Page 124 of Disturbing the Dead
She motions to a bench nearby, and we take a seat. I stay quiet while she negotiates with Isla, answering her questions and then haggling over the amount of work she will receive in return. When they have finished, the White Lady turns to me.
“I presume you still seek someone who purchases mummy remains?” she says.
“I do.”
“Then my answer is not going to please you, but be assured that I still have something of use.”
“All right…”
“If there is a person trading in mummia within Edinburgh, I do not know them, and if I do not know them, I doubt they exist. So my answer is that no one purchases such things, as no one, to my knowledge, sells them.”
My fingers clench the slab seat of the bench. “You said you had information. Our agreement—”
She lifts one black-gloved hand. “I said I had information. Someone came to me wishing to purchase mummia. I told them I do not sell it, and they wished to know who did. They were most insistent on an answer. They were in dire need of it and wished to make contact with a seller.”
“I’m not looking for someone who wants to buy it.”
She shakes her head, veil whispering against her dress. “They were not seeking to buy mummia. I realize that now. They wanted a seller because they had some to sell.”
“When was this?”
“The day after Sir Alastair’s death.”
“So you’ve met the person who might have been trying to sell mummified remains?”
“I do not meet any customers outside of the market. This person contacted me by letter.”
I lean forward. “Can you get in touch with him?”
“I have a method of communication. Also, it is not a he. The hand was feminine. However, I believe the sender is connected to a physician. Perhaps a doctor’s wife or a hospital nurse.”
“How so?”
“I often receive requests from physicians for ingredients that are rare or no longer in fashion. The letter was from someone who was obviously well educated and used medical terminology that suggested they were seeking it on behalf of a doctor. They even used the name of someone I previously employed to obtain… certain ingredients.”
“Certain ingredients?”
Her sigh ripples the veil. “I had a contact at the medical college, who would provide me with ingredients from dissected cadavers. He is no longer there, but whoever wrote the letter used him as a reference.”
“A doctor was selling cadaver parts?”
“A student, who has since graduated. Although I presume that makes him a doctor now. I will not give his name because he is overseas and therefore not connected with this, beyond being used to establish this letter writer’s credentials. Put all that together, though, and you can see why I presumed the letter was a legitimate request.”
“From a woman connected to a doctor looking for mummia.”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the letter?” I ask.
“No. I burned it, as I always do when someone writes anything that could land me in trouble. I can tell you how to make contact, though. You are to leave a letter here, in this cemetery, and she will collect it when she can. I will show you the spot.”
THIRTY-EIGHT
Isla and I catch a hansom cab to McCreadie’s police office. As tempting as it is to leave a letter while we’re in the cemetery, we need to discuss it with McCreadie and also to have him assign someone to watch that spot.
We reach the police office just as Gray is coming out, preparing to return home. He ushers us back inside and updates us as we walk through the station.
“Lord Muir’s man confessed,” Gray says as he shows us into an empty room. “It was not an easy process, but once he heard that the earl had attempted to murder a young woman, he began to have second thoughts about protecting him. Hugh pretended we believe this fellow was an accomplice to the attempt on your life, which could put him on the gallows. A jury would take one look at such a rough fellow and decide that you were mistaken and clearly he was the one who strangled you.”
