Chapter Four: Adela Crowle Part Three

March 15th, 1879

London, England, United Kingdom, Europe

"He beat it out of her! He knows about you now! He's on his way!"

Marie felt like she couldn't breathe for a moment; she held in her breath as if doing so would make the horrible truth go away.

Someone had found out about her, and now they were angry and on their way. It was a man who had beat someone to death before; he could do it again and would very likely be happy to. Or would he come with the police? To see her hung? That would also be very likely.

She had to do something; she had to run.

But where?

Again, she ignored the voice in her head that whispered, "What about Matthew?" and turned to her shop, shutting the leather register, picking it up, and going to her back room where her satchel lay waiting on the table. Nessie followed and took one of Marie's hands in her own.

"How can I help? Please, let me help. You have done so much for me; it is only kind to return the favor." She whispered harshly as if Jude was already here.

Marie thought for a moment before speaking,

"There is nothing you can do to help me now unless you have some way to stall Jude and the police." She said slowly, and Nessie paused, shoulders sagging in despair. Marie turned and stuffed her book into her satchel. Then, she reached underneath a shelf and pulled out a second satchel. After leaving the backroom, she returned to the central part of her shop and began stuffing different poisons into the satchels until she could no longer hold any more.

Her shelves looked barer after she was done, and she had two heavy satchels in her hands. She looked to Nessie and nodded,

"Thank you for warning me. I need to leave now before Jude arrives, undoubtedly with the police." She said and clasped her shoulder before going to the door and opening it.

"Where will you go?" Nessie asked, and Marie looked back to the woman in black,

"I have an idea."

It took several hours of dodging police officers and trying to recall the correct route, but she finally made it to her destination.

The Moriarty Household.

It was a long shot, but Marie figured that if she was going to be working with them, they might take her in. It was her only hope at this point. She couldn't go back home without risking them asking questions. And she couldn't go back to her shop; it would be crawling with officers by now. Or, at the very least, Jude would be there, and she couldn't risk going back. Approaching the large doors, she raised a fist and knocked. And waited.

There was movement inside, and Louis opened the door. He frowned, adjusting his glasses,

"Miss Dubois? What brings you here?" He asked, and Marie adjusted her bag,

"I've been discovered. A man brought the police to my shop. I have nowhere else to go." She replied curtly, and Louis nodded once before stepping aside, allowing her in.

"I'll go notify William of your arrival. Please make yourself at home in the parlor on your right." He said, and she nodded, heading to the aforementioned room.

It was quaint compared to the rest of the manor. Two small couches and some chairs were arranged in a circle with a coffee table in the center. Marie set her satchels on one end of one of the couches and took a seat at the other end. She sat in silence, head in her hands as her mind raced.

How had everything gone wrong so quickly?

"Miss Dubois?" Came the voice of William, and she looked up to see him carefully closing the door behind him, Louis at his side with a tray of tea and biscuits. She gratefully accepted a cup and held it in shaky hands, hoping they couldn't hear the teacup clanking slightly against the saucer.

"It is to my understanding that your poisoning endeavors have been discovered," William said, taking a seat and getting straight to the point. Marie nodded, setting her cup down and putting a hand on her satchels.

"A client of mine was beaten to death and forced to reveal this information." She said softly, and William's eyes softened marginally,

"My condolences. Louis says you need a place to stay. You are more than welcome to stay here in the manor. We have plenty of space. All we ask is that you help with the chores occasionally." He replied, and Marie immediately nodded, picking up her cup and taking another sip of her tea.

"Of course. I wouldn't imagine not helping out while staying here. I can cook a-and garden." She said hurriedly and cursed herself for stammering.

Something about William made her nervous, despite being younger than her.

She couldn't place it.

William smiled,

"I believe Fred has gardening under control, but if you'd like to help Louis in the kitchen, it would be much appreciated. Louis can show you to your room now so you can get settled. I'll see about getting the rest of your remedies and poisons from your shop; it would be beneficial to have them all here."

Marie's room was grander than anything she had ever seen. A large four-poster bed sat against one wall with a large chest at the end of the bed. Nightstands stood on either side of the bed. A set of wingback chairs stood before a fireplace against the wall directly across from the bed. A door led to what she assumed was the bathroom, and the entire room was painted in creams and shades of green.

She stood in shock and very nearly dropped her bags.

"Th-this is too much." She stammered and caught Louis hiding a smile out of the corner of her eye.

"We initially prepared the room for guests, but you'll fit in just fine. I'll be in the kitchen downstairs if you require assistance." He said curtly before leaving her to her own devices.

What should she do? Organize? Sleep? Cry?

She needed to do something.

She had to get her mind off of the death of Adela Crowle before she broke down and cried for the rest of the night.

Marie set about organizing her tinctures and tonics and poisons along a set of empty shelves that ran along on either side of the fireplace. Her leatherbound register went on the desk that looked out the window to the manor's yard, and her pen went next to it. The Moriarty's had supplied paper and pens and ink, but she just felt more comfortable using her own. Her satchels went in the empty trunk at the end of her bed, and as soon as she was done organizing, she set about exploring the small suite that was now her home for the time being. The bathroom was just as luxurious and grand as the bedroom and had a similar color scheme of greens and creams.

As soon as Marie was done exploring, she set about trying to find the kitchen to help Louis prepare what she assumed was supper. It was that time of day; after all, it had taken several hours to find the Moriarty household, so it was nearing the evening time now that she had settled in. She wandered the halls, tracing a single gloved finger along the walls as she did so, checking in rooms periodically until she smelled food cooking. Following the scent, Marie finally made it to the kitchen, where she found Louis flitting like a bird amongst all the different pots and pans and dishes.

"Excuse me? I've come to help with preparations for supper." She said, and Louis looked up from where he was chopping onions.

"Lovely, you can start making a salad for now. Tonight we will have a three-course meal with salad, soup, beef roast, with tea cakes, and pudding for dessert." He instructed, and Marie nodded, heading to the sink to wash her hands before pausing. Should she take off her gloves in the presence of Louis?

No, she couldn't. She couldn't risk Louis finding out.

Marie kept her gloves on and began to make the salad, chopping tomatoes and breaking the head of lettuce. After that, she assisted in making the soup and beef roast, all the while her hands sweat inside her gloves. The two of them were quiet the entire time, only speaking when absolutely necessary if they needed something passed to one another or if Marie needed to know where something was. They settled into a comfortable routine in the hot kitchen. It was a welcome change from the turmoil of this morning.

By the time they finished, it was nearly dark outside, and Louis dismissed Marie so she could change into her dinner dress. He said there were dresses in the chest at the end of her bed. At this, Marie frowned as she climbed the stairs towards her bedroom. How had they gotten her size? Surely they had just bought dresses and hoped they fit, right? That would be too much if they knew her exact size.

Entering the bedroom and shutting the door behind her, Marie approached the chest and opened it, and promptly gasped.

Inside were gorgeous dresses, undergarments, and clothing of different colors and fabrics. They were all elaborate and for each time of day as was custom among women. Next, she reached into the chest and pulled out a lovely gray silk evening dress.

It had small white woven flowers into the fabric and a long-sleeved bodice, a ribbon-trimmed overskirt, and a fully lined skirt. The bodice and sleeves were lined with white linen, and the front bodice was fastened with hooks and had six gray, silk decorative buttons. It was beautiful and much too expensive for Marie to think about wearing. But, she was staying here; it would be rude for her not to wear what they had gotten for her.

So wear the expensive dress it was.

It took some doing; Marie shut the curtains to the windows and took the bodice and skirt into the bathroom, where there was a full-length mirror. She stripped down to her drawers and began to dress. It was difficult with her crooked fingers, but she pushed through anyway in favor of getting dressed as quickly as possible.

First was the silk stockings, then her decency skirt and the chemise. It was challenging to lace the corset up herself, but she managed. Then came the crinoline and the bustle. After that came the camisole and the petticoats—finally, the skirts and the bodice. To finish everything off, she slipped her gloves on over her broken hands. The dress fit, for the most part; it was a little tight in the bodice but nothing unbearable.

Slipping on her shoes, she peeked out the curtains and saw it was likely time for dinner. Twisting her hair up in a neater bun, she left the bathroom. She exited her room and made her way down to the kitchens, where she helped Louis bring dinner from the kitchens to the dining room and began to serve everyone before taking their seats. Albert, William, Sebastian, and Fred were all already seated and talking amongst each other. They went quiet as Marie took her seat.

"You clean up nicely," Sebastian commented and flinched as Fred smacked his arm.

"Be nice." He muttered to the older man and Albert smiled at her,

"You look lovely, Marie." He said, and Marie offered him a small smile,

"Thank you." She said softly and fought to hide the burning in her cheeks. She was twenty-seven years old, for goodness sake, not some school girl. She didn't need to get flustered over a simple compliment.

It was late into the night by the time Marie made it back to her room. They had spent the evening going over the plan for the Noahtic, and Marie poured over her leatherbound register to come up with a hallucinogen to use for Count Enders. It took some time, but she finally found the right bottle on her shelves.

It was a bottle of deep purple with her signature crown carved onto the side. Inside contained a clear liquid she intended to pour into Enders wine when given a chance. It was a homemade concoction of hers as a result of experimenting with making a new poison. The main ingredient was opium though there were several other ingredients mixed in.

Yes. This poison would do nicely.

As she stared at the bottle, she felt tears well up in her eyes, and she promptly sunk to her knees and began to cry.

Adela was dead.

She was truly dead.

It had been so long since Marie had lost someone, she may not have known Adela well, but it still felt like her heart was ripped from her chest.