“Would you give something to Tristan for me?”Miss Davis asked as she reached into the cabinet.
Ezekiel reluctantly shrugged on his coat.“I know it’s tempting, but I cannot give him laudanum.”
She shook her head with the hint of a smile she’d grown prone to this afternoon and removed a can of sardines.“My intention is to make him a friend to both of us.”
A friend to both sounded promising.“I could bring him by during one of my breaks this week so you can give it to him yourself.”
Behind him Detective Hall leaned over to Miss Pelton and whispered loud enough for Ezekiel to hear.“Was I this bad when pursuing you?”
“As I recall you were more direct with an all-or-nothing view.”Miss Pelton tugged him toward the front.“Come on, give them a minute before you become overbearing.”
By Miss Davis’s unamused expression, she’d heard them.Once they departed, Miss Davis handed him the can.“I suppose I won’t be opposed to Tristan visiting, so long as his master promises to behave himself and not play the charmer.”
“Tristan has no master.He’s a cat.I’m pretty sure he’s the master of me.But I promise to be a humble and behaving servant.”
“I have my doubts about that, but bring him anyway.”
“Tristan and I will see you tomorrow, then.I can’t promise a specific time, as it depends on how long the rehearsal runs, but it will be sometime after one.”
“I’ll keep a pot of soup warm, so you don’t have to risk skipping your lunch.”
“A visit and a meal?I am beyond honored.Thank you.”
Miss Davis gave him a regal nod of acknowledgment, then walked him to the door.“Good evening, Mr.Beaumont.”
Good evening indeed.It sounded like he might have a good week as well.The only challenge before him now was determining how to transport the demon-cat without injury to himself or Tristan escaping.Well, that and remembering those note combinations she’d inspired earlier.Whether he wanted to or not, it was time to sit at the piano and see if the music would finally come to him.
Chapter Seventeen
DR.CHALFANT MUST HAVE TAKENit as a personal affront that Constanza hadinventeda third personality.Either that or he was in league with Satan and determined to keep her trapped in a cage of guilt and shame.Those were the only possible explanations for why he refused to send for a priest, even though service was occurring in the chapel behind the grand rotunda even as they spoke.
“If you would just send for the priest so I could confess my sins!”She sat forward, desperate for him to take her seriously.
“You have no sins to confess except to admit you fabricated Katherine Yates.”Dr.Chalfant sat back in his chair and stared at her over his tented fingers with those beady eyes that cared for nothing but his reputation.“You are Josephine Davis.Not an opera singer either here or in England, nor have you ever been a jewel thief.”
“How would you know?You know nothing except what my husband has told you, and we concocted that story to hide my past lives for the sake of our daughter.”
“He has provided me your whole history, Mrs.Davis, and there is no reason not to believe him.You were born in London, immigrated with your parents to New York during your teen years, worked at a restaurant after they died, then met and married Mark Davis, with whom you had one daughter two years later.”
Yes.Yes.She knew the story, all except that restaurant bit.What had Marcellus been thinking to add that detail?“I haven’t cookedmore than a handful of meals in my lifetime, and all of them either poisoned someone or were so charred not even the fire would eat it.”
“He never claimed you were the cook, merely a server, but it was a fine occupation for a woman alone in the world, just aswifeandmotherare honorable and worthy titles.You don’t need to create something more of yourself than what you are.There is no shame in being Josephine Davis.”
“It’s mypastthat is shameful.That is why I need a priest.I have to confess it, or I’ll never be forgiven!”
Dr.Chalfant shook his head.“I cannot allow you to create a whole history for these fantasies.I suspected allowing Miss Davis to visit you and to pretend to take lessons from you was detrimental to your health, and it is to my shame I did not end them sooner.”
She sucked in a breath.He couldn’t mean what she thought.“Please, tell me you do not intend to end her visits.”
“For the sake of your health, I fear I must.It will be hard on her, but she will thank me when you return home well and sound of mind.”
Constanza shot to her feet.“No!You cannot.I must see her.I must know she is safe.I promise not to teach her to sing again.”It would kill her, but she needed to see Eleonora and listen for clues of Winston and Ursula.
“Have a seat, Mrs.Davis, and calm yourself.”He waited with raised eyebrows.
She obeyed, but everything in her buzzed with the urgency to convince him he would be wrong to end her visits.
Satisfied with her compliance, he continued.“A cessation of the singing lessons is not enough.Her visits unsettle you, and now you insist you’ve sung all over England and robbed the wealthy of their jewels while doing so.You are not well, and you will never get well until you relinquish these delusions.”
