Simply Dead

by Eleanor Kuhns

  ‘No doubt this was an unfortunate accident,’ Jonathan said, his voice weakening. Rees eyed the other man sympathetically. The Elder must know he stood on shaky ground.

  ‘No doubt she hit herself on the head and threw herself down the hill to the creek,’ Rouge replied with heavy sarcasm.

  ‘Someone else could have hit her,’ Jonathan replied, his voice rising. ‘Someone from outside this community. Rees will tell you; those brutish Woottens have been seen creeping around our village.’

  Rees nodded. ‘That’s true,’ he agreed. But would Jake – or any of the Woottens – know the location of the laundry? And especially that behind this building was a steep hill dropping down to a stream? He doubted it.

  ‘They are in jail.’ Rouge’s deep voice interrupted Rees’s furious thinking.

  ‘But Pearl disappeared before the Woottens were taken,’ Jonathan said.

  ‘So, are you saying Josiah Wootten is not guilty?’ Rouge asked in confusion. ‘Or is he?’

  ‘Of course he is,’ Jonathan said. ‘He took her before they were imprisoned.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Rees said. ‘Moreover, Josiah Wootten claims he’s never come into Zion.’

  ‘He’s lying, of course,’ the Elder said.

  ‘Maybe,’ Rees agreed. There was that word – lying – again. ‘But I don’t think so,’ he added reluctantly.’ Of almost everyone I’ve met, he has the least reason to lie. He does what he wants and devil take the hindmost. And that includes the abduction of Jerusha and the other girls.’ He sighed. It didn’t seem right that a man like Josiah Wootten could be honest.

  ‘But he wouldn’t stick at murder,’ Rouge said.

  ‘Maybe not,’ Rees agreed. ‘But he wouldn’t lie about it afterward either. He’d tell you the truth and dare you to do something about it. Josiah Wootten doesn’t care what we think. But the murderer of both the Shaker Sister and Pearl, well, he doesn’t want to be discovered. I think he has something to lose.’

  ‘Is it one of the Wootten boys then?’ Jonathan asked.

  ‘Maybe,’ Rees said, trying to imagine the links between the victims.

  ‘We still don’t know who’s guilty?’ Rouge cried, his voice rising with frustration.

  ‘Where’s Lydia?’ Rees asked suddenly, looking around at the faces in the group.

  ‘She was just here,’ Esther said. She glanced behind her as though she expected Lydia to appear.

  ‘In the laundry?’ Jonathan suggested.

  ‘She wouldn’t leave now,’ Rees said, examining the crowd once again. He strode to the laundry and peered inside, thinking – hoping – she had gone in to sit down. But when he called her his voice echoed. He looked in the drying room and the alcove where the ironing took place but they too were empty.

  He went outside, hoping she had reappeared. But she wasn’t there. Rouge turned. Rees realized he must look worried; the constable put a hand on his shoulder. ‘I’m certain she has just wandered off,’ Rouge said.

  ‘This is a Shaker community,’ Jonathan added. ‘Nothing will have happened to her.’

  ‘How can you even say that?’ Rees asked waspishly. ‘There have been two murders here in the last week. And that does not count the previous murders these past few years.’

  ‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ Esther said, breaking the awkward silence.

  ‘Did anyone see her leave?’ Rees asked, his gaze moving rapidly from face to face. Most of the community had elected to remain at services but there were still a group of Brothers and Sisters here. Everyone shook their head.

  ‘Maybe she went to your wagon,’ Rouge suggested.

  ‘Maybe,’ Rees said. He started down the path to the road, and his wagon, at the end. As soon as he went round the curve and the vehicle came into view he knew that Lydia was not there.

  Now seriously alarmed, he looked into the springhouse. It was, of course, empty; why would she go in there? He started up the main thoroughfare through the village, so terrified that the murderer had taken her he could barely think.

  Three of the Shakers were walking to the white Meetinghouse at the end of the street. Rees recognized them. They’d left services and now had chosen to return. He trotted toward them. ‘Hey,’ he called out. They did not turn around or give any sign that they heard him. ‘Listen,’ he shouted more loudly. Still no reaction.

  Rees began to run. He knew they were aware of him; they visibly increased their speed.

  He caught up to them as they separated; the Sister to ascend the women’s stairs and enter through their door as the Brothers approached the entry on the other side. He grabbed the arm of one of the Brothers. He wrenched his arm free and frowned at Rees.

  ‘Have you seen my wife?’ he asked. ‘Dark blue cloak. Red hair.’

  The Brothers shook their heads and hastened up the steps. Rees turned and looked around. The street was empty.

  Where could Lydia have gone?

  THIRTY-NINE

  As Rees began walking south, back to the end of the street and the laundry, he heard a faint cry. He spun around, his eyes searching the area. Nothing moved. And anyway, he thought, the sound had been muffled, as though it came from inside one of the buildings. He began to jog toward the Dining Hall and the kitchen behind it; when his family had lived in Zion, Lydia had frequently worked with the Sisters. But when he peered into the Dining Hall, automatically entering through the Men’s door, it was empty.

  There was only one woman in the kitchen and she shook her head – no one else was here – while she shooed Rees away. He ran back to the village’s center and looked around. He was truly frightened now and perspiring despite the cold air. His gaze went from building to building; he could think of no reason why Lydia would have gone inside any of them. Although he listened for another cry, he heard only the faint sound of singing and the sound of rhythmic thumps as the community sang and danced during the service.

  Rees turned toward the Dwelling House. He could not imagine why Lydia would choose to go inside but he could think of no other possibility. He ran up the steps and went inside.

  At first he did not see Lydia, only one of the Sisters at the back of the hall on the women’s side. Her back was shuddering with effort. Hearing a panting gasp, Rees hurried forward. Just a few steps forward and he saw that the Sister was Glory. And her hands were clutched around the throat of another woman: Lydia. Blood suffused her face and she clawed at Glory’s hands. Although scratches bloodied the girl’s pale skin, she had not relaxed her hold. Rees hurled himself at the struggling couple.

  First he attempted to wrench Lydia from the other woman’s grasp but, although he freed one hand from Lydia’s throat, Glory simply backhanded him across the face. She was far stronger than he’d guessed and he staggered back. She replaced her hand on Lydia’s neck. Rees could see the tendons and sinews of her hands protrude as she squeezed.

  He ran back to the struggling women. He put one arm around Glory’s collar and the other on her well-muscled upper arm. He pulled with all his strength, shouting involuntarily for help. Although she was strong, Rees was stronger and after a few seconds she began to thrash in his grasp. He pulled harder until he felt both of her hands tear at his arm. Fortunately for him, his heavy coat shielded him from the worst of the scratching.

  ‘It’s over,’ he said, hurling the girl away from him. Two large steps took him to his wife and he pulled her into his arms. ‘Oh God, Lydia.’ Her cap had come off in the struggle and her auburn hair tumbled down her back.

  ‘It’s her,’ she said in a hoarse voice. ‘She’s the murderer.’

  With a scream, Glory launched herself at Rees’s back. He felt her hands circle his neck, scrabbling for purchase. He let go of Lydia and turned to strike at Glory, woman or no. Fear and rage lent strength to his blow and she went down to the floor.

  ‘Rees, stop. What are you doing?’ Jonathan, followed by several of the community as well as Rouge, ran into the Dwelling House. He approached the girl lying splayed upon the
floor but hesitated, stopped by the restrictions governing strict separation of the sexes.

  As Esther approached, Rees held up a hand. ‘Stop. She’s the murderer. She was strangling Lydia.’

  ‘Now, wait a minute,’ Jonathan said when everyone was settled in the Elder’s office. ‘Surely you are mistaken, Rees. Glory could not kill anyone.’

  ‘Of course not,’ Rouge said.

  Rees glanced at the girl. Seated between Lydia and Esther, she visibly shrank in upon herself and stared down at her clasped hands. Rees guessed she was trying to appear small and delicate, and far too weak to attack anyone.

  ‘Because she is a woman?’ he asked. ‘I promise you, I fought with her and she is as strong as many men.’

  ‘She did this,’ Lydia said, raising one hand to her bruised throat. She still sounded hoarse. ‘She would have murdered me but for my husband.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Jonathan, his voice and his posture betraying his doubts.

  Lydia looked at Rees and spoke to him. ‘The jewelry nagged at me. There was such a difference between the carved beads and the ruby earrings.’

  ‘Those earbobs came from Pearl’s mother,’ Jonathan said.

  ‘Exactly,’ Lydia said, shooting him a glance. ‘We knew Sally Wootten, and it was clear she would not own such expensive trinkets. At first I thought Pearl might have stolen them. But then I remembered Esther had said Pearl was brought by her mother. So it had to be the beads that were significant. And my husband guessed they were carved by Jake Wootten.’

  ‘I don’t understand what’s important about a bunch of carved beads,’ Rouge said.

  ‘They are Glory’s beads,’ Lydia said, turning a glance upon the girl. ‘She told me the beads belonged to her while she and I were standing over Pearl’s body earlier today.’

  ‘So?’ Rouge said.

  ‘What did you say?’ Rees asked his wife. ‘That now you understood everything?’

  ‘Something like that,’ she admitted with a reluctant smile. ‘Anyway, Glory promised to explain everything, once we were away from the crowd.’

  ‘I don’t understand anything,’ Rouge said in irritation.

  ‘Glory is Josiah Wootten’s daughter,’ Lydia said. ‘It was never Pearl.’ Rees eyed the young woman. Now that he was looking for it, he saw the resemblance to her father.

  ‘Bathsheba,’ he said.

  ‘Don’t call me that,’ Glory said angrily. ‘I hate that name.’

  ‘What?’ Jonathan said, staring at her.

  ‘You had almost all the care of your mother, didn’t you?’ Lydia asked, directing a look of sympathy upon Glory. ‘And then when your younger sister gave birth to a baby … well, it was just too much for you.’

  ‘It wasn’t fair,’ Glory burst out.

  ‘But the beads,’ Rouge said. ‘What do they have to do with it?’

  Rees wanted to hit him. Lydia had Glory talking and with the constable’s unfortunate outburst the girl frowned and shut her mouth.

  ‘Jake gave Glory the necklace,’ Rees said, striving to keep his voice as soft and gentle as Lydia’s. ‘He made them for her. Out of love. Isn’t that right, Glory?’

  ‘But why did Pearl—’ Rouge began. Rees reached over and clamped his hand on the other man’s arm. He felt like putting it over the constable’s mouth but Rouge, after a glance at Rees’s expression, stopped talking.

  ‘Did Hortense deliver your sister’s baby?’ Lydia asked.

  Glory nodded. ‘Yes. She and Jake …’ She stopped abruptly.

  ‘That’s why you strangled the Sister,’ Lydia continued. ‘You saw the gray cloak and assumed it was Hortense.’ She paused. Glory stared at her hands and did not speak. ‘You feared Hortense might see you,’ Lydia continued.

  ‘I knew if she said anything I would lose my place here,’ Glory said. ‘I thought the woman in the cloak was Hortense so I grabbed her from behind. Then, when she fell, I saw her face.’ She blew out a gusty sigh. ‘I knew that Sister wasn’t Hortense then but she knew me. She’d seen me in the village. I had to kill her.’ When no one spoke, silenced by horror, she rushed into speech. ‘If anyone knew who I was or if I lost my place here, my father would take me back home. I couldn’t go back, I just couldn’t.’

  ‘Pearl and Louisa didn’t see your father kneeling over the Sister, did they?’ Rees murmured.

  ‘No. But I said I’d seen him. I knew Pearl would pretend she’d seen him too.’ Glory smiled slightly and Rees felt a chill sweep over him. ‘She always wanted to be the center of attention. And she did exactly as I expected. She told everyone she’d seen the murderer.’

  And that, Rees realized, was why none of the girls had described Wootten with the wound across the face. Glory didn’t know about the fight between Wootten and Jake.

  ‘But Pearl knew the truth,’ Lydia said so quietly Rees could almost not hear her.

  Glory nodded. ‘She threatened me. She told me she would tell if I didn’t give her my necklace.’ Glory bit her lip. ‘Then she wanted me to help with her chores. We were on laundry that week and she hated it. Hated ironing. I could see it would never end. I’d belong to her as much as I did to my parents. I couldn’t have that. So I …’ She stopped and looked at Lydia.

  ‘You hit her?’ she asked.

  Glory nodded. ‘She didn’t go to the wash house that day and Sister sent me to find her. She was mooning about our bedchamber. She taunted me. I had a flatiron in my hand and I lost my temper and I hit her. I didn’t mean to kill her. It just happened. When I bent down to look at her she was dead.’

  ‘So you put her in the laundry cart and wheeled her to the wash house and told Sister you couldn’t find Pearl,’ Lydia said. Glory nodded.

  ‘And later that night you returned and dumped the body down the hill,’ Rees guessed.

  ‘I didn’t mean to kill her,’ Glory muttered.

  ‘Did you mean to kill your mother?’ Rees asked.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Jonathan asked. He was pale and his hands were shaking.

  ‘Someone set the fire that destroyed the Wootten’s cabin,’ Rees said. He returned his gaze to Glory. ‘You could have hiked up there, built the fire, and returned to Zion with no one the wiser.’

  ‘That would have taken too long,’ Rouge objected. ‘Someone would have noticed her absence.’

  ‘Not if she didn’t take the road,’ Rees retorted. ‘The hills are covered with trails. ‘Shortcuts. I suspect Glory knows quite a few of them.’

  ‘I didn’t mean to kill my mother,’ she said in a low voice.

  ‘Your father then,’ Rees guessed. ‘He was the target.’

  When Glory did not reply Lydia spoke. ‘Jake did see you when he visited Zion, didn’t he? Were you afraid he would tell?’

  Rees stared at the girl. So Glory had intended to murder her brother, the one who had carved her beaded necklace for her. ‘He kept your secret, Glory,’ Rees said in a harsh voice. ‘He told me he hadn’t seen you. Jake loved you.’

  ‘I’m done talking,’ she said, staring at the ground.

  ‘It’s jail for you,’ Rouge said to Glory as he stood. ‘And hanging. I’ll let the rest of your family out. But you’ll take their place.’

  Then Rouge turned a questioning look upon Rees. At first he did not know what the constable wanted. Then he realized Rouge had ridden to Zion on his horse and had no way of removing Glory to town. Not without Rees’s wagon that is.

  He sighed heavily and nodded.

  ‘I’m coming,’ Lydia said in a tone that brooked no argument.

  ‘Why does this happen to us and our community?’ Jonathan asked. ‘These are problems of the World.’

  Rees turned and looked at the Shaker Elder but did not speak. Taking in all who found their way to Zion was a saintly action but only the most naïve would not expect a few bad apples in the barrel. After all, people were people and the high level of goodness expected by the Shaker ethos was simply not attainable for most.

  ‘I’ll accompany the g
irl,’ Esther said. ‘I’ll ride in the back with her.’

  Rouge nodded in agreement. Within half an hour the party started for town, Glory restrained by some stout ropes and tied to the wagon bed besides.

  FORTY

  Rouge opened the jail. ‘Get out,’ he told the three men inside. ‘You’re free to go.’

  Jem stepped out first, swathed in several old bed coverings. The one draped over his head made him appear like an old woman in a shawl. Jake followed his brother. Rees’s heart broke to see them so worn and pale, aged beyond their years. Then Josiah Wootten stepped out, shivering with cold and dirty. But, although his rebelliousness was just a shadow of its former intensity, he remained defiant.

  ‘Bathsheba,’ he said, his eyes lighting on his daughter. ‘What are you …?’ The words died in his throat when he saw the ropes binding her arms. ‘What …?’ His gaze moved to Rouge. ‘Why is my daughter here?’

  ‘She’s the murderer,’ the constable replied. ‘She confessed to the murders of the Shaker Sister.’

  ‘And your wife,’ Rees said. ‘She set the fire.’

  Wootten’s hands clenched. ‘No. That can’t be true.’ He looked at his daughter, his expression horrified. ‘It ain’t true. Tell them, Bathsheba. Tell them.’

  Glory stared at her father for several seconds and then she smiled. The angry cruelty of that expression sent a shudder through Rees’s body. ‘But it is true,’ she said. Shock sent Wootten two stumbling steps backward. ‘You wouldn’t even let me marry. You came and took me away from Mr Morton.’ Once she began speaking, the words tumbled from her mouth almost without her conscious volition. ‘I couldn’t marry, no, I had to take care of my mother. Forever. And then it was my fault when my sister was got with child.’

  ‘You knew she had no sense,’ Wootten argued. ‘But you went off and left her—’

  ‘Caring for my mother was difficult enough,’ Glory said, leaning forward. ‘But then, my sister and her baby?’

  ‘Who else was goin’ to do it?’ Wootten broke in.