That seemed to soften the man. He waved Palmer farther inside his office. “The phenomena you described in your paper is not one that is recorded or known amongst your fellow men of medicine. It was met with skepticism, which is not unhealthy nor unheard of.”

“Skepticism and dismissal are not the same thing.” Palmer only just managed to keep himself from growling out the response.

“Not everyone has entirely dismissed it.”

Palmer looked to Dr. Sherman once more. “Who is not dismissing it?” He wanted names. Locations. He needed others to pursue this with him.

“There have been a few whispers,” Dr. Sherman said. “Some have seen twinkling lights on bogs or at sea. And the ability of some insects to glow is well known.”

“I am not speaking of such things.” He took to pacing, something he did with some regularity of late. “There is a connection to human beings. I know there is, and I’ve heard that some in the dissection room have seen corpses glow.”

“When did you last sleep, Palmer?” Dr. Sherman asked. “You look exhausted.”

“I don’t need you to be my doctor. I need to know if you’ve heard of these postmortem glows.”

“I have not,” he said.

Dr. Palmer shook his head, speeding up his pacing. “But that does not mean that it has not happened, that it is not true.”

Sherman stepped in the way of Palmer’s pacing, necessitating he stop. “Take my advice, young man. Return to your flat. Rest. Alleviate this worry from your mind.”

“It is not a ‘worry.’ It is a scientific mystery. I cannot merely abandon this pursuit.”

“I fear if you continue, it will drive you mad,” Dr. Sherman said.

“If I do not find the answers I need, it most certainly will.”

Dr. Sherman watched him for a long moment, brows drawn in concern, as if Palmer was unaware of the dire nature of his own condition. Palmer did not flinch under the pointed gaze. He knew Sherman was mistaken; pursuing these answers was not an ill-conceived quest. It had become his life’s mission.

A sigh emitted from the older doctor. “Blackstone still oversees the dissection room. Perhaps he will have some familiarity with the manifestation you speak of.”

Realizing his one-time idol did not intend to offer much else in the way of help, Palmer left without a backward glance. The struggle for knowledge abides no sentimental loyalties.

He knew perfectly well how to find the dissecting room. He might have been struggling to find answers to difficult questions, but he was not struggling with his memory. Blackstone’s office, located directly beside the room where the cadavers were kept, was empty, its usual living occupant apparently occupied elsewhere.