By nine o’clock that morning, the road was invisible. So were the distant trees, the grass, the roofs of Blackhampton’s homes and businesses. Workers at the new seam were sent home for the day. Jessica Perkins didn’t go to the schoolhouse. She knew that parents would have their children working, shoveling snow from front stoops and rooftops before the weight of it could cause damage or even force their houses straight down into the tunnels below (as had happened to the Baggs family home the previous winter). And so no one discovered that the schoolhouse had been put to other use in the night. The grey-eyed American awoke and rolled up his bedding, cleaned and loaded his rifle, and headed out into the storm to find breakfast. At the inn, Inspector Day made a halfhearted attempt to wake his sergeant, but finally decided to let him sleep. Instead he went in search of something to feed his always-hungry baby bird. At the northernmost edge of the village, right outside the depot, young Freddy Higgins shivered in his carriage and listened for the warning bell from the train, which he hoped was still on schedule. He had brought heavy blankets with him, but could not seem to get warm. Constable Grimes passed the giant furnaces and headed out toward the woods, hoping to be there and back before the men from Scotland Yard woke up. Bennett Rose fed the inn’s twin fireplaces. He checked the various charms and wards he had hung around the ground floor doors and windows, and he closed his eyes in silent prayer for the visitors from London. Upstairs, Calvin Campbell lay on his bed and dreamed about his lover’s absent smile, and wondered if that smile would ever return to her face. Down in the deepest old tunnels beneath Blackhampton, a man paced back and forth, staring at an unmarked grave scraped out of the rock and dirt and wondering how things had gone so wrong. He had no idea there was a storm up above, but he had just decided to quit the tunnels and see if there was news in the village.
The storm blew on, howling through the village like a curse, and more than one person shuddered, recalling the children’s rhyme, the horrible singsong warning about Rawhead and Bloody Bones.
23
When Hammersmith awoke later that morning, he assumed it was still sunrise. His bedroom was dark and still. He sat up and spent a few minutes coughing so hard that his ribs hurt and his throat burned. When he had stopped, he rummaged through his suitcase for tooth powder and hurriedly readied himself, brushing his teeth and rinsing himself in the basin. He wiped his face with a clean towel and felt a sharp spike of pain. When he looked at the towel, there were streaks of fresh half-clotted blood. The gash in his cheek hadn’t healed.
There was a knock at his door.
“One moment, please!” he shouted.
He was still in his underpants and vest. He made a quick check of his suitcase and realized that he had forgotten to bring a change of clothing. He cursed himself under his breath. He would have to hope that the previous day’s clothes weren’t too worse for the wear. But his jacket and trousers weren’t in the wardrobe where he’d left them just a few hours before. His shirt hung there by itself. There was no iron in the room, and he’d never used one anyway, so he patted the wrinkles in his shirt with a damp hand, licked his thumb, and rubbed the worst of the dirt and blood stains. He put the shirt on and opened the door a crack, keeping his bare legs out of sight. Day was standing in the hall holding a wooden hanger up so that Hammersmith could see his own jacket and trousers.
“I took the liberty,” Day said. “You were dead to the world when I checked on you earlier.”
“Come in.” Hammersmith looked both ways down the hall and opened the door wider so that Day could enter the room, then he shut the door quickly and took the hanger from Day.
Hammersmith’s trousers had been brushed and pressed. The jacket was spotless.
“My father is a valet,” Day said.
“I didn’t know that.”
“It’s not something I generally mention. But I’ve learned a thing or two from him. There was nothing I could do about your shirt.”
Hammersmith pulled the trousers on and tucked in his shirt. “Thank you,” he said. “Did you grow up on an estate, then?”
“I did,” Day said. “But it was not all one might wish.”
“That seems to be the way of all childhood.”
“Perhaps. Are you quite all right? I could hear you coughing from my room.”
“I’m perfectly fine.”
“Well, at least you’ve caught up to your sleep,” Day said.
“Strange,” Hammersmith said. “I don’t usually sleep much at all.”
“And I usually sleep more than I did. It’s this place, I think.”
“How is your little bird?”
“Mr Rose was kind enough to provide warm milk and bread. The bird’s asleep now.”
“Let’s hope Rose didn’t drug its milk. He seems to. .” Hammersmith paused and turned his back to Day while he let out another long shuddering series of wet coughs. When he had caught his breath, he gave Day a sheepish smile. “My apologies.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Just the wet air in those woods, I imagine,” Hammersmith said. “We should get moving.”
“I don’t suppose you’ve got another shirt you could wear? That one’s beyond repair.”
“I forgot to pack a change of clothing,” Hammersmith said.
“Forgot? How could you. .? Never mind. At least wash your face. We do represent London for these people.”
“But I did wash my face. Does it look bad?”
“You’re straight out of a penny dreadful.”
“Well, there’s little I can do about it.”
“You mystify me, Mr Hammersmith,” Day said.
“Blackhampton mystifies me.”
“Yes, that too.”
“There are too many agendas at play here.”
“It does seem that way,” Day said. “But Dr Kingsley will arrive sometime today and he’s not keen on wasting time. We’ve got the dress you found last night and the eyeball that the little girl found.”
“Hopefully the doctor can tell us something more about one or the other.”
“Or both, preferably. Meanwhile, I don’t feel as though we’ve made much headway in those woods.”
“I really don’t see how we can unless we’ve got a hundred men, marching abreast.”
“Neither do I. But I’m curious about the man I saw last night. What’s his role in all this? The hideous wound across your face reminds me of him.”
Hammersmith touched his cheek again and winced.
Day chuckled. “We must try to determine who that is out there,” he said. “That’s my suspect at the moment, though I’m not completely certain a crime’s been committed.”
“I think the innkeeper knows something,” Hammersmith said. “Why else would he try to drug us?”
“I think Calvin Campbell knows something, too. He locked us in our rooms last night.”
Hammersmith raised an eyebrow. “He did what?”
“He locked us both in our rooms. I let myself out and followed him.”
“You let yourself out?”
“Yes. I brought my keys. The special keys.”
“Did he see you?”
“No. I imagine he thought we were both sound asleep and would never know. He came back round and unlocked the doors just after dawn.”
“I certainly wouldn’t have known. Where did he go? When you followed him?”
“I’m afraid he disappeared.”
“He knew you were there.”
“I don’t think so. He tiptoed down the stairs, very quiet, very nervous. And he did come back and unlock our doors. Why do that if he knew I was already out?”
“Should we question him directly?”
“I think we’d better.”
“It seems I missed a great deal while I slept,” Hammersmith said. “You should have come and got me.”
“I tried, but you looked a bit rough.”
“We have a lot to do.”
“You snore, by the way.”