P. Elrod - The Hanged Man

She felt a shift in the emotional air. Doubt and suspicion-never far from such minds as these-quickly spread through their ranks.

Hollifield hesitated, then cast his eye over the crowd. “It would seem that we must face yet another evil necessity. The girl has raised doubts and those must be removed. We cannot be divided in our purpose. The innocent have nothing to fear.”

“How will we know she will be truthful?” asked a man still anonymous behind his mask.

“Trust, gentlemen,” she said, “trust that more than anything I want to look my father’s killer in the eye and demand why . Who of you would do less?”

None replied.

She broke the thick silence. “While we’re asking difficult questions, which of you ordered the assassination of Lord Richard Desmond?”

Lord Hollifield was clearly shocked. “What are you talking about?”

“He’s dead, too. Just hours after my father. I was there when a pack of your hooded swine cut him down with air guns. He was unarmed. Who gave them those orders? Which of you will be next?”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

Alex pressed forward. “Who of you ordered the attack on the Psychic Service? Bullets flying within steps of Downing Street? But you lost a dozen soldiers in that assault. Lord Hollifield will confirm I brought a captured air gun to him to ask if he knew who had made it. I assumed his shock was from seeing something new. But then with a smiling face he sent me and a companion straight into a death trap.”

“I did not!” he snapped. “My orders were for you to be captured unharmed.”

“Obviously that did not happen. To whom did you give those orders? That apish brute that murdered Father? I think not. Someone else arranged that, using the beast as a tool. Make no mistake, the traitor is here. Did he present a report on his crimes? Or is he keeping secrets? From you of all people, is he keeping secrets?”

These were men practiced at holding their thoughts and feelings hidden while looking for weaknesses in others, but she could sense her shots were hitting true. Hollifield’s bluff features were grim.

“I am a Reader in Her Majesty’s Psychic Service,” she stated. “No one can lie to me . Have these ‘honorable’ gentlemen present themselves one at a time and I’ll tell you who is exceeding his authority-but you already know him, sir.”

“That he does.” A man standing by the closed door spoke. In one quick sweep he removed his mask and smiled. “My dear cousin, I had no idea you had such a turn for the dramatic.”

“You should have chosen the stage,” Teddy added. “Mother would have had seven kinds of fits, but that wouldn’t have bothered you.”

Alex felt ill and angry, but maintained her control. Showing her temper would blast what she’d so carefully built to flinders.

Hollifield was ready to explode, though. He’d gone red and rounded on young Pendlebury. “You dare?”

“Someone had to act. Allow me to explain and all will be forgiven.”

Hollifield’s glare could have scorched iron, but he’d not reached his place in the world without knowing when to listen. With visible effort he pulled himself in. “Explain, then,” he said after a moment.

Teddy’s gaze was steady. This man was a stranger to Alex. This was someone accustomed to walking in the corridors of power. He looked older and extremely self-assured. “It was all on Lord Richard Desmond. Using the Ætherics as a frivolous diversion was no longer working, and quite frankly, most of you are not as careful as you should be. A careless word dropped, a little postprandial chat over the port-the man’s no fool. You’ve seen more of him than all of us together, Hollifield. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d taken some clue from you.”

“Have a care, boy.”

“I did precisely that. I expected him to send spies. They wouldn’t be hoodwinked by Ætheric table-tippers or shocked by those drunken hedonists. Desmond’s spies were removed.”

“You killed Englishmen ?”

“Spies, Lord Daniel. Spies who would have ruined everything. But it didn’t put off Desmond. He approached my father in the Home Office about opening an inquiry, a series of inquiries, on most of you .”

The men had been restive but now went still.

“Caught your attention at last? You’re all damned lucky I happened to see a paper my dear old sire left on his desk. It was a list of names, every one of them in the Order. That was yesterday, gentlemen. Just yesterday. Father would have launched an investigation tomorrow. They would have brought in Readers just like my cousin here, and none of you would have evaded discovery.”

Alex disbelieved that; Uncle Leo was never careless with important papers, but it was a plausible lie. This wasn’t the time to point the flaw out to this lot, not with Teddy in full flow.

“Action was required. I gathered a few trusty lads to sort things out. With Lord Richard removed, the investigation would be delayed. We set a watch for the next time he went out. Soldiers of the Order executed Lord Richard Desmond early this morning.”

Alex listened with her internal senses wide. Their wave of shock was genuine.

“How could you?” someone demanded.

“Unavoidable. We’d have had to do it sooner or later.”

“Executed,” whispered Hollifield.

“You and all of us here know his dogged devotion to the crown. He’d have been an implacable enemy to our cause. Possibly the one man who could stop us.”

“He’d have come around,” said a man in the back.

“No.” Hollifield shook his head. “I knew him. He’d never…”

“Exactly,” said Teddy. “The next necessary evil was to take the teeth out of the Psychic Service. I anticipated his death would put them in disarray. They panicked and called in everyone. Every true psychical talent in London was together in one spot and we could have gotten rid of the lot, but their damned Seer somehow got wind of it and ruined things. I take responsibility for the attack, but not its defeat; that was out of my control.”

“You bloody fool!” Hollifield roared. “You’ve no idea the damage you’ve done. You’ve set us back-”

“I’ve pushed us forward! We are ready now ! The game’s begun. There’s no point waiting. Give the word and by New Year’s Day the first of the foreign vermin will be on boats heading across the Channel.”

“It’s impossible. Our own Seer said it’s too soon.”

“What makes him so reliable? He’s so damned busy blocking theirs, you can’t get sense from him. He was half mad to start with, then he got pushed the rest of the way when you began the abyss experiments.”

“He volunteered. He was the one who discovered-” Hollifield stopped short. “Damn your eyes! You should be thrashed within an inch of your life for this.”

“Deal with me after the year turns, your lordship, if you still think it necessary. Every man here has his duty to perform, none with a greater will for it than myself.”

Hollifield snorted.

The masked man who’d spoken earlier stepped forward. “We’ve been ready for over a year. Time to grasp the nettle, have done with it. We know the cost. I’ve a brother who will never forgive me, but yours will come around, and through him the queen.”

Alex raised her voice and put a solid measure of contempt into it. “You know better than that, Lord Hollifield. My godmother’s temper is not easily roused, but it is legendary. Particularly where disloyalty is concerned. As of this moment there’s no solid proof of your treason. That changes if you and these honorable gentlemen listen to my fool of a cousin. You must be aware he’s manipulating you. He was a sneaking little tick as a boy and only got worse as a man. He’s not told you everything. Ask him what happened tonight at the air gun factory by the river to the men who worked there. They’re all dead.”