“All right,” he said, but his frown remained.
“David, yesterday Kevin arrested Hilarius Bauer.”
“No! For the murder?”
“Yes. But when Kevin stopped by today, he said Hilarius was released.”
“What a blessing. I truly don’t see him being a killer.”
“I don’t either,” I said.
“Now, my darling, I am going to have to dress your wound. And I’m afraid it’s going to hurt.”
I hunched my shoulders but agreed. He drew scissors out of his bag and trimmed my hair around the area. I gritted my teeth, wincing when he daubed gauze on the injured spot.
“I know it stings, but the carbolic acid in the gauze will keep it from becoming infected. Lister made quite the discovery with this technique.”
“Didn’t he cut his surgical team’s mortality rate almost in half by cleaning wounds thoroughly?”
“Precisely so.” David patted my head with dry gauze before kissing my forehead. “You should wear a clean sleeping cap to bed each night for several days. When you are up tomorrow, I’d remove the cap so the wound can get air on it, but put on a fresh cap if you lie down to rest.”
“Yes, sir, Doctor Dodge,” I said playfully. “Thank thee for coming. I’d never seen such a pleasant sight as thy face in front of mine when I awoke.”
He kissed me again, this time on the lips, then stood. “I wish you would have a telephone installed. I would feel more secure in your safety if you did.”
“The thought has crossed my mind, I admit. But aren’t they quite dear?”
“Yes. I can pay for it, though. I’d be happy to.”
“Don’t be silly, David. My business has been thriving. I can pay for my own telephone. It would be a great help in my work.” If I’m still able to work. What if I was called to a genuine birth in the next few days? What if the headaches persisted and I wasn’t able to help the women who relied on me to give their precious babies safe passage into our world?
twenty-six
After our supper of chicken pies and roasted squash, I retired to my room. Frederick had been curious about my incident, but I didn’t want to speak of it in front of the young ones. And I needed quiet away from the bustle of the family. I tried to read. Instead the words decided to go for a swim on the page, frolicking up and down as if floating on the waves at Salisbury Beach. I closed the book with a sigh.
It was only eight o’clock, but I changed into my nightdress and donned the promised clean cap, selecting the oldest, softest one I had. I plumped up the pillows and reclined half sitting in bed as I had earlier, pulling my knees to my chest. Kevin had asked me to think if I’d had any clue as to my attacker’s identity. In my mind I moved through the sequence of events again.
Arriving at the property. Seeing the big house dark, unoccupied. Making my way to the carriage house. Had I seen any movement, any footprints in the snow? I didn’t think so. Sliding open the wide door. Surveying the inside, the horse stalls, the stairs, the graceful phaeton with its tall narrow wheels and gleaming metalwork. I paused there for a moment in my memory. Had I caught a faint whiff of a scent? But what had the scent been? I continued in my memory to feeling the blow. Falling forward. Passing out, although I couldn’t remember the last part.
The only clue might be in the scent. What with the wind blowing the snow and my preoccupation with the impending birth, I hadn’t heard a step, hadn’t sensed anyone behind me.
The door to my parlor cracked open. “May I?” Mother asked, holding a cup and saucer. “I brought thee some feverfew tea. It should help any pain in thy head.”
“Of course.” I patted the edge of the bed and accepted the tea. I sipped the hot herbal concoction, which she’d sweetened with a bit of honey. “This is perfect. I thank thee, Mother.”
She held up a tiny brown bottle. “Thee can also rub peppermint oil into thy temples, forehead, and jaw. It soothes and helps healing.”
I gazed at her with a heart full of gratitude. “Thee is the best mother ever. But speaking of mothers, I wanted to ask thee more about thy visit with Clarinda.”
She laughed as she sat. “She was wary at first. Far too polite, as ladies in her position tend to be, hiding behind the façade of etiquette. But when we fell to talking about David’s childhood, and thy own, we became simply two older mothers. We had more in common than she expected and the visit wasn’t a bit dismal.” She squeezed three drops of the oil onto her fingertips and began to massage it into my forehead.
I closed my eyes and inhaled the candy-like scent, but it didn’t take my mind off our conversation. “Did thee happen to broach the topic of our engagement?”
“No, I decided to leave thy marriage for the next time. And I now know there will be one.” She stroked the oil onto my temples on each side. “Don’t worry, Rose. Thee and thy sweetheart will marry as way opens.”
I rolled my eyes just a little. Patience was not my strong suit and I’d struggled with waiting for God to open the way forward my whole life. “Yes, Mother.”
“Is thee willing to share thy experience of this afternoon?” She sat back, her ministering done for the moment.
I took a deep breath and let it out, then told her what had transpired. “I was quite alarmed to wake up on the cold floor of the carriage house. At first I didn’t remember how I landed there. And to find the door locked was a test of my fortitude.”
“Of which thee has always had in great measure. At a young age thee would go hiking with Allan and when the two of you returned, even from ascending Mount Wachusett, he would report thee uttered not a word of complaint.”
“Those were happy times, just Daddy and me,” I said softly.
“And when thee resolved to move here and apprentice to old Orpha, it took quite a measure of courage to begin thy life’s work far from home.”
“At least Harriet and the children were nearby,” I said with a touch of wistfulness. “I’m glad I had those few years growing closer to her again.” My sister had been ten years older than I, and had married Frederick and started a family when she was only eighteen. Her sudden death a year and a half ago had been a blow much worse than the one I’d received today, to all of us.
“I’m glad too, even though I missed thee terribly. But back to thy story.”
I glanced up at a little knock on the door. Faith popped her head in. “Come in, niece,” I said.
Faith perched on the edge of my desk chair. “Was thee terribly afraid in that barn?”
“Yes, of course. But I was determined not to freeze to death in there. And the drop from the window wasn’t too very great.”
“A blessing,” Mother said. “Does thee have any clue about the villain who attacked thee?”
“Sadly, no. I have been giving it careful thought, as the detective asked me to, but I just don’t know. The person was wily enough to hide nearby and move without a sound before striking me.” I began to shake my head but thought the better of it. “I hope Kevin will take a man or two up there in the morning and look for signs.”
“Shouldn’t he also interview the neighbors?” Faith asked.
“Alas, there aren’t any close by. But a resident of the house farther down the hill was the person who let the police know they thought I was a suspicious traveler, so perhaps they also spied my attacker. I’m sure Kevin will speak to them.”
“Rose, I want to write a short article for the paper about thy attack,” Faith said. “May I?”
“I’ll look the fool, going to an unknown house in a snowstorm.” I pressed my lips together.
“No, thee will look like a committed and brave midwife,” Faith said. “And thy escape will only confirm it. It’s news the town will want to know about.”
“I suppose it’s all right, then.” How could I turn her down, this bright niece of mine, so determined to get out of the mill and
into a career as a writer?
“It will be only a paragraph or two. I won’t bother thee. I’ll use what David told me. And I’ll try to get over to talk to Kevin on my dinner break tomorrow.” Faith stood, planted a light kiss on my forehead, and hurried out.
“She recognizes what is news and what will affect our community,” I said as I gazed at the doorway through which she’d disappeared. “She really wants to make a go of being a journalist.”
“And well she might. She needs to extricate herself from the mill. The work is too hard, the hours too long, and she’s liable to go deaf as a post from the din of those infernal machines.” Mother shook herself and rose. “I hope thee sleeps well, daughter. I’ll be just upstairs, so do call if thee needs me.”
“I will, Mother. It’s a great comfort to have thee here at this fraught time.”
She stroked my forehead before slipping out of the room. It hadn’t occurred to me until now to consider that the house halfway up Powow might have seen a buggy, a carriage, a wagon, whatever conveyance carried the evil person who hit me up the hill. My spirits rose at the thought. I extinguished the lamp and carefully laid my head down, sliding into sleep.
I awoke in the dark of the night with my head pounding so hard it made me nauseated. I swallowed, feeling close to vomiting. Gingerly easing up to sitting, I took slow deep breaths until my stomach settled and the pounding eased off to a less painful sense of pressure. I touched the wound but it wasn’t bleeding.
How long was this going to last? I’d never had a head injury before and didn’t have experience with any of my clients having one, either. I knew how to deal with injuries to the birth canal. How to stanch bleeding from tears. Which herb poultices aided healing. How deeply to massage a womb to encourage its contraction back to normal after the birth. And more. But this was a different kind of wound.
What if I was unable to attend the next birth I was called to? Annie wasn’t anywhere near experienced enough to deliver a baby on her own. My teacher, Orpha, had retired and handed over her practice to me nearly two years ago precisely because she was too old and frail to continue. She was no longer able to traipse off to a birth in the middle of the night, kneel to examine a woman on a bed, or stay awake for more than a day, as a midwife was often required to do. I wouldn’t be able to call on her.
There was a doctor in town who delivered babies, but John Douglass had been rather hostile to me the one time I’d solicited his advice on a difficult pregnancy. I wouldn’t be asking him for help. I didn’t know where to turn, what to do. I’d worked so hard to build up my practice, to establish trust with my clients, I couldn’t just abandon them. But if my current state of health continued, it would be impossible to do my job.
And what if the killer came after me again? A shudder rippled through me. Even when I became well enough to go out, would it be safe? Would I be followed, trapped, threatened? Would I have to look over my shoulder at every turn? Until the police arrested Rowena’s murderer, my own life would be at risk. I’d always been a confident, forthright person, but now I couldn’t conceive how to go forward without being surrounded by a dark cloud of fear.
I wished I were already married to David. What a comfort it would be to have him beside me in the middle of the night. To be able to reach over and touch him, talk with him about my joys and fears. To know his calm, steadying presence would always be with me. I prayed my mother’s meeting with Clarinda would soften her, make her more open to our union.
I scolded myself. For now, of course there was something I could do. I closed my eyes and held my fears in the Light of God as I had done my whole life. Way would open. I would be able to discern how to go out in the world without fear. I simply had to wait for it.
twenty-seven
I walked slowly through the soggy streets of town at ten the next morning on a sunny day, with any snow not in shadow quickly melting. The air was cool, of course, given the season, and the sunlight at a weak angle, but the difference between yesterday and today was once again striking. Such was weather in New England. The wags always said, Wait an hour and it’ll change.
I’d slept until nearly nine o’clock, which was most unusual for me. I still felt pressure in my head, but the pounding headache had blessedly not returned. My attack of fears in the night had also slid away, and my confidence at going out into the world was restored. If I stayed on public streets and in well-lit and well-populated places, I knew I would be safe.
Guy had dropped by the house as I was having my coffee and said Kevin wanted to speak to me, if I was feeling better. He’d offered me a ride but I’d told him I would walk down after breakfast. I’d left Mother baking a few minutes ago. I told her I was fine and would be back in an hour or so. David had cautioned me not to go out, but I felt so much better I decided it wouldn’t hurt me.
Now I trod carefully and in no hurry so as to protect my healing brain, and I took the steps up into the police station with slow deliberate steps. Kevin happened to be in the anteroom. He greeted me and ushered me back to his office.
I lowered myself into a chair keeping my back erect. I’d discovered, while lacing up my shoes at home, that lowering my head brought a wave of pain.
Kevin sat, too, and peered at me. “Are you sure you should have come out, Miss Rose?”
“I’m fine, Kevin. I simply need to keep my head up. What was this matter thee wanted to speak with me about?”
“I’d like you to testify in court about Leroy Dunnsmore and his actions on Election Day. You’re a reliable witness and of good character. I want to keep that coot behind bars.”
In court? Me? “When would this be?”
“There’s a hearing tomorrow at the courthouse. What do you say?”
“I am happy to oblige. But I hope thee knows I will not swear an oath.” I gazed straight at him.
“And why in blazes not?” He set his hat on the desk and scratched his head, leaving his hair standing on end.
“Friends live with integrity. I will not swear to tell the truth, because I always tell the truth.” Well, mostly. “Swearing would suggest the rest of the time I might have different standards of truth.” I’d never had occasion to exercise this stance in court, but I knew other Quakers who did. “I will affirm to the magistrate that I will be truthful, if he insists.”
“That’s the craziest thing I ever heard of.” Kevin frowned, but it was an indulgent expression. “It isn’t enough you all talk funny. What’s the difference between swearing and affirming, anyway?”
“It is our practice, Kevin.” I smiled at him. “Will thee call on Zebulon Weed to testify, as well?”
“Yes, I plan to.”
“Tell me, has thee been able to locate the messenger boy I described?”
“Not yet, but I’ve alerted all our officers walking their beats to keep an eye out for him. This town isn’t so large we won’t spot him by and by.” He tapped a pencil on the desk. “Were you able to come up with any other memories which might help us find your attacker?”
“Not really. I feel like I smelled a faint scent, but I could be mistaken, and I can’t place it, anyway.”
“A pity.”
“I was thinking thee should interview the residents on Powow Street who reported seeing me. Maybe they also saw my attacker’s conveyance driving up or down the road.”
Kevin grinned. “Great minds think alike. I’m off for there as soon as we’re finished talking.”
“Good. I hope they have helpful information.” I pushed up to standing. “I will confess I felt quite fearful in the night, thinking I might be attacked again.”
“You’re going to be very careful and stay in full view of others while you’re out, I hope.”
“Thee can be certain I will. This fine sunny day has helped to dispel my worries, too.”
“Everyone in this department is doing his best to catch the killer befor
e any more damage is done, Miss Rose. You can rest secure with Amesbury’s finest.”
“Did thee have Zula Goodwin write something down?”
He nodded, fishing in the mess on his desk for something. “Where the dickens is it?” He shook his head. “Yes, I had her come in and write down her statement. She wasn’t happy to do it, but I insisted. And you were right, her hand does resemble the writing on the note found with Mrs. Felch’s body.”
“But it wasn’t identical?”
“Can’t say. I turned it over to Frenchie, this new fellow over from France we hired recently. Calls himself a graphologist. He’ll compare the two samples.”
I nodded, but with care. “I thought I had read the science of handwriting analysis was further advanced in Europe than here.” I turned toward the door, then halted. I faced him again. “I remember something I meant to tell thee yesterday.” Was it just yesterday? It seemed like a week ago I’d been to see Catherine. “I went looking for information in Rowena’s neighborhood yesterday, and—”
“Miss Rose! I can’t have you snooping about like that.” His face reddened. “My team already covered the Greenwood Street area. Talked to every neighbor. It’s you asking questions got you hit on the head. Do you understand?”
“Yes. But I have every right to walk the streets in safety, just as men do. No man is going to make me cower at home in fear.” I held up my hand. “Hear me out, please. I discovered an acquaintance of mine, Catherine Toomey, lives diagonally across from the Felch home.”
“Of course. It was Mrs. Toomey who described Hilarius to a T to one of my men.”
“What she didn’t tell the officer was she heard a conveyance going by at around the same time. It could have been the murderer’s, since Hilarius doesn’t own one.”
“I can’t believe my man didn’t ask her that.” Kevin shook his head. “He’s a young one and still learning. So did she describe what type of vehicle it was?”
Turning the Tide Page 17