Viridis - A Steampunk Romance (17 page)

She was still laughing when he thrust into her.
That
certainly got her attention, her eyes went wide for
just a moment, her skin prickling with the sensation. She leaned
back into him, shifting so her hips rocked against him, before he
thrust into her again, another wave crashing over every nerve
ending.

Dropping to her elbows, she lowered her head into
the pillow to try and stifle the scream that wanted to erupt from
her very depths. He continued to drive into her, his pace
torturously slow as he let the energy build, wave upon wave,
negating her own efforts to quicken their pace.

Seth reached out and grabbed a fistful of hair,
gently pulling her head up out of the pillows, his arm holding her
up against him, offering the support she needed to keep from
sinking into the mattress in a trembling heap. “That’s better now.
I want to see your face. I want to see it when I make you scream my
name.” As if to guarantee she would do just that, his free hand
dipped between her legs, stroking her deftly as he continued,
thrust after torturously slow thrust.

She knew she could not take much more, moaning to
keep from screaming, all too conscious of Gavin only a door away in
the guest room. She could barely get the words out, her mind
melting into a sea of sensations. “Seth, please. Gavin— he’ll
hear.” But his only response was to pick up the pace, his eyes on
hers as he left her quivering in his arms, his name torn from her
lips.

Chapter Twenty Three

Gabriel let himself into his family home, its
familiarity doing nothing to calm his nerves. Since Gavin had
stayed the night, Phoebe sent word that Gabriel should join them
for a late breakfast. He would have enjoyed himself if he didn’t
have so many other things gnawing at him. Yet he had no one to
blame but himself and his own stupidity.

Gabriel found them all sitting around the fire
having tea as Gavin regaled them with his stories. “Hope I’m not
too late.” He gave Phoebe a warm smile as she rose to greet
him.

“Not at all. Shall we retire to the dining room?
I’ll let Sarah and Martha know we’re ready.” He gave her what he
hoped was a confident nod and watched her sweep out of the room,
lighter on her feet than he’d seen her in a long while. She was the
only one left of any importance to him, and soon she’d be embarking
on another part of her life. He liked Seth— couldn’t ask for a
better man— and he really was truly happy for them, but it still
felt like she was taking yet another step away from him.

He knew the distance he felt between them was of his
own doing. She had always been the one he turned to with his
concerns and worries, and it was harder than he’d thought to keep
things from her. Perhaps he could speak to her. But he dismissed
the thought from his mind, and not for the first time. His problems
were his own and of his own doing. It would not be fair to ruin her
happiness, especially when there was little that could be done to
help the matter. He’d need to find a way to deal with things
without involving Phoebe.

Gabriel followed the others to the dining room,
pushing his thoughts from his mind. The last thing he needed was
for Phoebe to notice anything amiss. Instead, he took a seat next
to Gavin and concentrated on catching up with his friend. “Will you
be in town long?” he asked as Sarah and Martha began to serve the
food.

“Just until the wedding a few weeks from now. The
two of us, we’ll need to go out and find ourselves a bit of fun,
aye? That one there,” he motioned towards Seth with a tilt of the
head, “was ne’er any fun to begin with. And now? Too serious for
his own good, though I reckon if I had someone as lovely as Phoebe,
I wouldna stray very far either.” Gavin gave her a dazzling smile,
and Gabriel couldn’t help but notice Phoebe blush.

“Hmph. You’ve always had a way with words, Gavin
MacKay.” Phoebe shook her fork at him.

Seth couldn’t help but laugh. “That he most
certainly does.”

Martha walked to Phoebe’s side, whispering something
Gabriel could not hear. Phoebe’s gaze darted to Seth for just a
moment, her tone serious as she excused herself and left the room,
leaving them to dine without her.

When ten minutes had passed and Phoebe did not
return, Seth excused himself to go check on her. As Gabriel chatted
with Gavin, he tried not to get ahead of himself and assume the
worst. But his worst suspicions were confirmed when Phoebe and Seth
came back into the room, followed by the police inspector. His
sister’s face, which was rosy when she left the room, was now drawn
and ashen as Seth helped her to her seat.

When she spoke her voice sounded distant and shaky.
“It’s all right, Inspector. These are my friends and family. You
may feel free to discuss the matter with them here.”

“If you’re sure?” When Phoebe nodded, the inspector
gave a sigh and continued. “Very well then. As I just mentioned,
Lord Hawthorne’s portable information module had some information
on it that concerns you.”

Gabriel felt his heart stop momentarily, only to
start back up, ready to pound straight out of his chest. It felt
like his life was teetering on the edge of a dark abyss.

William continued, addressing Phoebe. “I found
formulas and calculations on the module, along with notations and
plant names. I’m not quite sure what the formulations mean but they
were found in the book labeled with your name, and I imagine
they’re rather important— perhaps related in some way to the
formula for Viridis. I’ll need you to take a look. It may be
nothing, but I thought I should bring it to your attention, all the
same.”

Though he was incredibly concerned for his sister’s
welfare, Gabriel couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief.
William placed the module on the table and after giving it a crank,
the tinkering sprang to life.

“I do not understand how this is possible.” Phoebe
looked dismayed and defeated. “These formulations are from the
experiments I’ve been running. The information is always kept
locked in my lab.”

William took the seat next to her. “Is it the
formula for Viridis?”

“Yes, in addition to several new formulas achieved
by altering the original. I was running experiments to see whether
I could bring about different effects by varying the amounts of
ingredients or adding other herbs.”

“Were you successful?”

Phoebe shrugged. “I don’t know. I was still a ways
from completing my experiments and can’t know for sure the full
potential, but yes, certain formulations were showing promise.”

William shifted as he jotted something down in his
notepad. “You may not yet be able to give me an answer, but are the
effects of the new formulations similar to those of the current
version or are they drastically different?”

Giving it some thought, she said, “It’s still too
early to tell, but the new formulation seems to heighten one’s
awareness, particularly of their surroundings rather than of their
person. One would be able to see further, and hear better, for
example. Similar effects, yet very different applications.” She
shook her head. “Why would Niles have the formula? I don’t for the
life of me know how he got it.”

“It may be he was only looking for the original and
stumbled onto much more. I cannot say for sure, though I have
reason to suspect he worked for Special Services in a certain
capacity.”

Gabriel ran his hands over his face, his pulse
erratic, hoping that his nerves weren’t obvious to anyone else in
the room. He had trusted Niles, and now it appeared he had been a
fool to do so. He wished he could talk to his sister; there was so
much more the inspector did not know–so much more, based on the
evidence before him, even he was not aware of.

Phoebe flipped through the inspector’s notes. “The
formulas in this form would do them no good, though. When I was
originally working on Viridis and the herbal mixes were showing
promise, I started to code the formulas as a precaution. These
formulations are useless to anyone but me.”

William now looked intrigued. “There’s a code? I
will say it’s a relief to hear it. Could they not, however, have
gained access to the code? It would seem a probability if they’ve
managed already to gain access to the formulas themselves.”

Phoebe shook her no. “To look at the formulas, you
would not necessarily know you need a code, but even if you did
figure that much out, I never put the code in writing. I’m the only
one, Inspector, who can easily translate it all, since there is no
rhyme or reason to it. Even the names of the herbs are not
correct.”

Gabriel let out a small sigh of relief at his
sister’s brilliance and foresight, the knot in his gut loosening
just a little.

The inspector pressed on. “Do you keep track of the
changes you’ve made to the formula and when you made them? We may
be able to calculate when he took the formulas based on your
notes.”

Phoebe nodded. “I have a book I keep all my notes
in. I record every change I make, and the date and time is noted
for anything I do. But I still do not understand how he got into my
laboratory. It is kept locked anytime I am not there.”

“Is there no one else that could access it?”

Phoebe shot a quick glance at Gabriel, both question
and apology in her eyes. She then turned her attention back to
William— a man fully capable of reading his sister’s every thought
as it danced across her face. “No, Inspector. Gabriel and I are the
only ones with the code to the lock and a key.”

Chapter Twenty Four

Phoebe led Seth and William up the stairs and down
the hall to her laboratory, her spirits sinking further with each
step. She could not imagine what Niles would be doing with her
formula, and though she knew Niles and Gabriel were friends, she
refused to believe her brother was somehow involved. There was no
one in the world she trusted more. There just had to be a logical
explanation, though she could not for the life of her think of
anything.

Seth took her hand in his, offering her some much
needed comfort. Pulling her thoughts back to the matter at hand,
she looked at William. “This is the door and the lock system.”

William stepped forward to take a closer look. “It
looks fairly complex. How exactly does it work?”

“Actually it���s quite simple. You need a key, which
gets inserted here, and then there’s a numerical code that gets
entered just here with these number keys.” Phoebe gestured to the
shiny enameled keys lined up in a straight line, each one labeled
with a number. “The number can be changed for added security,
though I’ve never bothered, not realizing theft was an issue.”

Pulling the key out of her pocket, she turned it in
the keyhole and then quickly punched the numerical sequence. There
was a loud hiss of steam and a grinding of gears as the heavy brass
door slid open and to the side.

“Is Gabriel the only other person you have given the
key and code to?” Phoebe noticed William’s gaze flick momentarily
to Seth.

“I have given it to no one else. Not even Seth.” She
gave Seth’s hand a squeeze.

“And what of your brother? He was a friend of Lord
Hawthorne’s, was he not? Could it be that he allowed him access?”
William’s eyes settled on her face, and Phoebe knew he was reading
her every move, her every thought, as if it were an open book.

Phoebe could not keep the edge out of her voice. “My
brother would never betray me, Inpsector. My trust in him is
absolute.”

William abandoned his line of questioning with a
tilt of the head. “Perhaps we will find some explanation inside the
laboratory.” William bent his tall, wiry frame to get a better look
at the lock, running a careful hand over the door. “It would be
easy enough to pick the lock or get a skeleton key, but whoever
entered would still need the series of numbers. They’d also need to
have access to your home. May we proceed? It may be they used a
different way to enter.”

“Certainly.” Phoebe walked in and then let William
take the lead, following behind him to answer any questions he may
have. He started with the windows that flanked both sides of the
room, checking each one closely.

William spoke as he wandered the perimeter of the
room and did not look at her when he asked his next question. “Had
Lord Niles ever come to your home?”

Phoebe reached out and took Seth’s hand in a gesture
meant to reassure him. She knew William meant her no insult, and
that he needed to establish certain details if he were to get to
the bottom of the theft and murder.

“No. He never came here—not even in Gabriel’s
company. I had only ever seen him at Viridis.”

William nodded his acknowledgement, finishing his
cursory investigation. “We’re three stories up and it does not
appear that the windows have been tampered with. Do you ever leave
them open?”

“Not usually in winter, although when I’m distilling
and the weather is fair, I do tend to leave the doors and windows
open due to the fumes. They can be quite overwhelming.” Phoebe
moved to her desk, opened the drawer and pulled out her well-worn
journal, flipping to the pages that held the information on her
recent experiments.

“Are those the notes you keep? I have the formulas
from the module here in my pad.” He took out his notepad and found
what he was looking for, then handed it to her.

She noticed the neat, angular writing, and the
methodical way in which he’d taken down the information. Seating
herself with the two books, she flipped through her pages looking
for the matching formulation. There. She checked once more before
confirming it with William. “I have it here. I ran this experiment
approximately five weeks ago.”

“Have you run any others since then?” William took a
step closer to look over her shoulder, but only as far as was
proper. She managed a bit of a smile and shifted her book over so
he could get a better look.