• • •
“Your motives are selfish?” Gideon echoed as their carriage swayed around a corner. “Just because you know Anna and my mother?”
“You could also add that they were such good friends to my dear wife,” Thornton said with his oily smile. “But I wouldn’t expect you to believe that. The reason I happened to call on Vanderslice in the first place is because I was going to ask him to assist me in an important business transaction, but he won’t be of any use to anyone until his dear sister is home safe and sound.”
Gideon didn’t bother to hide his skepticism. He’d met too many men like Thornton in his career, men who came to him because they’d crossed one line too many in their business dealings and needed a bit of legal help to get them out of trouble. They always tried to pretend they’d only broken the law to help some poor soul in need. Thornton had always had that same self-righteous smugness, and it still set Gideon’s teeth on edge. “Are you saying you’re willing to help free the women so David will be available to help you with a business deal?”
“Would you believe me if I said I’m concerned only for the welfare of the women?”
Gideon stared at Thornton in grudging admiration. The man was an even bigger scoundrel than Gideon had thought, and he didn’t even care if they knew it. He was also absolutely right. Gideon wouldn’t have believed that for a second, but he had no trouble at all believing Thornton’s claim of selfishness. “How do you think you can help?”
“As I said, I think my men would have better luck finding these missing deputies than your people have.”
“I was down there myself, and I assure you, we made every possible effort to locate them.”
“I’m sure you did, but my men will look places you wouldn’t go, and they’ll spread around a little cash to encourage the flow of information, which I suspect you did not do. I’ve found that combination of efforts to be foolproof.”
Gideon’s experience confirmed his observation, but he didn’t say so. “Where would they get the cash?”
“From me, of course. I expect to make a large profit on the business arrangement Vanderslice is going to assist me with. This would be an investment in my own future.”
“You see, Gideon,” David said, “when he explained all this to me, I knew we had to let him help.”
Although Gideon found himself despising Thornton even more than he’d remembered, he said, “If your men can really find a deputy to serve the warrant, we would be forever in your debt.”
“Forever is a long time, Bates. I would settle for a few weeks.”
• • •
Elizabeth opened her eyes and instantly slammed them shut until the world stopped spinning. When she cautiously opened them again, a hoarse voice asked, “Are you awake?”
She turned her head slowly, mindful of how precariously she seemed to be balanced on the earth at the moment. A woman gazed at her from the next bed, her eyes enormous in her taut face. At first Elizabeth didn’t know her . . .
“Anna?”
She smiled, showing bloodstained teeth.
“Your mouth . . .”
“It’s from the forced feeding.” Her voice sounded like sandpaper rasping softly against wood. “Don’t fight them.”
Elizabeth glanced around. She’d never seen this room before, but, obviously, it was the infirmary. Rows of beds filled with emaciated women lined the walls. Her nose burned from the smell of vomit and carbolic acid. “How did I get here?”
“You fainted, just like the others,” a woman in a uniform said as she bustled by. One of the nurses. She didn’t look like any angel of mercy Elizabeth had ever imagined, though. Her hard eyes and pinched mouth told of impatience and frustration with her charges.
“I don’t remember fainting,” Elizabeth said. Feeling a bit steadier, she pushed herself up a little so she could see the other beds. “Is Mrs. Bates here?”
“I haven’t seen her,” Anna said.
Elizabeth winced at the sound of her voice. “Don’t talk. It must hurt.”
Anna had been slender before, but now she was skeletal. The skin of her face was paper-thin, the veins on her forehead were dark blue, and her hair lay limp and lifeless.
“Don’t fight them,” Anna said. “You can’t stop them, and it only makes it worse.”
“I said, don’t talk! Anna, you promised that if you got sick you’d start eating again. Mrs. Bates made you promise. I remember. You’ve got to eat.”
Anna smiled serenely for a second or two before a noise made her eyes widen in terror. Some of the others groaned, and one woman said, “No, God, please, no.”
“What is it?” Elizabeth strained to hear, trying to identify the sound that had frightened them.
A familiar sound, a tapping and cracking, that spoke of warm kitchens on winter mornings. Eggs. Someone was cracking eggs. Lots and lots of eggs.
The nurse returned, her mouth pinched even more tightly now. She pushed a cart loaded with an odd assortment of things—medical equipment Elizabeth didn’t recognize—and a big bowl. A bowl filled with raw eggs. A man wearing a suit came with her, followed by several of the regular inmates. They didn’t look happy, and they didn’t look at Elizabeth at all.
“Miss Miles, I’m Dr. Stanislov. You’ve been brought to the infirmary because you fainted from hunger. It is my duty to ask if you will agree to cease your hunger strike and voluntarily take some nourishment.”
He spoke with an accent of some kind. Russian, probably, given his name. Elizabeth didn’t have the strength to figure it out. She was too busy trying to figure out the expression in his dark eyes. She hadn’t seen it in a man’s eyes for so long that she hardly recognized it, but there it was, unmistakable: kindness.
How odd. But even in her current state, she was sure. He didn’t like this any better than she did. But that didn’t change anything.
“No, I won’t eat,” she said.
He sighed with what might have been resignation or maybe admiration. Elizabeth thought she must be delirious if she couldn’t tell the difference. “I’ll have to force-feed you, then. It’s not a pleasant experience, Miss Miles.” He picked up a piece of black rubber tubing from the cart. “I will insert this in your throat, and we will pour a liquid mixture of eggs and milk into your stomach. Are you sure you won’t reconsider?”
Elizabeth glanced over at Anna, whose enormous eyes were squinched tightly shut, as if she could close out his words by not seeing him. Elizabeth thought of the blood in Anna’s mouth and her raspy voice and the fear in her eyes. She thought of the groans of the other women, who had fallen completely silent now as they waited for her reply.