‘Spilsbury will argue that the bruises on her face show you hit her . . . and that her watch and glasses were broken during the attack. If she was in a bad way when you left her to meet Bessie, then the jury might feel you meant her to die.’
‘What about the rope marks that Dr Brontë found?’
Mr Thorne sighed. ‘It’s only his opinion, Norman. Spilsbury will say there were no rope marks.’
‘But there were, Dad. I saw them when I cut the cord away from Elsie’s neck. I just don’t understand why they can’t tell she died from hanging. Doesn’t it show in your lungs if you can’t breathe?’
‘She may never have intended to kill herself. According to Dr Brontë, just drawing a noose round your neck can cause shock.’
‘That’s what Mr Cassels said. But I don’t understand why.’
‘It’s something called the vagal reflex. Some people are extremely sensitive to pressure on their necks. There’s a case of a woman who died within three seconds of her lover’s hand caressing her throat.’
‘But I found Elsie hanging, Dad. She meant to do it.’
‘Perhaps not. Perhaps it was a little piece of drama that went wrong.’
Norman shook his head. ‘I still don’t understand.’
‘Dr Brontë thinks she was planning to frighten you. If she had the noose ready for when you came home . . . then stood on the chair when she heard the gate open—’ Mr Thorne broke off on another sigh. ‘Death by vagal reflex would have caused her to fall forward. That’s why you found her hanging.’
Norman stared. ‘Are you saying it was an accident?’
His father nodded. ‘It could have been. Which is why there were no marks on the beam. She wasn’t there long enough. Not if you cut her down as soon as you found her.’
‘I did,’ Norman said with sudden excitement. ‘Will the jury believe me? Will they believe Dr Brontë?’
‘Maybe . . . if we can prove she used threats of suicide to get her own way. We can certainly prove she was no stranger to play-acting. She told everyone she was pregnant. Even bought a baby’s dress to keep up the pretence.’
‘I told you she was lying, Dad. Her parents should have put her in a hospital. She wasn’t right in the head. She needed help.’
‘Two of her co-workers will say that in court, but whether anyone will believe them—’ Mr Thorne lapsed into a brief silence. ‘You should have gone to the police when you found her, Norman. Why didn’t you?’
His son’s eyes grew bleak. ‘Because they wouldn’t have believed me. They don’t believe me now.’
‘They might have done. It was cutting her up that makes people think you’re a murderer. Elsie deserved better, Norman.’
A shudder ran through the boy’s frame.
‘What made you do it?’
Tears wet Norman’s lashes. ‘It didn’t seem so bad. She was just another dead thing. I reckon you shut down your feelings when you have to kill chickens all the time. Will the jury understand that, Dad?’
‘No, son,’ said Mr Thorne sadly. ‘I don’t think they will.’
Chickenfeed is based on the true story of the ‘Chicken Farm Murder’, which took place in Blackness Road, Crowborough, East Sussex, in December 1924.
NORMAN THORNE WAS FOUND guilty of the murder of Elsie Cameron on March 16th, 1925. He was sentenced to death by hanging. The date of his execution was fixed for April 22nd. By strange chance, this would have been Elsie’s twenty-seventh birthday had she lived.
Public concern was expressed about the verdict. There were many who felt the trial had failed to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that Norman had caused, or meant to cause, Elsie’s death. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – the creator of Sherlock Holmes – was moved to ask questions.
It came to nothing. Norman’s appeal against his conviction and sentence was rejected. The night before his hanging, he wrote to his father. It was a letter full of hope.
There will be a flash and all will be finished. No, not finished, just starting for I go to God. I’ll wait for you just as others are waiting for me. I am free from sin. With all my love . . .
IT INTERESTS ME THAT Norman Thorne never confessed to killing Elsie Cameron. Not even on the gallows. To the end, he swore he found her hanging in his shack. This doesn’t prove he was innocent. But for a young man who believed in God, it was a dangerous gamble to take if he was guilty. Norman knew that a sinner must repent if he wanted to go to heaven.
I believe the truth is what I’ve suggested in this story. Elsie planned to frighten Norman when he came home by standing on a chair with a noose round her neck. But her cry for attention went wrong. Perhaps the cold made her clumsy. Perhaps she pulled the noose too tight by accident.
In some people, the vagal or carotid reflex kills rapidly. Compressing the nerves and arteries in the neck causes the brain to shut down and the heart to stop. This form of ‘accidental’ death can occur during solo sex acts when a noose is used to enhance orgasm. Victims – usually men – tend to be recorded as ‘suicides’ to avoid upsetting their families. However, the best-known use of reflex blackout is when Mr Spock presses his fingers to a person’s neck in Star Trek. Even though Star Trek is fictional, the principle is the same.
Psychoanalysis was still in its infancy in 1924, but those who knew Elsie Cameron described her as mentally unstable. They said she was ‘depressed’, ‘neurotic’ and ‘nervy’. She had a fear of being left on the shelf and thought people laughed at her. Her co-workers complained that she was ‘moody’ and ‘difficult’.
Her problems grew during her four-year relationship with Norman. She couldn’t hold down a job. She wanted to be loved in a ‘fairy tale’ way and was obsessed with getting married. She swung between anger and depression when she couldn’t have her own way. A doctor tried to cure her condition with sedatives (probably an early form of barbiturates).
Elsie’s behaviour suggests she suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder. Sufferers of BPD have low self-image and are often depressed. They can be difficult to live with. They have constant mood swings and become angry when they feel let down. They think in black and white terms, and form intense, conflict-ridden relationships. Threats of suicide are common.
Whatever happened the night Elsie died, I am sure her disturbed state of mind played a part in her death. Either her stubborn refusal to leave provoked Norman into hitting her, or she staged a ‘suicide’ to make him feel guilty enough to give up Bessie.
At Norman’s trial, the jury was swayed by Sir Bernard Spilsbury’s testimony. They decided that Elsie collapsed as the result of an attack and that Norman had intended to kill her. Yet, even if he had hit her, there was no evidence she was dead when he left the shack. Nor that he could have predicted she would die later from shock.
I’m more persuaded by a sentence in Norman’s statement. He said he found Elsie suspended from the beam with her ‘frock off and her hair down’. Yet it was a cold December night. Norman himself would have been wearing an overcoat. Why would it even occur to him to say he found Elsie hanging naked . . .
. . . unless it was true?
With her debut, The Ice House, Minette Walters won the Crime Writers’ Association John Creasey Award for the best first crime novel of 1992. Rapidly establishing a reputation as one of the most exciting crime novelists writing today, her second novel, The Sculptress, was acclaimed by critics as one of the most compelling and powerful novels of the year and won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for the best crime novel published in America in 1993. In 1994 Minette Walters achieved a unique triple when The Scold’s Bridle was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for best crime novel of the year. Her following five novels, The Dark Room, The Echo, The Breaker, The Shape of Snakes and Acid Row were also published to further critical acclaim throughout the world and her ninth novel, Fox Evil, won the 2003 CWA Gold Dagger for Fiction.
Minette Walters lives in Dorset with her husband and two children. Her latest novel, The Chameleon’s Shadow, is available in Pan p
aperback.
By the same author
The Ice House
The Sculptress
The Scold’s Bridle
The Dark Room
The Echo
The Breaker
The Shape of Snakes
Acid Row
Fox Evil
Disordered Minds
The Devil’s Feather
The Tinder Box
The Chameleon’s Shadow
To my good friend Paul
First published 2006 by Pan Books
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Copyright © Minette Walters 2006
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chickenfeed Page 7