We’re on our way to lunch with Mr. Gideon, who sent us a note stating he would meet us at the door to his lab. I follow behind Katherine, who looks absolutely stunning in a day dress bedecked with appliqué roses along the hem. It’s a cheap dress and several years out of style, yet she makes it look like the newest fashion plate from Paris.
“Good morning, Miss Deveraux,” the sheriff says when he sees Katherine, tipping his hat. He looks toward me and I avert my eyes, attempting to look remorseful. My back is mostly healed from the last whipping, but most of the scabs pulled open last night and I’m of no mind to take another beating.
Here’s a thing about me: I regret most of my actions five minutes after the fact. I’m rash in my decisions and I spend half my time trying to extricate myself from situations of my own making. But I don’t regret taking charge last night. Without me, we would have died and the town would have been overrun. So whatever the sheriff has planned for me, I have to believe that everyone’s survival was worth it.
“Sheriff,” Katherine says, dipping into a slight curtsy. “How does this fine morning find you?”
“Well, considering. We’ve refortified the breach in the outer wall and the patrols are back on the job. Did your girl fill you in on the details of our engagement last night?”
“I’m afraid she did. We were on our way to see you so that she could offer you a formal apology for forgetting her place.” Katherine and I had decided this was the best course of action, a preemptive strike on whatever the sheriff had planned in retaliation. I also wanted to examine the shamblers in the daylight after speaking with Mr. Gideon, to see if there was anything different about them than the ones we’d faced back east. When I told Katherine about their strange behavior before the fighting started, she blanched.
“Jane, can you just imagine the trouble we’d all be in if shamblers started reasoning the same way we do? It would be a catastrophe,” she said. I agreed. Shamblers are dangerous because of their numbers. A group of the dead can easily overwhelm even a competent fighter if there are enough of them. But shamblers ain’t smart; they can be tricked by hiding, or by climbing a tree. If the dead have gained the ability to reason like normal men, well, that is a problem.
“I’m afraid Jane’s intervention was warranted, Miss Katherine.” The sheriff’s words cut through my reverie and draw my gaze up in surprise. “I know I may seem like a . . . stubborn man at times, but I truly only want what is best for this town, and everyone here. Last night, that was letting Jane take charge of the line. We only lost three men and a handful of Negroes to the pack, and Jane’s instincts are to thank for that.”
I fight to keep my surprise from my face, but I ain’t very successful. Katherine makes a small sound in the back of her throat before saying, “Well, Sheriff, thank you for that. I’d planned on disciplining Jane, but this will save me some effort.”
“Of course, Miss Deveraux. Now, I must be off. Good day.” He tips his hat again. We watch him leave, his path taking him to the saloon, and after he’s entered the building I pinch Katherine’s arm.
“Ow, Jane, what was that for?”
“Something’s happening. There ain’t no way the sheriff is going to let a colored girl like me show him up in battle. You didn’t see him last night, the look he gave me when I called him out in front of the makeshift army. We need to figure out what’s going on here before it’s too late.”
Katherine sighs. “Fine, Jane. What do you suggest?”
“We need to put our plan in action sooner rather than later. Let’s go see the Duchess. If we can get our hands on some laudanum, we can slip it into his tobacco. While the sheriff is sleeping it off we hightail it out of town. Then, we won’t have to worry about whatever big bad is coming down the pike.”
“I thought we agreed that we need to liberate everyone in Summerland, not just ourselves? Besides, I want to keep our lunch appointment with Mr. Gideon. His note indicated that whatever he wanted to share was of the utmost importance.”
I swallow a sigh of exasperation. “Katherine, we ain’t got time for that. Something’s afoot, and we need to discover what it is.”
“Exactly. And Mr. Gideon is our best hope for enlightenment.” Katherine sets off, heading toward the entrance to the lab, parasol propped on her shoulder.
Mr. Gideon waits for us there, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, looking a bit fidgety. He sees us and his face twists into a welcoming smile, his gaze lingering on Katherine perhaps a moment too long.
The ugly jealous feeling lifts its head and roars, and I beat it back.
“Miss Deveraux, so pleasant to see you. Miss McKeene . . .” Mr. Gideon tips his hat to us, and I force a tight smile out of politeness.
“Mr. Gideon, so lovely of you to invite us to share the midday meal with you.”
“Yes, and thank you for coming. I’d worried that after last night’s incident my overture came too late, but it looks like we still have a little time.”
I grimace. “Mr. Gideon, no offense, but I ain’t really in the mood for riddles,” I say, even though I’m just supposed to be Katherine’s Attendant, a dark-skinned girl of no consequence.
He smiles and inclines his head. “Of course, Miss McKeene. I think it might be easier to explain if I could show you the data I’ve collected.”
