The Vanishing Thief(103)

“Once again, I move against people to get back my papers, only to learn they don’t have them. Blackford, you’re no better than Drake.”

“What do you mean, ‘once again’?” I asked before I considered the wisdom of my words.

“I sent a fool with a bottle of phosphorus and other chemicals to burn down that house outside of Hounslow and get rid of Drake and the letters in one move. It wasn’t until later I learned he got the wrong man and the letters weren’t there. You can’t imagine my disappointment.” He sounded annoyed at the man’s incompetence rather than sickened by the murder. Lord Hancock had to be mad, and I knew that didn’t help our chances of getting out alive.

“Why do you want a copy of your old formula? You must know it by heart,” Blackford asked.

“I want my brother’s letter to Daisy because of what it proves. And don’t try to hide your knife. Set it down on the rug. Good. Now kick it over here.”

The duke did as he was told with an air of complete indifference. “What does the letter prove?”

Hancock kicked the knife to the corner of the room without taking his eyes off us. “You know very well what it proves. That my brother developed the formula before he died. And that I killed him and his wife.”

“Why would you kill your own brother? Just for the formula or for the title?” I asked. I needed to keep him talking. Sumner had to be nearby, ready to rescue us.

“The title is useless. It didn’t come with anything but debts. I sold off everything I could, but it wasn’t enough. The formula gained me money and fame for a while, but now I need to come up with another invention as successful as the first. Another chemical compound that will bring me lots of money and full membership in the Royal Society.”

“But your laboratory was destroyed.”

“All the fault of that clumsy young man there. If he hadn’t knocked over those beakers, the fire wouldn’t have traveled to the explosives. I kept them safely tucked away in the corner so nothing would happen to them. One reason why I didn’t want people marching through my laboratory.” Watching us all the time, he walked over to where Jacob lay and kicked him in the stomach.

I couldn’t let him abuse Jacob. I took two steps toward him. “Where are you going to find another laboratory?”

“After I finish with all of you, I’ll have to escape back to Africa. There I’ll study the effects of plants on humans. I have experience in the field. I’ll regain my fame. I just need to find the right plant.”

“Going to practice on yourself?” Blackford asked, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Of course not. There are plenty of natives I can use.”

“They may not like it,” I suggested. What was taking Sumner so long? Then I realized. Hancock was staying to the side of the doorway. Sumner would have to show himself before he could find Hancock to kill him, and by then, Sumner would be dead.

“That’s of small importance.”

“Tell me about poisoning your brother,” Blackford said.

“You know how I killed him? Oh, yes, you’ve read the other letter.” He kept the gun trained on me. I kept my chin up to mask my trembling and watched him. “It was Daisy’s birthday. My brother and his wife were having a family dinner with their wretched daughter. I’d already said I had a previous engagement. One of my brother’s favorite dishes was cooked with spinach fresh from the garden. It was easy to mix a quantity of leaves from the foxglove growing in the flower garden into the basket and remove some of the spinach. The effect of foxglove isn’t diminished by cooking.” His chest seemed to swell and his smile reminded me of the expression “licked his chops.”

“But Daisy survived,” I said.

“You can’t imagine how disappointed I was to be saddled with that self-important little minx. It turned out she didn’t like spinach, so her parents allowed her to decline the dish. Can you imagine? A child telling her parents what she will or will not eat? Preposterous.”

“But why kill them for the formula?” I asked.

“I knew he had discovered something clever. Something that would make money. And more importantly, something that would garner praise from the Royal Society. Though how he could come up with a brilliant formula when all he did was dabble, while I devoted my life to scientific research, was something I don’t understand. Of course, he had that wonderful laboratory. I wanted that, too.” Lord Hancock frowned at Blackford and raised his pistol to aim straight at the duke’s heart.

He nodded toward a coil of rope on the floor. “Tie Miss Fenchurch up in that chair,” he instructed the duke.