalgo Oloroso Viejo VORS. Pendergast took a sip from his glass, admiring the sherry's complexity: woody and fruity, with a finish that seemed to linger forever on the palate. Maurice sat on an ottoman across the old Kashan silk carpet, very erect and stiff in his butler's uniform, almost comically uncomfortable.
"Sherry to your liking?" Pendergast asked.
"It's very fine, sir," the butler replied.
"Then drink up, Maurice--it will help drive out the damp."
Maurice did as requested. "Would you like me to place another log on the fire?"
Pendergast shook his head, then looked around again. "Amazing, how being back here brings on such a flood of memories."
"I'm sure it must, sir."
Pendergast pointed at a large freestanding globe, set into a wooden framework. "For example, I recall having a violent argument with Nurse over whether Australia was a continent or not. She insisted it was only an island."
Maurice nodded.
"And the exquisite set of Wedgwood plates that used to sit on the top shelf of that bookcase." Pendergast indicated the spot with a nod. "I remember the day that my brother and I were reenacting the Roman assault on Silvium. The siege engine Diogenes built proved rather too effective. The very first volley landed directly on that shelf." Pendergast shook his head. "No cocoa for a month."
"I recall it only too clearly, sir," Maurice said, finishing his glass. The sherry seemed to be growing on him.