SCENE NINETEEN The Gemstone Hotel, in Augusta, GA, three days after the fire at the Baltimore State Asylum
"How many?" Aubrey Edmonds Lanier, Gideon Boudin's current attorney of record, repeated, in shock. He was a tall, grey haired man with wide grey eyes and heavy eyebrows that seemed to jump upwards now. "How many of them did you just say escaped?"
"Well, sir, that rightly depends on what ye'd mean by escapin'." Lanier's informant, a reedy, fair haired, hawk nosed Baltimore street beggar, nervously replied. "A whole, whole lot of those poor crazies got carted on outa that ol' asylum, whilst it was burnin' down t' th' ground. But some of "em was already done for, from all that there smoke, an' some others of "em got real bad burnt up, too bad t' make it ... for very long, sir. An' some others of "em nigh onta drowned cause they dint have enough sense t' get outa th' way when them fire station fellows came with all them newfangled water pumps an' such, ye" see?"
"I see that you still fail to answer my question!" Lanier darkly frowned. "I will ask, just once more and you will answer precisely, my man or I will surely gain the answers I require in some other way! PRECISELY how many inmates of what was the Baltimore State Asylum escaped the terrible fires you've told me about, with their lives?"
"Oh, well, that'd be the most of "em then, sir." The informant grinned. "There was four hundred' seventy three fellows kept in there, accordin' t' what th' County records say. An' there was a hundred an' twenty seven of them poor devils found dead in the wreckage, after th' fires was put out. So that gives ye three hundred an' forty six of them nut-cases that got out alive. An' then, just in th' past week, what I found out for ye, sir, is that, another fifty-seven of them ol' crazies up an' died from gettin' burnt, gettin' too much smoke, or mebbee just bein' too far gone b"fore that fire ever got goin', y" see. So that'd leave ye with no more n' two hundred an' eighty nine of them loonies that was still alive, when I come down here, t' give ye th' word. An some of "em could go, any time, is what I heard some of them docs an' folks at that ol' County R"ceivin' Hospital, there.
"And it was that main facility of Montgomery county which took ALL the survivors in, is that also your report?" Lanier asked, glancing over his shoulder at the French doors closed between him and the Royal Suite.
"Yes, sir, that's it. Guess some few dozen of "em got shunted on over t' th' County jail by this time, as th' hospital ain't got nearly enough space they can keep that many crazies shut up in. Guess those'd be the worst of them loonies, y'see, that couldn't be kept where there was y" know, reg'lar sick folks." The blond added, shrugging.
"You GUESS that SOME of those two hundred and eighty nine survivors of the asylum fire are now incarcerated wherever it is that Montgomery County keeps it's criminally insane?" Lanier demanded, his thick grey eyebrows flying up in dismay. "You're bringing me mere conjectures now? How dare you, my man? I require EXACTING figures. I require EXPLICIT reports! I have paid you exceptionally well for the information I require and you bring me speculation? You bring me surmise?"
"Umm, no, no, sir." The informant frowned, scratching his head. "I brung you what I found out from th' fellows I know who clerk for th' constables up there, an' from fellows who work orderly duty for th' County, too. Oh, now I get it, you're wantin' t' know how many of of them real bad off crazies went from th' hospital t' th' County hoosegow up there? Oh, that's easy, th' County jail ain't got room for more n' sixty fellows t' be held, most of th' time. An' when it comes t' dangerous loonies like these, they could only take in forty-six, an' that there, that many was pushin' it some. So that's th' rest of what I brung ye, today."
"Th' rest of them real bad off loonies, th' touchiest ones of th' lot, they got took all th' way down t' some kinda clinical place over in Richmond, I found out. An' that's the craziest part o" what I found out for ye, sir. Cause some of them orderly-boys an' some of them clerks they told me that this place is some kinda ... shrunk down hospital... only they used some other kinda ... they called it a hospis, that's it! An' then they told me th' danged craziest part of the whole crazed shebang!
They told me th' fella that runs this place, this hospis place down in Richmond, come all th' way from Californy to Bal'more, nigh onta two years back. An they told me this same fella ain't even full grown, like he's a troll or a danged imp or somethin'! An' then they told me somethin' even nuttier than all that! They said this little fella was a real honest t' G-d Doc, but he… he's got some kinda odd name… some furrin-like sorta name… somethin like Day Sirbantees… I don't know none of that furrin talk, so I cain't "xactly get m' mouth around stuff like that. And this here, this is the most crazed thing they told me: This Day Sirbantees… they said he was locked up that asylum, himself there for nigh onta two years, an' he told em' t' lock him up there! Like he wanted t' be shut up inside that place! Now how could anybody b'lieve a thing like that, I ask ye?"
Lanier sighed, glancing over his shoulder again, grimacing at this confirmation of another report he'd had from informants in both Baltimore and Richmond. Doctor Miguel Raul Enrique de Cervantes de Olvidad y sin Amor was a well known and very troublesome figure to himself and his major client, but this street buffoon had no need to know that. "And how many of the former inmates of the burned out asylum, PRECISELY HOW MANY were taken to this supposed hospice in Richmond, my man?"
"Oh, they only took twenty eight of them loonies down there. I heard tell that fellow that runs th' place wanted to take more of them crazies outa th' County-lock up. But them damn fools up in Bal'mre wouldn't let loose of any more nut cases till he proves he could do somethin' for th' ones he just took. Now, that's all I got for ye, today, mister. So now, can I get th' rest of my pay?" The blond answered, wondering who was behind the French doors his employer kept glancing at.
"I have it here for you, my man. There is only one further question, well only one, that is, if you're able to read." Lanier replied, and held a sheet of paper out for the informant to see.
"I can read good, plain English, if that's what ye got." The blond grumbled, glancing at the list of names on the paper. "So what?"
"Watch your tone with me, you fool, or I will arrange for you to be locally incarcerated. Look at this list and tell me if one of the two names at the bottom are the names of former inmates sent to this supposed hospice in Richmond or not. The two names at the bottom, my man!" Lanier demanded, pointing out what he wanted his informant to read.
"Jo...Jawnathin... North Trayhirn?" The blond read aloud. "Nope, he warn't on th' list I saw at th' County hoosegow. "But that last one, I seen his name, for sure. Yep, one of them crazies that got sent t' that place in Richmond was on th' list I saw as bein' called Jaymes Torrins Keeren West!"
"Very well. Take your pay and begone. I will send to the usual place, General Delivery in Baltimore, if there is any further need of your resources, my man. You, on the other hand will not contact me, or even acknowledge our prior business arrangements. To do so, my good fellow would be well worth your pitiable life. Am I entirely understood?" Lanier asked, holding out a pouch heavy with cash.
"Oh, yes, just entirely, yes, sir." The blond grinned and took off for the nearest tavern. He was drunk as a lord within an hour. He was dead as a doornail within two.
"That was well done, Aubrey, I am quite genuinely pleased." Gideon Boudin told his protégé when word came back to the Royal Suite of the evening's business being concluded.
"I'm always delighted to be of service, Dearest Sir." Lanier replied, bowing to the man who both funded and formed his antebellum succDubbyuhs in the booming regeneration of Atlanta. "I will admit, I was concerned, on learning that young madman had been entirely removed from Montgomery County's facilities. I was delighted to find you were not ... discomfited over much by that news."
"It occurred to us to be ... concerned, just at first." Boudin agreed. "But having achieved most of our other goals as regards that crumbling old compound, we found ourselves more than a little relieved. Not only have the Federals been cheated of making any use whatever of our former property there. But the fire ensured they would find not so much as a trace of any records that might otherwise have come into their grasping Yankee hands! And we had come to the point where all the efforts we made to keep things as they were became ... terribly enervating."
"Well naturally it was, my dearest friend!" Lanier exclaimed, bowing again and grinning widely. "You are, after all, a Southron gentleman of the First Water, a true born aristocrat, a nobleman, a king!"
"An as yet unthroned, uncrowned king, my dear." Boudin smiled back, nodding. "But even though it might seem to ourTrue Enemies that I have been thwarted once again, kept back from achieving our Shining Destiny, that is not the case. Even now, both our dearest Torry and our True enemies very likely believe they are done with the Great Work once and for all, and with the One. Now, even though they know us not, they will release their fears. Now they will relax all the vigilance they've exercised, they will let down their guard. And once we've fought off this bothersome enervation will come back to my Work, renewed, reinvigorated, and ready for a Final "Campaign', as it were. And I will prevail. Oh, yes, dear friend, we will, as surely as wealways knew our Destiny to be inevitable, inexorable, and ultimately triumphant, prevail over them all!"
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