Chapter 10 - Lemony, you are finished.
From too much love of living,
From hope and fear set free,
We thank with brief thanksgiving
Whatever gods may be
That no life lives for ever;
That dead men rise up never;
That even the weariest river
Winds somewhere safe to sea.
- Algernon Charles Swinburne.
If you were interested in reading a story with a happy ending, I'm sorry for you. I also apologize to you for just alerting you in the last chapter. This was not a story that had a happy beginning, nor did it have a happy ending, let alone have happy things during the middle of it. However, nothing is so bad that it can't be made worse, so I would say this is a story about how I can prevent something worse from happening.
I could put in this chapter only an audio description of an unfortunate recording made using an electronic device hidden in a fireproof tea utensil. Or I could put in this chapter just one document I found inside a top hat that was stored in a secret submerged library. Or I could describe the report of a certain specialist who is a friend of Lemony Snicket. But instead, I'm going to start this chapter by describing my meeting with a certain person at the Cafe where I work.
The person in question wore red shawl, with long feathers along the edges. The person had ordered a black and bitter coffee. I realized that the person had a large female handbag that should fit a lot of mysterious things. The person was sitting in the most private part of the Cafe, exactly where I had attended the meeting where I got Lemony Snicket's unauthorized autobiography.
A few minutes passed, and a man with an overcoat and a hat entered the Cafe. He looked concerned. He sat on the counter, next to the barista. I went to take his order quickly. He ordered a root beer float. Meanwhile, the person with the long shawl called for a waiter. I saw the person delivering something to him. I handed the man the root beer float in his overcoat and quickly intercepted the waiter.
"I don't know why I had to disguise myself as a waiter, if I could have disguised myself as a waitress," Lisa told me, handing over the card she had received from the person.
I smiled at her.
- Do you think it has already taken effect? - I asked Lisa.
- You read the book ... Are you controlling the time?
- Yes, I am.
So I went to the table where the person with the shawl was sitting. The person looked at me, with make-up eyes and mouth with bright red lipstick.
- Who are you? - The person asked me.
- My name is Beatrice Baudelaire. - I replied looking into the person's eyes.
- So it's you ...
- Was your coffee bitter enough? - I asked.
- It was more bitter than usual. Could you excuse me? I'm about to have a date with someone.
- Today you will only meet with me. And tomorrow, when the effect of the tea I added to your coffee is over, you'll meet the police.
- What are you talking about? - The person tried to get up and move his arms and failed.
- "Botanical Poisons and Their Applications." I found a copy of this book in the last library I was in. Also, when I first arrived in the City, I was at Mr. Snicket's apartment. From there I spotted a lot in which there were several unusual plants. I realized that there had evidently been a fire in that place at some point in the past. Only when I spent more time in the city I realized that the Royal Gardens were there. And by the force of fate, the plants that rose from the ashes were the ones that stayed in the Poisonous Pavilion. I was there, and I collected some of the plants that I made the tea you drank mixed with your coffee. One of the plants causes progressive paralysis, and the other makes you more susceptible to just telling the truth.
- Lemony ...
- Lemony is right there, I know ... He's not going anywhere. Soon he will feel a strange sleep, and will take a nap right there where he is sitting. When he wakes up, he and I will have a long conversation. But now, it's our turn to talk. And you're going to clear him of the charge of being an arsonist.
I took out my electronic recording device, which was in my pocket. I pressed the REC key.
- I'll tell you a story. And you're just going to confirm or deny what I'm saying.
The person appeared to have entered a type of hypnotic trance. I now understood how Dr. Orwell must feel.
- Your real name is Bertrand Baudelaire. You killed a woman named Violetta. Am I right?
- Yes.
"You set fire to the Baudelaire mansion and made the authorities think it was Lemony Snicket." Am I right?
- Yes.
- You pretended to be Beatrice Baudelaire and Kit Snicket in order to lure Lemony Snicket into a trap, am I right?
I continued to ask Bertrand several questions. He confirmed them all. I could have handed Lemony the original recording showing what exactly happened that day. But I know it would be too sad for him. Now that time has passed, and I know that Lemony will no longer be able to read this, I can explain it to you, dear reader. I found page 9 of the Snicket File, which you must have read before getting here. (Unless you have a bad habit of reading the final chapters of a book before reading the opening chapters).
The time I spent in the submerged library was well used by me. What I read from Beatrice's words made me absolutely certain: she certainly died on the day when her house was set on fire. After all, she loved her children very much, and she would never leave my foster parents in such a bad shape if she were alive. Then I realized something very important ... One of the reasons that Beatrice sought Violetta was because she wanted a doctor capable of lying. The question was, "lying to whom?" And the answer was more bitter than I could have imagined, and I only discovered it when I found the book Botanical Poisons and Their Applications. According to the book, Conium Maculatum is a poison that has no known antidodes. Beatrice wanted Violetta to lie to Beatrice herself. She was trying to kill herself, but started acting like she was trying to fake her own death. It should be easier for her to engage her subconscious. Everything was going on like a play. After searching a lot, I found a recording of what happened in the last few minutes before the fire. The recording was not complete, unfortunately. But two voices were perfectly heard. A male voice and a female voice.
- She's dead, Bertrand ... She told me what she was going to do and that's why I came here.
- It can not be! We just sent the kids to the beach, because Lemony was due to get here today! How am I going to face the kids!
- Bertrand, she wanted me to take care of you.
- You what?
- She wanted it, Bertrand!
- Why did not you tell me? I could have stopped her! I loved her!
- She loved you too, Bertrand! And so she didn't want children to be without a mother. I can be an excellent mother for them. Because I love you, and I will love them.
- Violetta, go away. Before I do anything very wrong.
The recording sound was bad and I didn't hear the next few minutes.
But then the recording went back to work. Violetta seemed to be screaming.
- You forced me to do that Betrand! I was going to leave you in happy ignorance!
- What is it?
- Do you remember when you wanted to have a third child? But the years passed and Beatrice did not get pregnant again at all. You started to believe that there was something wrong with either of you or both. And you two did medical tests.
- Yes, I remember that. But what does this have to do with ...
- I forged your exams, Bertrand! Because Beatrice was already pregnant at that time, and you no longer needed to know the truth.
- What are you talking about?
- Here is the real result ... Do you see here, what is written? "Congenital" is a word that here means that she has betrayed you and none of those children are yours!
Again the recording was bad. When it returned I heard only male screams and the sound of things falling and breaking. Bertrand confirmed to me that he started the fire after hitting Violetta with the fireplace poker. Bertrand hid in the secret tunnel during the fire, taking some supplies, Beatrice's own clothes and his clothes, his favorite books, the pot of the poisonous plant that had killed Beatrice and some documents. Violleta had spoken before she died about how Beatrice intended to get the poisonous plant. So, after a few days, Bertrand also set fire to the Royal Gardens.
He made Lemony's letter, stating that he was about to arrive, end up in the hands of law enforcement officials. The poisonous plant was left in the secret tunnel, and Jacques Snicket found it. When Bertand finally fell asleep, Lisa and I tied his hands and feet and took him to the basement.
I returned in time to sit down at the table and analyze the handbag. Bertrand was carrying a dart thrower. He would probably kill Lemony Snicket right there after confronting him. He carried several letters. These were the letters he had taken from Beatrice's brother. Of course, he already knew how to disguise himself as his wife, being able to deceive his brother-in-law, and take the letters in his hands. When Bertrand realized that he had not managed to get Lemony killed by the hands of the judicial authorities, Bertrand tried to kill Lemony with his bare hands. He made Lemony believe that Beatrice was still alive, and lured him to the Duchess of Winnipeg's mansion. The poor Duchess must have been murdered after she wrote that letter in Lemony's unauthorized autobiography. She knew too much. Or maybe it was Bertrand who wrote that letter ... I never ended up asking him that. In any case, Lemony stayed out of the country for many years, but when he returned Bertrand again initiated his plan to attract and kill Lemony. He wrote letters pretending to be my mother and pretending to be Beatrice Baudelaire, just like I decided to do. But he thought about it before I did, and in fact now I realize that I unconsciously saw his plan in progress and ended up finding a good plan and copied it. (Of course, I wanted to attract Lemony by pretending to be people he loved who were actually dead not for the purpose of killing him, but for talking to him.) I cannot say that I fully understand Bertrand's attitudes. I don't think he dressed like Beatrice just so he could get back at Lemony. I think he was trying to keep her alive somehow. And now I understand that my research is somewhat similar to his attitude.
Finally Lemony woke up. Lisa handed him the card Bertrand had written. Lemony came to the table. And then we had a long and pleasant conversation.
- So you are my niece? This is a difficult story to believe.
- Well, I brought some books and some writings that were found with me on a beach. Here are Sunny, Klaus and Violet's commonplace books. They guided me for many years.
Lemony took the books, and turned each page carefully. I didn't tell him about Bertrand Baudelaire. The recording I made was forwarded to the police, and the following afternoon Bertrand Baudelaire was arrested. Lemony never knew these details, but he did know he was cleared. He believed me that night. And I could see that he felt happy and sad at the same time when he met me.
- So you wrote all those letters?
- Yes, it was me.
- But some letters don't make sense ... Some letters seem to have references to letters I had written for Violet's mother many years ago. How could you know?
I reached out and handed him the package of letters that Bertrand had brought.
- I ended up finding this on some of my trips. I'm sorry for cheating you.
Lemony took the letters, and I saw a nostalgic expression on his face.
- Why didn't you sign some of the letters but others did you?
- I'm sorry for that. Are my letters there with you?
Lemony took several letters out of his overcoat. Bertrand evidently did not sign the letters he sent to Lemony. Unlike Beatrice, he did not learn to forge signatures. I signed in front of him.
- Okay, now you have letters from Beatrice and letters to Beatrice.
Lemony took a letter from the middle of the set. It was a huge letter, with a large ring-shaped mark, from someone who placed a container of drinks on the letter sheet without using a coaster.
- Something doesn't make sense, Beatrice. This letter contains the answers to 12 of 13 questions that Beatrice once asked me. But I know that this letter never reached her hands, because she let me write it. How did that letter reach your hands? And if you had that letter, why did you write it in one of the letters that still had 12 questions for me to answer?
- Does everything have to make sense for you? If you answer me where my foster parents are, I will tell you the secret of that letter.
He smiled sadly. I didn't know what the secret of that letter was. But evidently Bertrand was the one who intercepted that letter and had never discussed it with Beatrice. Was that why he had been so jealous and insecure about the proof that Lemony was alive?
- I never knew, Beatrice, where your adoptive parents are right now. But, if you're here and they never found you ...
- Do not say that.
- They would never leave you alone, would they? Not for so long... I found something in my research on the Baudelaire case. Something very sad and I took a picture. It was a picture of a vessel that belonged to the Baudelaires, called Beatrice. And Beatrice sank.
I asked to see the photograph, and he also took that photograph from inside the overcoat.
I smiled through tears. It represented something that I remembered.
- They must have made an improvised vessel with the few books that were on the vessel. And then they decided to save you, Beatrice.
He started to cry and so did I. And he was right. I think I always knew, after all. But now I had a photograph. And looking at the picture, in my heart, I could say "thanks" and "goodbye".
- But you said in one of the letters that they had recently separated from you, didn't you?
I could not say that this was a big lie by an impostor who wanted to make Lemony believe that the Baudelaires were also alive and that they had met with their mother in order to attract and kill him.
- Yes it's true.
- Maybe they are out there looking for you, and they never found you because you were always traveling from place to place. If you stay here, they may find you someday.
- Yes - I said through tears.
- And if you stay here, I can always find you too.
Lisa approached the table. She was listening to everything.
- It's true, Beatrice. Just because you're an orphan doesn't mean you have no family. I am your family now. And now you've met three uncles.
- One of them is an arsonist ...
Lemony said:
- Even Ernest values ​​the family. He would never hurt Dewey's daughter. And who knows, you can help him find his way back to nobility.
I was grateful for that. Now it was my turn to give back to Lemony.
- Would you like to say goodbye to her? - I asked.
- To say goodbye to whom?
- Beatrice Baudelaire. Not me, the other one.
- What are you talking about?
- I know where she must be. But to prove it, I need some sample of her hair or nails.
- The only "hair sample" I had I returned to her, along with this letter that you don't want to explain to me how you owned it.
When I heard that, I opened Bertrand's handbag and found that. Lemony refused to ask me any more questions about how strange it was, and realized that some things were better left in the great unknown.
After a few days, Lemony and I arrived at the laboratory of a skeleton specialist who was Lemony's friend. I had read about that woman in TSS. In Beatrice's will she asked to be buried in one of Mount Fraught caves, without a headstone. It was a cave especially full of bats. I had been there, and I knew where it was. Lemony wrote that she had found many bones in that region, and I deduced that some of the bones were from Beatrice. He and I held hands when the doctor confirmed that the bones belonged to the owner of that hair. We cry and hug.
Finally Lemony had found Beatrice.
I asked him to send me a photo of the cave where he would ensure that it was buried again. Violetta's bones were also buried there, mistaken for Bertrand's bones. Mr. Poe made sure that no one else knew where the alleged couple had been buried, according to the instructions in the will.
Soon I will also need to climb those mountains to fulfill a promise I made to my uncle. I will take a sugar bowl with me, and stick it on that cave with a small inscription: "B and L - Love Conquers Nearly Everything".
