Josiah dragged the chests back to the opening to be hauled. Though they had been looking for the patterns, seeing them in the light of day was still a surprise. No one knew quite what to say. Michael finally broke the silence by saying the obvious, ‘McBrinnie made the grenade tubes.’
Merriman was looking at the grenade tube patterns. ‘Designed and made but I bet he didn’t stop at making just a few and the fact that the patterns are still ’ere suggests ’e was go’in to mek more.’
‘But there are no more here,’ said Josiah. ‘Mr Merriman, please can you examine the blasting charges? Are they from the mine’s stores?’
Merriman looked carefully at several. ‘No, Constable, they ain’t. These ’ave different batch numbers to the ones we received from Furnace Vale.’
‘So that connects Phelan Hayes and McBrinnie directly to the powder mill. I am willing to surmise that Mr Abram Hailsworth can enlighten us as to the nature of that connection.’
They replaced the furnace and closed up the foundry. Merriman spoke to the senior miner at the stables who agreed to make sure no one went in or out until a carpenter was sent to secured the door. Then they started back up the path, Josiah carrying the grenade patterns personally.
When they got back Mr Hailsworth was waiting, having brought the coroner. Josiah gave Mr Johnstone a quick report before Johnstone went to see the coroner about the details of the inquest. Merriman went back to his duties. When they were gone Josiah reported to Mr Hailsworth.
When he had heard the whole account Mr Hailsworth sighed. ‘You and I Josiah urgently need to ask my son some significant questions do we not?’
‘Yes we do, Sir. Do you know where he is at this moment?’
‘I left him at the Hall taking coffee with his mother no more than half an hour ago. We will go directly there. Will you need Mr O’Carroll, if so he can come with us?’
‘No, but with your permission I would like to send him back to Long Clough using the brougham. I take it Phelan has left the Hall?’
‘Yesterday.’
‘Then we have no real idea where he is. It is possible that since Rachael recognised him he may have recognised her and could seek to silence her to prevent the connection to Elijah bringing him under suspicion of the murder. Michael can make sure she is safe.’
33
Cat and Mouse
Mr Hailsworth’s landau swept up the approach to the Hailsworth Hall but this time Josiah had neither the heart nor the time to enjoy the view of the house. Once in the courtyard they went up the back stairs and came out close to the library. Abram was still talking to Barbara Hailsworth in the library alcove. He looked up, pleased to see his father, a pleasure that vanished when he saw Josiah a few paces behind.
Steven Hailsworth spoke gravely and directly to his wife. ‘I am sorry to interrupt your conversation, my dear, but Constable Ainscough and I have some very important questions to ask Abram. I am afraid that we will have to ask you to leave us.’
Barbara Hailsworth got up with dignity and left without saying a word. Her only acknowledgement of Josiah was a slight, cold nod as she passed him.
Mr Hailsworth sat down on the red-plush seats facing his son. ‘Abram, Constable Ainscough has unearthed some information that involves you directly in his investigation into the death of Elijah Bradshawe. As the Chief Magistrate in the district he has asked me to sit in to witness his interview with you about these matters.’
‘Father, is this necessary? Can’t you let this matter drop?’ The voice was mildly irritated, as if the whole thing where a bore or inconvenience but Josiah fancied there were more serious tensions in the background which Abram’s manner was trying to hide.
‘No. As magistrate I could not let it drop under any circumstances, doubly so because you are my son. I am sorry Abram this will be as disturbing for both of us but it has to be done. I will now leave the field free for Mr Ainscough.’
Josiah took out his notebook and looked Abram in the eye. ‘Mr Hailsworth, when did you first meet Phelan Hayes?’
Abram shifted slightly in his seat. Josiah’s question had surprised him and he had to pause before answering. To Josiah’s surprise Abram did not obfuscate. ‘Nearly two years ago.’
‘Abram!’ said Steven Hailsworth. ‘In March, when Phelan Hayes presented himself here as a painter you never indicated you had met him before!’
Abram backed off slightly. ‘I am sorry that I was less than forthcoming. It did not seem an important connection at the time.’
Josiah proceeded. ‘How did you meet him, Mr Hailsworth?’
‘In the Lake District while I was buying some equipment from the powder mills in the area, he was making illustrations of the fells. We passed some days together while I was waiting to hear from two of the mills about bids I had made on some of their presses and the weather was too wet for him to get out to paint. When I finished my business and was leaving I suggested that if they ever came to Derbyshire he should be sure to look me up and that we would be able to give them lodging at the Hall.’
A plausible answer though Josiah, but he still felt there was more to it. ‘Did he know why you were in Cumbria?’
‘Yes, I made no secret of my plans to start a gunpowder mill.’ Momentarily Abram looked sheepish. ‘I may have somewhat boasted about the matter. At the time I was attracted to Aideen and I may have tried to impress her by inflating the prospects of my new business.’
Again plausible. It agreed with what Abram had said about Aideen when Josiah had seen Abram at the powder mill but the matter was still worth a bit more pressure.
‘You were infatuated but it did not last. Is that a fair assessment?’
‘I suppose you might put it that way.’
‘Can you tell me more about what you mean by that?’
‘When I got back I simply realised I loved my Elizabeth more than Aideen. Indeed I doubted if I had ever really loved Aideen at all.’
Abram was being commendably open and there seemed to Josiah to be no inconsistency worth probing further with him about Aideen. He changed tack; it was Abram’s dealings with Phelan that mattered. ‘What about your relationship with Phelan?’
‘A pleasant enough acquaintance, nothing more.’
‘Are you sure of that. If I suggested I observed tension between you and him the night of the dinner. Would that surprise you?’
‘Yes. I would say your observation was in error.’
The way Abram had fended off this small suggestion of tension between him and Phelan suggested to Josiah that Abram was uncertain in how to respond. He would return to it again but first make it look as if he was satisfied with Abram’s answer. It was time to play one of the hidden cards in his hand and change his line of attack.
‘When I talked to you at the powder mill I asked you whether you used sulphur in making your blasting powder. You told me that you did not – is that still you answer?’
‘We do not use sulphur in either the mixtures for the blasting cartridges or for the powder in the fuses.’
‘Then why did I find a sample of flowers of sulphur spilled on the tramway near to a locked storage building at the mill. Would you swear that your mill has never made blackpowder containing sulphur?’
‘We have never used sulphur in any of our products.’ Abram answered carefully and confidently but his lips were pursed and tense.
Josiah pressed him. ‘That is not what I asked; it might not have to be for a product, it might just have been a test batch for comparison.’
Abram looked even more uncomfortable and was excessive excessively emphatic in his reply, ‘Never!’
Why had Abram not taken the escape route he had offered him, thought Josiah. Josiah paused and Steven Hailsworth interjected, ‘Constable, is there any evidence that there is sulphur in the products?’
‘No Sir. In fact Mr Merriman confirmed that the
re is, in his opinion, no sulphur in either the charges or the fuses. As I understand it there is only one market that would insist on sulphur being used and that would be loose powder for military applications where the sulphur would reduce the risk of misfire.’
As he said this Josiah watched Abram’s expression from the corner of his eye. He expected Abram to be relieved but if anything he looked more not less tense. Something in what Josiah had just said had disturbed Abram more than anything else Josiah had asked up to that point. Time for another card from his hand.
‘Mr Hailsworth, we now know for certain that Mr McBrinnie, the farrier at your father’s mines, was murdered. More than that we know that it was done using cast iron grenade charges which McBrinnie designed and made to utilise your blasting cartridges. We found a supply of those cartridges charges that had come directly from the powder mill in a secret hiding place at his foundry, along with wooden patterns for the tubes. Both are now in my possession. I also know that he supplied the nails that were used to crucify Elijah Bradshawe, a murder for which we believe Phelan Hayes had a personal motive.’
Abram Hailsworth finally lost his composure. ‘Good God man do you think I helped kill Elijah!’
‘No, Mr Hailsworth, I do not! What I think is that there is a link between you and Phelan Hayes that led to you to supply McBrinnie with a stock of blasting cartridges. I believe Phelan Hayes is somehow at the bottom of the succession of killings that have taken place in this valley. Those murders probably include those killed in the explosion at the powder mill earlier in the year!’ Josiah went back to his friendly tone. ‘Why will you not tell me what that link is?’
Abram looked trapped. He paused and started to speak but broke off, coughed and tried again.
‘Please, my son. I know you too well for you to conceal your feelings from me. What are you hiding?’
Abram cleared his throat and whispered, as if he feared to be overheard even here at the heart of Hailsworth Hall. ‘Because he will kill her!’
There was silence. ‘Mr Abram, who is threatened?’ asked Josiah.
‘Elizabeth and her son. Phelan is holding them hostage.’ With the uncleared coffee cups there was a jug of water and two glasses, Abram filled one. His hands were shaking. He took a sip of water before speaking.
‘When Phelan arrived here on the doorstep in March he immediately took me to one side and made it clear how pleased he was that my mill was up and running. He told me he had an agent working nearby who had kept a careful watch on our progress. He also made it clear that if I did not make him a quantity of military grade powder for use in muskets there would be consequences. He wasn’t explicit what those consequences would be but he forced me to be silent about my having met him in Cumbria by implying a threat of harm to you Father,’ he looked at Mr Hailsworth, ‘and Mother.’
Steven Hailsworth muttered something Josiah thought might have been, ‘Oh my God.’ Abram took another sip of water.
‘I tried to resist him but the explosions at the mill followed immediately after I made a concerted attempt to deny him. After that Bridges and I bought in the sulphur a bit at a time so as not to arouse interest and with the help of three men who we could trust, ran secret batches of the powder incorporating sulphur through the mill.’
‘How much did you make?’ asked Josiah.
‘What he demanded: five ton, enough for a small army. We finished last week. Ironically, two days ago if you had forced me to open that store you would have found one hundred barrels of blackpowder that invented mill records would demonstrate were being stored for a Cumbrian mill owner.’
‘What is in that store now?’
‘Nothing. There is nothing in that store now. Phelan came and took all of it this evening at six. He warned me not to think I could stop him. He has Elizabeth and her son under guard in her house in Hayfield. They will be killed if the shipment does not get at least twenty-four hours head start from possible pursuit.’
‘How are they transhipping the powder?’
Abram was stony-faced he took a deep breath. ‘I won’t tell you.’
‘Then I will ask Mr Bridges.’
‘He does not know. The only chance you have of stopping them is if I tell you how they are getting the powder out of the area and I won’t tell you that before Elizabeth is safe.’
‘What about the grenades?’
‘Phelan demanded four hundred and fifty cartridges as well as a suitable quantity of fuse. Bridges glimpsed the grenade tubes while the black powder was being loaded. He said there were about hundred to a hundred and fifty of them. You have made it harder for them to make the extra tubes to convert those charges into grenades by finding the patterns but they could use one of the metal tubes as a guide to make new patterns once away.’
That was the last thing of substance Abram Hailsworth was prepared to say. Even though Steven Hailsworth and Josiah, pleaded with him to tell them where the powder was going he would say nothing more. They even asked Barbara Hailsworth to implore him to co-operate but she refused, saying as a mother herself she would not help them endanger Robert, Elizabeth’s son.
By evening it was clear that a rescue of Elizabeth and her son was the only way they could induce Abram to tell them how the powder was being moved.
34
To Arms
It was a night of frantic preparation. All the servants of the house were set on various tasks and errands. Steven Hailsworth sent a note to the head of the small detachment of local militia in Hayfield instructing him to rouse two or three of his best men, arm them and meet him just outside the town at dawn. The note stressed that they should assemble discreetly and without fuss so as not to attract any attention to themselves.
Realising she could not dissuade her husband in a rescue attempt of Elizabeth, Barbara Hailsworth turned herself to assisting the effort and organised the female servants to ensure that there were enough bandages and dressings available to go to Hayfield with the men. A groom was dispatched to Long Clough to fetch Michael. When he came back Rachael, Peter and James were with him. Rachael set to work helping Barbara, and Peter and James made themselves useful in preparing a couple of carts with the supplies, tools and assorted weapons assembled during the night, taking them off in the direction of Hayfield as soon as they were ready. Rachael went with Peter, and Agnes, the maid Josiah had met the night of the dinner, went with James. Even if they were observed they would appear to be roving traders off to sell their wares in Hayfield.
Josiah came across Abram preparing a brace of pistols and a couple of fowling pieces. He took him to one side. ‘I know your instincts and your honour make you wish to lead this rescue; after all you love her. But I do not think it is wise for you to lead the charge. Your courage and passion does you credit but this is going to require guile and cunning if we are going to get them out alive.’
‘You’ll not be able to stop me coming!’
‘I will not try. Your role will be vital, you are the only one with detailed knowledge of Elizabeth’s house but I would ask you not to be too forward in any attack. I do not want to rescue Elizabeth only to find the man she loves dead in a pool of blood.’
‘Do you not trust me, Josiah?’
‘As well as I would trust myself in your position. There is one person I think we will need before this day is done. Explosives have been at the heart of this matter and I would like to have Mr Merriman with us, as an expert on blackpowder and your blasting cartridges. Can you get him to the rendezvous point?’
To Josiah’s surprise ten minutes afterwards he was seeing a calm Abram off from the courtyard with no more argument. He ran into Michael on his way back.
‘I heard your pretty speech to Master Abram. Remember to give yourself the same leeway you’ve given him. This is the first time you’ve ever been in battle.’
‘I will try, Michael. With God’s help, I will try.’
&
nbsp; ‘I’ve also got some news for you. When Phelan left he did not take his luggage with him. He left instructions for it to follow him to the Liverpool boat by carrier. The luggage should have gone yesterday but there was a mistake and it is still here. I wonder if he might have left that shirt in it?’
They found the luggage which consisted of three trunks and a couple of large valise. At the bottom of the second trunk, which contained Phelan’s clothes and painting materials, they found Elijah’s torn and blood stained shirt.
‘That confirms it,’ said Josiah. ‘Phelan murdered Elijah with the help of McBrinnie, as well as being responsible for the explosion at the powder mill. Then he killed McBrinnie. Michael, he has killed seven people in cold blood. We must make sure he doesn’t kill two or more before we stop him.’
They let the wagons get an hour’s head start then, with the eastern sky only slightly lighted they mounted up. Steven Hailsworth travelled with his wife in the brougham. The best shot available with a fowling piece, the head gamekeeper, joined the coachman on the box, and Michael and Josiah went on horseback in front.
They left the Hall on one of the tracks that led to a gate in the estate wall. They looped south using a couple of lanes known to the gamekeeper, wide enough to take the brougham, coming out at the rendezvous point on the road to Chapel-en-le-Frith, south of Hayfield
The wagons, which had been brought over by James and Peter, were discretely tucked away in a small copse. Three men of the Hayfield militia were there with their sergeant. They came smartly to attention as Steven Hailsworth got down from the coach. Gallantly, Michael helped Barbara Hailsworth out of the brougham and they joined Mr Hailsworth as he went across to brief the sergeant. Josiah went over to Rachael and Peter.
Children of Fire Page 21