Chapter Ten:
Mina…
Mina looked around her in slight disgust. Limited income or not, this house was completely unacceptable for a Chemist, let a lone a lady, to live in. It was tiny. It could hardly claim to be called a house. It seemed more like a three room shack. There was a room for her bed, wardrobe, writing desk, and wash table. There was a small kitchen, hardly big enough to hold the table. And there was a room that had a large table in it, that Mina was led to believe was Kathryn's study where she did all her experiments and concocted her poisons.
"Mrs. Harker," Nemo said, drawing her attention from the shabbiness of the house. "You should sit down; you do not look well."
"I'm well enough, thank you," she replied and examined the house again. She was honestly hoping that Kathryn considered herself lucky to have been recruited to the League. If she wasn't, Mina didn't know what to think of her.
Either way, Mina had no idea how to consider Kathryn. When she first saw the murderess, Mina considered her to be a small, if not miniscule, threat to anyone. But, when she met her, Mina's view changed considerably. The coldness in Kathryn's eyes, the firmness of her grip, her harsh manner of speaking… Taking all her observations into consideration, Mina came to the conclusion that Skinner and Dr. Jekyll were underestimating her abilities greatly. Kathryn seemed to be so distant that she would have no problem killing anyone. She seemed capable of killing her own mother without a trace of remorse or hesitation.
But then, she did hesitate to shake Dr. Jekyll's hand. She had noticed it and thought it strange, but when Sawyer questioned her about it, Mina felt she needed to appear unconcerned about it to put the American at ease. But she was slightly concerned. Dr. Jekyll was one of the gentlest men Mina knew. Why would anyone hesitate to shake his hand? She thought for a brief moment that Dr. Jekyll and Kathryn had met before and their parting had been sorrowful if not bitter. But she pushed that hypothesis aside almost immediately and came to a conclusion that Kathryn only needed to warm up to the League before she would be fully comfortable with all of them. She had admitted to reading Dr. Jekyll's published works, which included his scientific journal documenting his exploits with the Mr. Hyde formula. Mina wanted to believe that Kathryn feared Mr. Hyde. But, from the behaviour that Kathryn tended toward that Mina had witnessed, Mina had no idea what to believe.
"Miss Kathryn," Dr. Jekyll was saying as he and Kathryn entered the house. He was following Kathryn and watching her as she performed the task she made Nemo return the Nautilus to Ireland for. Kathryn was dressed as a maid, and she looked the part. "You don't honestly believe that Mr. Holmes will be able to prove anything, do you?"
Kathryn turned abruptly to Dr. Jekyll and said, "Do you honestly believe he won't? The man is a genius, Dr. Jekyll. A genius. He's not stupid."
"Kate," Sawyer said. "What's going on?"
She hesitated to answer. "Well…" she began, but never finished, for at that moment, the door opened quickly. Standing in the doorway, looking rather dashing with the light silhouetting him, was Mr. Sherlock Holmes himself.
