by Bettie Jane
“What is?” Detective Brighton asked.
“The handle on my gate. The lock is gone and the handle is broken. You can see that the gate is slightly ajar.”
“This is likely the way the killer and Mr. Harrison came into your garden. And the way the killer would have left again.”
“Mr. Pennington!”
“The man at the train station? Your visitor from out of town? What about him?”
“He said he was here on government business and it was one of his associates that disappeared earlier. Perhaps that man was here to deliver that message to Geoffrey. I never did see him leave so perhaps he murdered Geoffrey and then escaped through the gate.”
“I’ll certainly ask him about his associate when Bonnie returns with him, assuming he’s not already well on his way back to wherever he came from. Whoever he is, he may be our most likely suspect.”
8
The rest of the evening went by quickly. The detective and Lucy examined her belladonna plant, which didn’t look disturbed as far as Lucy could tell, but it would be nearly impossible to know if only a few berries were missing.
Mr. Pennington was still at the train station when Bonnie arrived, and she brought him back to the teahouse where Detective Brighton proceeded to interview him. All Mr. Pennington would say was that he was here on official government business and that he couldn’t reveal the name of his missing associate. He also refused to divulge a timeline or disclose when they’d last seen the missing third person. He did point the finger at Janey, though.
The detective rejoined Lucy. “Pennington told me that he overheard a woman saying she wanted to kill Geoffrey Harrison. Based on his description, I think he’s referring to Janey.”
Lucy laughed out loud at that accusation. “Janey wouldn’t hurt a fly, detective. It would be a foolish waste of your time to follow up on his accusation of her.”
“Yes,” the detective said, “Janey is a good friend of my sister’s and, while it is my job to consider every person without bias, I would need much more compelling evidence that she’s involved before I spent any time pursuing it. I’ve heard my sister mention her disdain for Geoffrey and she may have even threatened to do murder a time or two. You’ll notice I’m not interviewing her either right now. Any decent human would at least toy with the idea of murder as a reasonable fate for a wife beater.”
“You seem like a reasonable man, detective,” Lucy commented, “and I do believe I must spend more time with your wife. She sounds delightful.”
Detective Brighton smiled at Lucy and then interviewed the second associate of Pennington’s but, according to the detective when Lucy asked, he was also less than helpful. They were both being detained by the police while Brighton continued his investigation.
“Detective, it occurs to me,” Lucy said, refilling his teacup now that they were seated, “that Lizbet may be the only other person who had dealings with Pennington’s associate. He came to her house to deliver this.”
She handed him the envelope that Lizbet brought over and he inspected it.
“National security? I doubt it is a coincidence that these men arrived the same day Geoffrey was killed. Perhaps I’ll go to the hospital and see if she’s well enough to talk. If she can give an accurate description, that might help us. Kingsbridge isn’t that large. I’m certain we can locate a man not from here—assuming he’s still here of course.”
He left after he finished his tea and Lucy locked the shop behind him before going upstairs. When she walked into her living quarters, Sarah was just getting a fire started.
“Well, good evening, Sarah. How was your rest?”
“It was wonderful, thank you. I hope you don’t mind. There’s just a bit of a chill in the air and I thought a fire might be a nice touch.”
“I don’t mind at all. I’m positively exhausted. You missed all the commotion after you went upstairs.”
“Really? What happened?”
“One of the townspeople was murdered and found in my greenhouse. I’m afraid it may have happened under my nose while I was busy tending to the children. Quite disturbing.”
“Oh, my,” Sarah exclaimed, once again covering her stomach protectively. “How awful. Do you know who did it?”
Lucy shook her head. “I don’t. I think the police may suspect his wife as he had a reputation for being a bit of a brute to her, but I know Lizbet and she simply isn’t capable of murder. It’s impossible.”
The two sat on the sofa while Lucy recounted the events to Sarah. Afterward, Sarah looked around. “Where is your cat? Mr. Winnington, I believe you called her?”
“Oh, goodness, I nearly forgot about her in all the commotion. Where did she get off to? Oh, yes, that’s right. She ran from Maryam and Ruthbert, out to the garden—”
Something clicked into place in Lucy’s mind. “The children…they ran after Mr. Winnington and by the time I caught up to them, they had just come back in from the garden and they seemed rather shaken up. At the time, I attributed their odd overreaction at losing the cat to the whole of their circumstances. They are certainly far from home and everything must seem a bigger ordeal to them than it normally would. I wonder, though, if they didn’t see something when they were out there.”
Lucy’s mind raced with the possibilities. Had they seen the murder happen? Or were they genuinely just upset over losing the cat?
“Sarah,” Lucy asked, making a split-second decision, “would you be willing to accompany me to visit the children? It may be nothing, but it’s possible they saw something.”
“Certainly.”
“It may help them feel more comfortable since they’ve established a connection with you.”
Sarah nodded. “I’ll need just a moment to freshen up if you don’t mind.”
“That’s perfectly fine. I’ll go look for Mr. Winnington in the garden again. Hopefully she didn’t get out of the gate while it was open.”
There was no sign of Mr. Winnington, but she had a reputation for hiding if she became overstimulated, so Lucy wasn’t terribly worried. Mac always seemed to turn up.
Once they were situated in the Taylors’ parlor with the children, who were beyond thrilled to see Sarah again so quickly, Lucy got right down to brass tacks.
“I have a few questions for you and your brother, Maryam. It’s important for you to remember that you aren’t in any trouble. Someone was hurt very badly today out in my greenhouse and we—well, I was thinking that perhaps when you followed Mr. Winnington outside, you saw something or somebody. You both seemed shaken when you came back inside.”
Lucy watched the two siblings react to her words. Maryam’s face paled. Ruthbert reached over and squeezed Maryam’s hand so tightly the cartilage in Maryam’s hand crunched. Maryam didn’t seem to notice Ruthbert’s grip. She did, however, respond to Ruthbert’s tears and quiet pleas.
“Sister, is the bad man going to get us?” Tears rolled silently down his cheek, and Lucy’s heart broke open at the children’s ordeal.
“Maryam, what did you see?”
The little girl was silent and looked at the floor, maintaining the grip on her little brother’s hand.
Sarah bent down, at significant personal cost Lucy imagined based on the pained look on Sarah’s face, so that she was face to face with Maryam.
“Darling, you are safe here. Whoever he was, he cannot hurt you. I won’t let him. You do believe me, don’t you?”
Maryam nodded but kept looking at the floor. Sarah continued.
“If you tell us what you saw, we can keep everyone in town safe. Would you like to be a hero in Kingsbridge today? I bet your parents will be so proud to hear about how brave their children are.”
Ruthbert stopped crying at Sarah’s words and Maryam finally looked from the ground to Sarah, then to Lucy.
“We followed Mr. Winnington through the lavender door. My mother’s favorite plant in her garden is lavender. She would love it here.”
Lucy spoke, careful to keep
her voice calm. “We should invite your parents to come to my garden. They can meet Mr. Winnington.” She watched their eyes light up at the suggestion and smiled. “So you went to the greenhouse, through the lavender door, and then what did you see?
“They were arguing. We didn’t mean to interrupt. The man and the woman, they were arguing about something. I think he wanted her to do something, but she kept saying ‘no, not yet, not yet.’ They didn’t seem to care at all about the man on the ground.”
Lucy was careful to not show a reaction, but in truth she was shocked. A man and a woman were arguing while they stood over Mr. Harrison’s body. Her theory that Mr. Pennington’s missing associate was the culprit didn’t quite fit this new development. There were no women in his party and he’d said he was here from out of town. What woman would the man have been arguing with? Or was it another man, someone not connected to Mr. Pennington at all?
“You’re both doing a wonderful job telling us what you saw. Do you remember what the woman or man looked like? Perhaps what they were wearing?”
“She was holding a white envelope in her hand, sort of waving it about while she yelled at him. She looked familiar. I think she was one of the people working in your teahouse today. I didn’t recognize the man. Either of the men…”
When Maryam’s voice trailed off, Lucy was forcefully reminded that these were only children and they’d been through quite a lot in the brief hours they’d arrived in Kingsbridge.
Someone who was working in the teahouse today? Who could that be? Only Lizbet or Janey. They hadn’t been in her direct sight all day but close enough to it that she doubted either one of them could have managed to break away long enough to steal nightshade from her garden, procure and poison the wine, and then sneak out to the garden, give the wine to Geoffrey, argue with another man, then flee. It didn’t make any sense at all that either Lizbet or Janey could have been one of the women that Maryam saw.
“What did the man look like, do you recall?”
“His back was to me. I couldn’t see him. I’m sorry. Is Mr. Winnington going to be all right?”
“I’m sure she will be. I’ll put some cream in her dish this evening to convince her to come out of hiding.”
“Can we come over tomorrow?” Ruthbert asked, and Lucy smiled.
“Of course. Anytime. For now, I believe Mrs. Taylor has more of those cake bites you loved. Would you like some?”
Both their faces lit up. “Yes!”
Lucy and Sarah left, and once they were outside, Lucy spoke. “I need to get to the hospital to talk to Detective Brighton. He needs to know that there was a woman in the garden as well and I need to talk to Lizbet and Janey. I can’t believe that either of them had anything to do with this, and furthermore, if they had, that they wouldn’t have simply told me. Quite honestly, Geoffrey got what was coming to him, and I really would have helped if I’d known their plans.”
Sarah paled and Lucy stopped short on the walk toward the hospital.
“I’m sorry, that must seem harsh. He really was a terrible man.”
“Oh, no, it’s not that. It’s just that…I’m having a pain.” She grimaced and doubled over. “It’s too soon for this, Lucy.”
9
“Oh my,” Lucy breathed, her mind racing for solutions. It was too early if Sarah’s calculations were correct, and they were too far from the hospital on foot for Sarah to walk. “Here, Sarah, there’s a bench. Let’s get you seated. I’m going to get Mr. Taylor, and he can take us straight to the hospital. I don’t think walking is the best idea right now.”
Sarah nodded, her eyes tense with pain, and Lucy helped her sit down on a bench nearby. “I’ll be right back.”
Lucy raced back up the long drive and pounded on the Taylors’ door.
“Mr. Taylor, if you would be so kind as to give Sarah and me a ride to the hospital. I’m afraid she might be ready to deliver her baby.”
Mr. Taylor started in surprise, then nodded and disappeared into the house where Lucy could hear him updating his wife. He was back in a flash, and moments later, they had Sarah in the backseat of his auto and were racing along the dark, winding road.
Once they arrived at the hospital and Sarah was being attended to, Lucy asked one of the nurses where she could find Lizbet Harrison. After a couple of brief phone calls, the nurse informed her that Lizbet had been released and that Dr. Fitzgibbons said she was going to be just fine. “She’ll have a rash for a few days, but she’ll recover fully. The doctor told me about her husband, the poor thing, I imagine her skin will heal faster than her heart.”
“I suppose you’re right,” Lucy said. “I wonder if you could help me. This woman, Sarah, she is one of the evacuees that arrived today from Bristol and I’m afraid she’s quite alone. I will come back and sit with her, but first it’s urgent that I speak with Lizbet to be sure she’s all right. Would you look in on Sarah and keep her company, let her know that I’ll be back as soon as possible?”
“Why, certainly. We even have some volunteers working here tonight that will be happy to sit with her in the event I’m busy.”
“Thank you, Nurse—?”
“You can call me Clara.”
“Wonderful. Clara, come by my teahouse on Main Street anytime and I'll make you a fresh pot of your favorite tea, served alongside one of my favorite desserts.”
“Oh, are you the proprietor of Thyme for Tea? My mother absolutely raves about it. I will make a point to come by on my next day off.”
“Perfect. Back in a flash, Clara.”
Satisfied that Sarah was in good hands, Lucy searched for a solution. She needed to talk to the detective about what the children said, and she needed to confront Janey and Lizbet. What she didn’t know was which she needed to do first.
She stood outside the hospital, weighing her options. After a moment of deliberation, she decided to find Lizbet and Janey first. After she spoke with them, she’d have a more complete picture for the detective.
When Lucy arrived at Lizbet’s house, she wasn’t surprised to find Janey there as well.
“How is she?” Lucy asked after Janey answered the front door and invited Lucy inside.
“Shaken up about Geoffrey, certainly. She was frightened about the rash, but she calmed once Dr. Fitzgibbons assured her that she was going to be fine. She encountered only a bit of the belladonna on her skin when she first saw Geoffrey.”
“I’m happy that she’ll be all right. I spoke with the children who are staying with the Taylors. It occurred to me that their behavior was quite odd for having just misplaced Mr. Winnington. Sarah, the pregnant woman staying with me, accompanied me, but after we spoke with the children, she began having pains. Mr. Taylor took us to the hospital and a nurse is sitting with her now.”
Lucy watched Janey’s expression as she relayed the part about the children to see if she had any reaction to it. If she had one, Lucy couldn’t tell.
“Oh, my. What a full day this turned out to be,” Janey said.
“Janey, do you think it’s possible Lizbet had something to do with Geoffrey’s death?”
That question got a reaction. “Oh, heavens no. I simply cannot imagine sweet Lizbet concocting such a plan, can you?”
“It does seem quite out of character for her to me as well, but…” Lucy debated how much she should tell Janey. She didn’t like being suspicious of her friends, but she had no reason whatsoever to believe that one of the children was being untruthful. In the end, she decided to trust Janey. After all, they’d been friends for fifteen years and if Janey had decided to kill Geoffrey to protect Lizbet, Lucy had no moral objection to helping her get away with it. Lucy felt dizzy at the thought and then just plunged into her story.
“The children saw two people arguing in the greenhouse. A man and a woman.”
“Oh, that’s helpful. Maybe they can help us identify who killed him. Wait, it was a woman who killed him?”
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know. The children saw the man
and the woman arguing, standing over the body. I suspect the man may have been Mr. Pennington’s associate, the one who we never saw leave. My garden gate was broken and left open, so he possibly ran out after he poisoned Geoffrey.”
“And the woman? Presumably she left at the same time?”
“That’s difficult to say. The children say they recognized the woman.”
Unable to help herself, Lucy was giving extra scrutiny to everything about Janey as they spoke. She was looking for a change in tone of voice or body movement, something to indicate she was nervous. She saw nothing and maintained eye contact as she said, “They said it was one of the women helping serve the food tonight at the teahouse.”
Janey’s eyes widened as the realization of what Lucy was saying sunk in. “Lizbet or myself, Sister Therese from the abbey, and several other women from St. Edmund’s, and you.”
“I gather that you see the problem. The Harrisons didn’t even go to church, so it’s not likely that any of the sisters from either the abbey or St. Edmund’s had cause to murder Geoffrey. That leaves Lizbet, you, and me.”
Janey said nothing and neither did Lucy for a moment.
“Janey, if you or Lizbet had something to do with this, I would understand. You must tell me so that I can help.”
Janey shook her head. “I swear, Lucy. I had nothing to do with it. If Lizbet did, I had no knowledge of her plans, although, like you, I would have been eager to help her rid herself of the Geoffrey problem. I perhaps would have found a solution that wasn’t murder, though. Perhaps.”
She winked at Lucy, and for possibly the first time since Maryam mentioned the presence of a woman in the greenhouse, Lucy took a full breath. She exhaled and chose the nearest seat to collapse into.
“Janey, I’m so relieved that you had nothing to do with this, but do you think Lizbet is capable of something like this?”
“Something like what?” Lizbet’s voice was rough and dry.
“Oh, dear. Your voice. You must be thirsty,” Janey said and moved to get her a glass of water.