Monsters, Magic, and Machines (The SteamGoth Anthology Book 1)

by Jonathan Baird

  Lady Victoria turned her back to the doctor and was reaching into the cabinet for one of the specified pans when she hurt a sharp crack followed by a cursing and coughing from Dr. Felton. “Are you okay doctor?”

  Dr. Felton waved her away with one hand and continued to cough into his arm. It took several moments, but he finally recovered himself enough to speak, “Just as I was extricating the object, it snapped in to two pieces. A bit of dust from it caught me by surprise.” A few more coughs wracked Dr. Felton before he righted himself. “There, you see all better.”

  Lady Victoria was not entirely convinced but did not want to press the point at the moment.

  Dr. Felton for his part picked up the broken pieces and held them to the light to examine them. Lady Victoria also came in for a closer look, “They look like some kind of piece of turquoise jewelry,” stated Dr. Felton, “But what on earth was it doing in the young girl’s mouth?”

  “Perhaps she tried to swallow it to keep it from getting into the hands of someone else. Her killer perhaps?” added Lady Victoria. Dr. Felton placed the pieces into the pan that Lady Victoria held. She gave them a closer inspection. “They appear to have some kind of Egyptian writing on them. If you don’t mind I think I will take these to Sir Jasper, perhaps he can tell us what they are.”

  Dr. Felton stared absently at the strange blue pieces, “Yes, yes, that sounds like a wonderful idea my dear. If you do not mind I shall continue my autopsy while you are down in the cargo hold.”

  Victoria gave the doctor a conspiratorial smile as she headed out the door, “Knowing Ian, he will probably have everybody back at the main lounge going over evidence and interrogating suspects. He is probably having the time of his life.”

  Ian Grey sat one of the card tables in the main lounge of the Cygnus. With the help of Captain Barclay and Mr. Cooper, Ian was able to determine the whereabouts of the entire crew during the possible time of Amelia Brinks’ murder. Captain Barclay did not exaggerate when he said that he ran a tight ship. Every crewman was able to provide proof of where they were, including two poor crewmen who were working on the struts above the ship. With the crew accounted for, Ian turned his attention to passengers. Sir Jasper, Eddie Roycroft, Harish Singh, Yussef El Sadek and of course Lady Victoria and himself were all in the main lounge at the time, and not counting Amelia Brinks, that left fifteen passengers on board.

  “What now Ian?” asked Eddie Roycroft as he paced around the lounge like a hungry tiger.

  Ian thought for a moment. “Well I have Big Bill down in the hold keeping watch there. All of the crew is accounted for. Lady Dallas is examining Miss Brinks. We have no idea where we are going because all of the instruments do not work, so I think a short break is in order while I get some things from my room. In the meantime, Captain Barclay, could you spare Mr. Cooper to find and bring Lieutenant Stokes here, I have some questions and we might as well start with him.”

  Captain Barclay nodded to his first officer and added, “I can assign a few of my crewmen to help you if you like.”

  Ian got up from his chair and yawned. “Yes that would be most handy, thank you sir.”

  As Ian headed opened the door to leave, he was greeted by Sir Jasper and Yussef. “Ah, how did your search go?”

  Sir Jasper strode into the lounge with a bundle wrapped up under his arm, “We found everything and nothing, Colonel.”

  Bewildered by Sir Jasper’s comment, “How Zen of you sir, but if you will excuse me for a moment I need to pop on down the hall and retrieve something from my stateroom, I will not be gone long.” Sir Jasper nodded to Ian Grey and placed his wrapped bundle on one of the tables.

  It took Ian all of five minutes to go to his stateroom, retrieve his equipment and arrive back at the main lounge where Sir Jasper, Yussef and Eddie Roycroft were standing over one of the tables looking at some odd Egyptian pieces.

  Roycroft turned at the sound of the lounge door opening. “I see you upgraded your kit there.”

  Ian looked down at the belt that he put on over his formal dress jacket; a black leather gun belt with a cross draw holster on his left side, snug in the holster was his Tranter Adams pistol chambered in .44, with a six shot rotary magazine for quick reloads, along the right side of his belt were four replacement magazines. “Where is Mr. Singh?” Ian asked.

  Eddie Roycroft jerked his head to the door, “Right behind you it seems.”

  Ian turned around to see the Sikh walking through the door, a bizarre looking three sided dagger in his hand. “I think under the circumstances that this might be helpful.” Stated Harish, holding the dagger up for all to see, “This is a special weapon, a dagger called the phurba, it should be most helpful against the demon should we encounter it.”

  Ian shot a glance at the Egyptian Yussef, “I thought we discussed this whole cursed business.”

  “With all respect, Colonel Grey,” replied Yussef, holding his hands up, “We did not discuss anything of the sort, you stated your opinion and I disagree with it.”

  Ian ignored the sarcastic comment from the Egyptian, “What does this purr-bah do, exactly?”

  “I can damage the demon or pin it if it has escaped from a host,” explained Harish, “it has been blessed and in the hands of a master trained in its use.”

  “Will it kill a demon?” asked Ian pointedly.

  “I thought you did not believe in demons,” interjected Roycroft.

  “As I recall,” Ian continued, “Mr. Singh said that his country could forge weapons that destroyed demons, I wanted to know if this was one of them.”

  Harish Singh frowned, “This particular weapon is not strong enough on its own, it can hurt the demon, maybe even banish it back to hell, but without knowing the demon’s true name that is all it can do.”

  “We’ll always have a secondary plan,” Ian replied, “If I am wrong and there is a demon running loose on this ship, you can all remind me that I was warned.”

  “There is a demon running loose on the ship?” asked Lady Victoria as she stood in the doorway to the lounge still clad in her leather apron and carrying the medical pan in her hand.

  “According to our eminent Egyptologist here,” Ian replied dropping a hand on Yussef’s shoulder, “The very demon that was supposed to be locked up in the mummy down below has been freed and we are all cursed, or something along those lines.”

  Lady Victoria placed a hand on her hip and scowled at Ian, “And I told you to pack the holy water. And the secondary plan involves the use of that beastly thing in your hand Mr. Singh?”

  Harish Singh gave a slight bow and said, “Most certainly my Lady.”

  Victoria did not look the least impressed, “Well in the meantime I was wondering if someone could be useful and tell me what this is.” Victoria strode over to Sir Jasper’s table and placed the pan with the broken pieces of turquoise down.

  Sir Jasper’s eyes once again took on their now familiar twinkle as he picked up one of the broken pieces. “It appears to be a cartouche of some kind, but I don’t remember seeing this before, where did you find it my dear?”

  “It was in the back of Miss Brink’s mouth. Doctor Felton accidently broke it getting it out; I do hope he has not destroyed it entirely.”

  Yussef picked up the second broken piece and held it to the light, “It looks like a scarab on one side and some writing on the other. If the pieces broke clean we should be able to read what it says.”

  The two Egyptologists bent over the broken pieces when Mr. Cooper entered the lounge, with an obviously limping Lieutenant Stokes in tow. “Colonel Grey, Lieutenant Stokes as requested.”

  Looking at the young officer’s legs Ian noted the condition of his legs, “I do not recall you limping so much when you left the dinner table tonight. Is the altitude affecting your mechanical leg as well as your stomach?”

  Surprised by the assessment of his prosthetic leg Lieutenant Stokes answered, “As a matter of fact, sir, yes it has.”

  Ian arched his eyebrow as
he appraised the Lieutenant, “You have heard about the murder of Miss Amelia Brinks?”

  Lieutenant Stokes stiffened at the mention of the dead girl’s name. “Yes sir, I did, bloody shame too, if only it could have been avoided.”

  It was Ian’s turn to be surprised, “In what way could it have been avoided, Lieutenant?”

  Stokes stood at attention, “There is a dangerous man on board this ship sir, and I swear on my soul that he had something to do with the death of that poor girl.”

  Ian was intrigued, he had seen this before in other investigations, a suspect will swear anything that he knew who the real killer was and that they were perfectly innocent. “There are several dangerous men onboard this ship; most of them are in this room now.” Ian glanced around at the other men, while Roycroft casually opened his jacket to expose his pistol holstered under his arm. “Perhaps you are thinking of someone in particular?”

  Lieutenant Stokes to his credit did not even begin to sweat or fidget under the hard glare of Ian Grey, “Francis Sloakum sir,” Stokes said flatly.

  Sir Jasper and Mr. Cooper both muttered at the accusation of Mr. Sloakum as the killer. Only Ian was not surprised. If he was in Lieutenant Stokes’ place he would have said the same thing since everyone saw Mr. Sloakum’s anger in action at dinner this evening. “Mr. Sloakum? And you are convinced he is the murderer after knowing him for how long, a day perhaps?”

  Lieutenant Stokes did not waiver, “With all due respect sir, it is much longer then a day. I first met Sloakum in India almost a year ago he was working on a railway near Bhopal. I was there with my regiment as security, and I curse the day that man was born. Francis Sloakum killed my fiancé.”

  Ian was taken aback by the vehemence in the officer’s speech, “You have my undivided attention I assure you Lieutenant.”

  Lieutenant Stokes related how he and the 95th Rifle Brigade were on loan as security for a railway expansion project, a command that for all intents and purposes was to be fairly mundane. In fact they were so secured in the area that the commanding officer, Colonel Sebastian Moran, brought his daughter along. Stokes and Moran’s daughter had known each other for several years. The colonel was a widower and his daughter was in India along with him. They had fallen in love and with Colonel Moran’s blessing, they became engaged. However, over the course of several weeks four of the local Indian women were brutally murdered. At first Colonel Moran and the local authorities believed it was the work of a group of Thugee in the area and so ordered double patrols. One night at a dinner party, Colonel Moran’s daughter went missing. Her body was found the next morning in some bushes nearby, her throat was cut and her body mutilated almost beyond recognition. All of the guests and servants were questioned and the only one who did not have an alibi was Mr. Sloakum. But beyond a lack of an alibi they could not find any weapons on him nor among his belongings, and since he was the engineer in charge of the railway project he was let go. Colonel Moran was convinced that Sloakum was the murderer and arranged to have some contacts keep an eye on him; the colonel had a resourceful friend who helped him.

  Eventually the project was complete and Mr. Sloakum left for Orrisa. Colonel Moran’s contacts telegraphed that there had been several murders in that region that were similar to the colonel’s daughter’s murder but the local authorities arrested some migrants and had them executed for the crimes. Later, Mr. Sloakum went to Egypt to work on a project there. When the war broke out, Stokes was temporarily transferred to 6th Regiment of the Bengal Calvary to replace an injured officer. When the campaign was over Colonel Moran arranged for Stokes to be furloughed so that he could keep an eye on Sloakum. Stokes caught up with Moran in Cairo after hearing about two more unexplained murders there and then followed Sloakum from Cairo to Alexandria in the hopes of finding some evidence that would prove of the man’s guilt.

  Ian listened to the entire tale without making a single comment or asking any questions. When Stokes finished speaking, he appeared relieved to finally tell someone about the knowledge he had kept locked inside for so long.

  “If you are telling the truth Lieutenant,” Ian began, “it should be fairly easy to verify your statements once we reach Malta. In the meantime though, you still need to account for yourself between the time that you left our table and 11 o’clock when the body was found.”

  “After Sloakum’s outburst at dinner I thought it would be best to follow him and see what he was up to. I saw him go into his stateroom and then just as quickly he left it and headed towards the front of the ship. I tried to follow him but he disappeared somehow. After that I ended up in the forward observation room thinking he might have gotten around me by way of the promenade deck. While there I struck up a conversation with one of the crewmen and lost track of time. If I had continued looking for Sloakum, perhaps the Brinks girl would still be alive.”

  “A likely story Lieutenant and one that should be easy enough to verify,” Ian motioned to the first officer, “Mr. Coope,r who would have been in the forward observation room tonight?”

  Mr. Cooper opened a leather binder and scanned through one of the documents in it, “John Piper started his watch at 6pm and is due to be relieved at midnight. I could call over to the observation room and verify his story.”

  Ian grimaced, “Have you fixed the communication tubes then?”

  Mr. Cooper’s cheeks flushed a bit, “I will have one of the crewmen head over there and verify his story, sir.”

  It took one of the crewmen ten minutes to go down to the observation room and come back with news that Lieutenant Stokes had indeed been in the observation room from 10 o’clock to after 11 o’clock.

  Ian Grey thanked the crewmen, “Well it seems Lieutenant that an angel is watching over you. I would like you to stay here for a bit longer while Captain Roycroft and I have a chat with Mr. Sloakum.”

  “You are not going to bring him here?” asked Sir Jasper.

  “No, I think this requires a personal visit,” answered Ian, “Besides you have your new trinket to examine. Would you like to come along Mr. Cooper? You would be a big help in letting us know where Mr. Sloakum’s stateroom is.”

  “Yes sir,” answered the first officer unenthusiastically

  As the three men left the lounge, Sir Jasper, Yussef and Lady Victoria returned their attention to the mysterious cartouche. Harish Singh sat down at one of the chairs and kept watch on the door.

  __________________________________________

  Mr. Cooper led the way down to the middle deck where the Sloakum’s stateroom was located. The three men walked along the hall silently until they arrived at their destination. Ian Grey and Eddie Roycroft took up positions on either side of the door as Mr. Cooper raised his hand and knocked rapidly. For a moment or two there was no sound from within the room. Mr. Cooper knocked a second time and was rewarded by a female voice from behind the door, “Who is it?”

  The first officer cleared his throat, “Mrs. Sloakum? It is Mr. Cooper; I am the first officer onboard.” Mr. Cooper glanced nervously between Grey and Roycroft, “I know it is late and I hope I did not wake you.”

  The door swung open to reveal Mrs. Sloakum still in her day clothes. “I was reading. I can never seem to fall asleep in these airships.”

  Ian peeked around the corner of the door, “Hello again Mrs. Sloakum. Sorry for disturbing you at this ungodly hour but there has been a bit of a bother earlier this evening and we were wondering if we could talk to Mr. Sloakum.”

  Fear crept into Mrs. Sloakum’s eyes, “What has my husband done now? Did he get into a fight with another member of the crew?”

  “Nothing of the sort madam,” Ian replied, “There was an accident earlier this evening and we just wanted to know if he saw anything.” Eddie Roycroft, out of Mrs. Sloakum’s line of sight, gave Ian an amused look at the lies being told.

  Mrs. Sloakum stepped out into the hallway, “I have not seen him since dinner. I have been in my room reading all night.”

  “Oh t
hat is quite alright,” answered Ian, “I am sure he will turn up eventually. It is a small ship after all.” Ian began to turn from Mrs. Sloakum as if to head back down the hall before he turned back again, “Having trouble sleeping you said?”

  Mrs. Sloakum shrugged her shoulders, “It is a common malady I suffer on these flights.”

  “My companion, Lady Victoria, you remember her from dinner, don’t you?” Ian continued, “Well I happen to know that she has a remedy for insomnia caused by these high altitudes. She is in the main lounge. Mr. Cooper could escort you there.”

  Mrs. Sloakum looked like she was about to decline, but in the end she accepted Ian’s invitation. Closing the door behind her she followed Mr. Cooper back towards the main lounge. Ian Grey made a show of going the opposite direction and heading down a stairwell with Eddie Roycroft. After a minute Ian stopped and returned to the Sloakum stateroom.

  “Does your lady friend really have a cure for insomnia?” Eddie asked.

  Ian grinned and pulled a small set of tools from a pouch in his belt. “Oh yes. She has trouble sleeping on airships as well. It took some doing but she managed to concoct a potion of herbs that serves as a peaceful sleeping draught.”

  Roycroft gave a low whistle, “She sure seems to be a woman of many talents.”

  Ian fidgeted with the door for a few seconds, “That she is. Probably one of the most remarkable women I have ever met.” Ian pushed the stateroom door open and pocketed his lock picks.

  “For someone who is supposed to be on the side of law and order, Ian,” Eddie noted, “You sure have a lot of criminal talents about.”

  “I am just a jack of all trades Eddie,” replied Ian. Pausing at the threshold, he gave the room his usual thorough scan before entering.

  The stateroom was small but well furnished with a twin sized brass bed, a settee, and a writing desk and wardrobe both made of mahogany. In the corner was also a small porcelain washing basin with running water. The men searched in a silent and methodical manner, going over every possible hiding place in the room. At last they found what they were looking for under the settee. Ian pulled out a leather bound case. His lock pick set made short work of the clasp on the case. Inside the case were folded newspaper clippings, telegrams and a slim book of photographs.