With her still locked in his arms, Jacob bent down to disengage the lever of the dynamo. The dreadful whine and crackle of the turbine subsided. Moving with Eve to the interior side of the tower, he sunk to his knees with her, leaning against the rough stone.
“I don’t care if it’s dangerous! Do you hear me?” He insisted. “I refuse to be banished from your side.”
Clutching her to him, cheek to cheek, breath hot against her ear, he uttered a prayer of thanks Eve recognized as an offering for surviving a great hardship: “Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu, melekh ha’olam, hagomel lahayavim tovot, sheg’molani kol tov.”
“Amen,” Eve offered weakly.
Her childhood time spent in prayer with Rachel made this prayer of thanks all the more resonant as it reminded her of the times when she’d felt most spiritually at peace, and here she was with the man who made her soul rejoice. His ministrations took away pain; his touch healed. He drew back to look at her, and just the sight of him made her weep in relief, processing all the pain and fear. She didn’t know if they’d won the day or just a respite, but for this moment they were conscious and Prenze wasn’t.
Jacob cupped her face, staring in horror at the blood and saliva pooling down the side of her chin, reaching for a handkerchief, wiping the gore away with such gentleness, staring into her eyes, ascertaining her state and strength.
“Do we have enough…” Eve mumbled, fighting for words, trying to rally. “Even with all this, the coercion…hard to prove, because I went…willingly.…”
“He hurt you, Eve,” Jacob cried, anguished, “and could easily have killed you! All the money and tricky lawyers in the world can’t refute the level of malice and madness here.”
Arielle Prenze knelt before them and reached into an interior pocket of her coat, presenting a black bound book. “Take this.” She handed the journal to the detective. “It should illuminate the rest of what’s been speculated—putting your pieces together.”
Jacob took it and slipped it immediately out of sight into a breast pocket. “Thank you, Miss Prenze. Are you all right?”
Arielle rose, smiled uncannily, and walked away.
“Maggie,” Eve called after her, “are you…”
“Shh…” Arielle said over her shoulder as her face shifted ever so slightly, a little luminous rustle within.
Eve almost chuckled, but it turned into a wracking, painful cough. The smell and taste of copper overwhelmed her, and she gasped for fresh air.
Jacob cradled her closer, moaning in abject horror at her pain. His generous heart, operating with a level of empathy that might put him in the capacity of a Sensitive himself, appeared nearly undone. “What were you thinking going it alone!” Jacob cupped her face again, brushing hair from her eyes before pressing his forehead to hers.
“I can’t bear to lose you,” Eve gasped, tears leaking again onto her cheeks. Jacob gently wiped them away. “I’d rather be miserable, devastated, lost, alone without you than be the cause of your suffering, injury, or worse.”
“That isn’t your choice to make,” Jacob declared. “I’ll take my chances with you any day instead of a brokenhearted half life. The job is dangerous, you no more so than the job. Don’t fight me, Eve. Love me. Like you said you did. Unless that was a lie?”
“No, I do…” Eve sobbed. “I’m so scared. I love you so much, it hurts. Worse even than any of this—I’ve never been so terrified to lose something.”
“How did you think I felt when I learned you had shunned me, told my parents you wanted nothing to do with me, kept me out of your plan, put yourself on a suicide mission? Even if you thought it was ‘for my own good’? What if I’d done that to you?”
“I…I didn’t know what else to do. Don’t be angry with me,” Eve pleaded.
“I’m not angry; I’m beside myself,” Jacob exclaimed, his hand hovering over her body. “Just like you came after my spirit when you saw it leave my body, I could…I could feel you flagging, your spirit separating out, nearly torn to pieces. I wasn’t next to you to help, and it was agony. Please. Don’t push me away again.”
He pressed his forehead to hers again, murmuring against her lips. “You have changed me irrevocably, Eve Whitby. You can’t turn me away when I have become so cleaved to you, my treasure. I love you with all my heart. Love me, as you said you do, and let me love you.”
At this confession, Eve gasped, the jarring pain of the electric replaced by a shudder of pleasure. He drew back again to stare into her eyes. Her angel: the closest thing she’d ever known to a heavenly sort of happiness. Nothing had ever made her feel as alive as this. He was right. It was worth the risk. If he indeed felt the way she did, she couldn’t reject him. Neither would ever recover. They’d live, but forever haunted. Ghosts weren’t just spirits. Ghosts were also the heart’s roads not traveled.
Eve gathered what strength she had and reached up, bringing him down to her lips. She murmured her assent. “Yes, Jacob. My beloved. I will. For you…for the love in my heart I can’t possibly deny or forget…I will do anything.”
“Thank you,” he exclaimed. “Thank you, beloved.” Embracing her fully, he sealed their compact with the tenderest of kisses.
After a sweet, breathless moment, he drew back. “Can you stand?”
“Jarred to the bone, I thought my skin was rattling off. I doubt it. Am I still shaking? It feels like I am.”
“Slight tremors. Come on, then,” Jacob hoisted her up toward the dais. They saw that Prenze was stirring, so Jacob placed Eve on the neutralized throne and blocked her with a wide stance. The sight of her torturer rousing made Eve shrink back, but Jacob raised his fists to have another go at the wretch before he could stand.
From the other side of the tower, jumping over the stanchions, Mahoney came swiftly between them and seemed to be helping Prenze up. The waking man seemed happy to see the officer at first, but then there was a struggle.
“Sergeant, what are you—” Horowitz stopped as he saw the officer forcing a vial of green liquid down Prenze’s throat. The man sputtered before going entirely limp from sedation and fell back to the boards.
“Taste of his own medicine,” Mahoney replied. “Pulled from the stores he was using to control his household.” He nodded his head at Eve. “Miss, I hope you didn’t suffer too much.” The officer stared down at Albert in disgust. “Between what you’ve all seen and what I’ve seen, we’ve enough. We’ve enough to try him.”
Horowitz patted his coat pocket. “In addition, we’ve his journal thanks to Miss Prenze and Chief Inspector Harold Spire’s Scotland Yard case notes on the body presumed his.”
“Very good.” Mahoney clapped his hands.
“Thank you, Sergeant, and I’m sorry to have doubted you,” Eve said quietly to the Irishman, “But I wasn’t sure what side you were on.”
“That was intentional,” Mahoney replied. “Albert revealed himself to me, and then the fool thought he had me under mind control. But as I said, when I gave up the drink, I promised myself and the spirits of my wife and child I’d never give anyone or anything that power over me. So, I played along.”
“Brilliant,” Eve murmured, before a wracking cough took her. Jacob stepped up to the side and soothed her aching back with a gentle, massaging caress.
“We’ll book him,” Mahoney said, reaching down to cuff Prenze, “but we’ve only a bit of time to hold him unless we formally charge him.”
“Assault of a city official,” Jacob stated. “Eve isn’t an officer in the traditional sense, but she is a public servant Roosevelt himself signed for.” The detective shook with rage as he described what had happened. “Prenze drew blood from Eve. Even if his fancy lawyers dare say Eve came here of her own volition. It got out of hand, beyond all reason and sense. The devices and testing link him to the abduction of Evelyn Northe-Stewart. He tried to coerce you too, Sergeant: another charge.”
“I’ll testify, but I’d rather you keep Arielle and Alfred clear of it. They were victims in this, and if anything’s to blame, it’s from turning blind eyes, not active participation.”
Mahoney took a step closer, looking around.
“Even though I’m sure it was her helping Albert in the funerary warehouse where Gran and I were first experimented on?” Eve countered, following Mahoney’s eyes to Arielle, who had gone to stand further up the approach, staring out over the harbor.
Looking at the tintype of her mother, Arielle seemed to be conversing with herself. Maggie must be giving her instructions.
“He did control her,” Mahoney said, balling his fists. “Preying on her piousness in his delusions of Godlike powers, the wretch.”
“We’ll keep her out of it once we’ve built an irrefutable case,” Jacob declared.
The passersby remained cordoned off, but Cora finally fought off guards keeping them from “the art and performers” and hurried to their colleagues’ side. Behind Cora, keeping a respectful distance but a sharp eye, Eve noted that the good officer Fitton had arrived to help. Jacob’s friend and a stalwart, unfailing help to their cases, he must have received a call and hurried to attend it. Jacob stepped aside to allow Cora clearance, and she rushed to embrace Eve warmly but carefully.
Cora didn’t get to say a word before Eve demanded: “Where’s Gran? Antonia? At Sanctuary? What about Jenny—”
“Zofia told Jacob and me, as we rushed from his office, that they were rushing toward Sanctuary,” Cora replied. “Antonia’s vision: the wiring was there too; we had to split up—”
“Good. I fear for all the spirit world, it’s so vacant here,” Eve said, wincing with pain and raw nerves, glancing nervously at the harbor. Busy with boats and life, it remained empty of spirits. “Vera and Olga are gone.…”
Tears flowed again as Eve relived the sight of their last moment. “It’s my fault, I was trying to shield against Prenze, but it magnified an electrical blast.… They stood in the way to buy time so that Zofia could run. I…doubt they can reassemble. I’m praying Sanctuary created a safe haven for other souls, until the ground is safe for those that wish to haunt.”
Cora nodded, biting her lip.
“I am deeply sorry for your loss, but don’t take on guilt,” Jacob said quietly. “You couldn’t have known what his devices would do; you were doing what you’d been trained to do to protect yourself and others.”
“Exactly,” Cora agreed.
“I’m just sorry I didn’t get to you sooner,” Jacob explained to Eve. “There was massive confusion between the guards and hired police at the mouth of the approach. They tried to stop the group of us. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have paused to show my badge; I should have just rushed this stage when I saw it. Cora and Fitton brilliantly caused a scene so I could slip by the barricade. Thank you both.”
Fitton, who had joined them during Jacob’s explanation, nodded acknowledgment. The two clapped one another on the back in appreciation before Fitton began examining the scene and taking notes.
“I know why you did what you did, Eve, letting this play out,” Cora said, edging closer to Eve, scrutinizing her, trying to determine if Eve was hiding any deeper injury from them. “But I thought you’d promised Gran you wouldn’t leave her house. I’m angry with you for letting yourself get hurt.”
“That makes two of us,” Jacob added.
“But the court of New York does not accept spectral evidence since the advent of seventeenth-century witch trials,” Eve countered. “We had to get to the point where he drew living blood. I hadn’t thought I’d be left entirely unguarded and without resource, but it makes my case all the more compelling.”
“Thank God for ghosts letting us know where to find you,” Jacob said.
“I’ll get Centre Street to come collect all the statues, wire, and boxes for evidence,” Fitton said.
“Yes please, and if you could have any wire that doesn’t belong to the bridge cleared,” Eve begged the diligent officer who had been such a boon to the case. “That’s very important.”
Perhaps the spirits would return if they felt it was safe. She prayed Prenze hadn’t been successful in driving them all away for good. What had become of Mrs. Prenze, Eve couldn’t be sure. The electrical surge seemed to have torn her apart from what Eve could tell in the melee.
“I’m going to stay here, Eve, if that’s all right, to help Fitton clear and catalog things,” Cora said. “Then I want to get psychometric reads on Prenze, likely while en route to prison.”
“Do you need help?” Eve said, struggling to sit up.
“No!” Cora and Jacob both chorused.
“You’re going to rest,” Jacob commanded.
“It’s a wonder you survived. Let us each do work we’re called to do,” Cora declared.
“Does anyone need a stretcher?” Fitton asked Eve, glancing over at the prone Albert. Mahoney hoisted Prenze over his broad shoulder in an impressive fireman’s carry.
“Stretcher or…” Jacob held out his arms. Eve moved toward him as he smiled, again scooping Eve up, pressing his lips to her forehead in reassurance and gratefulness. She wound her arms around his neck and held on as tight as she could. “Then let’s be done with this,” the detective said, carrying her away.
Exhaustion overtook Eve. Finally feeling safe for the first time in a long time, she nodded off until she was aware of being lifted into a carriage, heard a door shut, and was jostled into another covetous hold.
Eyes fluttering open, she saw that Jacob still cradled her as an open-air hack carried them uptown. They were halfway to her house.
“I think we should stay close tonight,” Jacob said quietly. “I see no reason now why your home shouldn’t be safe, but I will feel better if you allow me to help stand guard alongside your colleagues. I don’t know what mental powers Prenze will wake up with.”
It was a solid point, and it was true she’d take any excuse to stay near to Jacob.
Nuzzling close, she kissed the hollow of his throat and pressed her ear to his strong heartbeat.
“Thank you…” she murmured against that comforting thrum. “My whole life has been dealt in spirit, in realms beyond my body. I was so scared of being separated from you, body and spirit, it shocked me, the depths of emotion. I haven’t known how to be whole as a living woman, but you…just here in your hold, you bring me back to life.”
He bent and kissed the crown of her head. “You’ve done the same for me.” Brushing her hair from her cheek, he tightened his grip around her, pressing her head to his heart. “Literally and figuratively. I’ve always felt called to my work, but you call me to life.”
“If the ghosts have all gone somewhere for peace and safety,” Eve said, “it would behoove me to remember that I still live. I live here.” Looking up at him, his beautiful eyes spoke volumes of passion and promise. “And I want to enjoy every minute I have with you.…”
He arched her up into a hungry kiss. While her world was tactile, she would appreciate every sensation, grateful for the opportunity to touch, to feel, and to fumble toward love.
Once arrived at Waverly Place, Jacob helped Eve up to her door with an arm around her waist. The lights were dim. The detective removed his hat, and Eve now saw it had been concealing the damage he still bore evidence of: a bandage affixed to the stitches on his head, and the remaining bruise across his forehead and temple. He was surely dealing with significant lingering pain from his injuries, but he’d entirely hidden it, valiantly.
Once inside, Eve looked around for signs of her team but found only Rachel Horowitz sitting with tea in the parlor next to a stained-glass lamp as she wrote in a notebook.
Looking up as Jacob helped Eve in, Rachel jumped to her feet and rushed to set extra pillows on the settee for Eve to sit and lean against.
Are you all right
? Rachel signed, looking at the two of them in horror. What happened?
“I am all right now.” Eve nodded, gesturing to Jacob.
Jacob added, “And I am all right thanks to Eve’s intercept. But it’s been a trying few days.”
Rachel embraced both of them. Eve didn’t want to go into all the electricity and pain, or any of the previous attacks, but she did want to get Rachel’s read on the state of the spirit world. Glancing around, Eve noted that even the usual house haunts were absent.
I’m the only one here. Rachel intuited her thoughts. Your mother let me in. I explained you were still working a case so she didn’t ask questions. I wanted this to be a safe space for the team to return to, and to be an intercept for spirits to relay messages.
Eve posed the most important question on her mind. “Have you seen any city spirits since this afternoon, Rachel? Any usual haunts outside? Has your spiritual channel changed?”
It’s quiet, Rachel signed, gesturing all around her and to her head. Too quiet.
Eve pursed her lips. She wanted to hold a séance but didn’t have the energy. If any lingering effects of Prenze’s experiment were somehow still in her system, she didn’t want to do additional damage. She’d done enough. Grateful she still had gas pipes, she doubted she’d ever switch over to electric after this.
Closing her eyes, she only had enough energy left in her to reach out to one asset.
“Margaret Hathorn.” She tried to summon her best ally. “Come talk to me. I know you’re busy with Arielle but…”
There was no answer. Eve sighed.
“In the morning we’ll call the reverends for an exorcism,” Jacob said. “I can’t imagine taking over Arielle Prenze was something Maggie wanted to do for too long.”
“I can’t imagine Reverend Coronado would mind obliging,” Eve replied with a grin, recalling how much the previous encounter seemed to affect both spirit and clergyman.
Rachel poured Jacob and Eve tea while they shared some of what had happened.
A Summoning of Souls Page 26
