by Freer, Echo;
‘Look, faither,’ whispered Jenna. ‘Is that t’King?’
‘Nay, lass. ‘Tis t’judges. ‘Tis them tha’ll ‘ave ti convince an’ Ah daint mind admitting Ah’ll not wager on a good outcome.’ He shook his head sadly.
As I was looking round the court room, I glimpsed a couple of faces I recognised from the night on the cliff. One was in the scarlet and white livery of the dragoons and the other was the pug-eyed Riding Officer, Josiah Proudfoot, in the blue uniform of the Preventives. Standing at the far side of the court, partitioned from the on-lookers, was Isaac Chapman. I was shocked to see how thin and ill he looked. His hands and feet were shackled and his clothes were dirty.
‘What’s happened to him?’ I asked Quill.
‘York Castle may be one of t’best prisons in t’land but ‘tis not noted for its comfort by them as has to reside there.’
‘Oh, prisons,’ I said. ‘Don’t get me started!’
A hush fell over the proceedings and the judge in red turned to the dock where Isaac was standing.
‘Isaac Chapman. You have heard testimony this morning of Riding Officer Proudfoot and Captain Paggett of the King’s Sixth Inniskilling Regiment of Dragoons, to the effect that you did wilfully murder one William Newton ...’
It took me several seconds to realise that the judge was talking about Quill. I looked at him. ‘William? Really?’ I shook my head. ‘Neh - stick with Quill. It suits you much better.’ And then a second realisation hit me. ‘Did he say murder?’
Quill nodded.
‘But it wasn’t murder; you fell.’
‘Aye. Ah’ve telled thi all along, Ah need thi to right a wrong. And this is t’wrong.’
No problem - that was easily done. ‘No, stop!’ I called out. ‘You’ve got it all wrong.’ I pointed at Josiah Proudfoot and the solider. ‘They shot at him. They did it. They caused his death. I was there. I saw it.’
But no one took any notice. The judge continued speaking to Isaac, ‘...do you wish to address the court?’
He looked up. ‘Aye, mi lord.’
‘Where’s his lawyer?’ Kameran asked Quill urgently. ‘Surely he’s not going to defend himself?’
‘Baint none,’ Quill replied, without looking at Kameran - his gaze hadn’t left Jenna since we came in to court. ‘Lawyers were for t’wealthy ti prosecute them as wronged ‘em. T’accused man had to speak for himself.’
‘You’re kidding!’ Kameran was shocked. Quill turned slowly to face him with a look that would’ve turned butter to stone. Kameran held up his hands in a gesture of capitulation. ‘OK, OK, you’re not kidding. But that’s terrible.’
‘Where was Amnesty International when you needed them?’ I asked.
‘Ssh!’ Quill nodded towards the proceedings.
Isaac cleared his throat. ‘What tha heard this morning wor a parcel of t’confoundedest lies,’ he said, falteringly.
One of the judges in black leaned forward. ‘Are you accusing officers of the King of lying?’
‘Aye, mi lord. Ah am that. Ah’ll own Ah ‘ad a pistol wi’ me but Ah nivver shot at no one.’ Isaac went on to explain what had happened, but I was shocked because to be honest, the judges didn’t seem to be paying much attention - in fact, no one in court seemed to be paying much attention - they were all chatting amongst themselves.
Eventually the judge in red looked at Isaac. ‘Do you have any persons to speak for you?’
‘Aye, mi lord. Ah want ti call Jenna Nightingale ti tell of mi good character. She wor betrothed ti William Newton an’ would surely not speak well of ‘is murderer.’
A hush descended as Jenna’s father pushed her forward through the crowd. Her head was bowed as she stood in front of the judges. She spoke in a trembling voice.
‘Ah’ve known Isaac three year or thereabouts, and Ah’ve allus found ‘im ti be as kind an’ thoughtful a friend ti Quill as ...’
‘Quill?’ the third judge queried. ‘Of whom do you speak, madam?’
For a minute I thought she was going to burst into tears but then she gathered herself and said, quietly, ‘William Newton, sir. Only Ah calls ‘im Quill.’
‘You will address me as mi Lud,’ he barked, dipping his quill into a pot of ink without even looking at her.
If there’s one thing that gets right up my nose, it’s arrogance - actually there’s a few things that get up my nose, but arrogance is pretty near the top of the list.
‘Hey!’ I shouted out. ‘You lot should be careful how you speak to people in this life, because you never know how you’ll come back next time round. Just you show her some respect.’
Kameran leant over and whispered. ‘I don’t think they can hear you.’
I raised an eyebrow. ‘Well, maybe not on a conscious level.’
‘Come on, girl. Speak up!’ the red judge commanded.
I looked at Kameran and gave him a you-win shrug. ‘OK, maybe not even on an unconscious level. But believe me, they will get their comeuppance.’
‘Be hushed!’ Quill snapped.
Jenna’s bottom lip began to tremble and her eyes shot to her father. He nodded and smiled reassuringly.
She took a deep breath and went on. ‘Isaac be a good man. ‘E did teach Qui...William carpentry and William looked up ti ‘im. ‘E wor ‘is closest friend in spite of t’age ‘tween ‘em. An’ Isaac ‘ad respect for Quill. ‘E asked ‘im ti be godfather ti ‘is bairn when it wor born.’ She looked up and stared Isaac in the face. ‘Isaac Chapman baint no murderer. ‘E be an honest, wholesome man an’ Ah daint believe ‘e killed William Newton - whoever it is as says otherwise.’ Her eyes moved across the room to where Josiah Proudfoot and the dragoon were standing.
The judges continued writing, then the one in red spoke in a condescending tone to the court room. ‘An honest and wholesome man who did persistently smuggle contraband goods into the country and rob the King of revenue.’ He looked up, briefly. ‘Thank you, Mistress Nightingale.’
‘What a pig!’ Kameran said.
‘Hey, easy on pigs,’ I said.
Next, Isaac called Mr Fleming, the pastor who ran a free school for the poor children of the town. The pastor told the court how Isaac was a God-fearing young man with a wife and child who had been living in the poor house since his arrest.
‘OK - so, is that who taught you to read and write?’ I asked Quill.
Without his eyes leaving the proceedings, Quill nodded. ‘Ah wor his best pupil,’ he said, modestly. ‘’Twas how I got my name - Quill.’
‘Cool name,’ Kameran commented.
The pastor then told them how Isaac had looked after his brother-in-law until Robert’s transportation to Virginia in the Americas.
‘Transportation!’ I was horrified. ‘But Robert couldn’t defend himself. How could they transport him?’
‘’Twas because he was simple minded he got shown leniency,’ Quill explained.
Oh boy - I was finding this whole trial thing extremely distressing. I know it must sound weird, but I’d got to know these people and I was feeling pretty depressed about it all.
‘Do we have to stay any longer?’ I asked. ‘Can’t we move forward a bit?
The next thing I knew there was a whooshing sensation. The judges now had pieces of black cloth draped over their white wigs, and I was pretty sure that wasn’t a good sign. The two judges in the black gowns seemed to be nodding off but the one in the red robes was peering solemnly at Isaac. Uh oh! I was getting a very bad feeling about this.
‘Isaac Chapman, you stand convicted of the horrid and unnatural crime of murdering William Newton. This Court doth adjudge that you be taken back to the place from whence you came, and there to be fed on bread and water till Monday next, when you are to be taken to the Tyburn without Micklegate Bar, and there hanged by the neck until you
are dead; and may God Almighty have mercy on your soul.’
The crowd gave a jubilant roar.
‘No!’ I called out, but no one took any notice. ‘He’s innocent!’ I turned to Quill. ‘This is terrible! Take us back immediately. Why do you keep doing this?’
In front of us, Jenna gasped and fell against her father, sobbing.
‘Baint finished yet,’ Quill said.
Then one voice could be heard above all the others. A woman in a shabby bonnet, with a shawl wrapped tightly round her, pushed her way through the crowd to the dock and reached up to try and grab Isaac.
‘A curse upon thi Isaac Chapman; and a curse upon all them as comes after thi.’ She spat at Isaac.
‘Eeew!’ I recoiled.
The woman pointed a grubby finger in Isaac’s face. ‘Tha robbed my lad o’ life afore ‘e could see ‘is own bairns grow; may t’devil deliver t’same fate ti’ thee an’ all as comes after thi’.’
Two men came forward and pulled Quill’s mother away. Quill shook his head and sighed.
‘Eh, mother. If only tha knew what tha’d done.’
Kameran looked shocked. ‘Whoa! I can’t believe this! Are you telling us that your mother put a curse on the Chapman family for all time and that’s why Joel’s having such a crap life?’
‘Aye,’ Quill said flatly.
‘But...’ You could almost see Kameran’s mind working. ‘That means.... that’s the reason Joel’s dad died young.’
‘Aye.’
‘And unless this curse is lifted...’ All the colour drained from Kameran’s face. ‘...Joel’s going to die young too.’
‘Aye.’
I must say, I think Quill sometimes takes the strong, silent thing a bit far.
‘So what can we do? How do we lift the curse?’ Kameran was almost pleading.
Quill nodded in my direction. ‘That’s for Mimosa to fathom.’
Oh great! No pressure, then.
11
I must remember to look up how this whole time-space continuum thing works. One minute we were standing in York Assize Court and the next, Kameran and I were back in front of the college.
‘Bummer!’ I said as I watched the last stragglers making their way back to lessons after the fire drill.
Kameran ran his hands through his hair and began walking backwards and forwards in an agitated way. ‘I know. It’s terrible. What are we going to do?’
I shrugged. ‘Go back and finish Geography, I guess. I was hoping we’d been away long enough to have missed it.’
He stopped and stared at me. ‘Are you for real? How can you even think of going back to college when Joel’s life is in danger? We have to find a way of lifting that curse.’
Of course, Kameran hadn’t seen Joel’s tarot reading, which didn’t show anything beyond his twenties. I, on the other hand knew that that meant we had about five years to sort out the curse business; whereas, we had only two days to save Joel and his mother from being thrown out of their home. I couldn’t tell Kameran though, because breaking a client’s confidentiality is against all the rules. Then I remembered the words of the curse.
I pulled Kameran towards college. ‘What did Quill’s mother actually say to Isaac?’
Kameran shook his head. ‘I dunno - something about dying before he could have children.’
‘No, she didn’t. She said that he’d robbed her son of life before he could see his own children grow up, not before he could have children. Think about it - Isaac had a son but he was just a baby when Isaac was hanged. And Joel’s dad had Joel....’
‘Who was a baby when his dad died!’ Kameran face lit up. ‘So, as long as Joel doesn’t have any kids, he’ll be OK?’
I wasn’t totally sure my interpretation was right, but at least it got Kameran to back off with the pressure of lifting the curse. ‘Probably,’ I agreed.
‘Brilliant!’ he said, breaking into a run. ‘Come on; let’s give him the good news.’
‘Whoa!’ I couldn’t believe he could even think of such a thing. ’You can’t go telling people their family’s been cursed and they can never have kids. Can you imagine the effect that would have on them?’
‘Come along you two - hurry up!’ Miss Basham was patrolling the front of the college with a loud-hailer.
Kameran’s face dropped again. ‘I hadn’t thought of that. So what do we do?’
I shook my head. ‘I’m not sure - but I think it’s time to come clean with Wanda.’
As soon as the bell went I almost flew out of Geography. But, half way to the bike rack, Milly ran up and grabbed me by the arm.
‘So, come on, tell all,’ she probed. ‘ I saw you and Kameran sneaking off in the fire drill.’
Oh no! The last thing I needed right now was Milly getting all jealous of me.
‘We weren’t sneaking off.’ I wasn’t sure how I was going to explain what happened without telling a lie - which, as you know, I almost never do. ‘I just went to look for something and Kameran followed - that’s all.’ Which was true - ish! ‘But I really can’t stop, I need to get home early tonight,’ I added, hoping she might pick up on the urgency in my voice.
‘Yeah, right! You don’t get out of it that easily.’ She was grinning, but I suspected she was just putting on a brave face to hide her disappointment that I might be trying to get off with Kameran behind her back. ‘You’re going to meet him aren’t you?’
‘No!’ I said - which was absolutely one hundred percent true.
But which wasn’t helped when Kameran walked past. ‘I’ll ring you tonight and find out how you got on - you know...’ He winked at me. ‘... about that thing we were discussing.’
Oh great! I don’t think subtlety is Kameran’s strong point.
‘Wooooooo! And you honestly expect me to believe there’s nothing going on, Cleopatra?’ Milly said.
‘Cleopatra?’ I’ve been regressed to revisit most of my past lives but the Queen of Ancient Egypt hadn’t cropped up once. I didn’t know what she was talking about.
‘Queen of de Nile! Get it; de Nile - denial?’ she laughed, heading off in the opposite direction.
‘Oh yes, very funny.’
When I got to the bike racks, I was annoyed to see that someone had ripped up the glittery windmill I’d attached to my handlebars. It was drooping over the basket in shreds. Great! First, I’m told Joel’s entire future rests on me lifting a curse, then my friend thinks I’m trying to get off with the boy she fancies, and now my bike’s been vandalised. This was definitely not one of my better days. I looked round and saw Eddy Proudfoot walking down the driveway towards the gate. He turned round and gave me a sickening smirk. I didn’t need intuition to know who the windmill-vandal was. I usually believe that no one’s all bad or all good - and even the nastiest person in the world has a speck of good in them. I wasn’t so sure with Eddy Proudfoot though. He and his mother are bullies and there was no way I was going to let them get away with it.
‘Wanda!’ I called as I burst through the door. ‘You have got to help me sort out Eddy Proudfoot.’
I threw jacket onto the hook in the hall and stormed into the kitchen only to see Teddy lying on his back on the kitchen table with his eyes closed. Wanda was holding her Tibetan singing bowl about ten centimetres above his body, running the wooden striker round the rim so that it made a soft humming noise.
‘Hi, sweetie,’ she said, without stopping. ‘Teddy’s going over to Holland again tonight, so I’m just cleansing his aura to give him the best possible chance of success.’ She gave me a knowing look and smiled. ‘And I don’t think he’s the only one around here who needs a bit of auric cleansing. It’s not like you to take a turning down Rue de Revenge - what’s going on for you, sweetie?’
‘Nothing!’ I snapped. OK - so my aura probably looked li
ke a volcano on the point of eruption but I’ve never said I told the truth all the time so I was claiming this as one of the exceptions. I really wanted to get Wanda on her own before I filled her in on everything that had happened in the last week. I did feel horribly guilty about not telling her in the first place but it’s been really difficult; she’s been so pre-occupied with Teddy that I’d have had more chance of getting an audience with Elvis. And don’t even go there with the whole Elvis is dead, thing - like that’s ever stopped anyone in the past.
I picked up Mushka, who had been curled up on the rocking chair by the range, and plonked myself down to mull over fund-raising ideas for Joel and his mum while I waited for Wanda to finish.
Finally, Teddy stood up.
‘I’ll be back Sunday,’ he said, kissing Wanda on the cheek. ‘And I promise this’ll be t’last run. I’ll not engage in owt illegal again but I’d be letting folk down if I dropped out at this stage o’t’game.’
Wanda smiled and went all gooey-eyed. I hoped she wasn’t going to invite him to stay longer.
‘OK,’ I said, eager for him to leave so that I could speak to Wanda. ‘Have a good trip.’
‘You know your mam’s a very wise woman,’ he said to me, earnestly.
‘Yeah, sure. Don’t you have a tide to catch or something?’
‘Sweetie!’ Wanda was looking at me in this really weird way.
But Teddy was on a roll. ‘Like your mam says, what goes around comes around.’
It was all I could do to stop myself groaning. When was he going to tell me something I didn’t know!
‘She’s made me see t’error of my ways and I’ve decided, no more illegal booze runs. Nicking from t’government is still nicking, so I’ll not be doing it again.’ He grinned at Wanda, then added. ‘Not that I won’t miss t’money though.’
‘There’s more to life than money,’ Wanda purred.
Humph! Not if you’re Joel Chapman, I thought. And then I had a stroke of genius. ‘Hey Teddy, do you make a lot of money on these smuggling runs?’
‘Sweetie! What has got into you today?’ Wanda was looking askance.