Murder at Locke Abbey

by Winchester, Catherine

  ‘Because you’re easy pickings,’ a snide voice in her head told her. ‘Unmarried at your age? He thinks you will fall for the charms of any man who shows you the slightest attention.’

  She felt like such a fool.

  She closed her door behind her and fell against it, fighting back her tears. She didn’t understand it, she hardly knew him, she shouldn’t feel this much upset at his actions.

  Try as she might, she couldn’t hold back her tears, the best she could do was cry silently, which she managed to do. She made her way to the sofa and sat down, so it would not be immediately obvious to anyone who came in, that she was crying.

  Ann sat beside her and placed a paw on her thigh, almost as if she knew something was the matter and that Thea needed comfort. Thea pulled the little dog into her arms.

  She had never felt like this before, it was almost as if she had been punched in the abdomen or at least, how she imagined that might feel. She didn’t know why people waxed lyrical about the heart either, this pain was not centred in her chest at all.

  When her tears didn’t slow, she decided to focus on the thoughts flying through her brain, as odd as they were. She placed her fingers at her wrist and took her pulse, which was strong and even, although perhaps a little fast. Further proof that the poets were wrong and her heart was unaffected by this.

  The distraction was working and her tears were drying, then her eyes alighted on the coins still lying on the coffee table.

  She had promised her father a demonstration after breakfast, and Cole would surely want to see as well. She had to remain focused on the reason they were here, to prove that nothing supernatural was going on and to find the murderer.

  What did her emotions matter when people were dying?

  Chapter Ten

  “Oh, William, if all that is true, then why don’t you love me?”

  “Because love isn’t like that, Eliza, it isn’t predictable. You will make a fine wife one day, but not my wife.”

  Her tears were almost dry now and perhaps because she felt slighted, she reacted with anger.

  “You are a fool to love her over me.”

  Cole reminded himself that she was just a child who was lashing out in anger.

  “Fool or not, I think that I am in very great danger of falling in love with her, and I cannot regret that.”

  “Honestly, Cole, Can you not see that she is turning your family into a laughing stock!”

  An angry Eliza was not nearly so charming as a hurt one had been, but he didn’t rise to the bait.

  “Even her name is ridiculous, Athena? I mean please, she is no goddess! Mother says that you won’t be able to get a single invitation in London next season, if you maintain your association with her.”

  “I care little for your mother’s thoughts on the subject of the Copleys, Miss Eliza.”

  “You should. Bringing in a female investigator is laughable enough, taking up with such a woman will irreparably damage your family’s good name. It is not only you whose social prospects will be harmed, but also your sisters; they will need good husbands one day!”

  “My true sisters are already wed. If my half-sisters turn out even a fraction as scheming as their mother, they will fair very well, regardless of any so-called ‘shame’ I bring to the family.”

  “How can you care so little for your siblings? How can you treat your own reputation so lightly?”

  “I might ask you the same thing, no? If it is known that you make a habit of visiting unmarried gentlemen in their rooms, your reputation will be irreparably harmed, and that stigma will damage your sisters prospects as well, not to mention the shame and accusations your father will face, for not having taught you better. You should go now, before my valet returns to help me finish dressing.”

  His words had the desired effect and she had visibly paled. Any whiter and she would make a good candidate for the ghost seen in the woods.

  He frowned as he opened the door for Eliza, his mind already having moved on to considering the possibility that the ‘ghost’ that had been seen might have been a real live woman. Considering the supernatural suspicions that many already harboured over Mrs Garwood’s death, a woman outside at night time, dressed in white night clothes, with only moonlight to illuminate the scene and seen from a distance, it was easy to see how an active imagination could turn a person into a ghost.

  Mrs Lanning had been the one who saw the ghostly apparition and she was in the oldest wing of the house. Glass production in the 1600s was not what it is now and tended to distort the images seen through it.

  It was the most logical answer, that the apparition was a real person. Now he just needed to find out who had been out in the woods that night but considering that in all likelihood, their intentions had been nefarious, that might prove harder than he thought.

  He realised that he was still holding the door open, although Eliza had clearly left. He hurried through the rest of his dressing, eager to see Thea again and tell her of his idea. He hoped that she would be pleased with him, and his use of logic and reason.

  ***

  Thea was a little late coming down to breakfast. Not only had she been so focused on practising her magic trick that she lost track of time, a quick look in the mirror revealed her eyes to be rather more red that she night wish.

  Her apothecary chest held a number of things with medicinal qualities, including witch-hazel. She put a little of the liquid onto some cotton, which she carefully wiped around her eyes and nose. The liquid cooled the skin immediately, reducing the redness and although her eyes stung a little, she did not begin crying again. After a few repeated applications, she looked almost normal.

  Her father would probably know something was wrong with her but hopefully, no one else here knew her well enough to see the difference. If Cole or anyone else did ask, she would tell them that it was from lack of sleep.

  Thea was rather practiced at hiding her feelings and for once, she was glad of it.

  ***

  Only Cole and Lord Copley were at the table for a long while and they made polite conversation, although Cole’s gaze kept flickering to the door in anticipation of Thea’s arrival.

  Instead the next person to enter was Black, with the news that his father was so unwell that he wanted to send for the doctor. Cole of course approved that and Black left to see to it.

  Lord and Lady Buchan were next, with their sons, Peter and Simon. Then Mr and Mrs Buchan entered with Eliza.

  Cole made sure to ignore Eliza as much as possible, turning his attention immediately back to Copley once he had greeted her.

  Cole was beginning to get worried and about to suggest someone check on Thea, when she entered. She looked particularly fetching this morning, in a russet coloured riding habit.

  “Good morning,” he smiled at her, and was a little disconcerted when she simply nodded her response and sat next to her father, rather than next to Cole as had been her habit.

  He noticed that her eyes were a little swollen.

  “Are you well?” he enquired, which was as much as he could ask in public.

  “Very well, thank you, Mr Cole.”

  That ‘Mr’ didn’t escape his attention either.

  Mrs Dale and Selena entered then and took their seats.

  “There you are, Ann!” Selena cried as she spotted her little dog who was sitting beside the table, waiting to clean up any dropped morsels.

  “How did you fair this morning?” her father asked her. “Are you ready to reveal how everything was accomplished?”

  “I believe so,” she told him.

  “How what was accomplished?” Lord Buchan demanded.

  “How the psychic achieved her tricks,” Thea answered. She didn’t much care for the Buchan family to begin with, given the patriarch’s vigorous defence of the wrongs happening in Ireland but after overhearing Cole’s rendezvous with Eliza, she was even less inclined to change her opinion.

  “Yes, the boys were telling me all about
that,” Lord Buchan said with derision. “In fact, they have hardly spoken of anything else this morning.”

  “That is a gross exaggeration, Father. Besides, you don’t know, you weren’t there, but it was all very real, I can assure you!” Peter argued.

  “It was,” his brother agreed.

  “So you have discovered how she performed her tricks?” Mrs Dale asked.

  “I believe I have,” Thea answered. “I agreed to give a demonstration for my father, but all are welcome to watch, if you would like.”

  “I would love to,” Selena answered.

  Cole thought that odd, she had loved the idea of the supernatural up until now.

  “Shouldn’t you be with my father?” he asked.

  “Why?” Selena seemed irked to have been reminded of the man.

  “Because he is quite unwell, according to Black, so we have summoned the doctor. I thought you would want to be at his bedside.”

  “You are his son.”

  “And you are his wife. Sons are supposed to form their own families, wives are supposed to care for their spouse.” He knew that he was being more confrontational than usual but he couldn’t help it. Although he and his father were not close, he still wasn’t anticipating his death with any sort of relish.

  There was a time when he had adored his father, who seemed more patient with his later children than his earlier ones. His mother said that age had made him more patient. Their rift didn’t really form until he married Selena and even then, they had veered between civil and friendly, until his father’s recent bouts of ill health, which had given him rather mercurial mood swings.

  “I will check on him later and bring him the hot chocolate he so enjoys, as I do every day. I want to see how this mystic fooled us first, if in fact, she has fooled us.”

  Selena did visit him every day when he was bedridden, although she never stayed for longer than fifteen minutes. Still, he didn’t want to argue.

  “I will need some time to prepare the room, so the demonstration can be delayed a little,” Thea said, directing her words to Selena rather than Cole.

  “It might be better to get the display over with,” Cole suggested. “Then we will be free when the doctor arrives. How much time do you need?” he asked Thea.

  “Five to ten minutes. I just need to check that the room is absolutely dark when the shutters are closed.”

  “Then we will commence once breakfast is over.”

  “I’m not very hungry, so I may as well make the necessary preparations now, if I can be excused.”

  “Of course,” Cole allowed.

  “I’ll help you,” Copley said, and they left the room together.

  Cole wondered at Thea’s sudden coldness towards him. Was she upset about last night? Had her father told her that he had discovered them together? Or perhaps she was just worried that he had compromised her?

  He would speak to her as soon as they were alone.

  ***

  The demonstration was in the same parlour as last evening and Thea was seated at the table when the others arrived. Most of the wooden shutters had been closed, just one large set left open for everyone to see by as they entered.

  Everyone wanted to watch proceedings, more than had wanted to see the psychic, in fact. Only Mrs Lanning and their neighbours were not present.

  The slate boards had been prepared and were ready to be used. Her father didn’t participate since he was to help her.

  Cole took the seat to her left and she did her best to ignore his presence.

  “I’ll begin with the boards, as the psychic did,” Thea stated. “I would like to remind everyone that no matter how fantastical the tricks appear to be, they are only tricks.”

  She held both chalk boards up for everyone to see that they were blank, then put them together and placed them on the table before her.

  “The waiting is just theatricality,” she explained, lifting the top tablet off and holding it up.

  The chalk writing said ‘Surprise!’

  “The other board also has a message from beyond.” She held that up too, and it read ‘This is not magic’.

  The table gasped in wonderment.

  “If Papa would be so kind as to rub the writing off, we can repeat the process.”

  She handed him one board, which he wiped with his handkerchief, then she took the clean board and handed him the second one. Once finished, she held them up for everyone to see that they were blank, then she put them together and placed them on the table before her. After a beat she picked the top tablet up.

  ‘Surprise again!’ it read. She held the other board up, which read, ‘It’s a trick’.

  “How?” Cole asked.

  “Surprisingly easy,” Thea replied. She turned one tablet over and into her waiting hand fell two pieces of slate. “One slate sat on top of the framed slate, writing side facing down,” she demonstrated. “And the same with the other board. The frame keeps the slate in place as long as I angle them correctly. When I put them together, I raise the top board directly upright, so both boards are left on the lower slate.”

  “Truly amazing,” Peter Buchan grinned.

  “When I put the plates together again after they have been wiped, I make sure to place them the other way around, revealing the writing hidden on the second board and slate.”

  “That’s brilliant!” Simon Buchan agreed.

  “I could have worked that out,” Lord Buchan appeared unimpressed.

  “I agree,” his brother said. “A simpleton could work out how that trick is performed.”

  “Indeed.” Thea gave him a tight smile. “It is simple yet effective. After I perform this next trick, perhaps you would both be kind enough to explain how it is done for the other guests.”

  “Of course,” they both agreed.

  Thea took a coin out and balanced it on her thumb and two first fingers. With a wave of her hand and a click of her fingers, the coin appeared to vanish.

  “Also ridiculously simple to understand, no?” Thea asked, looking from Lord to Mr Buchan. Neither gentleman spoke. “Here, I shall show you again.”

  She repeated it, then looked expectantly to her detractors.

  “Well, clearly…” Mr Buchan began.

  “Clearly the coin is on a string or some other such nonsense.” Lord Buchan suggested.

  “No string. Perhaps you gentleman can furnish me with your own coin, so you know it hasn’t been tampered with.”

  Mr Buchan withdrew a coin and passed it along the table to her. She placed it on her fingers.

  “Would someone care to wave their hands around me and the coin, to check that there are no strings or other devices being employed?”

  “I will,” Lord Buchan offered, and got up from his chair. He waved his hand over, around and under her hand, then around her body.

  “You can remain there,” Thea told him. “Perhaps a close up view will give you the clues to this trick.”

  He watched as she made a further five coins disappear.

  “Just tell us!” Mr Garwood snapped. “We don’t have all day.”

  Others chimed in with similar sentiments.

  “We must give the gentlemen ample time to figure the trick out,” Thea cautioned. “The solution will surprise you with its simplicity. In the meantime, I suggest we move onto the séance portion of events. Please take your seat, Lord Buchan.”

  He did.

  “For those of you who were not here last night, I will ask you to form a circle by taking your left hand and taking a hold of your neighbour’s right wrist.” She demonstrated and the table copied her. “I need complete darkness for this illusion and I must ask you all not to break the circle until we are finished. Would you close the shutters and curtains, then remain over there?” she asked her father, who moved to the window to shut out the light, leaving them in total darkness.

  “Now we must wait for the spirits to come.” She informed them, before sneezing. “Oh, excuse me one moment.” She let go of
the wrist she held and pulled her wrist from her neighbours grasp. She made a show of blowing her nose. “All right, let us continue.”

  She took a hold of Cole’s wrist, ignoring the pleasant sensation she felt at his touch, and Lord Grady took hold of her wrist.

  “Now, is everyone part of the circle, no one is breaking it?”

  A chorus of ‘no’ arose from everyone present.

  “What was that?” Lord Grady asked. “Something touched my hair.”

  “And pushed my shoulder!” Selena added.

  “Do not break the circle,” Thea commanded.

  “Oh!”

  “What is that?”

  “Copley, are you doing this?”

  “I’m still by the window.” Copley answered.

  “But he is the only one who could have touched me,” Selena stated.

  “Is he?” Thea asked.

  “Yes, unless there’s someone else we don’t know about present,” Peter Buchan reasoned.

  “Are you sure I’m not doing this?” Thea asked.

  “Of course you can't, unless you’re a contortionist and somehow doing this with your feet.”

  “As fun as that sounds, I am not,” Thea assured them. “Mr Cole, am I holding your wrist?”

  “Yes.”

  And Lord Grady, are you holding my wrist?”

  “Yes.”

  “Has anyone at all broken the circle?”

  Everyone answered in the negative.

  “Keep holding on. Papa, would you open the shutters, please?”

  The shutters opened and light flooded the room again. Everyone gasped to see that while Thea’s left hand held Cole’s wrist, Lord Grady was holding her left wrist, not her right as he should have been. She waved her free hand, the one she had been using to lightly touch people’s hair.

  “Ingenious,” Cole gasped.

  “Because I made sure to reinforce the idea that the circle was unbroken, you all forgot that I broke it for a moment when I sneezed at the beginning. When I reformed the circle, I did so like this, so I had one hand free to manipulate my surroundings.” She leaned down to the floor and picked up a walking cane. “This is what I used to touch those who are further away. If I’d had more time, I could have fashioned something longer and lighter, perhaps made of bamboo or a fishing rod. The psychic also had a well-oiled bellow under the table, concealed between her knees, which she used to create the draughts we felt.”