A Cold Legacy (The Madman's Daughter 3)
Page 60Now that I looked at Jack more closely, it all made sense. That strange feeling I had that I knew him and that he knew me. He did know me, and it had nothing to do with premonitions and fortune-telling. We had spoken together on the island. He had led me through the jungle to safety. He had looked into my eyes and silently begged me to open the locked laboratory door so he could kill my father.
Jack glanced at me as if sensing my thoughts. His brown eyes flashed with gold flecks and my breath caught. His eyes hadn’t changed.
Lucy and Balthazar reached us. “The fortune-teller,” she said in surprise, and then caught sight of the rest of his troupe. “You’ve all come back.”
Montgomery frowned. “Fortune-teller?”
I leaned in to explain. “He’s been posing as a fortune-teller. He and his troupe were at the inn on the road to Inverness, and they performed at the Twelfth Night festival.” I turned to Jack Serra. “Why did you hide yourself from Montgomery all those times?”
“He would have recognized me. As it happened, I had my own business to attend to first, and it required anonymity.” His eyes settled on Balthazar. “Balthazar knew who I was, but you know your place in the pack, don’t you, brother? I told him to keep my identity secret, and he had no choice but to obey.”
I glanced at Balthazar, who was hanging his head guiltily. It seemed I wasn’t the only one taking advantage of Balthazar’s animal nature.
The rain started to fall harder, though no one moved.
“I don’t understand,” Lucy said, her eyes trained on Jack. “You mean you’re a . . . a creation? Like Balthazar? And Edward?”
“Indeed I am, Miss Radcliffe.”
“I did,” Montgomery answered, to my surprise. “After you left the island, Juliet, it was chaos. The beast-men went feral, and Edward’s other half had escaped. I needed help, so I went to Ajax. I begged him to let me restore him to human form to help me hunt for Edward. He agreed, and we left the island together. He, Balthazar, and I.” He swallowed, and a look of both hurt and distrust crossed his face. “But Ajax disappeared in the deserts of southern Morocco. We didn’t hear any word of him since then, until this moment.” He met Jack’s eyes. “I trusted you with my life, yet you abandoned us.”
“I’ve always been a friend to you,” Ajax said. “But not a servant. I obey only myself.”
“Why come back, then?” Montgomery asked. “If it’s the human experience you’re after, you could be in France, or Australia, or you could have stayed in the desert.”
Jack pointed straight at me. “I’m here because of her.”
All eyes turned to me and I shifted nervously, wiping the rain off of my face.
“The doctor’s daughter,” Jack continued. “I made it my mission to end the doctor’s work, but his ruthlessness found a home in her. I needed to be certain she chose a different path in life.”
My lips parted. The fortunes, those cryptic words about my father and my fate—they were all part of a calculated plan to learn if I was as cruel-hearted as my father. I winced, pressing a hand over the charm he had given me.
“And what if I do chose my father’s path?” I asked hotly. “Would you kill me like you killed him?”
“Yes.” The directness of his answer was like a slap in the face. Montgomery drew his pistol and I took a quick step back, but then Jack’s eyes softened. “But you aren’t like him. I learned that the day you came to my tent in the fields. It wasn’t your own fate you were most worried about, but that of your sick friend. Henri Moreau never once cared about anyone but himself. He turned to darkness for his own selfish reasons. You were drawn to the darkness, but that wasn’t what made up your mind. It was the hope of saving a friend’s life.” He paused. “You can be ruthless, pretty girl, but not cruel. Determined, but not mad.”
He nodded. “It seemed a fair trade.”
Montgomery muttered a curse as I stared at Jack blankly. Should I be furious that he’d lied to me, judged me, and nearly murdered me? Or should I be thankful that he’d changed his mind?
It was all too incredible just to believe he was even here, amid his ragtag group in stained satin clothes and heavy cloaks. A new worry twisted my gut. “The rest of your troupe. Are they my father’s creations, too?”
The thin man with the gut cackled, and the old woman let out a snort.
Jack smiled. “No, but we are all misfits on the edge of the world, and that is enough to bring us together.”
I pressed a hand against my head. I was still reeling from Elizabeth’s sudden death, and from the fact that I still hadn’t told Montgomery about Edward hiding in the attic, and from the fact that Ajax had nearly killed me.
“Why return now?” Montgomery asked.
“To help you, as I said. Elizabeth asked me to located John Radcliffe and determine if he was a threat. My troupe has been following him over half the country as he’s searched for you. He’s been paying off the police. Working both with them and behind their backs.” His men’s faces grew serious, as did his own. “You’re going to need our help, Miss Moreau. He has learned your location, and as we speak he’s on his way with two dozen paid soldiers.”
The air vanished from my lungs. Lucy let out a gasp.
Jack signaled to the old woman, who took a rumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to Montgomery.
“It’s a letter, written to Mrs. Margaret Radcliffe,” Jack explained. “John Radcliffe’s wife. It was delivered a week ago.” He paused. “Written by Radcliffe’s daughter. It gives away the location of this manor.”
Radcliffe’s daughter?
We all whirled on Lucy, and her lips fell open in shock. She took a step backward. “No! I would never do that!”
“It has your signature,” Montgomery said, holding up the letter like an accusation.
“I did write a letter,” she said, looking pale. “That part is true. After that article Papa wrote in the newspaper about how sick with grief he and Mama were, I couldn’t bear to let her worry about me. I wrote a letter to her explaining that I was safe. I sent it from Quick, but I didn’t include a return address, I promise. I certainly didn’t say we were hiding in northern Scotland!”