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Back Maplecroft
Chapters (206)
  1. Praise for Maplecroft
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Contents
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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  12. A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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  20. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
  21. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  26. BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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  29. I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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  31. Nance O’Neil
  32. THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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  37. AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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  43. THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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  46. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  53. BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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  55. CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
  56. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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  62. HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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  67. A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
  68. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  71. Nance O’Neil
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  84. Emma L. Borden
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  88. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  91. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  93. RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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  101. Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
  102. Emma L. Borden
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  104. Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
  105. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  107. Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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  109. DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
  110. Emma L. Borden
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  115. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  119. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  130. Owen Seabury, M.D.
  131. Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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  137. Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
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  139. Emma L. Borden
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  144. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  150. Emma L. Borden
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  153. FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
  154. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  165. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  176. Emma L. Borden
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  186. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  197. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  205. Inspector Simon Wolf
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Yes, imperfect to say the least. “But the eyes, the pallid skin, the bloating . . . and what of the acute and dangerous madness?”

“Well . . . pronounced irritability is a known symptom.”

“That isn’t the same thing, and you know it. You’ve seen it yourself.”

He was losing his steam, and becoming frustrated with me, but he did his best to keep from showing it too harshly. “No, not exactly the same thing. It’s as I said, they share a . . . a general shape, if not a clearly delineated match.”

I granted him that much. “Very well, I see.” It was an overstatement to say even that much, but I didn’t want to dampen his enthusiasm altogether. If there was any link between the two, any link at all, it was worth discussing—all my caution and concerns aside. Or at least tempered. “So explain it to me. Tell me everything there is to know about tetanus.”

“How much do you know already?” he asked, scanning the paragraphs from the book, hunting for highlights.

“Tetanus is . . . often fatal. And caused by wounds, isn’t it? Some kind of infection?”

“Yes and no,” he said. “It’s caused by a bacterium, Clostridium tetani—typically found in soil and animal feces, or the one contaminated by the other, as it were.”

And then he said something that sent a spark of recognition crackling between my ears.

“It’s often acquired from dirty wounds, yes, but it may also be carried in rust. At least that’s the going speculation. Injuries caused by old metal seem particularly prone to—”

I cut him off there. “Rust?” I blurted out.

He lifted his eyes from the textbook. “Yes. Rust. Did I say something helpful?”

“Maybe . . . ?” I went around the corner and retrieved my axe. I held it up close, so I could see it in detail—its blocky head and smooth cutting edge, sharp enough to trim paper. I honed it almost daily, but even if it’d seen no use there was always something, always a little grime to be filed away. Always a tiny smattering of rust, there at the corners.

“Lizbeth?”

“Here,” I said, returning with the weapon and placing it upon the table, beside the book. “Rust and iron . . . it’s another piece of your pattern puzzle. The same puzzle, I think—though it might not look that way at a glance. In my own studies, the arcane books and clandestine tomes that I keep downstairs . . . they routinely describe how iron wards against various kinds of evil.”

“And you’ve told me before that your axe is the only thing that truly fells them!” He was getting excited again, and I hated to admit it, but I was, too.

“It works better than anything else, though I’ve only tried shooting them once, to limited effect. We have Father’s old war weapons, but they’re a measure of last resort.”