He found three things in the parlor that he did not think had been there yesterday morning. There was a small reddish brown spot on the rug under the table. It might have been jelly, but it looked to Hammersmith like blood. There was also a piece of paper folded on the mantel, held in place by a new tin of tea.
He opened the tea first and smelled it. There was no scent of copper.
He unfolded the paper and read what was written on it.
Dear Mr Hammersmith, our mutual friend has retired from business. You won’t be hearing about him again. Your tea was undrinkable. I took the liberty of replacing it. Perhaps we’ll meet again. Your friend.
The note was unsigned, but Hammersmith understood who had left it and what it meant.
He started a fire and put the kettle on. When the tea had brewed, he took his cup to the window and silently toasted Colin Pringle’s memory.
He took a sip. It was the best tea he had ever tasted.
Dr Kingsley put down his scalpel and put on his overcoat. He left his lab and locked the door behind him. Fiona was in the hall, hurrying toward him with her pad and charcoal.
“I’m sorry I’m late, Father,” she said.
“Not at all. I was thinking I might take today off and spend it with you.”
“But there’s so much work to do.”
“There will always be more work. But you will be grown and gone away before I know it.”
Fiona grinned and set her tablet of paper on the low table in the hall. “What shall we do, then?” she said.
The rain had turned to a light mist and they strolled aimlessly away from the hospital until the sky opened up again. They jumped aboard an omnibus and by the time the rain let up again they found themselves at Hyde Park. The park was nearly deserted and it glimmered with raindrops. The landscape smelled of fresh greens and flowers, and they drifted along in companionable silence, content for the moment to be alone together.
Finally Kingsley broke the stillness between them. “Fiona,” he said, “I’ve decided something.”
“Is it bad?” she said.
“Whatever would make you ask that?”
“You never leave your lab. And now suddenly … I’m afraid you have something awful to say, some news that has to be broken to me outdoors where I won’t scream and make a spectacle.”
“Not at all.”
“You’re not sending me away to school, then?”
Kingsley chuckled. “No, I’m not sending you away.”
“Good. I should hate boarding school and I would get bad marks just to spite you for sending me there.”
“I shall keep that in mind in case I ever do contemplate such a thing. No, I’ve decided that you spend too much time among the dead. It’s not healthy.”
“I don’t mind, Father.”
“I know, but I do mind. I’ve arranged for you to assist an expectant young mother. And when she has her baby, I’d like for you to stay on and help her care for it. She seems to be in quite over her head about everything, and you are a very capable young lady.”
“A baby! Oh, that would be wonderful.”
“The Days are kind people, and Claire Day might be just the female influence you need at this point in your life. You don’t want to be trapped in a lab anymore with an old man.”
“You’re not old at all, Father.”
“You flatter me. So you’ll do it?”
“Of course I will. Only, who will help you with the bodies?”
“I’ve already arranged for your replacement.”
“It’s settled, then.”
As they talked they had traversed the park, and now they came to the sunken garden. Amid the flowers, there was a statue of a cherubic boy atop a giant fish. They stopped and stared up at it.
“You see, Father, it is an angel. The boy, I mean. You said that he wasn’t, but he is.”
“It looks like an ordinary child to me,” he said.
“I say it’s an angel.”
Kingsley looked at his daughter and smiled. “Well, then,” he said, “perhaps it is an angel after all.”