Page 38

She’s alive. She’s here.

Neither Ruan nor I spoke for the hour it took for Dr. von Keller to return from the priory with two sets of stretcher-bearers. Father Étienne stayed behind with Félix, to be sure he was safe. I did not think Félix the killer, but I wasn’t sure what to make of him either. I watched as a pair of strapping young fellows loaded the two bodies onto two separate stretchers in preparation for their transport back to the priory hospital one by one. The uniforms. The wooden handles. The cloth. The death. It was all an eerie echo of a sight I’d seen all too much during the war. Men struck down too soon. Their brothers in arms left behind to bear the burden.

“Take them back,” Von Keller said to the men, his sharp German accent cutting through my wayward thoughts. “Straight to the morgue. I’ll examine them both when I am done here. I’ll be along when you’re done.”

I remained alongside the fire, immobile, watching as the outline of the bodies and the stretcher-bearers disappeared into the mist. A tear slid down my icy cheek. Followed by a second.

Dr. von Keller’s eyes were bright as he crouched down beside me in the damp soil. He gave me an uncertain glance before speaking. “I would appreciate if you would not mention what happened here to anyone else.”

My voice came out hoarse. “What did happen here?”

Von Keller stared out over the water, flexing his fingers. The little gold ring on his hand glinting in the firelight. I could not help but notice his bare hands trembled as he spoke. “I am not certain but until I am, I don’t want any whispers. No rumors at all. Félix has been through too much.”

An understandable request, I supposed, considering the state of the poor man. Von Keller truly did seem to care for his patients—for their recovery, their well-being. I ran a stiff hand through my damp hair. Bits of ice had begun to form on the damp ends. “Why not ask the gendarmerie now, tell them what’s happened? You’d said before they did not care about the disappearance of orphans or patients but surely this would draw their attention.” Two villagers dead. Félix’s warning echoed in my mind. But I could not turn back. Not now. For who would help them if I did? The horrors here at Saint Oda’s had transcended my mother. I could not leave this place, no matter what Félix said. She would want me to help her—them—with each day, I grew ever more certain of that fact.

“You said you found Félix here with both of them?” Dr. von Keller didn’t answer my question.

I nodded. “Alfred—the man from the village. He was in the middle of the lake. Félix was…” I pointed to the shallows just ahead. If I closed my eyes, I could still see the unholy image of Félix holding the dead man emblazoned upon my mind. “I … I went into the water to bring Alfred back. I thought he might still be alive but…”

He stared at my soaked dress in disbelief, struggling to make sense of who or what I was. A preposterous thing. “You went into the lake … You might have died.”

I nodded. It wasn’t the first time, but I wasn’t going to tell this man that, especially when I did not fully trust the fellow.

Dr. von Keller looked from my face to my hands then back again. He drew in an uncertain breath then let it out again, his mouth in a slight O—as if whatever he’d realized explained everything.

“Dr. von Keller…” I held my palms out to the fire, the warmth slowly taking over.

“My name is Otto.”

“Otto…” I conceded. I didn’t need familiarities, I needed honesty. “In the last twenty-four hours two men had been brave enough to speak to me of those poor lost souls from the hospital. Of Djhan. My mother, and the other woman that was found dead before. Anna Marchand…” I raised my gaze to meet his.

A stark grief washed over him at the mention of the two women.

I pushed further. Unable to let it rest. “And now both are dead. I need you to tell me what the hell is happening here.”

He grew still. Dangerously so. “Are you threatening me?”

Ruan placed a hand on my shoulder. Whether out of warning or solidarity, I did not know. Nor did I care. “I want to make sure no one else ends up in this damnable lake. I want to know what happened to my mother and I believe you know a great deal more than you’re telling me.”

“We are not enemies, Mrs. Vaughn. Not in the least.” Von Keller turned away from me, revealing only his profile illuminated in the flames. “Answer me this, what do you imagine would happen if I went to the gendarmerie right now?”

I snapped my mouth back shut, knowing precisely what they would do. Arrest Félix.

He furrowed his brow, running his cold hands over his stricken face. “I run a hospital for patients with afflictions of the mind. Can you imagine how easy it would be for them to assume the worst of the very man found with a dead body in his arms?” Dr. von Keller let out a weary sigh. “I cannot risk his safety. Not when Félix is innocent. He is as much a victim as those poor dead men.”

I swallowed hard, uncertain whether to believe his words—but we were in agreement on one thing. I did not, for one instant, believe Félix had killed those men tonight.

Ruan crossed his arms, looking down at the German doctor. “Why is Félix in the hospital?”

Dr. von Keller bristled at Ruan’s question and shook his head. “That’s not something I am at liberty to share—”

Ruan’s jaw tightened.

“I don’t see as you’re at liberty not to share. The man was found here with two dead men—you’re certain he’s not the killer. If you think we’re on the same side in this, then you need to begin acting like it.” I was at the end of my tether, weary from chasing clues that only left me cold, muddied, and empty-handed.

For a half a second—only that—I thought the doctor was going to leave. Stand and walk away, but instead he held his palms out to the flame, testing his fingers like a newborn child. “He has visions. Félix sees things. Hears things, but he is not mad. No more than you or I.” Von Keller bit the tip of his finger. “I cannot explain it. I do not understand it. But the more time I spend with Félix, the more I begin to wonder if he is the only sane person remaining in this entire world.”

There was a hopelessness in von Keller’s voice that cracked through any lingering resentment I might have had for the fellow. Oh, I didn’t like him. But I didn’t have to like him to believe he was genuine in his love of his patient.