Bloodcircle - Chapter Two

[kalinara]

And I'm reminded that I still have to make the table of contents for my Homeland reviews. Oops. Well. That's for tomorrow.

ANYWAY, last time, Jack got questioned by the police about the events of the last book and then had a sweet rendezvous with Bobbi. Unfortunately, I think that might be the last we see of her in this book. Bleh.

It's a twelve book series, so it's not like we won't see her again! But it's still sad. Bobbi makes everything better.



But it's the boys' trip today. Jack and Escott are on the train. Escott's reflected in the glass, looking hollow-eyed and sinister. Jack's not reflected at all. They're in the smoking car, which they have to themselves. Escott's smoking a pipe.

Since they're alone anyway, it's the perfect time to reminisce. Escott is remembering the first time they met: when he noticed Jack's lack of reflection at the train station. He was coming back from handling an out-of-town case when he looked up to see that something wasn't there. After making sure that it wasn't just a trick angle situation, Escott put two and two together. (As he put it, he'd read his "share of lurid literature".)

Jack, for his part, gets contemplative at the thought of mirrors:

I looked at the empty spot in the glass for a long time, cautiously touching the feeling of eeriness mirrors now inspired in me. After nearly a month in my new life I was still not used to the way they ignored me. It was a constant and irritating reminder of my isolation from the rest of humanity. On those occasions when I was feeling particularly low, it was as if I no longer existed at all.

He's had a really bad month, when you think about it.

But actually, he's about to get some cute affirmation instead:

“And after all that reading you still wanted to risk meeting me?”

He rested his head on the back of his chair and closed his eyes. “There were many small indications that it was less of a risk than you would think. Trifles, really, but important trifles. A person’s posture and movements reveal his soul far more clearly than his words, and once one has studied this alphabet of expression, the thoughts flashing through a man’s mind are as easy to read as a child’s primer.”

“How’d you figure all this?”

“My theatrical background: in order to imitate life, one must first study it. When I first noticed you, your movements and expression suggested a deep preoccupation with some problem, but an energetic willingness to face it.”

Jack points out that he could have just been looking for a person to drain. But then, of course, he'd gone for the Stockyards. Jack suggests he was looking to eat a worker, but Charles notes that there were plenty of pedestrians on the crowded street to lure away. Jack says he hadn't thought of it that way.

Of course not, you dweeb. That's part of the appeal. And so is this:

“After you emerged from the yards, your posture had not changed. You still had a problem and it was not hunger. At that point I knew I wanted to arrange to meet you and to find out more, so I intruded myself—”

“I wouldn’t call it an intrusion now. You just wanted to get my attention.”

“You are most forgiving on that point.”

“Why not? I got my earth back and you got your questions answered. Everything turned out all right.”

I mean, you could get a little mad about the breaking and entering. It'd be okay if you did. But of course, Escott's a sneaky, pragmatic fellow. All this reminiscing is a preamble to ask Jack if everything is okay now. After the whole "stairwell incident" from last book.

He wants to know if Jack's all right.

Jack considers it:

A simple yes would have been the easy and obvious answer, but he wasn’t one to ask casual questions, so I thought things over until I concluded I felt fine. It was crazy, too, considering I’d been staked in the heart and left to die by inches in my own blood.

Without passion I remembered the silent, paralyzing agony in the blackness, the near-insanity, and the final icy cold creeping up to claim me forever. Ultimately, in my mind, I saw my would-be killer as I’d left him: his face blank, his eyes staring pinpoints, and his mouth hanging slack. I’d left him as he had left me, except no one would come by to save him, now or ever. No one could.

It might be a popular conception in some circles that vampires are selfish creatures of pure appetite, that we can only take. In the brief time since my violent rebirth I’d learned that we are able to give of ourselves. I believe it’s a way of venting off all the negative stuff that gets stored up in the memory, leaving only the memory, but not the destructive emotions. I’d freely given mine away to a man who deserved them. He was forever lost in my nightmare and would never wake from it again. I had no regrets.

“I’m fine,” I said at last, and meant it.

I feel like that might actually be a "no", Jack. But what the hell, what's more unaddressed trauma for the pile?

He asks if Escott's been reading his posture. And things get flirty.

“I did that on our way to the station.”

“Yeah? So what trifles did you observe and conclude from them?”

He kept his eyes on the darkened city slipping past our window. His tone was kindly and amused. “My dear fellow, there are certain things a gentleman just does not discuss and still expect to be considered a gentleman.”

I went a little red in the face.

Ahem. Now boys, behave.

Jack asks if Escott's okay, and Escott dismisses his own feelings with a wave of his pipe. Jack considers that Escott, as thorough as he is, will have had time to read the papers and talk to the cops and doctors. He knows exactly what Jack did to Malcolm and seems to have no regrets either.

Of course not, sweetie. Escott's the hardcore one of the two of you. You're the squishy innocent.

We're told the sleeping arrangements. Escott booked a double car. Jack, of course, is ACTUALLY sleeping in his trunk in the baggage car. It's a bit cramped, but he's dead during the day so it's fine.

As this is the third book in a series, we segue into the necessary recap section of the book. You know, like the part in Babysitters' Club where you hear for the hundredth time how Kristy is bossy and Claudia dresses like the 80s threw up. Here, we get the story of Jack meeting Maureen, their courtship, and then her disappearance five years ago.

And I've said this before, but I really like what this series does with vampire reproduction. So often, it's a metaphor of rape. But here, it was an act of love, one with very low odds of success. The actual triggering trauma was much later. It's a nice way to separate out the vampiric condition from the usual angst. Jack's condition is a resurrection miracle, not a torment.

(Then of course, Gaylen re-introduces the rape metaphor into the genre. But from the opposite side.)

So anyway, Jack reminds us how he waited and searched for her, and eventually decided to leave it all behind, desperate enough to quit his job in the middle of the Great Depression and come to Chicago. And I hadn't thought about that before, but yeah, that's pretty fucking desperate.

Jack's such a practical, generally angst-free guy (even granting the many substantial traumas heaped onto the poor fellow), that it's easy to overlook how extreme that decision was. And how rough he must have been having it in New York.

And that segues into what they're doing now: going back on the trail to find Maureen. Jack trusts Escott completely, but Escott insisted that Jack come along this time. Though he hasn't really said why. But Escott asked, so Jack is coming. Aw.

Escott handles most of the travel, since, daytime. And when Jack wakes up, he's all lurching and tilted. Apparently the porter put the chest the wrong way, so Jack's on his head. Oops. Charles is suitably apologetic. Jack punishes him with a bad pun.

So they're here in Manhattan to follow a few leads. The first one being Gaylen's next of kin: a woman named Edith Sedlock. Jack wonders if this is Maureen. He's pretty excited to go, but Escott convinces him to freshen up first. He DID spend twelve hours in a trunk.

They chat about how Escott got the address: schmoozing mostly. (Jack calls it his "Ronald Colman bit".) His cover story is that he's been hired by a third party to find Gaylen's missing "daughter". Apparently, he's still got the blackmail list from the first book, which helped to provide a name.

Something else interesting about Edith Sedlock: she's rumored to be Gaylen's other daughter. That COULD mean that she's like Jack! (Vampires, even ones transformed at advanced ages, revert to youth.) Except, Escott tells us, she'd answered the phone during the day when Escott's contacts called her.

Escott's got more info: the bills for Gaylen's care at the hospital were paid by Western Union. And Gaylen's escape was on the same day that Maureen had left her goodbye note. (She'd promised to return when she felt it was safe.)

They contemplate why Maureen would have dealt with the situation by running, instead of using vampiric powers: maybe Maureen couldn't do it to her own sister (Jack is pretty squeamish about it, after all), or Gaylen was just too crazy obsessed. Hard to say.

So they go to see Edith Sedlock. Sadly, Edith is not a vampire. She is pretty skeptical about these strange men, but she does let them in to talk. She asks to see their IDs. Escott's passes muster, but Jack's press card is out of date. Fortunately, Escott's good with the charm.

It was Escott’s show, so I gave him the nod. He explained about our search for Maureen and that he had at least located her mother as having been a patient at Kingsburg. Since Gaylen Dumont was no longer in residence and since he had excellent references, the administrator there had every confidence in Escott’s professional discretion. The doctor in charge had no qualms in giving out the name listed as Gaylen’s next of kin.

“Yes, I’m sure he’s got every confidence in you, Mr. Escort, but his lapse in releasing such information is nonetheless deplorable; hardly what I would have expected from a doctor.”

I love Edith. She's great.

Jack finds her grating, he thinks Escott probably does too, but he hides it well. He asks about Maureen and gets an immediate reaction. She denies being related to the Dumonts, has no idea where Maureen is. They'd been neighbors and Edith was reasonably happy to help her deal with things during the day. She was listed as next of kin for the sanitarium so that if there was a problem with Maureen's "mother" during the day, Edith could take the message and give it to her.

There was only one: when Gaylen escaped. Edith got ahold of her in the evening: Maureen was upset, scared, and wanted no chance that Gaylen could find her. She did leave a contact number if there was any more news about her mother. Escott flirts it out of her.

Apparently she had called once, but a man answered and had been very off-putting. He'd said that Maureen left and wanted to know who she was. Edith, wisely, didn't tell him. She remembers it very clearly now, because it made her uneasy. She'd never called again.

She remembers the man having an accent, but it wasn't quite English. She thinks it was more American than English, but can't place the region. There was only one more call from the asylum - wanting to talk to Maureen. When Edith went by Maureen's place, she'd gone. Though she'd left behind most of her clothes and books.

Aw, this part is sad:

“And you didn’t contact the police?”

“I thought about it, but didn’t see how they could help. Besides, from what I heard, someone else was looking for her, and he’d have done all that. The landlord said that Maureen’s boyfriend was always pestering him for news of her return.”

I had trouble finding my voice, but just managed. “And you never thought to contact him?”

“Yes, I did, but for all I knew he might have been the unpleasant man on the phone.” She sniffed again. “If she wanted to cut things off with him, that was her business, not mine.”

I had no choice: I could walk out or strangle her.

I walked out.

Oof.

Anyway, Escott comes out a few minutes later and lets Jack rant and rave a little. He's a good, sympathetic boyfriend, noting that if Edith had talked to Jack back then it might have saved him a lot of anguish. (I mean, as a female adjacent person, I completely get where Edith is coming from. But I also feel Jack's pain.)

Now it's time to see if there's anything to Edith's information.

Escott manages to track down the number: it belongs to an Emily Francher. The name is vaguely familiar to Jack, but not in a way that he knows personally. They realize that she has the name of a shipping franchise owner. Jack balks: the Franchers are big deals, and Maureen had never mentioned knowing anyone like that.

But then, she didn't exactly talk about her past.

Jack's all for going out there, but Escott wants to do some legwork. He wants to find out more about Emily, and maybe the guy who answered the phone. He notes that Edith definitely has issues with men, but they generally take the form of bossiness and hostility. So she SHOULD have told the guy off when he got nosy. Or just ignored him.

So the investigation is done for the night. Jack's feeling restless and for once, he's the one on native soil. When Escott thinks it must be past curtain call for plays, Jack notes that it's New York: there's a lot more than plays going on.

“Here, this is the one, Foliesd’Amour, three shows a night and dinner thrown in with the jokes and dancing girls.”

He looked a bit shocked as he scanned the details of their ad. “Good heavens. Have you noticed the two-fifty cover charge?”

“You get what you pay for. Besides, this is my idea and my treat. You know as well as I do that I don’t spend any money on food, so how ‘bout it? I know I could do with some high kicking.”

He chuckled suddenly. “It sounds most educational.”

Apparently, Jack is a good date-planner. Escott enjoys the meal, the drinks (he has to drink enough to cover for Jack) and the show: though he's more interested in the mechanics of the production than the show itself. He seems to be having a good time.

It'll be Escott's turn to pick next time though. They end up chatting a bit about the merits of stage vs. film. Unsurprisingly, Escott much prefers the stage. And Jack gets to ask why he left acting.

“Because taking up acting as a profession is a good way to starve to death. The company I was in folded for lack of funds—that is to say, the manager stranded us. I made it my business to find him. It was my first case.”

“Did you find him?”

“Yes, after a time. I even recovered the money he’d stolen and divided it with the rest of the company. This, of course, after I’d indulged myself and thumped the miscreant a few times so he wouldn’t object to things. It was interesting work, so I decided to go into it.”

It seems a simple enough backstory. Ahem. At least for this point in the twelve book long series.

Jack asks if acting wouldn't be safer, considering the danger that Jack puts him through. But Escott counters with some humor about the dangers of theatre with an audience of drunken lumberjacks. He likes what he's doing now. But, in the way of all mysterious roguish types, he realizes he's gotten a bit chatty and decides to call it a night.

Jack decides to walk for a while, but then catches a very tantalizing scent. The chapter ends with that.