Gaslight Chronicles Box Set 2 by Cindy Spencer Pape

Author:Cindy Spencer Pape [Pape, Cindy Spencer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781426899652
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Published: 2014-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five

Seb hauled the heavy sewing engine upstairs and filled its copper boiler. Mrs. Claypoole had taken Minerva and Ivy under her wing like a pair of lost ducklings, so she was eager to lend her needlework equipment to the process, along with her help. Seb left the two women discussing designs and fled to the comfort of his study.

He’d told her about the Order—a serious violation of promises he’d willingly given. If Ivy developed powers, though, she’d need their help, and times of need were always exceptions. He truly believed that Minerva would take the knowledge to her grave rather than abuse it.

Ivy’s heritage might also allow him to draw the resources of the Order further into the investigation, although they were already interested, thanks to Wink’s knowledge about the engineered bacteria. His superiors, other than Liam, would be skeptical of such a case, and in truth, some of them would see no purpose in worrying overmuch about a poor seamstress and a handful of children from the slums. It would be good to have the Order’s influence behind him.

He checked over his notes, adding details and jotting down theories as they popped into his mind. One that kept cropping up was that this monster, who’d apparently killed Jane without remorse, was trying to get to Ivy. But why? Was he angry that she hadn’t succumbed, or had she seen or heard something that could be incriminating? It was also possible that he’d wanted to take her alive. Why, then? To study her response to the disease? That idea settled smoothly into Seb’s consciousness, like a puzzle piece locking into place. Yes, that was it. The villain wanted to know how Ivy had survived. Perhaps that was the goal all along, to make a microbe that didn’t kill the host but was actually beneficial.

The more Seb pursued this line of thinking, the more it fit. This man didn’t consider himself a killer, he was a scientist. Perhaps he even thought himself a savior. If Wink’s ideas were correct, and this bacteria cleaned soot from the body, mainly the lungs, then such a thing would indeed extend the lives of innumerable city dwellers, in London and throughout the world. If his research could be discovered intact, honest scientists, ones who didn’t kill to further their work, could possibly refine it and work miracles.

So who had Ivy been exposed to who had that kind of expertise? It galled that Seb couldn’t do any more to find out tonight. Ivy was a special child, one who ought to be protected and cared for. As was her mother. He hadn’t felt such a wave of affection and determination in a long time, and that had ended in devastation. Seb didn’t know if he could live through that again. In just two short days, he’d become used to Minerva’s quiet efficiency and Ivy’s laughter as she played, even while bedridden. When he solved this case, they’d be gone again, safe from this murderer, but alone and without income in a very unsafe world.

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