Viridis - A Steampunk Romance

by Calista Taylor

  Gabriel followed the others to the dining room, pushing his thoughts from his mind. The last thing he needed was for Phoebe to notice anything amiss. Instead, he took a seat next to Gavin and concentrated on catching up with his friend. “Will you be in town long?” he asked as Sarah and Martha began to serve the food.

  “Just until the wedding a few weeks from now. The two of us, we’ll need to go out and find ourselves a bit of fun, aye? That one there,” he motioned towards Seth with a tilt of the head, “was ne’er any fun to begin with. And now? Too serious for his own good, though I reckon if I had someone as lovely as Phoebe, I wouldna stray very far either.” Gavin gave her a dazzling smile, and Gabriel couldn’t help but notice Phoebe blush.

  “Hmph. You’ve always had a way with words, Gavin MacKay.” Phoebe shook her fork at him.

  Seth couldn’t help but laugh. “That he most certainly does.”

  Martha walked to Phoebe’s side, whispering something Gabriel could not hear. Phoebe’s gaze darted to Seth for just a moment, her tone serious as she excused herself and left the room, leaving them to dine without her.

  When ten minutes had passed and Phoebe did not return, Seth excused himself to go check on her. As Gabriel chatted with Gavin, he tried not to get ahead of himself and assume the worst. But his worst suspicions were confirmed when Phoebe and Seth came back into the room, followed by the police inspector. His sister’s face, which was rosy when she left the room, was now drawn and ashen as Seth helped her to her seat.

  When she spoke her voice sounded distant and shaky. “It’s all right, Inspector. These are my friends and family. You may feel free to discuss the matter with them here.”

  “If you’re sure?” When Phoebe nodded, the inspector gave a sigh and continued. “Very well then. As I just mentioned, Lord Hawthorne’s portable information module had some information on it that concerns you.”

  Gabriel felt his heart stop momentarily, only to start back up, ready to pound straight out of his chest. It felt like his life was teetering on the edge of a dark abyss.

  William continued, addressing Phoebe. “I found formulas and calculations on the module, along with notations and plant names. I’m not quite sure what the formulations mean but they were found in the book labeled with your name, and I imagine they’re rather important— perhaps related in some way to the formula for Viridis. I’ll need you to take a look. It may be nothing, but I thought I should bring it to your attention, all the same.”

  Though he was incredibly concerned for his sister’s welfare, Gabriel couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. William placed the module on the table and after giving it a crank, the tinkering sprang to life.

  “I do not understand how this is possible.” Phoebe looked dismayed and defeated. “These formulations are from the experiments I’ve been running. The information is always kept locked in my lab.”

  William took the seat next to her. “Is it the formula for Viridis?”

  “Yes, in addition to several new formulas achieved by altering the original. I was running experiments to see whether I could bring about different effects by varying the amounts of ingredients or adding other herbs.”

  “Were you successful?”

  Phoebe shrugged. “I don’t know. I was still a ways from completing my experiments and can’t know for sure the full potential, but yes, certain formulations were showing promise.”

  William shifted as he jotted something down in his notepad. “You may not yet be able to give me an answer, but are the effects of the new formulations similar to those of the current version or are they drastically different?”

  Giving it some thought, she said, “It’s still too early to tell, but the new formulation seems to heighten one’s awareness, particularly of their surroundings rather than of their person. One would be able to see further, and hear better, for example. Similar effects, yet very different applications.” She shook her head. “Why would Niles have the formula? I don’t for the life of me know how he got it.”

  “It may be he was only looking for the original and stumbled onto much more. I cannot say for sure, though I have reason to suspect he worked for Special Services in a certain capacity.”

  Gabriel ran his hands over his face, his pulse erratic, hoping that his nerves weren’t obvious to anyone else in the room. He had trusted Niles, and now it appeared he had been a fool to do so. He wished he could talk to his sister; there was so much more the inspector did not know–so much more, based on the evidence before him, even he was not aware of.

  Phoebe flipped through the inspector’s notes. “The formulas in this form would do them no good, though. When I was originally working on Viridis and the herbal mixes were showing promise, I started to code the formulas as a precaution. These formulations are useless to anyone but me.”

  William now looked intrigued. “There’s a code? I will say it’s a relief to hear it. Could they not, however, have gained access to the code? It would seem a probability if they’ve managed already to gain access to the formulas themselves.”

  Phoebe shook her no. “To look at the formulas, you would not necessarily know you need a code, but even if you did figure that much out, I never put the code in writing. I’m the only one, Inspector, who can easily translate it all, since there is no rhyme or reason to it. Even the names of the herbs are not correct.”

  Gabriel let out a small sigh of relief at his sister’s brilliance and foresight, the knot in his gut loosening just a little.

  The inspector pressed on. “Do you keep track of the changes you’ve made to the formula and when you made them? We may be able to calculate when he took the formulas based on your notes.”

  Phoebe nodded. “I have a book I keep all my notes in. I record every change I make, and the date and time is noted for anything I do. But I still do not understand how he got into my laboratory. It is kept locked anytime I am not there.”

  “Is there no one else that could access it?”

  Phoebe shot a quick glance at Gabriel, both question and apology in her eyes. She then turned her attention back to William— a man fully capable of reading his sister’s every thought as it danced across her face. “No, Inspector. Gabriel and I are the only ones with the code to the lock and a key.”

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Phoebe led Seth and William up the stairs and down the hall to her laboratory, her spirits sinking further with each step. She could not imagine what Niles would be doing with her formula, and though she knew Niles and Gabriel were friends, she refused to believe her brother was somehow involved. There was no one in the world she trusted more. There just had to be a logical explanation, though she could not for the life of her think of anything.

  Seth took her hand in his, offering her some much needed comfort. Pulling her thoughts back to the matter at hand, she looked at William. “This is the door and the lock system.”

  William stepped forward to take a closer look. “It looks fairly complex. How exactly does it work?”

  “Actually it���s quite simple. You need a key, which gets inserted here, and then there’s a numerical code that gets entered just here with these number keys.” Phoebe gestured to the shiny enameled keys lined up in a straight line, each one labeled with a number. “The number can be changed for added security, though I’ve never bothered, not realizing theft was an issue.”

  Pulling the key out of her pocket, she turned it in the keyhole and then quickly punched the numerical sequence. There was a loud hiss of steam and a grinding of gears as the heavy brass door slid open and to the side.

  “Is Gabriel the only other person you have given the key and code to?” Phoebe noticed William’s gaze flick momentarily to Seth.

  “I have given it to no one else. Not even Seth.” She gave Seth’s hand a squeeze.

  “And what of your brother? He was a friend of Lord Hawthorne’s, was he not? Could it be that he allowed him access?” William’s eyes settled on her face, and Phoebe knew he was reading her ev
ery move, her every thought, as if it were an open book.

  Phoebe could not keep the edge out of her voice. “My brother would never betray me, Inpsector. My trust in him is absolute.”

  William abandoned his line of questioning with a tilt of the head. “Perhaps we will find some explanation inside the laboratory.” William bent his tall, wiry frame to get a better look at the lock, running a careful hand over the door. “It would be easy enough to pick the lock or get a skeleton key, but whoever entered would still need the series of numbers. They’d also need to have access to your home. May we proceed? It may be they used a different way to enter.”

  “Certainly.” Phoebe walked in and then let William take the lead, following behind him to answer any questions he may have. He started with the windows that flanked both sides of the room, checking each one closely.

  William spoke as he wandered the perimeter of the room and did not look at her when he asked his next question. “Had Lord Niles ever come to your home?”

  Phoebe reached out and took Seth’s hand in a gesture meant to reassure him. She knew William meant her no insult, and that he needed to establish certain details if he were to get to the bottom of the theft and murder.

  “No. He never came here—not even in Gabriel’s company. I had only ever seen him at Viridis.”

  William nodded his acknowledgement, finishing his cursory investigation. “We’re three stories up and it does not appear that the windows have been tampered with. Do you ever leave them open?”

  “Not usually in winter, although when I’m distilling and the weather is fair, I do tend to leave the doors and windows open due to the fumes. They can be quite overwhelming.” Phoebe moved to her desk, opened the drawer and pulled out her well-worn journal, flipping to the pages that held the information on her recent experiments.

  “Are those the notes you keep? I have the formulas from the module here in my pad.” He took out his notepad and found what he was looking for, then handed it to her.

  She noticed the neat, angular writing, and the methodical way in which he’d taken down the information. Seating herself with the two books, she flipped through her pages looking for the matching formulation. There. She checked once more before confirming it with William. “I have it here. I ran this experiment approximately five weeks ago.”

  “Have you run any others since then?” William took a step closer to look over her shoulder, but only as far as was proper. She managed a bit of a smile and shifted her book over so he could get a better look.

  “Yes. You see here.” She flipped forward several more pages, and then looked up at him.

  Seth, who hadn’t said much of anything up until now, spoke. “Whoever took the information must not have easy access or they would have the latter equations. And in case you are wondering, Inspector, I only just returned from the Outlands less than two weeks ago.”

  William nodded, his face serious. “I thank you for your honesty. What you say makes sense. I cannot imagine it would be easy to gain access to the room. Unfortunately, someone has managed to do just that, possibly on more than one occasion, given the amount of material.” He turned to Phoebe. “Unless, of course, they had access to your book for a length of time or had removed it from the home. You have servants— they may have noticed something and thought nothing of it at the time.”

  “Just the two, Sarah and Martha. You may feel free to speak with them regarding the matter.” Phoebe closed her book and tied it shut with the leather thong, before stashing it away.

  “Thank you. Have they been with in your employment long?”

  “Only three or four months. Prior to opening Viridis, there wasn’t much need.” Nor had there been any money.

  “Would it be possible for them to gain access to this room?”

  She hated to think of it. “I suppose so. I had only thought of the lock on the door as a precaution in the case of a burglary. Though it’s locked when I’m not using the laboratory and I’ve not given either of the girls permission to enter, the distillation process is time consuming, and I do frequently go to other areas of the home without closing or locking the door.”

  “I’m afraid there is a chance your servants could have gained access to this room. In light of the evidence, I’ll need to speak with them, though it may be difficult to prove whether they did indeed have a hand in the theft. There’s a reason your formulas ended up in Lord Hawthorne’s hands, and he very well may have died for it. We cannot be too careful.”

  ***

  Phoebe had been prowling the house since William left, trying in vain to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut. She was only too happy that Sarah and Martha were preoccupied in the kitchen. It was quite clear that they were shaken after being questioned by the inspector, and she could not blame them. She felt horrible that they were under suspicion, and how she would face them again, she did not know.

  At least she had a wedding to distract her. With the seamstress due to arrive at any moment, she was able to convince Seth, Gabriel, and Gavin that she would be fine on her own. The last thing she needed was for the three of them to be doddering around the house, watching her every breath. She’d finally pushed them out the door with promises she’d meet with them later at Viridis.

  She showed the seamstress to her room, where she stripped down to her undergarments so measurements could be taken. Speaking expertly through a mouthful of pins, her seamstress said, “Have ye given any thought to the design? I do no’ think anything too full on such a small frame like yours, but a bustle in the back with a slim sleeve would look awful nice on ye. An’ with your hair and coloring, ye should think of an ivory silk. White would be too harsh; wash ye out it would.”

  “No, definitely nothing too full.” She too easily could drown in a sea of fabric. “And nothing overworked. I’d like to keep it simple.” All her dresses lacked the frivolity most women seemed to relish.

  “Och, now m’ lady, ‘tis yer wedding day. If ye cannot wear something fancy on the day, then when will ye? Ain’t gonna get married but the one time, gods willing.”

  Phoebe nodded. The temperature in the room seemed to have climbed to just short of stifling, a fine dew breaking out on her skin. A ball of panic and excitement bubbled in the pit of her stomach, as she thought of her future with Seth. “All right, then. Maybe we can adorn the gown— just a little.”

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Seth stepped over a puddle, keeping his pace brisk as he and Gavin walked down the road. The Inspector’s impromptu visit had left Phoebe rather upset and with good cause. It also left him adding another errand to his growing list. But for the moment, he had other business to attend to.

  “She’ll nae like it. Ye ken that, aye?” Gavin glanced at him, a grin creeping across his face at the thought of mischief.

  Frustrated with the situation, Seth said, “Of course I know. But with luck she’ll not find out.” He picked up his pace, their destination not very far now. The cold had returned, bringing a brisk wind with it, their skin stinging as they kept their heads tucked low and buried in their upturned collars.

  “Are ye sure ye want to be doing this? She’s got a wee bit of a temper on her, aye? If she catches on, she’s liable to call off the wedding. And odds are against ye that she willna realize, seeing as she’s not only playing with a full deck, but has a few cards stashed up her sleeve, if ye ken my meaning.”

  “Aye. I know,” Seth said through gritted teeth. “But what choice do I have?”

  “Ye could always get me to do the job.” Gavin’s grin widened, frustrating Seth all the more.

  Seth shook his head. “We’re just there now.”

  A few minutes later, he was knocking on the door to Phoebe’s shelter. A girl no older than sixteen answered the door. “What can I do ye for?”

  Seth smiled in an attempt to set her at ease. “I was wondering if you could help me. I’m looking for a young lad by the name of Samuel.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “And wha
t would ye be wanting with him?” Then she quickly thought about it and added, “Not that I’m saying he comes here, or anything.”

  Trying to ease her fears, he said, “Do not worry. He’s not in any trouble. I actually wanted to offer him a job.”

  The girl mulled it over, eyeing them suspiciously. Finally, she said, “Well, seeing as I don’t know where he is, why don’t ye leave me yer name and a way he can reach ye, and I’ll try to get it to him.” A smile tugged at her lips, obviously happy with herself for having come up with a plan.

  Seth smiled back. “That would be fine.” He took a calling card out of its case and handed it to her. “It is rather important, so I’d appreciate any effort on your part.” He handed her a few shillings, hoping it would aid her memory before they’d left the neighborhood.

  And correct he was. They’d only gone a couple blocks when Samuel slid out of a side street and stepped in front of them, his walk jaunty and his head held high. “Molly said ye wanted me?”

  “I wanted to offer you work.” Seth remembered the lad being tall enough and slender, but what he recalled the most was his dogged dedication to Phoebe and a quick intelligence.

  “Aye? And what would ye be wanting me for?” He looked at Seth and Gavin with his chin out, refusing to be intimidated by anyone.

  “Why don’t we get ourselves out of the cold? We can discuss matters over a bit of hot food and drink.”

  Samuel gave it a moment’s thought. “Fine then, seeing as yer buying.” He gave Seth a sly smile, pausing just a moment to see if Seth would protest. “Ain’t stupid enough to pass on a free meal.”