“Mother, how I miss you.” She wiped her cheek. How could everything crumble at the last breath of the woman? She had been the life of this home, the person who gave Father a reason to continue on and thrive after his injury hindered his work around the place. Mother was the one woman who treated Josie as someone to value and not someone to spite. The village girls would never include her in their circles—at first because of the enamored attention their beaux would give Josie, but then when she grew interested in medicines and ailments she appeared out of step with the usual duties of girls her age. Mother had often reminded Josie that she was exactly who God made her for a reason.
When Mother died, Josie’s joy had transferred from the shadow of her mother’s knowledge to applying that knowledge in the very best way—helping the sick. Her mother was right. If she had found acceptance in the midst of gossiping women, she’d have missed a grander purpose.
Josie marched out the front door, only slightly hesitant when she thought of the creditor appearing to arrest her for trespassing. She hurried down the steps and across the garden to the small grove of trees atop a rolling hill. In the bright morning, her mother’s grave lay as peaceful as the day they buried her. The fine stone cross marked it handsomely, and the pretty lilac shrub had grown nicely over the past two years. Mother had given Josie the lilac seedling when she was sick. The shrub was spectacular now.
Josie smiled to herself as she recalled Aunt Myrtle’s graveside being guarded by established lilacs. Fear and horror had trapped her memory in Gloughton. But now she remembered her mother’s wisdom.
The flower was a symbol of first love, and Mother told her to always remember her first love—the Christ, the Creator and Comforter. Josie gently lifted a bloom to her nose, inhaling the sweet fragrance. “I have not forgotten You, Lord. But where are You in all of this?”
She’d lost Braham and her father and her reputation among the mill girls. But she had saved Aunt Myrtle’s body, hadn’t she? And her father’s imprisonment had given her courage to wipe her hands clean of his debts to the network. They could not touch him within the walls of the debtors’ prison.
Hadn’t she prayed for God’s deliverance from this work after Harry Garnett’s snatching? But instead she’d lost everything. Was that truly God’s plan? He seemed close in the memories of her mother, but the darkness was too thick to understand His way now.
Josie sighed, plucking the young lilac bloom. She turned from her mother’s grave. A man stared at her from afar. She flung down the bloom and trudged toward him.
“Alvin Green, what are you doing here?”
He leaned against the barn. He’d slept there many nights as a grave robber posing as an innocent farmhand. Josie stopped a few feet in front of him with a hand on her hip.
“I still rent this place from your father.” His bruises were green around the edges, covering the left side of his face. His lip was still swollen.
“Did you not hear? He’s returned to debtors’ prison.”
“Oh, no, I did not.” He grimaced, lowering his head. “At least the network can’t harass him anymore.”
“And I refuse to help anymore, Alvin. I will find my own way to get him out this time.” Josie felt much less confident than she sounded. “We’ll leave Ainsley … everyone thinks I am dead anyway. Those men can’t harm us if we leave—” Josie stepped back. Alvin just stared at her. Would God protect them if they left? Had He already? “Alvin, you must go before that creditor returns. I just want to collect some things—” She swiveled on her heel but did not take a step. Swallowing away tears that pricked her eyes, she could only wonder where she would go next.
“Wait,” Alvin mumbled. She turned to face him. He’d never appeared so disheartened before. His face was drawn down in a sorrowful look, with eyes as watery as hers probably appeared. “I have decided to stay here and help your father. Not much for earnings, but at least it’s honest. I cannot manage to stay in the network. Not now—” He wrung his hands. “That Audra Jennings has played me for a fool.”
“She said that she broke it off with you.” A pang of sympathy for Alvin surprised Josie. But the man before her did not seem to be the scoundrel she’d encountered before. He was deflated, broken not just by his wounds from his beating but by the cunning Audra Jennings, the same person who revealed all to the man who’d awakened love in Josie these past weeks.
“Well, she is closely connected with the business, and I will never be able to face her again.”
“She told me she was done with it, said it was a horrible thing to do …” Josie’s voice trailed as she recalled Audra’s unapologetic demeanor when she had assisted in that first grave robbing.
“Not Audra Jennings. She is in it deeper than any of us, for she has found her pot of gold. Will murder for it.”
“Murder?” A sick feeling rushed through Josie. Her last conversation with Audra grew loud in her mind. She had spilled so much just before Braham walked in. Now, looking back, Audra had her eye on the hallway the entire time. Josie even looked over her shoulder twice to see what she was looking at. Did she know that Braham was listening? “Who would she—”
“There is a need for a large number of bodies, and she was willing to provide them for the chance of a life of luxury.” He leaned back on the barn wall. “I could not be part of it. So many innocent women.” He shook his head.
“Innocent women?” Josie gasped. “The poison!”
He wiped his forehead with a handkerchief. “She was fine with letting me go. I daresay she was relieved.” He stuffed the handkerchief in his pocket. “Do not worry about your father, Josie. Dr. Chadwick has released your wages and his debt to me. All can go to your father. He can get out of debtors’ prison once and for all. It is the least I can do.” He began walking toward the barn door.
“Wait. Dr. Chadwick? Did you give him a body?” A sour taste sat on her tongue.
“No, I gave him something better.” He shook his head. “I took him to the head of the network that supplies an entire medical society. Well, I gave him the clues to reach him. I do not know the head of the network myself.” He rubbed his neck. “Dr. Chadwick has moved to Boston to share the wealth with colleagues.” He snickered but then slumped his shoulders and disappeared in the darkness of the barn.
Relief for her father’s situation and anger at Audra’s wicked hand warred in Josie. She ran to the house. She must return to Gloughton. The women were dying, and Braham thought it was her fault. Even if he was disgusted by her own association with body snatchers, she must at least let him know that she was not a murderer. She must at least let him know that there was a murderer in his midst.
When she got to the porch, Braham was there, waiting.
“You are Josephine.” He stared at her, his sable eyes as intense as the sunshine.
Her heart leapt at her given name on his lips. “I am.”
“And you are considered—” He cleared his throat and frowned. “Dead?”
Whom had he spoken with? Any townsman would have told him the story, she was sure. But now he must hear it from her. Would he ever forgive her for what she had almost done?
“I was very sick. Everyone thought I had died. Even Dr. Chadwick. I—I was actually buried.”
Braham gaped at her. He stepped closer, searching her face—perhaps for a lie?
“It was awful, Braham.” Her voice shook. “I awoke beneath his knife. He was going to use my body—” She reached out, longing for an assuring touch.
But he slid his hand behind his back. “The resurrection men.” Confusion muddled his brow. “You were given to him by one of those men?”
“I was. And that man, Alvin, found me just before Dr. Chadwick tried to kill me. Because of Alvin’s loyalty to my father, a bargain was made for my life.” She lowered to sit on a barrel. “I did not have a choice—my father’s life was being threatened. I took his place as an aide to Alvin. I didn’t know Father was part of such a business until the bargain was made—”
>
Braham knelt down, running his hand through his hair. “I never heard of such a—a—”
“Wicked web?” Josie blurted. He nodded. “Trust me, that is what it is. I never wanted to be part of it. But so much was at stake. My poor father was being tormented night and day.”
Braham sat back and hooked his arms on his knees. “And my aunt, you were going to—”
“I could not do it. I saw Alvin waiting, and I saw you, Braham. You loved her. I called you over and kept the lantern lit so that nothing could happen to her.” Josie stood up, wrapping her arms around her waist. “You might not believe me, but I have found out more. I did not accidently poison the girls—”
“I know. You are innocent.” He rose and stood inches from her. He searched the rolling hills in the distance as he spoke. “Audra and Minnie are the guilty ones.” He turned to her, a hardness still in his gaze. “You must lead me to the place where Audra will meet the others.”
She nodded and glanced over her shoulder. “Yes. I know how to find them, I think.” Alvin had saved her once. Perhaps, if he showed them the meeting place, she could help him end that chapter in his life. She looked back at Braham. “But it will come with another price, I am sure.”
“I’ll not get caught up in any of that business,” Braham retorted.
“No.” Josie shook her head. “Of course not. Braham, I have also sworn never to be a part of it again.” She searched his stoic look, trying to find one ounce of the tenderness he had once shown her. “But the man who knows where they meet will need protection.”
He stepped off the porch, now looking in the direction of the barn. “Who is he?”
A thickness lodged in her throat at his coldness. How could Josephine Clayton convince him that she had wanted to do the right thing all along, but she hadn’t a choice in the matter?
Braham stared at her as she whispered, “You’ll see.”
He wanted to trust her, to believe her good intent. The woman had been through so much, and now her father was in debtors’ prison.
She reached out her hand, and her large blue eyes pleaded for him to take it. “This morning, I swore to myself that I would not follow through with my end of the bargain. And before you arrived, God answered my need.” He bounced his look from her lips to her hand. “Please, Braham, follow me.” She pushed her hand in the air between them. He took it. A slight smile grew on her lips. “I promise, we will end all of this. You’ll see.”
They walked across the yard deserted from any life that might have been contained in the empty coop, pigpen, and barn. When they got close to the barn, Josie let go of his hand.
She shaded her eyes, calling out, “Alvin? Please come here.”
Braham stepped back and exclaimed, “You have that man here with you?” He was right not to trust Josie after all.
Josie glanced at him. “He is not as he seems. Not anymore, anyway. Trust me.” She was as confident as she had been when she cared for the sick. He remembered her posture at his aunt’s bedside. He remembered how Mr. Bates graciously trusted his father again. Braham took in a deep breath and waited.
The scruffy man appeared from within the dark barn. “What’s he doing here?”
“He wants to find Audra, Alvin. She’s hurt so many women. Can you help?”
His nostrils flared. “I do not want any part of it. I’ve done too much.”
“You do not have a choice, man,” Braham seethed, balling his fists by his side. “Where is Audra? Is she with you?”
Alvin narrowed his eyes. “That woman is nothing to me now.” He scowled. “I may have done terrible things, but I am no murderer.”
Braham leaned in and whispered, “Close enough.” All his grief, all his anger, welled in his burning chest.
“Josie, I think this is a mistake,” Alvin growled. He retreated to the shadows, his eyes remaining locked with Braham’s.
Josie stepped between them. “Alvin, if you take us to the meeting place, we will not say one word about your part in it.”
“Josie, I do not know about that—” Braham could not let the criminal go, could he?
“Braham, Alvin has sworn to cut ties with that lifestyle. He saved me and promises to save my father.” She glanced between them. “Now I will give him a chance to start over.”
Alvin wore the marks of his beating all over his face. Braham was certain it was Gerald’s work. This man had planned to steal their aunt’s body. Should Braham trust Alvin now?
“Braham, Alvin has made mistakes, but he also has a heart.” Josie grinned at the man. “He’s paying off my father’s debt. We shall keep him here, and he’ll work hard and honestly. Right, Alvin?”
Alvin gathered his lips together like an obstinate child but nodded quickly, looking away from Braham. “They meet tonight. We have little time.”
“And then you will go to Ashton?” Josie asked eagerly.
“Aye,” he said. “Your father will sleep in his bed by the end of the week, I guarantee it.” Josie beamed at Braham.
“Fine,” Braham said, unable to look in her eyes. He wished that Gerald would give him as much grace as Josie showed this man now. She was almost glowing at the resolution. Josie mentioned that she would tidy up for her father and left Braham and Alvin alone. Braham watched her. He could never let go of the feelings that lured him to love Josie Clay. Even now, his heart thrummed in double time at the sight of her. But she had been pretending all this time. How difficult would it be to trust her again?
Alvin cleared his throat. Braham turned to him. The man was several years older than he was. Alvin rubbed his jaw and looked toward the house. “She never wanted to be a part of it. The day I dropped her off at the mill, she begged for a different way. Even now, with her father in debtors’ prison, she swore she was done with the business.”
“You offered to help her father.”
“After she said she was done.”
“I do not know what to think anymore.” Braham shoved his hands in his pockets.
“You love her, I can tell.” Alvin snorted. “Trust me, I’ve felt the same as you look.”
Did he refer to Audra? Poor fool.
“And you were okay with Audra’s ways. How can I forgive Miss Clay for what she has done thus far? It seems unforgivable.”
“Mr. Taylor, I do not know what you think, but the woman hasn’t done anything. She was forced to clean up a grave after the robbing. She took her father’s place. All because she loves the old fool.” Alvin grabbed a shovel and some empty sacks from inside the barn door. “Trust me if you can—Josephine Clayton has a gift—she is an angel for the sick. Even when I was in the thick of crime the day that I found her with Dr. Chadwick, I could not let such a creature die.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Their ride was quiet. A tension sat between them. Josie was elated about her father’s release. She could not contain her chatter at first. But Braham remained a statue, and he gave no indication that he listened to one word.
“Forgive me, I have rambled on.” Josie clasped her hands in her lap. “I was trapped between helping my father and his terrible debts. Now, all of it has melted away.” She turned her face to the fresh breeze streaming along the country lane.
“We have quite a feat ahead of us yet,” Braham said. “I will be more at ease when Alvin follows through with the plan.” He sighed. “But I understand your elation. All has worked out for you.”
“And for you,” Josie declared. “The mill girls are safe and will no longer suffer.”
“Yes, but I will always have the burden of Gerald’s distrust. He will use this incident against me, I am sure. I have yet to hear from him, and that makes me worry.”
“I am sorry, Braham. You are a good manager.”
“Gerald shall never find out about your part in this,” he said in a bitter tone. “To know that his factory was caught up in such a scandal …” He shook his head. “We would both be out of work.” He called out to the horse, and it slowed to a trot. �
�There was a time down south when several of the slaves had become ill. My father assisted some of the boys in their rows while neglecting his own.” His jaw flinched. “Gerald was only twelve but noticed and told the slave master. The overseer of the place had my father watch two slave boys endure the whippings in his stead. That night, Father told me that watching two innocent children suffer was worse punishment than feeling the pain himself.”
“That is awful,” she muttered, trying to resist the scenario forming in her mind.
“You’ve taken on much yourself, Josephine.” He turned his face toward her. Rounded brown eyes shone bright beneath his hat brim, offering a warmth she had not seen from him since he arrived in Ainsley. “Even with all the horrific planning that tied you to those wicked men and women, you continued to care for your friends. You became a friend to me.”
“And you to me.” She smiled. He brought the cart to a stop along a wooded embankment. The dappled light danced all about them.
“When you left Gloughton, I had never felt more alone, Josie—I mean, Josephine.” He looked in her eyes. “I will be honest with you. When all was revealed, I never felt more betrayed than in that moment.”
“There is no reason you should ever trust me, I understand that.” Sadness welled up inside her. “Yet, even in knowing what you thought of me, all I wanted was to be everything you saw me do. That is the real Josephine Clayton. I want to help the sick. I want to pray with the dying.” His nostrils flared, and he studied her lips as she spoke. He reached out and tightened his hands around hers. “And I want you to be with me through it all, Braham.”
She felt as though her words were billowing between them, transfixing them in this moment like cotton dust hovering as evidence of the grander work upon the loom.
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