Chapter 18 - Day 4

Chapter 18

Garden
Night and Morn



“Freely they stood who stood, and fell who fell. ”
~Milton



They had walked back to his lab, slowly and tiredly, but the exertion had warmed them both up a little.
"I can make us some tea to warm ourselves up...Drat this cold and snow!"
The Doctor complained to Eve as they drew abreast to his lab. He limped up to the door to open it for them both.
She found her gaze faltering a little and she dropped her eyes tiredly to an inspection of the now white cobblestones.
"Eve!"
The one word was enough to stop her. She stepped back, out of the Doctor's way, as he stepped back hastily.
"The door open. I am certain I left it closed last night."
She revived instantly, almost feverishly in the instant.
"Tom Robinson? Does he have a set of keys?" She asked quietly, leaning close as to have to speak loudly.
"He does, but he would not leave the door open. Tom is very careful like that."
He hesitated only a moment more, then announced.
"I am going inside, please stay behind me."
Waiting for her nod, he stepped back up to the door and turned the knob quietly.
The door made no sound as it swiveled back, revealing the dark interior.
"Please stay behind me Eve, I am not sure what is going here." He said calmly, moving forward slowly.
"Nonsense." Was her only response as she ducked around him and moved quickly into the room.
He followed cursing a moment and lit a lamp.
He swept his gaze around the room; it appeared empty. He also did not see Evelyn.
"Evelyn?" He cried, his voice booming in the small lab.
"I am here," she said appearing from his small room in the back. "I didn't see anything."
She walked back into the center of the room. "I wonder what happened?"
He joined her in the middle of the room and said sharply, "Eve, that was very dangerous!"
"Bosh, you were here the whole time. It was just as dangerous for you to walk in first as I."
The Doctor didn't say anything to that.
"Anyway, what do you see? Or rather, what do you not see? Is there anything missing?"
"No...I...wait." He strode over to his worktable and moved a couple instruments aside.
"What do you see?" Eve said, sitting down in the little chair by the desk.
"What I do not see are my samples and reports for the Inspector." He wrung his hands nervously. His was not not wavering though, it was instead firm and a little angry.
"I tested various fish and some birds that Vespar was kind enough to bring me yesterday. I collected my data for the Inspector and it was all sitting there when I left last night." He leaned against his desk nex t to Eve.
"It looks like the Inspector is not the only one interested in what really happened to the birds and the fish. It looks like my lab was visited by our fiend."

"Well..." Was Eve's only reply. "Well...You offered tea?" She asked hopefully.
"Yes, well..." He stammered.
"We shall tell the Inspector tomorrow. We shall tell him everything tomorrow!" She cried, exasperated.
"Very well. I will start boiling the water." He began to bustle around, to pull out a small battered kettle and put it on his burner.
"It's snowing in Garden," Repeated Evelyn quietly to herself as if she can't understand it.
"A normal enough occurance..." Replied the Doctor getting out his leaves and speaking as if to assure himself more than anything.
"But not in Garden!" She spoke as one who wants to deny the reality of what lay in front of her.

She replayed in her mind the scene inside the Yard.
"What's too late?" Asked Eve, and then she saw.
Outside, through the windows which were steaming up and frosting over, lay a white paradise. Snow fell thickly and thickly, the only constant being that it kept on falling and showed no signs of stopping.
"What...What?" Evelyn had cried and raced for the door to get a better view.
The whiteness outside made the surrounding area much lighter, and it seemed to be as well lit as if there was a full moon and no cloud cover.
"You caught Simon doing this?" Asked the Doctor sharply of DuMont and Vespars.
"I caught him on the outside  of the Tower. He was either climbing up or climbing down." Answered Vespars.
"What should we do?" Asked Evelyn, coming up and rejoining the conversation.
They all glanced at one another, and then in a simultaneous motion, they all looked at Seth.
"Oh, well...Hell if I know." Answered Seth helplessly.
"Where is the..." Evelyn started to ask.
"He's not here. He'll be back in the morning." Replied Seth, sitting down.
"Well, there's nothing we can do now. Seth, can you stay here till the Inspector shows?" Asked the Doctor.
"That's my job. I'll let him know about Temple as soon as I can." He shrugged helplessly while speaking.
"Thank you." Replied the Doctor, who then turned to Eve and spoke again. "I think we should head back, I will walk you home if you would desire company. We should meet tomorrow to discuss...?"

"Tea?" The Doctor knocked her out of her reverie with a steaming mug of tea.
"Thank you."
They drank quietly and thought much.

He woke much later than he had planned the next day. It already close to midmorning by the time he was out of the house.
The exact time was hard to judge now, just by looking outside. The snow continued to fall, covering and blinding, making everything appear as one.
The Doctor trudged through it, trying to appear unaffected.

He had planned to meet Evelyn at the Yard the next morning and he was very nearly late. He walked up to the Yard at almost exactly the time he was supposed to have met her.
Standing there, waiting, he saw many tracks left in the snow outside the Yard. The went this way and that way, impossible to keep any straight in all the shifting patterns.
Then cursing himself for a snowblinded fool, he went inside to wait.

The inside appeared deserted; but hearing voices towards the back, he headed to the small kitchen that was there.
"If tea is being made, I wouldn not say no to a cuppa." The Doctor said quietly coming around the corner.
"All right, I'll pour," replied Seth indifferently.
Sitting at the small table was Simon, holding a steaming mug.
"Has the Inspector been in today?" Asked the Doctor surprisedly.
"Come and gone. You just missed him. He's gone to verify that we only have a couple days left." Seth replied morosely.
"What are you talking about?"
"The new crime was the destruction of the weather controller. It's essentially what you thought last night. Out of the seven days, we've only got a couple days left."
"Good, I hate long waits." This came from Simon, who of the two, appeared more chipper.
Seth handed the Doctor another steaming mug.
The Doctor, nodding his thanks, sat down.
"What did you mean about the Inspector? Where's he off to now?" The Doctor said after a couple quiet sips.
Seth sighed. "He's at the wreckage of the weather controller. It was destroyed, or at least put out of action, last night. He said he would be back soon."
The Doctor just nodded.

"Hallo...?" The cry came from the front.
Everyone looked up questioning except the Doctor.
"That's Evelyn," He said, getting up and going out to the front.
She was dressed even a little more warmly than yesterday, having added stout Wellingtons and another scarf.
He supposed he should have thought to do the same.
"Here, there's tea in the back pantry. Want some?" He offered, taking here coat and scarf.
"Yes, please." She grinned and moved towards the small kitchen.
He put the wrap away and followed her back.

"...Destroyed?" He overed Evelyn say when he walked in. "So we were completely right. I mean Evatt was right." She grinned at him.
"No, it wasn't me. It was Robinson who gave me the idea." He raised a quizzical eyebrow at their astonished faces.
"He....He told you what was going to happen?" Asked Seth sharply.
"He predicted what was going to happen, yes." The Doctor cocked his head slightly in the direction of Seth.
"You're not thinking it's Robinson? He's been my manservant and butler for many years. I trust him implicitly." The Doctor stated stolidly.
"I think you should mention that fact to the Inspector when he comes back." Seth replied stubbornly.
"Mention what to me?" Asked a voice gruffly.
They all jumped slightly at the voice and as Mondieu walked into the pantry.
"What's the special occasion then for this happy gathering?" He asked of them all, his voice still just as gruff and without any humor, which was his normal tone of voice.
"Nothing Inspector. It was nothing." Said the Doctor, frowning at all.
"We thought you should know that Tom Robinson, Evatt's butler, gave him the suggestion of the weather changing before it happened last night." Evelyn cut in without preamble.  She frowned right back at the Doctor after finishing.
"Hmm. Why didn't you tell me about this?" Asked the Inspector quietly, his fell voice full.
"We tried Mondieu; you weren't here....And I don't think Tom has anything to do with it." The Doctor said, his own voice full as he replied, looking only at the Inspector.
"We shall see, won't we?" Was the Inspector's only comment.


It was early in the day when Robinson woke. He rolled out of bed, stretched for a moment and then started to dress.
It had been exactly like this the past few days. He had to get up early, there just didn't seem to be enough time in the day to get everything done he needed.
He finished dressing, his clothing neat and orderly, and walked out of the door of his small cottage in the back of the Doctor's rather large yard. He lived next to the Carriage house, but he rather enjoyed it. The only time the barouche was gone was when he had gotten it ready, so any extra noise didn't bother him.
He headed down the secluded drive and into the avenue. His direction was towards the center of town, towards the Arboretium.
It was early in the morn, and no one was out yet, something he was relieved about. He didn't have to make his way hidden this morning.
The snow crunched underfoot, and he wanted to enjoy the beauty while it lasted.
He arrived at the Arboretium in a short while, almost regretting the shortness of the journey.
Someone was waiting for him.

"I was wondering if you would show up today." They asked lightly.
"What are you doing here?" He asked more roughly than he intended.
"That is not a very nice tone of voice Tom." They replied sighing. "I just wanted to see you pick my fruit for me. I wanted to make sure you got the ones I wanted."
"What are you talking about?" He almost snarled. His hackles were up, but he couldn't tell why.
"Why Tom, you seem to be....upset? Whatever is the matter?" They smiled, and it was charming.

Afterwards, Robinson couldn't think of why he ran away in that moment. The idea of turning his back and running would be alien to his head at almost any moment, except for then.
He had run for a while then stopped.
He didn't know why he was afraid. Their contact before had been straight-forward and open, he didn't know why he felt so guilty.
That could be it. He thought to himself as he stopped running and started to just walk. He had never felt very guilty about anything before, and feeling something akin to it now was a surprise.
He wondered what to do about it.

Even later afterwards, he would wonder why he did what he did.
He went back to his cottage, put a change of clothes in a small pack, slipped his revolver into his pocket and went out again into the cold again. It was only midday by this time.

The person remained where they had been standing when Tom took flight for a few minutes afterwards.
I wonder why he ran. Thought Marie in her introspective way. I only wanted to see him pick my samples for me so that I could see where they came from and verify they were indeed the fruit of the Tree.
She shrugged and walked inside, making sure no one could see her enter the Arboretium.





“Knowledge forbidden?
Suspicious, reasonless. Why should their Lord
Envy them that? Can it be a sin to know?
Can it be death?”

~Milton