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.""All of them?""Yes." She lifted her chin."I give you my word to answer to the best of my ability.I do know Lord Harcourt, and there is a tale to tell.Whether it helps you locate your missing man, I cannot say.But my tale remains with me until I am inside my own body again."Still, I hesitated."You understand that it will only be for a brief time.""A brief time is better than no time.I do so wish to feel the cool night air on my skin again, the breeze in my hair.""You died five months ago.Your body will have decayed somewhat in that time.""Are you squeamish, Miss Holloway?""No.""Neither am I.A nurse cannot afford to be.I have seen far more gruesome things than a decaying body in my lifetime, I can assure you.Come along.Let's do it now."I should be able to sneak out of the house undetected.Lincoln had taken Seth with him to search the remaining gambling dens on his list, so I wouldn't need to worry about him overhearing me leave.Gus and Cook slept in the top floor's servants' bedrooms, too far away to hear the back door open and close.Very well.I would do it, if that's what it took to get Estelle Pearson to talk.She turned and I had to cover my mouth to smother my squeak of horror.Bile burned my throat at the sight of the back of Miss Pearson's head.The skull had been smashed in.Matted hair and blood formed a dark, sticky mass just above her neck.The top half of her pinafore was also covered with blood.I wondered what sort of accident had inflicted the fatal injury."Come along, Miss Holloway." She patted her cap and repositioned it so that it covered some of the wound, but not all."Let me fetch my cloak."* * *It wasn't a cold night, thanks to the bank of clouds that blanketed the city, trapping in the warmth of the sunny autumn day.The same clouds blocked out almost all light from the moon and stars, and it was left entirely up to my lamp to guide us.I followed the ghostly apparition through the cemetery, my walking stick making a solid whump on the damp, dense layer of fallen leaves as I rushed to keep pace.Every now and again Estelle Pearson would stop up ahead and say, "Come along, Miss Holloway," in her no-nonsense yet encouraging tone.I could imagine her speaking in such a way to her patients in their birthing beds.We stepped around graves and over tree roots, not following any path that I could see.Overhead, bare branches creaked in the breeze and groaned their disapproval at my disregard of Lincoln's order.I had not had any doubts before, but now, in the depths of the vast cemetery in the middle of the blackest of dark nights, I was assaulted with them."Are you quite sure this is the way?" I called out to Miss Pearson's ghost."Perhaps we should turn back.""Not at all.Look, we have arrived." The mist swirled around the headstone marking Estelle Mary Pearson's grave, then coalesced into her likeness."Here I am." Her voice had become soft and filled with wonder as she studied the headstone.It was tucked away in a part of the cemetery I'd not visited, where the headstones were more modest and positioned close to one another."Do you require a moment to contemplate, Miss Pearson?""Certainly not.You're not changing your mind, are you?""I… I think I'd prefer it if we don't raise your body after all.The sooner I can send you back to your afterlife, the better.""Fiddlesticks.We have all night.""Even so—""In for a penny, in for a pound."Before I could protest further, the spirit sank through the earth covering her grave, and disappeared from sight entirely.I frowned.She appeared to know what to do.Other spirits I'd raised had not.I lifted the lamp higher.Beyond the whispers of the leaves came the faint sound of thumping.Miss Pearson's corpse, trying to get out of her coffin.Perhaps she wasn't strong enough to do it.The only other body I'd seen emerge from its own grave was Gordon Thackery's, but he was a man.Even though Estelle Pearson would possess superior strength as a reanimated corpse, would it be enough to free herself?She must have broken through, however, because the earth in the center of the grave bulged.I swallowed and stepped back, preparing myself for the sight of the decaying corpse.Dirty, skeletal fingers thrust through the soil like spikes.Then came an entire hand, followed by an arm clad in the black sleeve of the nurse's uniform she'd been buried in.Another arm pushed through, dislodging a mound of soil [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]