Anatomy by Dana Schwartz

Author:Dana Schwartz
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

21

IN HER NEW MAKESHIFT LABORATORY, HAZEL had cleared the table, prepared a blank page of her notepad, and replaced all the candles with fresh tapers in anticipation of Jack Currer coming to make another delivery that morning at ten o’clock. She was in a foul mood. The events of the Almonts’ Ball kept replaying themselves in her brain, no matter how much Hazel tried to push those thoughts away and focus on the impending examination. The examination needed all her time and attention. The Bernard situation could wait.

But with Jack Currer coming, Hazel found her mind was too restless to study. By half past ten, Hazel had resharpened all her quills and laid them flat on the table, shortest to longest.

By eleven o’clock, most of the candles had burned down to waxen stumps. Finally, just before the bell rang noon, Hazel heard a knock on the door to the dungeon. “Finally,” she murmured to herself. “Come in! It’s unlocked.”

The door creaked inward, revealing a sliver of overcast gray sky and Jack, alone. “There you are. Is the body out front? Broken wheelbarrow, I suppose. Marvelous, just marvelous. If we need an extra pair of hands to carry the body, I can go get Charles, but I’d prefer if we just handled it ourselves.”

Jack didn’t look up from the earthen floor.

“What?”

“There’s no body. I didn’t go last night.”

“Sorry?”

Jack’s shoulders lifted to his ears. He looked as though he would rather be anywhere but there. Hazel noticed the deep purple shadows beneath his eyes. “There’s no body,” he said again, simply.

Hazel’s eyebrows knitted together, but she forced herself to remain composed. “When will I be able to expect the body, then? One with the fever.”

“There ain’t going to be any more bodies.” He looked away and showed a heavy bruise across his left cheek.

Before she could think better of it, Hazel strode forward and lifted Jack’s face in her hands. Jack’s hair was particularly lank and dull, and his eyes were flat.

His work as a resurrection man kept him up nights often; he was accustomed to going hours without sleep. But the previous night had been different. The exhaustion had started in his soul and crept outward. He had counted the seconds until sunrise from his paillasse in the risers at Le Grand Leon, willing his eyes to shut, not being able to force them to stay that way.

Jack jerked his chin away from Hazel’s hands and shrugged his jacket higher onto his shoulders.

“I don’t understand,” Hazel said resolutely. “I paid you in advance. You’ve only given me one body. If I’m to cure the fever—let alone pass the Physician’s Examination—I’m going to need at least several—”

“Well, you can find yourself another resurrection man, then, can’t you now.”

Hazel gave a barking laugh. “It’s not as if you advertise in the evening newspapers.”

Jack didn’t smile. “Look, I’m sorry. I’m sorry, and I have your money back here if you want it.” From deep in his pocket, he pulled out some coins, gave them

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