Disappointment
Whatever Joe’s previouslife had been like, he had an excellent memory, Oliver thought as he tried to put the pages of notes he had taken the previous night into some semblance of order. Joe had told them everything he could remember about the other orderlies’ schedules, when the matrons went on and off duty, delivery routines, and the doctors’ movements, which, unfortunately, had become more erratic since Dr. Thorn left. It made sense that he had been able to sneak out; he tracked everything.
Despite all they had learned, Ansley was still livid. He had made that very clear when he dressed them down the moment they returned to the Paranormal Society. Felipe had rolled his eyes and told Oliver not to take it personally, even though he found himself vibrating inside as he had years ago when he accidentally set Ansley off. He didn’t understand how Ansley could get everything he wanted and still be mad about it. Oliver swallowed against the knot of anxiety in his throat and focused on combining the rough schematics Joe had sketched with his own drawings from their previous trip. Using a ruler and squared paper, he carefully filled in the rooms he had missed and readjusted some walls. The Institute for the Betterment of the Soul was far more labyrinthine than Oliver had expected. It would be easy for them to get turned around should they go down the wrong hallway or take a set of stairs that cut off before they expected. He had initially thought this was because the clinic had been retrofitted into a pre-existing building, but according to Joe, only the facade and windows were left of whatever stood before.
Oliver’s stomach knotted as a pang of heated frustration surged across the tether. He stilled his hand over the drawing and waited until the feeling subsided. Upstairs, Felipe was dealing with Ansley and Head Inspector Williams. Oliver had wanted to go and support him, but Felipe was right, his presence might have made things worse. Felipe could handle the other men far more delicately than he could. There was no chance to say anything foolish or make the head inspector doubt his ability as an investigator if he wasn’t there; not that Felipe had said that. They had given Joe a tentative day they would like to infiltrate the institute, but they needed to plan first. And the only way they could do that was if Ansley wasn’t ready to bring the Federal Branch on their heads. Oliver didn’t like any of this. He didn’t like that what little goodwill they had gained with Ansley was gone, and he certainly didn’t like that Felipe wanted to sneak into the institute when they had no idea what was truly going on inside. A spike of secondhand anger jolted through him like lightning.
Sitting very, very still, Oliver closed his eyes and drew in a centering breath. He focused on his pounding heart until it beat slower, calmer. Reaching for Felipe’s on the other end of the tether, he felt its angry, forceful beats. Oliver’s heart stuttered out of rhythm, but with another breath, he pulled Felipe’s heart into his rhythm. Slowly, it unclenched until they beat more calmly as one. Oliver released a long exhalation and returned to the pile of drawings. Neither set of sketches had initially been to scale and what he had so far was still a rough approximation, but something felt off about them. There were gaps where there shouldn’t be. No architect would leave feet worth of room unaccounted for without a purpose, but Oliver couldn’t think what that purpose might be. He was about to get up to refill his coffee cup when a frantic knock sounded on the laboratory door.
Standing frozen between the tables, Oliver listened for the sound again. Gwen would have let herself in, and Felipe’s I-forgot-my-key banging was far heavier. He couldn’t think of who would knock like that. When he opened the anteroom door, Teresa Galvan staggered forward with her gloved fist raised. For a long moment, they merely stared at each other in confusion. It wasn’t until she stepped back that he noticed her coiffure and outfit looked as if they had been thrown together in haste with whisps of hair escaping from under her hat and her purse not matching her gown. Every time he had seen her outside of a fencing uniform, Teresa had been meticulously put together.
“Miss Galvan, I— My apologies, I didn’t expect to see you here. Is everything all right?” Oliver replied, gathering his wits. From the look on her face, he hoped nothing was wrong with her mothers.
“Have you seen my father?” she asked, her voice sharp with fear as she tried to look around him.
“Yes, I saw him less than an hour ago. He’s upstairs talking to the head inspector.” Reaching for the tether, Oliver confirmed Felipe was indeed alive and well, just in case. Oliver stepped out of the way and gestured toward the lab. “Do you want to come in and wait for him?”
Teresa looked down the hall and into the laboratory as if she couldn’t decide if she should stay or go to find Felipe on her own. Her fingers tightened on her reticule as she swallowed hard. There was no way she would find the head inspector’s office on her own, and he doubted her demanding to see Felipe would go well even if she did. Reaching for the tether, Oliver gave it two slow tugs and hoped Felipe would understand.
“He should be back soon. I know for certain he’ll come down here to tell me how it went, so it would make sense to stay here.”
Something in her expression hitched at that. Teresa tensed but nodded and followed him down the stairs to the lab. Her hazel eyes traveled over the equipment lined up against the far walls to the empty autopsy table in the center before coming to rest on the anatomical skeleton in the corner. Oliver had seen some of Teresa’s more scientific drawings in the folio of work her mothers had collected. She was quite talented, but her worked tended to focus on the living parts of nature rather than the dead. Or, at least, the less gruesome dead.
So often Oliver wondered what people thought the first time they came into his laboratory. Did they find even the most mundane objects sinister because of what he did or who they thought he was? Would Teresa see his lab and wonder why her father had chosen him of all people instead of someone more normal like her mothers? Teresa’s obvious discomfort as she skirted the empty tables with her arms tucked close was nothing new. Silence hung thickly between them as they waited for Felipe, not meeting the other’s gaze. Oliver debated going back to his notes but thought the better of it. Clearing his throat, he rolled Gwen’s chair closer to the bench with the coffee and patted the seat.
“May as well sit while you wait. Would you like some coffee, Miss Galvan?” Eyeing the tin Felipe had put on the top shelf of the cupboard, Oliver added, “I also have fig cakes if you’re hungry.”
“No, thank you. Just coffee is fine,” she said stiffly as she perched on the stool. Picking at the seam of her glove with her nail, she caught herself and stopped. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment when Oliver handed her the steaming cup and gestured to the cream and sugar. “I’m sorry to have shown up at your door unannounced like this. I tried to go to the apartment and the investigators’ rooms, but they said Papa wasn’t there.”
“He usually isn’t. You know Felipe; he’s either here helping me with something or running around tracking down leads or doing research.”
“I don’t. I don’t really know what his life is like here,” she said, holding the cup of black coffee but not drinking it. “He’s kept me at arm’s length in that regard.”
“I can’t speak for Felipe, but I think he was trying to protect you the best way he knew how.”
“Yes, well, I’m not a child anymore. I don’t know what he really does besides spend time with you. I have no idea how the Paranormal Society works or what his job even entails. I knew where you worked, though.”
“Coming here was a safe bet. I promise he’ll be down soon, and you certainly aren’t interrupting anything that can’t wait a moment.”
When Oliver flashed her an affable smile, she gave him a tight one in return. He sensed the same frenetic, jittery anxiety Felipe gave off rolling off her as she hesitantly sipped her coffee with her eyes locked on the door. She drummed her nails against the ceramic cup in a rhythm that made Oliver’s brain itch.
“Teresa, is everything all right? I can try to help if I’m able.”
“No, thank you, Dr. Barlow. I just need to speak to my father.” She had raised the cup halfway to her lips when she asked, “Actually, do you know where my father was last night?”
Oliver frowned. Felipe tried to keep his family and work separate, so Oliver wasn’t sure how much he should say about the Herman Judd case or the Institute for the Betterment of the Soul. Even the Green Daisy might be too specific. “After work, we practiced fencing for an hour, had dinner here, and then went to a bar. Why?”
Teresa’s jaw tightened. “So he wasn’t hurt or incapacitated?”
“Thankfully, no,” Oliver replied. “Why would you think that?”
Before she could respond, the laboratory door clicked open, and Felipe strolled inside.
“Oliver, is everything all right? I felt the—” His hand went to his chest but dropped upon seeing Teresa sitting near the percolator. “Teresa, what are you doing here?”
“We need to talk,” she said, her voice suddenly cold.
Oliver looked between the two Galvans. There was something he had missed, but this felt like family business. He slowly stood, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. “You two can talk here. I’ll see myself out.”
