An Atlas of Illustrations of Clinical Medicine, Surgery and Pathology was made of up twenty-five books, all of them filled with colorful, gruesome pictures that depicted the many things that could go wrong on and in the human body. The books had been printed in the early 1900s by the New Sydal Society, with hand-drawn illustrations. My boss Edwin’s eyes had filled with tears when he’d seen them; he’d swooned.
“Lass,” he’d said. “These were from the time of the Industrial Revolution, when we didn’t even know how much we were learning until later when we could look back and be utterly amazed at ourselves. These are the most beautiful things I’ve seen in a long, long while.”
He’d pored over the books for days, dreamily. I’d thought that perhaps he’d had more than a few moments over the years when he wished he’d turned his biology degree into something medical, instead of founding and cultivating the most amazing rare and used book and manuscript shop in Scotland.
Edwin had given Rena slightly more than the books were worth. He couldn’t decide what to do with them. He wouldn’t resell them, but would either keep them for himself or donate them to a library, or perhaps to the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Edwin liked those sorts of happy endings. Someday, Rena might walk past a display case and look upon the books that had helped her and so many others before her learn the most respected of professions.
I found the medical books interesting, particularly when I could manage to look past the stomach-curdling images and let myself be amazed by the knowledge, work, and sheer will of patience that had gone into creating them. I knew that some of Edwin’s most beloved treasures weren’t the most expensive ones. I suspected he’d keep the books for himself.
Sophie bounced herself away from the sink but then leaned, in a weird slow-motion movement, back into it again.
“I need tae tell you something,” she said as she grabbed my arm.
“Okay.”
She glanced toward the door and then at the empty stalls. “You can’t tell Rena.”
“Um, okay,” I said.
“I think I’m in trouble. I’m not having a good semester. And that test today; I’m sure I failed,” she said.
“Oh, Sophie, I’m sure you’re going to be fine. You’ve been brilliant so far. You’re just … Well, you’ll feel better tomorrow. Maybe not in the morning, but by the afternoon.” I gave her a smile, but I didn’t think she saw it.
She and Rena had been brilliant, attaining notoriety at the University of Edinburgh Medical School as two of its top students. They’d both come from Glasgow, started college twice, once when they were both eighteen and then again at twenty-five. Their first time, they’d flunked out. After a successful second run at undergrad, they’d begun medical school when they were thirty. Friends since they were younger, Sophie and Rena had made a pact to go through life together. They were an unbeatable team.
“No, no.” She waved off my words. “Medical school is really, really hard, Delaney.”
“I know, but I’m sure … Hey, let’s not worry about that tonight. When will you know the grade on this test you took today?”
“Should be posted by Sunday.”
“All right. I’ll come over and we’ll look at it together if that would help. Or you can come over to my house. Whatever is easier. I’m sure it will be fine, Sophie. You’ve had a fair amount to drink, and maybe that’s causing some undue emotions.”
She looked at me with glassy eyes, blinking heavily again. “I hope you’re right.”
“I know I am. Come on.”
But before I could get her away from the sink again, the bathroom door opened, bringing Rena and Mallory into the already cramped space.
“There you are!” Rena said as she glanced back and forth between Sophie and me. “Everything okay?”
“Yep. We were just heading back out,” I said.
Inside the small room, Sophie and Rena’s similarities seemed even more obvious. Both were tall and thin with brown eyes and long brown hair. Sophie’s hair had a wave to it while Rena’s was stick-straight. When you looked closely, you could spot other differences too: Sophie’s face was pleasantly round, Rena’s was made with slightly sharper angles and she had a stronger chin. They didn’t look like sisters, but could pass for cousins. In contrast, Mallory was shorter, curvier, and platinum blond. Her dark roots currently showed and she’d mentioned to everyone earlier that she needed to do something about them, but that there would be no time until the short summer break that began in a couple of months.
“Oh. Let’s wait a bit,” Rena said.
“Why?” I asked.
Rena and Mallory looked at each other.
“Dr. Eban is out there,” Mallory said.
Sophie put her hand to her mouth. “He’s here?”
“Aye,” Rena said. “And he’s taking note of the students he sees, I’m certain. He’s rather evil that way.”
“He’s probably come tae ruin everyone’s night,” Sophie said. “Fail us all for having a wee bit of fun when we should all be home, crying about the grades he’ll be doling out on the exam.”
Rena’s eyebrows came together as she looked at Sophie and then at me. “None of us want tae make an ill impression.”
“He’s a tough one,” Mallory said to me with a small smile. “He’s also a wee bit odd.”
“Odd how?” I asked, noting that Mallory seemed more amused than horrified, as Sophie seemed to be. I chalked up the different reactions to the probable levels of alcohol each had consumed.
As I asked the question, a thought took shape in the back of my mind. None of these women, though Mallory was only twenty-seven to Sophie and Rena’s thirty-two, was young or foolish. They were grown, long of legal drinking age. It didn’t seem to me that they should feel the need to hide their behavior from anyone, including a professor.
Mallory seemed to consider the best way to further
