A Death for a Cause (15 page)

‘So you do send them away?' asked Jasmine.

‘Yes,' said Angela.

‘But I thought you said they were always with us,' commented Mary. She said this in an enquiring sort of tone rather than a sarcastic one, but Angela's eyes flashed.

‘They are indeed always with us, Miss Hill, but it is only with the help of a medium that they can transcend into a communicative state. It is from that state I will banish them when we have concluded our business.'

‘Oh, that sounds so unpleasant,' said Jasmine. ‘To be wandering the earth, seeing all, but being able to speak to no one.'

‘That is why people such I as exist,' said Angela, her tone becoming increasingly acerbic. ‘Now, let us begin. I will call upon the spirit of Maisie and ask her to come to us.'

‘So you do not have a spirit guide,' asked Martha. ‘I thought that was quite the fashion.'

‘I do not need one,' snapped Angela. ‘I am in harmony with the other side.'

‘How uncomfortable,' muttered someone.

‘Ladies! Please! We are here to avenge the death of a poor young girl. Let us take this situation seriously. Unless, one of you has good reason not to wish tonight's séance to work?'

‘Like being the murderess?' said Abigail Stokes. ‘I'm game. Call 'em up.'

The other women all nodded. The coldness of the cell was increasing. I told myself that this was only because we were seated, and not moving around as we were wont to do to keep warm. ‘I warn you my voice may change,' said Angela, ‘but do not be afraid. Others may speak through me.'

Jasmine suppressed a little squeak as a glance from Angela quelled her. ‘Now to begin with, if you could all close your eyes and concentrate on the face of Maisie.' I closed my eyes and lowered my head so I could peek, hopefully unseen. Angela's eyes were open and she raised her head to the ceiling. Why, I wondered, do mediums always look at ceilings. If we were outside under the sky it would make sense, but inside surely the spirits would not be hiding among the ceiling plaster.

‘Is there anybody there?' she said in a deeper voice than she was wont to use. ‘I am calling to the other side as my grandmother and mother did before me. I am Angela Blackwood and I am using my gift to open the channel between worlds. Is there anybody there, who wants to speak to anybody here?'

There was silence. I felt a shiver run down my back, but I was more concerned it might be a flea than a spirit. My left leg was beginning to ache. None of us gently bred ladies were used to sitting on the floor. I straightened my shoulders and adjusted my posture to a more correct attitude. As I did so I could have sworn I felt a light touch on the nape of my neck. My head shot up. My eyes open, ready to spot the trickery. Everyone in the circle was still present. Indeed with the exception of Angela, whose eyes appeared to have rolled back in her head, everyone else had their eyes tightly closed.

‘OMMMM!' said Angela in a deep voice. ‘OMMMM!'

I observed Jasmine Pettigrew screw her eyes even tighter shut, so her face resembled nothing less than a pickled walnut. Abigail Stokes heaved a large sigh. Mary's face was calm. Martha had her head bowed like mine. Was she too sneaking a glance around the circle? She looked more as if she was at prayer.

‘I feel you,' moaned Angela. ‘I feel you! Someone is coming through.' Jasmine gave another little smothered squeak of dismay. Honestly, her lips were almost touching her eyebrows now. She looked grotesque. Could this be a sign of guilty fear or simply superstition? I would have expected a schoolmistress to have a cooler head,

‘Here she comes,' wailed Angela is a high-pitched screech that made me wince. Though I remained rather colder than before, I did not believe this was caused by any wandering spirits. To me Angela's theatrics were almost comical. I had no doubt she was a fraud. Why on earth was she doing this?

And then it dawned on me, as bright and clear as when the sun breaks through the clouds, that the only way Fitzroy would have allowed me to stay in a cell with a murderess would be if he already had someone on the inside. Someone, who like me, was attempting to stir things up and get a response from the killer. A woman who also realised our time here was limited. I might appreciate Hans's attempts to get me out, but I did not want the potential shadow of a crime hanging over me for the rest of my life. If no murderess was caught then people would always wonder.

Angela had to be Fitzroy's plant! I decided to give her a little moral support.

‘Ohhh,' I said softly, ‘does anyone else feel the temperature dropping? I have the most dire sense of foreboding.' Mary Hill opened one eye and gave me a quizzical look. I added a shiver in for extra conviction. I lowered my voice. ‘I'm serious. Something is happened.' Mary gave a little shrug and closed her eyes. In the background Angela continued her low moans. ‘M-m-m-Maisie,' she was now calling. A real shiver did go down my spine as I recalled finding the poor girl's dead body, lying cold and twisted on the cell floor. It had been dawn and at the time I had not been able to see her clearly, but now my imagination was filling in the missing details, her eyes pale as cornflowers staring sightlessly, the pinched aspect of her pretty face that told of so many missed meals, but above all I remembered how she had looked little more than a child. Richenda's adopted daughter came from lowly stock, if her life had taken a different turn, she could so easily have ended up like Aggie, poor, over worked and scared. In my mind's eye little Amy aged and became Maisie. I had felt despair and pity when Maisie died, but now I felt fury.

And then for no reason at all I heard myself say, ‘I never take sugar with China tea.'

Chapter Twenty-one

A noose is offered

‘So do you know who did it?' Fitzroy's voice snapped like a whip.

Fitzroy had summoned me only moments after the séance ended, which was just as well as my comment had not gone down well with my cellmates.

A moment after the words had left my mouth Martha Lake had broken the circle and stood up. ‘If no one is going to take this seriously. I do not see why I should stay sitting on this filthy floor,' she had said. With the circle broken, Angela had thrown herself to the floor and writhed a bit. I had been impressed by the performance; Eunice even more so.

‘Look what you have done!' she'd exclaimed at me, rather than Martha who had actually broken the circle. ‘She told you how dangerous it was for someone to interrupt her when she was in a trance.'

‘I don't recall –' I began.

‘Totally thoughtless,' echoed the usually passive Jasmine, then looking at Mary. ‘What do you think we should do for the poor woman?'

‘You're not going to tell me you believe any of this nonsense, are you?' said Martha, who was now seated on the bench.

‘I think, as we do not know exactly what is happening,' said Mary calmly, ‘that we leave Miss Blackwood alone unless she looks to me in danger of harming herself.'

‘But she may be beset by spirits!' said Eunice, who appeared to have embraced the situation most fully.

‘Nah,' said Abigail. ‘It's all an act, isn't it? Bet she was hoping one of us would ‘fess up.'

‘Do you think so?' asked Mary. ‘An interesting plan if not a successful one.'

‘But why should she do such a thing?' whispered Jasmine.

‘'Cause like the rest of us she wants out of this bleedin' place,' said Abigail.

At this moment Mark, followed by another two policemen bearing the evening bowls of slop, had arrived to escort me to see Fitzroy once more. The first thing I noticed on entering Fitzroy's office was that there was no sign of food. My stomach growled loudly.

‘So do you know who did it?'

I opened my mouth to respond, but Fitzroy held up his hand. ‘Be careful what you say,' he added. ‘Time has run out and whoever you name I shall more than likely put a noose around their neck. This business needs to be ended.'

I closed my mouth.

Fitzroy's face darkened. ‘Come on, Euphemia, don't go squeamish on me now. You always knew where this was leading.'

‘I am uncomfortable about the idea that someone might meet their end on my word,' I said. ‘Doesn't there need to be evidence?'

‘That can be sorted,' said Fitzroy dismissively.

I tried to feel surprise, but failed. I was all too familiar with Fitzroy's methods. ‘I spotted your person – your woman,' I said stalling for time.

‘I would have been disappointed if you hadn't. Now, stop stalling and tell me who you believe did this?'

‘Wilks or Maisie?'

‘Are they different?' Fitzroy's voice carried a note of surprise rarely heard from the spy.

‘I don't know,' I said honestly. ‘For all I know they could have all conspired together.'

Fitzroy sighed. ‘Kill the lot and let God sort them out?' He saw my shocked face. ‘It's a quote, Euphemia. Not what I am intending to do.'

‘Why the sudden urgency?'

‘Your admirer, Muller. He got you the best lawyer in London. There is no way I can keep you under lock and key without charging you, so I am forced to let you all go on bail. Though whether the others have the material wealth to post bail I have no idea.'

‘I am sorry,' I said contritely, ‘but I could hardly tell him what was really going on, could I?'

Fitzroy rubbed his hand over his face. ‘No, I suppose not, but this has left me in a bad position. I am needed abroad. The Balkans have broken out. I fear Wilks's death will need to go unanswered.'

A silence hung between us.

‘I could continue to look into this,' I said eventually.

‘I could not possibly ask you to do this. Even if poor little Maisie was killed on your watch.'

‘I have already agreed,' I said.

‘Hmm.'

‘I have discovered where Aggie lived. Not at the store but in a boarding house and that she received an unexpected letter on the morning of the march that made her change her plans.'

‘Who on earth told you that?'

‘Richenda. She did a little detective work on her own before her husband removed her from town.'

‘Richenda, what a surprise,' said the spy. ‘I take it you still did not tell her about me?'

‘Of course not,' I said wearily. ‘It was her idea to investigate. She comments she had observed me doing this previously and that it looked rather jolly.'

‘Well, she has certainly done better than you. Perhaps I should have left her in the cell.'

‘I did try to provoke a fight,' I said. ‘Abigail almost stabbed me.'

‘I doubt that,' said Fitzroy shortly. ‘What did Bertram unearth? I assume you had him on the trail as well?'

‘That I have yet to learn, but Hans did tell me the name of Wilks's closest friends.'

‘Did he indeed? And why did he do that?'

I ignored his comment and related the names. ‘I've heard of Blake, of course,' said the spy, ‘but nothing that would suggest he might be involved. I will pass the other names on to Edward, but I do not hope out much hope. Such men, even if involved, will ensure they have got good alibis. Still, we can put a watch on them for future activity. We live in interesting times.' He gave a swift smile and then said sharply, ‘Why do you think Hans did this for you?'

‘He said he had become aware that I had certain connections.'

‘And what did you say?'

‘Nothing,' I responded. ‘I thought it would be dangerous for both of us – Hans and I – for me to do so.'

‘Hans is proving to be somewhat dangerous himself,' muttered Fitzroy. He paced away from me. ‘The stockings,' he said suddenly. ‘We were a pair short. One of the pairs was also of distinctly superior quality. Several were torn and stretched, but this may have been caused during the protest.'

‘March,' I corrected.

Fitzroy waved my comment aside. ‘I do not like to leave untidy ends. I am half minded to choose one of your companions at random if you will not give me a name.'

‘That would be crossing a line, even for you,' I responded sharply.

Fitzroy turned and walked up to me. Right up to me. He came so close it felt uncomfortable, but I would no more have stepped back than I would have turned my back on a tiger. ‘You have no idea of what lines I am prepared to cross,' he said coldly, ‘when the necessity arises.'

‘Let me try and find the solution,' I said, aware I was now practically begging to do a task only a few minutes earlier I would have done a great deal to avoid.

‘I shall have to leave in three days, no longer. I will release you and your cellmates on bail. I will ensure all of them are free, and you shall have your time to choose one. Or I shall pick one for you.'

‘I need more information,' I said quickly. ‘Addresses and the like.'

Fitzroy indicated a file on his desk. ‘You can take that. You will be going straight to the bail hearing and not back to the cell.'

‘You had it ready for me!'

‘Of course,' said the spy, and called for me to be taken before the judge.

Chapter Twenty-two

My modesty is once again endangered

The luxury of bathing is much underrated. I lay deep in a hot bath in the hotel where Richenda and I had been staying. As I had hoped, Hans had kept the suite on. Though when I turned up in a hackney cab in my dishevelled state it was rather touch and go as to whether they would let be back into the hotel at all. Fortunately, I had summoned the image of my mother at her haughtiest to mind and treated the reception staff with such contempt they doubtless thought I was a duchess travelling incognito. Or perhaps even minor royalty, I mused, dipping my head under the water and moving my head from side to side so my long locks flowed like a mermaid.
³⁸

I sat up smoothing my hair, heavy with water, from my face. I could almost imagine those nights in the cell had been nothing but a bad dream. Then I heard the door of the suite open.