The Black Midnight

by Kathleen Y'Barbo

  The fire crackled in the fireplace. Papa reached for his pipe. Still he did not speak.

  In that moment, she knew she was right. Yet none of it made sense.

  “Tell me about it,” she said, pleading. “About them. And about him.”

  He met her gaze. “I cannot.”

  “You cannot or you will not? There is a difference.”

  “Not in the results,” he told her. “Let it go, Annie. And if the queen is behind this, tell her I said the same. There’s no good to be found at the end of this trail.”

  Annie rose, fumbling with her thoughts until she managed one last question. “Who is he?”

  But Papa only shook his head.

  A door opened and closed downstairs. “Papa,” a familiar voice called. “Papa, are you here?”

  Annie stepped out into the open corridor to look down at the foyer where her sister Bea was handing off her hat and cloak to the maid.

  “Annie,” she said, looking up. “You’re here. Good. You can help me talk sense into Papa.”

  “I’m afraid I’m the last person for that job,” she said, glancing over her shoulder at her father, who was studiously ignoring her. She descended the stairs to envelop her sister in an embrace.

  “We’ve done it,” Bea said. “We’re to be wed, and I don’t care what he says about it. If we have to live in a hovel, we’ll do that.”

  Annie squared her shoulders and shook her head. “Come with me. I don’t think living in a hovel will be necessary.”

  Annie marched back up the stairs to stand in the door of Papa’s library. He made a great show of ignoring her until Bea pressed past them.

  “Papa, I’ve come to talk to you, and this time it’s just me. You won’t be telling me I cannot wed, because that’ll just make me hide it from you. I want you and Mama to be there, but I will do what I have to. And I’ll live in a hovel if that’s where we have to live.”

  His weary gaze shifted to Bea and then returned to Annie. “I suppose you’ve got something to say about this.”

  “Let Bea marry the man she loves and give them a good start to their lives together by deeding over Blinn Cottage to them as a wedding gift.” She looked over at Bea. “You always liked Blinn Cottage, yes?” At her sister’s nod, Annie spoke to her father. “Do this and I won’t press my case to Granny regarding what we’ve spoken about. My guess is she’s got no idea about it.”

  Annie winked at her sister, then turned and walked away. “Good luck with him,” she called over her shoulder. “He’s not being reasonable today.”

  Papa answered with a harrumph.

  A short while later, Annie returned to the palace, where the footman opened the carriage door with a message. “Her Majesty wishes to see you now.”

  She was ushered into Granny’s private quarters where her great-grandmother was seated alone at her desk. “Come in, kitten, and tell us what you’ve learned.”

  “After a thorough investigation, we’ve cleared Uncle Eddy.”

  Her brows rose. “So soon?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Annie said. “Between his size, his health, and his alibis, we believe he could not have committed any of the murders.” She paused. “Either here in London or in Austin.”

  “And you’re certain. All three of you.”

  “We are.”

  Silence fell between them as the queen ran her hand along the edge of her desk. Then she looked up again. “You have more to tell us. Or perhaps to ask?”

  “Both.” She told Granny about the events in the case up until this morning when she arrived at the conversations with Cameron Blake and Papa. “That brings me to the question. What do you know about the Black Midnight?”

  “We know that the three of you—the four of us,” she amended, “have been diligent in investigating these awful crimes. We believe more has been learned in these past few days than at any time during the months prior.”

  “No, Granny,” Annie said gently. “The other one.”

  “Oh. That.” She shrugged. “Men playing games and acting like boys mostly.”

  “So you know about them.” Annie was both surprised and not so surprised.

  “As you’ve said, there is very little we do not know about what happens around us.”

  “Who is the killer, Granny?”

  Her brows shot up. “That we decidedly do not know. It is rather bold of you to ask that, kitten.”

  “Should I apologize?”

  “No.” Granny’s voice held no harshness. “You think the Black Midnight is protecting one of their own.”

  “And I am concerned who that is.”

  Granny reached over to take Annie’s hand. “I assure you it is no more your father than it is your uncle Eddy. For all of the same reasons.”

  Annie gasped. “You knew about Papa being a member.”

  “Thank you for not posing that as a question. Of course we knew. He is family. Though we understand his involvement is minimal at best.”

  “Still, Granny, he is a retired lecturer of English history, not a killer, a member of law enforcement, or a vigilante. How can he be involved at all in such an organization?”

  “Oh, kitten, you don’t know, do you?” The queen shook her head, her eyes softening. “The Black Midnight began as many organizations of its kind do, in secret and not out of any ill intent.” She paused only a second before continuing. “Among the higher circles of education and society whose concerns are for the betterment of their peers and their country. We would hardly call them vigilantes. More protectors, if a word must be chosen.”

  Understanding dawned. “They’re a bunch of professors with a few royals added in who want to help.”

  Her Majesty chuckled, though there was no humor in the sound. “You do have a way of putting things, Annie, but yes. That about sums it up. The police don’t know who they are. Think about it, child. If they did, they would be obligated to stop them. Wouldn’t you have when you were special constable?”

  Annie nodded. It all made sense. “Why didn’t you tell me, Granny?”

  A smile was slow to rise on her great-grandmother’s face. “We wanted a thorough investigation. Only one who had no knowledge of the Black Midnight could truly seek out the facts without prejudice.”

  Annie sorted through Her Majesty’s words. Royals and university professors looking to save their peers was how she described the group. Uncle Eddy had said the members took an oath and swore to keep the members safe.

  “And only you,” Queen Victoria continued, “would have the audacity to ask me if I was hiding knowledge of a killer.” She smiled. “We chose the right one for the job, and we are very proud of you. Perhaps we were too quick in siding with your father on certain matters involving your detective work.”

  “Speaking of my father,” Annie said, “a reporter has alleged he is a member of Black Midnight. The same one who wrote that awful article about Isaiah and me. I thought you ought to know.”

  “The truth always has its day,” Granny said with a shrug. “Unless it does not. Now kiss me on the cheek and tell me goodbye. There is work to be done by both of us.”

  Ike awakened the next morning to a knock at his door. Without waiting, the footman stepped inside, followed by another fellow who threw open the curtains and flooded the room with light. A third uniformed man joined them, placing a silver tray on the table beside the window, then opening it with a flourish.

  Ike wrapped the sheets around himself and stood, lured by the scent of fresh coffee and bacon. While staying at a palace had its benefits, he missed the privacy that his arrangements back in Texas allowed. There might not be anyone to heat his bathwater or bring him a meal, but he could walk around in whatever state of dress or undress he wished without having to be worried someone would walk in on him.

  On a second tray beside the table was a single folded note. He opened it to read a message from Annie stating that Simon wished to see them at Scotland Yard as soon as possible. He finished up his breakfast, declined the
offer of a valet to help him dress, then presented himself in the Yellow Drawing Room.

  Today Annie wore a pale shade of blue, the dress the color of a robin’s egg and the matching cloak a color slightly darker. The watch he’d given her all those years ago was pinned to her lapel.

  “Time to go?” he asked, unable to resist a reference to the timepiece she’d kept hidden until now.

  Annie grinned and took his arm, sparing a quick look at his midsection where the chain to the watch she’d given him was on display. “You’d know, wouldn’t you?” was her reply.

  Yesterday she’d returned full of enthusiasm over her conversations with her father and the queen. Between the two of them, enough information regarding the Black Midnight had been discovered to give them the reassurance that they were on the right track in targeting a member as the killer.

  The fact the group was made up of college professors and not lawmen bothered him. He could tell it bothered Annie too, and likely for the same reason. They were both children of men who could be members. Worse, Annie’s father indicated he likely was, and Pop was the man Ike had first heard of the group from.

  Could Pop and his buddies be members too? Probably not, but nothing was impossible. He’d written his father last night, but the post was slow, and it would be a month or more before he would have any sort of answer.

  And that assumed Pop decided to respond.

  They rode in silence to Scotland Yard, and once again Simon met them at the entrance. “I received your message that there have been new discoveries. You also might be interested in something else we found.”

  “You first, I think,” Ike said, and Annie nodded in agreement.

  Simon gestured toward a side door, and soon they were winding through a warren of narrow hallways until they emerged at what appeared to be a property room. He went to a box on the shelf nearest the door and pulled it down to retrieve a slip of paper and hand it to Isaiah.

  “Tests on the knives proved inconclusive. One of my boys went back to take a second look at the flat where they were found to see if he could glean anything else from the scene. He was about to leave when someone stuck this note under the door.”

  Ike opened it and read the words, then passed them on to Annie.

  Alice Anne von Wettin, Buckingham Palace. Isaiah Joplin, Buckingham Palace. L

  She looked up at Simon. “What is this?” Annie asked.

  “I thought maybe you could enlighten us,” Simon said. “The officer ran out to try to find the man who’d left the note but had no luck. All he could say was the hand that reached under the door was gloved and the sleeve of his coat was tweed.”

  “We only know one man who has claimed an association with that cook,” Ike said.

  “Dr. Langston?” Annie said. “Do you think he wrote this?”

  “When we saw him in Whitechapel, he was wearing a tweed coat,” Ike said.

  “Like many men in London,” Simon told him. “But the fact he led us to that flat by giving you the address is interesting. It’s as if he wanted the man caught.”

  “If so, why put a note under the door with our names on it?”

  “Curious,” Simon told them. “But not completely unexplainable. We just need to ask those questions of the professor.”

  Ike frowned. “We’re going to have to plan this confrontation. We could be speaking to the man who is not only the Whitechapel Murderer but also Austin’s Midnight Assassin.”

  Annie sighed. “He was definitely in both places.”

  “And he has the size,” Ike said. “The surprise meeting at Whitechapel, the elaborate story of his friend the cook, all of it? No, I think we’ve got a new suspect. What do you think, Simon?”

  The policeman nodded. “I think we do. You two need to be careful. You’re the only ones who can identify him. We’ll all go out to Greenwich together with the officers. I want to be sure I’m bringing in the right man for questioning. And let me be absolutely clear. Dr. Langston is a suspect, nothing more. I will make no allegations until there is proof.”

  Ike and Annie nodded in agreement as Simon led them back outside. “I’ll ride in the carriage with the officers. If you two show up at the observatory, he will think you were just out for a drive and wished to say hello. Once you have confirmed it is him, we will step in and take him back to London.”

  They parted ways, and Ike helped Annie into the carriage. As they set off for Greenwich, he settled in beside her and considered how to broach the question of the odd note he’d gotten a few nights ago. He decided to be direct.

  “Annie, about that message you sent me a few nights ago. I’m a little confused. I sent it back with the footman because I felt it wasn’t intended for me, but until now I haven’t thought to ask you about it.”

  She gave him a sheepish look. “You got the wrong note. I wrote my sister, Beatrice, and I wrote you. I gave both to the maid, and, well, she mixed them up. Yours was supposed to go to Beatrice.”

  “What did mine say? Something about the case, I assume. And your sister? You told her to marry someone?”

  She gave him the shortened version of the contents of Beatrice’s letter. Then she sighed. “So I advised her to marry the man. I think Granny’s attitude has softened since I tangled with her. I doubt she would leave Papa and Mama penniless, though I have no doubt that Bea would be on her own with her husband.”

  “Which is how it ought to be anyway,” Ike said. “So if hers was supposed to say, ‘Marry him,’ what was mine supposed to say?”

  Color rose in her cheeks. Annie swiveled to face him. “Funny, I am not nearly as brave today as I was that night.”

  He reached over to grasp her hand. “What did it say?”

  “‘I should have said yes,’” came out on a whisper of breath.

  Chapter 27

  I see.”

  It was going to take a minute for that news to soak in. Unfortunately, Annie misinterpreted Ike’s silence.

  “Look, forget I said that. It was late, I was tired. I got caught up in the moment. What was then is obviously not the same now, so let’s just forget that I ever—”

  Ike leaned over to stop her words with a kiss. When the kiss ended and he leaned back to look at her, she continued.

  “That was nice, but you didn’t have to do that. I certainly am able to handle the fact that you may have felt one way back then, but now you—”

  He kissed her again.

  When he figured he had finally gotten his message across, Ike sat back. “Annie, you’re wrong.”

  “I am?” came out in a squeak.

  Ike nodded. “I still feel exactly the same as I did back then. I told you I loved you then, and I love you now. Nothing has changed.”

  “Isaiah,” she whispered. “I never told you I loved you back.”

  “You can fix that, Annie.”

  “I do.” She grinned. “That wasn’t hard.”

  He leaned close again but did not kiss her. “You do what?”

  “Love you,” she said. “I love you.”

  “Then everything else is going to be all right.” He kissed her one more time. “But right now we have a job to do. Once we’ve done that job, we can handle what comes next.”

  “Which is?”

  “I will speak to your father and probably the queen, if she’ll talk to me. I think she’ll want more than just a pair of boots to make this okay.” He shrugged. “We will face that later. Together. Now let’s concentrate on taking down a killer.”

  “I should warn you that you won’t get far with either of them. They’re both impossible.”

  He shrugged. “The impossible just takes longer.”

  They rode in silence until the carriage reached the observatory. Ike got out and helped Annie down, and together they strolled the grounds like the visitors they pretended to be. After they’d inquired as to the doctor’s whereabouts from several of the observatory employees, it became plain that Dr. Langston did not work there. Nor was he doing research. />
  Ike went out to tell Simon. “He may have run as well,” he added. “If the cook panicked, he probably did too.”

  Simon seemed to be considering the statement. He shook his head. “I’m stuck on something and need clarification. I was told this man is someone you’ve known a long time. How is it possible he’s our killer and you didn’t realize it?”

  “I don’t know,” Ike admitted. “He and my father have been friends for a long time. He and Pop taught at several other universities at the same time.”

  “I wonder if there are unexplained killings in those towns too.” Simon shrugged. “There’s one way to find out. I’ll need a list. Will you come back with me to the station and make one? I can send telegrams, and maybe we can get some quick answers.”

  “Sure.” He looked over at Annie. “You don’t mind?”

  Annie shrugged. “Go on back with him. I think I will pay my sister a visit.”

  “Are you sure you’re welcome there?” he asked. “I understand you’ve been urging her to do things they don’t approve of.”

  “I’ll have you know her beau trains horses and likes dogs.”

  Ike chuckled. “Well, that does make all the difference in the world, doesn’t it?”

  They parted with a smile, and Annie instructed the driver to take her to the townhouse. Not long after, the carriage was parked in front of the home Bea shared with Mama and Papa when they were in the city.

  She stepped inside and was immediately greeted by her father. “What did you tell her?” he demanded.

  “Tell who?”

  “Your sister. She’s gone, and your mother is inconsolable.”

  Annie straightened her backbone and looked up at her father. “I told her to marry the man she loves, the same thing I told you I had said. You ought to have listened to me, Papa. And for your information, I plan to do the same thing.”

  “You’ll be left penniless,” he called after her as she turned and walked away.