Page 56 of Disturbing the Dead
“If you could, that would be lovely,” Isla says. “But it is hardly necessary.”
“Oh, I’m quite happy to try. I am a seamstress.” She winks. “It is easier to maintain the facade when people can honestly attest to my expertise.”
Mrs. Morgan pulls the dress out. “My word, what did you do with this fine gown? Roll in the mud?”
“An unexpected trip through an underground tunnel after a party.”
I’m making light, but her lips twitch. “Ah, yes, I remember being young. An unexpected trip to an underground tunnel for a lovely roll in mud. Hay is softer, though. You need to find a handy stable.”
My cheeks heat, and Isla’s hand flies to her mouth as she laughs.
“It wasn’t that,” I say.
The old woman sighs. “Youth is indeed wasted on the young. Perhaps next time. And forget tunnels and stables. At a party, there is always an unused guest room or two. Simply remember to lock the door. Oh, and also remember to visit Her Highness beforehand, rather than after. That is much more convenient. As for the dress, it will require lacework repair, which is fiddly.”
She quotes a price, and before I can comment, Isla says, “Yes, please. Thank you.”
Mrs. Morgan rings a bell, and a maid appears. She’s also Black, and no more than sixteen.
“Please escort these ladies to the queen,” she says. “And when they are done, take Her Highness a plate of lunch and make sure she eats it. She gets too wrapped up in her work.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The maid leads us down the stairs. I catch sight of another member of the staff, an older Black woman. This is no coincidence, I suspect.
Queen Mab herself is Black. Part of her staff choices may be about offering good employment to domestic servants of color, but they would also provide camouflage for Queen Mab herself. The neighbors will have noticed that the Morgans employ Black staff, and so they will think nothing of it when they see Queen Mab coming and going.
The maid takes us downstairs to a tiny library.
“Miss?” I say. “I know the trick. May I show my friend?”
The maid smiles shyly, nods and leaves without a word.
“The trick?” Isla says.
“Oh, I’m going to let you figure it out. There’s a secret door behind the bookcase. You need to remove the right book.”
Isla’s face lights up, and she fairly pounces on the bookshelf. She scans the books and then laughs.
“Queen Mab,” she says, and tugs on the copy of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
The bookcase opens, and I can’t help grinning along with Isla at that. We slip inside and pass through to where Queen Mab is working in her lab.
Queen Mab has a physique that befits someone who names herself after a fairy and a dress that befits someone who names herself after a queen. She’s less than five feet tall and slender, with dark skin and hazel eyes. Gold combs hold back her dark curls. Her gown would have turned heads at the mummy party, and yet apparently, that’s just how she dresses, even when working in a laboratory. Today’s gown is silk, golden brown and olive, with black lace trim at the collar and three-quarter sleeves, and black buttons that I’m sure are semiprecious stones.
I’d say this gown represents the advantage to having a first-class seamstress as a tenant, but I suspect the tenant is a first-class seamstress because it’s to Queen Mab’s advantage. Her only concession to work is an apron, which is better quality than any of my dresses. Oh, and goggles. Like Isla, she wears goggles in her laboratory.
Queen Mab lifts the goggles. “Mrs. Ballantyne,” she says, her accent a mix of London and Paris with an undercurrent of the West Indies. “You will excuse me not sitting down with you for tea. I am in the midst of a delicate procedure that I cannot leave, but I am free to talk.”
As Queen Mab lowers her goggles, Isla takes a moment to openly survey the laboratory. Her gaze pauses on a dried pink flower.
“Is that balmony?” Isla asks.
Queen Mab smiles as she measures something into a flask. “It is.”
Isla sighs with envy. “My source for North American herbs is ridiculously expensive, and their products are in dreadful condition when they arrive. I can barely tell one from the other.”
“Then you must allow me to help you find a new supplier.”
