Winter of the Passion Flower (The de Vargas Family) Read Free

“Precision movement defined by the cogs. The perambulator ascends,
descends and moves sideways if needed. You did well. Most people heave on their
first trip in this directional perambulator. It was one of the first models
invented last century. ”
    Hanging the three headpieces back on the
hook, she stepped back, allowing Mrs. Grimoult to exit the perambulator in
front of them. Indigo turned to the captain, and she held his gaze as she
gestured to the door. “Follow me.”
    The perambulator opened into a huge
circular room surrounded with the darkness of the ink-black sky. Glass walls
allowed a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vista of the panorama surrounding the
manor. The lights of an icebreaker, clearing the shipping channel, reflected off
a black, stormy sea as huge wind gusts pushed snow flurries against the window.
    A little old man sat at a square table
inside an inner circle, his head in his hands. Scattered tufts of gray hair
covered a balding pink scalp. Indigo knelt beside him, placing her hands on his
slight shoulders. “Tell me what happened, Mr. Grimoult?”
    The little man turned away from her,
shaking his head. “They’re all gone, Madame. The crew, the captain… and I
regret to say…the shipment.”
    “What about the Artemis ? Where is my
vessel?” Dread overcame her as she considered the possibility of losing
everything.
    “It is intact. We loaded the cargo and
started back. I went to the underskin for a quick nap,” he replied. “I do not
know how long I slept because all of the chronometers have stopped working.
When I woke, I could not hear the pump jets working, nor feel the hydrodynamic
drag. I ran up to the control room and they were all gone. Each and every man.”
    Reaching up, she gently removed his hand
from his hair as his gnarled hands pulled at the few remaining tufts. “It was
not of your doing, so do not distress yourself unduly.”
    “Madame, I know how critical this shipment
is.” He shook his head.
    “That is true.” Indigo stood and began to
pace the room. “How did you get back to the pier with no crew to assist you
with navigation?”
    “That is the strange thing, Madame.” A lock
of hair fell across his forehead as his head moved slowly from side to side.
“The Artemis was back at the pier and the escape hatch was open
when I awoke. I disembarked and came straight back to the manor.”
    Indigo turned and looked at the captain,
who had followed the exchange with interest. “And coincidentally, a new captain
materializes on my doorstep this very evening,” she said in a cynical tone.
    Mr. Grimoult looked up. The distress left
his face immediately and his mouth widened in a broad grin. Indigo watched with
amazement when the little man jumped to his feet and caught the captain in a
tight hug, reaching up and thumping the stranger’s back.
     “Zane! Zane Thoreau!”
    The captain looked at Indigo as she stared
at the tableau in front of her, her disbelief overwhelming her.
    “What exactly is happening here?” she asked
suspiciously. “ Captain Dogooder?”
    “Purely a nickname, Madame,” the captain
said with a smile.
    “Right.” Indigo stepped back and looked at
the two men grinning at each other and decided it was time to take hold of this
situation which was rapidly getting out of her control. “It is time for some
serious talk.” Standing next to the large table in the centre of the circle,
she looked at Zane, pointing to a chair. “You, sit there.” She turned to the
housekeeper who had now recovered her equilibrium. “Mrs. Grimoult, some
refreshments, please.” The housekeeper lowered her eyes and stepped from the
room.
     “Mr. Grimoult, do you need some time
to compose yourself or are you able to join us now?” Indigo continued in a
tight voice.
    “I am fully recovered, Madame.”
    “Good.” Indigo frowned as she noticed the
captain’s interest in the traveling attire of the older man. Denim jeans
covered his legs, the faded blue fabric