“Are you the big cheese here?”
“I’m here to ask you some questions. That’s all.”
“Well, you’re out of luck, Master Thomas Edridge, because I’m not about to answer. I’m very upset about what’s happened today. Your people terrorized us and cut off that young man’s hand.”
“Cutter? He’s a thrice-convicted thief.”
“Maybe he is. But you’re supposed to be Christians, not mullahs.”
Edridge shrugged. “He knew what the risks were. I wonder… if you do.”
“Listen, we didn’t come here to stir up any trouble. My girlfriend’s gone back. All I want to do is join her. I can guarantee that you won’t hear from either of us, ever again.”
“I’m afraid that it’s not as easy as that. You’ve been causing ructions. To say the least. And I need to know what you’re doing here. What mischief you had in mind.”
“We didn’t have any mischief in mind. We came here completely by accident.”
“Come, sir. Nobody comes through any of the six doors by accident. You know very well that there are rituals involved. Synchronicity.”
“My girlfriend and I were experimenting, that’s all. We were doing a research project on Old Mother Goose rhymes for University of California at Berkeley. We thought we’d try the old ‘Jack-be-nimble’ trick. We jumped over the candlesticks but we never believed that it would actually work.”
“How did you discover … where the door was?”
“What?”
“The door in Star Yard. How did you discover where it was?”
“What does it matter?”
“It matters because the precise location of the six doors is known to only a few in this world – and to even fewer in yours.”
“I told you. We came here by chance.”
“Nonetheless, you immediately associated yourselves … with thieves and other malcontents.”
“They were the first people we met. We didn’t know who they were.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I really don’t care what you believe. I want to talk to the US consul.”
Edridge licked his lips and carefully adjusted the papers in front of him. “I regret that you have found your way … into a world … where America is a very different place. Oh, you’d have no trouble in recognizing it. It’s a very prosperous country. Wealthy, well fed. Except that you’d find it rather less advanced scientifically. No atom bomb, for example. And socially more … stratified. There was no Civil War, for instance, and in many southern states slavery is still acceptable.”
“Slavery?”
“A very benign form of slavery, Mr Winward. But it is far too profitable a trade for Britain to abandon altogether. And of what other use are the Africans, except to supply the civilized world with labor?”
“I don’t believe what I’m hearing.”
“What I’m trying to explain to you … is that history took a different course in this existence. Slavery persists because there was no War of Independence. What you call the United States of America is a British possession. And hence, there is no US consul.”
“How come you know so much about my world?”
“Through interviewing people like yourself. Through books and films which have been brought through the doors. It is part of my duties to understand the history and the motivations of those who come through. Some of them, you see … represent a serious threat to the stability of our society.”
“That doesn’t alter the fact that you have no right to hold me here.”
“You don’t think so? You are a trespasser, sir, in a place where you have no business to be. You were seen to be associating with criminals and subversives. And what was the purpose of your visit to Lavender Hill?”
“Were your people responsible for that? For killing that woman?”
“We exact very severe punishments on those who attempt to undermine the social and religious structure of our society.”
“You’re nothing but a gang of butchers.”
“I would watch my tongue … if I were you. You still haven’t given me a satisfactory explanation of your presence here.”
“I didn’t come here to subvert anything. I don’t have any interest in your politics and I’m definitely not interested in your religion.”
“You should be. To publicly deny the Lord thy God is a very serious offense in itself.”
Josh said, “I’m not denying the Lord my God. I just think it’ll be simpler all around if you let me go back where I came from.”
“And what guarantee could you give me that you wouldn’t return?”
“Because, believe me, I wouldn’t come back here for a million dollars.”
“Easy to say. But perhaps you have some unfinished business here.”
Josh shook his head. “Forget it. I’m not going to play along with this. I’ve told you how we came here and if you don’t want to believe me I really don’t mind.”
Edridge pushed back his chair with a sharp bark of wood. He stood up and walked around the table until he was standing so close that Josh could smell the musty wool of his tunic.
“This is no joking matter, sir. I have the power to imprison suspected subversives without trial. In some extreme cases I may order them put to death.”
“For Christ’s sake, how many times do I have to tell you that we came here by accident?”
“Do you think I believe that? Do you think I believe that you accidentally jumped through the door, and accidentally met up with young Mr Cutter and his Burmese friend, and accidentally killed one of our dogs? My dear sir! What a terrible chapter of accidents!”
“Listen, kiss my ass.”
Edridge was silent for so long that Josh began to wonder if he was ever going to speak again. But then he sat down again with his hands steepled in front of his face and stared at Josh with eyes that were utterly pitiless. “Tell me why you came here. Tell me the truth.”
Josh said nothing at first. But it was becoming clear that Edridge would keep him here for ever, if necessary, until he came up with some kind of satisfactory explanation. “All right,” he said. “You want to know the truth. A few days ago my sister’s body was found in the Thames. Somebody had murdered her, cut all of her insides out. But nobody could discover where she’d been for the past ten months.”
Josh told Edridge all about the letter from Wheatstone Electrics, and how Frank Mordant had arranged to meet Julia at Star Yard. But he purposely omitted any mention of Ella Tibibnia or Mrs Marmion’s mother. He didn’t yet understand the connection between Mrs Marmion and her mother; and he wasn’t sure of the part that Ella was playing – was it really supernatural or was it some other trickery besides? For some reason he felt that he might be putting them in jeopardy if he told Edridge that they had helped him.
“I know Mr Mordant,” Edridge nodded. “As far as I’m aware he’s a very respectable businessman. Very God-fearing.”
“Listen – I’m not suggesting that he had anything to do with Julia’s murder. I just wanted to talk to him, to see if he could help me fill in some of the missing months.”
“The Masters of Religious Observance don’t look very kindly … on members of the public who try to investigate criminal matters on their own.”
“Well, neither do the Metropolitan Police, but I believe that Julia was here during those ten months and I couldn’t see any other way of proving it.”
Edridge jotted a few notes on the paper in front of him. “It’s not a bad story,” he said.
“What do you mean, story? It’s the truth.”
“You still haven’t told me … why you came to the conclusion that your sister might have gone through the door. What you say about Mr Mordant’s letter … is plausible. But what reasonable person would come to the conclusion that she had entered … a parallel existence?”