The Twisted Tragedy of Miss Natalie Stewart Read Online Free Page B

it.”
    Samuel furrowed his fair brow. “How can we forget our humanity, and the delicacy of it, when we face death nearly every day in our profession?”
    A flicker across Preston’s haunted face made him appear older than he was. “Because it’s easy to get lost in the work, my friend. It’s so important to us. My department has doctors working in three major cities questioning when a dead body is really dead, all of us prodigies under thirty. Our associates treasure the fire of youth as much as anything. But with fire, there’s smoke. And in the thick of smoke, one can lose his way…”
    Was this a warning or was Preston talking about himself? I sat watching the conversation, glad to be ignored because I wasn’t sure I’d manage to say the right thing. Occasionally Samuel stared at me as if I didn’t belong or something didn’t add up.
    “Why are you here?” Jonathon asked Preston coldly. “I won’t tolerate being followed.”
    “Calm yourself. My being here has nothing to do with you,” Preston scoffed. “The Mayo family brought me this direction. Then I found out that Samuel had left your London clinic and thought I’d seek him out since we’ve so much in common.”
    “I am sorry to hear about Elsa,” Jonathon said quietly. Samuel nodded.
    “Mayo,” Preston said in his uncanny whisper. “True luminary of our craft. That family may change the whole profession. I know genius when I see it. But when I return to New York, I shall be the one to prove that death will not be the last word…”
    I looked into my tea to hide my anxiety. Preston was based in New York? The Master’s Society had offices there?
    “So with that, I must be off.” Preston rose. “I dare not miss tonight’s presentation. I’ve much to learn about tissue in particular,” he said jauntily. “Now I just need to know how to keep it fresh after the spark of life has fled. Tend to your friends, Samuel. I’ll see myself out.”
    I saw Jonathon fighting the same shudder I fought. Samuel looked at Preston as if he held all the hope in the world, not as though he’d just said something terribly creepy.
    Preston bowed to each of us and exited the room. Mrs. Strasser stood in the hall with his hat and light cloak, holding them out far in her hand as if she didn’t want to be too close to him.
    I turned to see that Samuel had crossed the room to sit on the arm of Jonathon’s chair, turned away from me.
    “Jonathon, I don’t want your… friend to read my lips. Preston said you’d changed during your ordeal. What’s she doing here? Who is she? Since I’ve known you, you’ve been too busy with studies, the clinic, and duties of your station to have time for a girl. Let alone a ‘project.’ What the devil does that mean? What sort of consort—”
    “Don’t jump to conclusions,” Jonathon muttered. He paused a moment and glanced at me. “It means she’s my ward. She has no one else. And in her condition, would you have left her to the work house or the brothel?”
    Samuel measured up his friend while I held back a wicked grin. I always wanted some sort of torrid Gothic-novel affair in which I was haplessly thrust upon some young lord’s mercies as his ward. And now I had it. But the thrill of a delicious guardian-ward intrigue was short-lived as I thought about all the lies … Jonathon didn’t have to play the demon to his friend, did he? But could he be honest?
    “Then you are still the man I know,” Samuel said with quiet relief. He turned to me, and I made a show of focusing on his mouth. “You know, Miss Rose, the day I first visited the Denbury estate, Lady Denbury had just experienced quite the shock of finding three starving stray dogs sequestered in her son’s room.”
    Jonathon grinned, showing a warmth and fondness that I hadn’t seen on his face since we’d been sequestered in the private train compartment. “Those poor mutts.” He shrugged. “They were starving and sick. So I fed them and cleaned