Madame diLustro gave a little gasp of surprise and fear.
"What do you mean? What do you know about me?" Her false accent had dropped away.
"I mean that your real name is Olivia," said Lemony with a smile. "I remember you from training classes at the Valley of the Four Drafts."
"Oh yes, that's true," said Olivia. "And now I remember you also... Lemony Snicket!"
"Not too loud, there are people after me," said Lemony. "It's hard to know who to trust."
"Things have become very harem-scarem these days," Olivia said sadly.
"It would be nice to forget all that and talk about the good times we had up there on Mount Fraught," suggested Lemony. "Remember Professor Kornbluth and his little black bag of tools?"
They talked over old times and enjoyed dinner together, becoming friends again.
"I need to get back to my temporary headquarters," Lemony said after dinner. "I dropped off my marmosets there on my way to the Palace."
"You have marmosets?" asked Olivia. "How wonderful! Why don't you bring them to the Carnival, and stay there for a while yourself?"
"I don't know..." Lemony hesitated.
"I'm a V.F.D. detective," coaxed Olivia. "I have a reference library of information that might be useful to you. And I'm a good cook -- I make a great vegetarian lasagna."
That last point decided Lemony. He was tired of cooking for himself.
"All right, I'll do it," he said. "I'll get my pets and meet you back there."
"Is good. I will be seeing you soon, my Lemony," said Madame Lulu, resuming her accent.
Lemony hoped Olivia didn't have the wrong impression. She was an attractive woman, but his heart was only for Beatrice.
When he was at his temporary headquarters he was finally able to examine the papers he had stolen. He found the one with Beatrice's new identity: "Beatrice Spats, 1984 Brat Boulevard." He memorized the information and destroyed the papers so that no-one else, especially Count Olaf, would find out.
Now he needed to get the information to Duchess R so that she could invite Beatrice to the masked ball, but he would have to be very cautious now. The palace guards and the police would be watching his old associates, now that they knew he was back. Perhaps Olivia could help...
When he got back to the Carnival, Madame Lulu showed him around. The Carnival was much more successful back then than it was when my sisters and I were there. There were animal exhibits, jugglers, and clowns. They were not yet forced to rely on a freak show to draw customers.
Madame Lulu showed Lemony to a caravan at the far end of the carnival.
"This is the guest caravan, please" she said. "By the way, a relative of you shows up to keep you company, please."
She opened the door of the caravan. There was Jacques, lying on the lower bunk. Lemony was not at all pleased by this company. Had Captain Widdershins told Jacques about the incident of the missing prisoner, and had Jacques come to question Lemony?
But it seemed like Jacques had new troubles of his own. He gave a loud sigh.
"Hi, Lemony," he said. "Guess what? The Octopus has been stolen!"
"How did that happen?" asked Lemony.
"We pulled it into the dock last night to have the broken leg repaired," Jacques said. "A few hours later, a man showed up saying he was a V.F.D repair inspector. He wanted to take the ship out for a test drive to assess the damage. I let him do it. Turns out, it was Count Olaf in disguise!"
"You didn't recognize him?" asked Lemony.
"It was dark, and his act was pretty plausible," said Jacques.
"What happened to the crew?" Lemony asked.
"The galley slaves you mean?" said Jacques. "Olaf sailed away with them. They telegrammed us a mocking message that they were all joining his side. They're setting up a theater troupe called the Very Fine Dramatists. Some troupe -- it's just a bunch of thugs working for Olaf. To think that Fernald..."
"Fernald was there?" asked Lemony.
"Yes, he was there last night but I guess you never knew what he looked like," said Jacques. "He was the young man on the furthest bench back."
"The son of Beatrice, driven to working for that villain... it's monstrous!" said Lemony.
I don't think he'll be much use to Olaf. He rowed so hard when we were getting away from that monster that he damaged his hands. I don't think he'll be able to use them any more," said Jacques.
Lemony felt sick. What could he say to a brother who had turned so cold that he would do such a thing to his son? For that matter, Lemony himself felt complicit. He had used their slave labor and exposed them to danger too, hadn't he?
Somehow, he had to get Beatrice away from all this. In the morning he would find a way with Madame diLustro's help. Just now he was too tired. He climbed into the upper bunk and fell into an exhausted sleep.