Quicksilver - Amanda Quick [74]
“I am positive, sir,” Virginia said. She smiled coldly. “As it happens, I viewed the afterimages in the looking glasses at the scenes of the deaths. Both women were, indeed, murdered, but not by Mr. Sweetwater.”
Leybrook and Adriana were transfixed. So was everyone else, Owen thought.
“Are you certain they were murdered?” Leybrook demanded.
“Yes,” Virginia said. “Absolutely certain.”
Owen sensed energy heighten in the atmosphere. Leybrook was unnerved. Adriana had gone pale.
“How, damn it?” Leybrook demanded. “I heard that there were no marks of violence on the bodies. No sign of poison.”
“The spirits,” Adriana whispered. “The rumors are true. The glass-readers summoned deadly entities from the Other Side.”
Leybrook gave her a disgusted look. “Don’t be ridiculous, Adriana.”
“I assure you, no ghosts were involved,” Virginia said. “Just a cold-blooded killer.”
“Did you see his image?” Leybrook pressed. He was very intent, very focused.
“I have explained to you that I cannot see the faces of the killers in the mirrors. But Mr. Sweetwater was with me when I performed the readings. He was able to sense something of the psychical nature of the person who murdered Mrs. Ratford and Mrs. Hackett.”
Leybrook gave Owen a hard look.
“What did you learn about the killer?” Adriana asked uneasily.
“It was clear that the person who murdered Ratford and Hackett took an unnatural and unwholesome thrill of a sexual nature from the acts,” Owen said.
Adriana stared at him, appalled. “Really, Mr. Sweetwater.”
“Really, Miss Walters,” Owen said.
Leybrook’s eyes narrowed. “I fail to see how that observation rules you out as the killer, Sweetwater.”
Virginia smiled benignly. “I can assure you that Mr. Sweetwater’s passions, while strong, are not at all unnatural or unwholesome. Quite the contrary.”
Leybrook shot Owen another scathing look and then glowered at Virginia. “I think you’ve had a little too much champagne, Miss Dean.”
Virginia ignored that. “If Mr. Sweetwater were to commit a lethal act, I am certain that he would not derive a thrill from the business.”
“Certainly not a sexual thrill,” Owen said, gravely polite. “I prefer to get that sort of thing in the normal manner.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Well, that certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons,” Charlotte observed. “For heaven’s sake, Virginia, why did you not simply wear a large sign on the back of your gown tonight announcing that you were involved in a romantic liaison with Mr. Sweetwater?”
“I didn’t think the sign would complement my dress,” Virginia said.
Charlotte glared at her. “I am serious.”
“Sorry,” Virginia said. “I could not seem to help myself. It is not as though the rumors about my relationship with Mr. Sweetwater were not already circulating.”
“Rumors of an affair are one thing. An outright declaration is quite another. Until tonight we could always hope that there were at least a few doubts about the nature of your relationship with Mr. Sweetwater. Leybrook looked furious. This could well destroy your career, Virginia.”
“I’ll survive. I do have one thing going for me.”
“What?”
“My talent is genuine.”
They were standing on the crowded front steps of the Institute, waiting for Nick and Owen to return with the carriages. It was nearly midnight. In the glary illumination from the gas lamps that bracketed the entrance, the busy scene looked as if it had been rendered in chiaroscuro, all light and shadow. The street was jammed with carriages and hansoms hoping for fares.
“Your talent may be real, but you know as well as I do that the average client cannot tell the difference between a fraud and the real thing,” Charlotte said. “The reason your business is flourishing is because of your connection to the Institute, not because you can actually read mirrors.”
“I did manage to make a living before I joined the