For Dead Men Only: An Alexandra Gladstone Mystery Page 6

  “Oh?” Alexandra said. “And what was that?”

  “A horseman. Not that it’s odd to see a horseman in the village, but this one appeared to be in costume, dressed as a knight. I might even say as a Templar. He had that red cross on his breast front.”

  Chapter 7

  “At least I can take some measure of comfort in thinking I’m not hallucinating,” Nicholas said when Alexandra told him Hannibal Talbot had recently seen a horseman dressed as a Templar Knight. They were still standing near the doorway as Nicholas prepared to leave.

  “Another of my patients, Mrs. Fontaine, also mentioned something about a horseman. I’m not sure what it is all about, but it’s more than a little odd,” Alexandra said.

  Nicholas nodded. “Indeed. But no more so than Constable Snow disappearing in the middle of a murder investigation.”

  “I couldn’t agree with you more,” Alexandra said. “Some believe he’s in London. I’d hoped you could use your influence and contacts to locate him.”

  “I’ll do all I can. I shall send a telegram to a captain I know at Scotland Yard.”

  “Thank you, Nicholas,” Alexandra said. “In the meantime, we can only hope that the deputy he left in charge is competent to handle all that’s going on here at the moment.”

  “Do you know the chap?” Nicholas asked.

  “The constable usually calls upon Daniel Poole, but I’m afraid I don’t know him terribly well. I believe he started out to be an articled clerk for one of the solicitors here, but never finished his apprenticeship. I’m not certain why he didn’t complete the endeavor, but—”

  Alexandra was interrupted by a dramatic cough from Nancy.

  “Is that a signal that you have something to add to the conversation?” Nicholas asked with a playful look on his face.

  “Well, since you asked, my lord,” Nancy said, “he’s a lazy lout. Smart enough to be a law clerk, I’d guess, but a bit of a laggard. That’s why he never finished the apprenticeship.”

  “Hmm,” Nicholas said.

  “It’s true, he moves around from job to job. Doesn’t seem to hang on to anything for long,” Alexandra agreed.

  “And this is the man you want me to spirit the young woman away to speak with.” Nicholas sounded doubtful.

  “Unless you can think of a better idea,” Alexandra said. “Or unless you can quickly locate Constable Snow.”

  “As I said, I’ll give the matter some thought,” Nicholas said. “And you can rest assured I’ll send that telegram to Captain Mitchell at Scotland Yard immediately. I’ll stop by the telegraph office when I leave here.” He glanced at Nancy and saw her intense expression. “Well, Nancy, what do you make of all of this? The horseman, the murders?”

  “Me?” Nancy said, pretending surprise. “What would I know of any such goings-on? Freemasons, Knights Templar, a father angry enough at his daughter to kill her suitors? None of that’s within the realm of my small world.”

  “I see,” Nicholas said.

  “Well, now that you mention it, I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to find out about that horseman you claim you saw, would it?” Nancy said.

  “Perhaps you’re right,” Nicholas told her. “But how would one go about doing that?”

  “I’m not the one to come up with an elaborate plan, you know, me being a simple maid-of-all-work.”

  “Oh, you’re far from simple, Nancy, old girl.”

  “Nevertheless, such things are out of my purview.”

  “Of course.” Nicholas glanced at Zack, who was standing at attention, apparently eager for the earl to leave. Nicholas turned his eyes back to Nancy. “If those things were within your purview, what would you say would be the best approach to finding out who this horseman is and what his motive is?”

  “Why, I would conduct a secret surveillance of the Temple of the Ninth Daughter, of course,” Nancy said without hesitating. “That’s where most of the sightings have been. I’d watch to see when the horseman shows up, then follow him. He’s bound to ride home eventually, isn’t he?”

  “Oh, you are undoubtedly right,” Nicholas said.

  “But don’t go asking me to come up with any such harebrained scheme. I’ll have no part of such things.”

  “Of course not. I certainly wouldn’t expect you to.” Nicholas paused briefly. “If one were to follow the rider home, as you mentioned, one would assume he is from Newton, I suppose, or somewhere near here.”

  “Certainly he’s from around here. How else would he be able to show up so frequently?” Nancy said.

  —

  When Nicholas returned the next day and relayed the plan he had devised to have Judith meet, unseen, with law enforcement, Alexandra was disappointed.

  “It sounds rather like the same thing I suggested,” Alexandra said.

  “It’s hard to improve upon perfection,” Nicholas said. “Except I had to work at the details and arrange everything.”

  “I see,” Alexandra said.

  “Everything,” Nicholas said, “down to the scheduled arrival of Deputy Poole, ostensibly to speak with me on matters pertaining to the county and Parliament. I must admit, however, it did take some persuading to get the chap to agree to meet with me.”

  “I should have thought he would be eager to have such an important meeting,” Alexandra said.

  Nicholas shook his head. “Quite the contrary. Said he didn’t feel qualified for a discussion of that nature and insisted I wait until a constable is in office.”

  “That’s an odd way of putting it,” Alexandra said. “One would think he’d say something about waiting until Constable Snow returns. Waiting ‘until a constable is in office’ makes it sound as if he doesn’t expect Constable Snow to return.”

  “ ’Tis beginning to look as if that’s the case,” Nancy said. She had just entered the parlor where Alexandra was speaking with Nicholas.

  “Not like you to have such a negative attitude, Nancy,” Nicholas said. “I hope you’re not equally as doubtful of the plan.”

  “We shall see,” Nancy said. “Perhaps it will work. Stranger things have happened.”

  Alexandra was growing more and more uneasy about the matter.

  “Are we to assume you’ve had no response to the telegram you sent to Scotland Yard?”

  Nicholas shook his head. “None. Perhaps later today. Have to give the fellows a little time, you know.”

  —

  That evening, Nicholas returned as planned. A few minutes later, Nancy brought Judith to him from where she waited in the kitchen.

  Nicholas greeted her with a little bow and said, “Miss Payne, I presume.”

  “My lord,” she answered. Her voice was barely audible.

  With the aid of Artie and Rob, Judith was whisked to the carriage under the cover of night and positioned so that she could be hidden under a dark blanket. Nicholas then escorted Alexandra to the carriage so, in the unlikely event that anyone was watching, it would appear that his driver was taking the two of them for an evening drive.

  The driver left Alexandra and Lord Dunsford at the front door, and the plan seemed to be going well until he made his way to the kitchen entrance in the back where Judith was to be moved, once again under cover of darkness, into the house. The deputy had not yet arrived, but Alexandra was sitting in the large receiving room with Nicholas, waiting for both Judith and Deputy Poole, when Stokes, the butler, appeared at the door with the driver behind him.

  “Osmond wishes to speak with you, my lord,” Stokes said.

  “Come in, Osmond.” Nicholas stood to greet the driver.

  “Forgive the intrusion, my lord,” the driver said, “but the young lady is refusing to leave the carriage.”

  Nicholas frowned. “I don’t understand. Why would she refuse to leave the carriage?”

  “Says she’s afraid, my lord.”

  “Afraid? Afraid of what?”

  “I’m sure I don’t know, but she refuses to move from the carriage.”

  “I�
�ll speak to her.” Alexandra maneuvered her way around both Nicholas and the driver. When she’d hurried through the house and out the door, she found Judith just as they’d left her, huddled on the floor of the carriage with the dark blanket still draped over her head and shoulders.

  “Judith,” Alexandra said, going to her, “there’s no need to be frightened.”

  “You’re wrong. There is every need to be.”

  “You’re safe here. I can assure you of that.”

  “I wish I could believe that.” Judith’s voice trembled as she spoke. “But I can’t. Already someone else knows I’m here—the carriage driver. Next, my father will find out what I’ve done, and he’ll have no mercy on me.”

  “My dear Judith, you must come inside. Leaving yourself exposed out here in the carriage offers far more opportunity for someone to discover you. You must be strong and stick to your convictions. As strong as any man. No, as strong as any woman.”

  For a moment Judith didn’t speak, but Alexandra saw that she had persuaded her when she slipped the blanket from her head and stood up in a crouched position, as if she were trying to make herself smaller. Alexandra led her into the house and all the way to the parlor, where Nicholas waited. He’d had tea as well as brandy brought in and offered it to both of them. Alexandra accepted a cup of tea while Judith asked for brandy. Her hands shook as she held the glass.

  “I can’t imagine why Deputy Poole hasn’t arrived,” Nicholas said.

  “Perhaps he’s not coming,” Judith said. “Perhaps this meeting was not meant to be.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t believe in predestination,” Nicholas said. “If he doesn’t show up this time, we’ll make it happen eventually.”

  Judith gave him a troubled look, but before she could respond, Stokes came in with an announcement.

  “Deputy Daniel Poole is here to see you, my lord.”

  “Of course,” Nicholas said. “Show him in.”

  Deputy Poole was a short, stocky man, the exact opposite of the tall, slender Constable Snow. He lacked Snow’s taciturn aloofness as well, and entered the room appearing awkward and uncomfortable. He seemed surprised, perhaps even alarmed, to see the two women in the room with Lord Dunsford.

  “Oh!” he said, twisting his cap in his hands.

  “Dr. Alexandra Gladstone, Miss Judith Payne, may I present Deputy Daniel Poole,” Nicholas said.

  “How do you do?” Alexandra said.

  Judith didn’t speak, and Deputy Poole seemed equally dumbstruck.

  “Please have a seat, Deputy Poole,” Nicholas said, pointing to a chair. “The ladies have something to discuss with you.”

  “I’m not up to this, my lord.” Poole looked even more uncomfortable than he had when he’d first arrived. “I’m just filling in till a constable gets here. I told you, I know nothing of the business of Parliament.”

  “Yes, you made that same confession to me earlier, and I apologize for insisting that you come anyway. You’ll be relieved to learn that the matter to be discussed has nothing to do with the business of Parliament after all,” Nicholas said.

  Deputy Poole’s discomfort was growing incrementally, and Alexandra noticed that Judith’s face had become alarmingly white. She managed only a slight flush when she realized everyone was looking at her.

  “Tell the deputy what you told us,” Nicholas prompted.

  Judith hesitated a little longer before she managed to speak. “I…I know who killed those men.”

  Deputy Poole’s eyes widened. “What men?”

  The deputy’s response had surprised and confused everyone, but none more than Judith. She glanced first at Alexandra and then at Nicholas before she answered in an uncertain tone, “The men of the brotherhood. The Freemasons.”

  “You’re speaking of Jeremy Fitzsimmons and Saul Mayhew?” Poole asked.

  Judith gave the other two in the room another uncertain glance and said, “Of course.”

  “What makes you think they were murdered?”

  Judith looked as if she might burst into tears. “Why, because…because everyone knows they were. The way they died, everyone says it must have been murder.”

  “It is simply not true that everyone knows the men were murdered,” Poole said, his face flushing to an unattractive hue. “I, for one, know no such thing. Since the investigation isn’t complete, no conclusions have been made on the part of law enforcement.”

  “But you should know! It was my father who killed them.” Judith had stood and all but shouted her words, growing more and more agitated by the second.

  “Your father?” Poole asked. “You have some reason to be so angry with your father that you would accuse him of murder?”

  “He…he…” Judith collapsed to the floor, and Alexandra rushed to her side.

  “My medical bag is with my cloak. Fetch it now!” Alexandra said, speaking to both Nicholas and the deputy. “I’ll need a basin of water and a cloth!”

  Nicholas produced the bag, and Stokes showed up in short order with a basin of water and a cloth. Alexandra pulled a vial of smelling salts from her bag to pass under Judith’s nose.

  “I say, why are you so reluctant to believe the young woman?” Nicholas asked with a sharp hint of anger in his voice. “I should think you’d be glad for any help you can get in this matter.”

  “I’m quite used to dealing with overwrought young women, my lord,” Poole said. “I have three sisters, and I know how the feminine disposition affects their thinking.”

  Alexandra snapped at Poole over her shoulder while she continued to work with Judith. “This has nothing to do with a feminine disposition, whatever that is. Don’t dismiss her statement as hysteria.”

  “Forgive me, Dr. Gladstone, but you have no idea how much hysteria I’ve had to deal with since the constable up and left. There’s that horseman, for one thing, and—”

  “I can attest with certainty that the horseman exists,” Nicholas said. “I’ve seen him with my own eyes.”

  “Yes, my lord. I’ve seen him myself,” Poole said.

  Alexandra was in the process of helping Judith to a sofa to help her lie down, but she glanced at Poole in surprise.

  Nicholas spoke, voicing his own surprise. “You’ve seen him? Explain yourself, Poole.”

  Poole shrugged. “There’s nothing to explain, is there, my lord? I’ve seen him, and I can’t say for certain who it might be or why he might be dressed in that garb, but I have reason to believe ’tis the constable himself.”

  “Good God, man!” Nicholas said.

  “Constable Snow?” Alexandra said at the same time.

  Poole’s face took on a sanctimonious expression. “Can’t say more. This is police business.”

  “Police business be damned!” Nicholas said. “You are accusing the man in charge of law enforcement in this village of frightening people by riding around at night dressed as a Templar Knight.”

  “Didn’t say he was purposely frightening anybody. Just said it looks like the constable to me.”

  By this time Alexandra had Judith sitting upright and was wiping her face with a damp cloth. “What possible motive would Constable Snow have for doing that?” Alexandra asked.

  “I wouldn’t be knowing that, now, would I, miss?” Poole said.

  “This unknown rider only looks like Snow, in your opinion. Not very substantial, would you say?” Nicholas said.

  Poole shrugged. “Same slight build, same horse.”

  “Same horse?” Alexandra asked. “Do you agree, Lord Dunsford? That the rider you saw was on a horse that looked like the constable’s horse?”

  Nicholas shook his head. “I can’t say. It was rather dark, don’t you know.”

  “Yes,” Judith said, speaking for the first time since she’d fainted. “I’ve seen it, too. I think it was Constable Snow’s horse the man was riding.”

  Chapter 8

  “A waste of time,” Alexandra said in response to Nancy’s question about the meeting with Deputy Poo
le. She and Nicholas were in the parlor, which, after the death of her father, had become less formal and more of a drawing room.

  “A colossal waste of time,” Nicholas said, his arm resting on the white Parian mantelpiece, his elbow dangerously close to a crystal candelabrum that had belonged to Alexandra’s mother. “He’s inept. Completely uninterested in the situation, if you ask me.” Nicholas was keeping a wary eye on Zack, who had just entered the parlor. He had been lounging in the hallway that led to the surgery until he heard Nicholas’s voice. “He even voiced an opinion that Constable Snow was the mysterious Templar Knight some of us have seen. Odd, isn’t it?”

  “I’m not so sure it’s odd,” Nancy said.

  Nicholas straightened. “What do you mean?”

  Nancy shrugged. “You have to admit the constable has always been a bit secretive. Well, at least not very forthcoming about his private life. Just a strange bird, all in all, and besides that, I have a caution that something is going on, something unusual.”

  “You have a caution?” Nicholas said. “I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  “It’s not easy to explain,” Nancy said.

  “Sometimes Nancy is prescient,” Alexandra said.

  Nicholas frowned. “Oh, come now—”

  “You’re right, it’s probably nothing,” Nancy said, and quickly changed the subject. “If I may ask, what was Miss Payne’s reaction to the meeting with the deputy?” Nancy asked.

  “She was as disappointed as Lord Dunsford and I were,” Alexandra said. “Deputy Poole seemed to completely dismiss Judith’s story.”

  “Getting back to that so-called Templar,” Nicholas said, “Miss Payne and Deputy Poole both believe it’s Constable Snow’s horse that strange would-be knight is riding.”

  Alexandra frowned. “It’s all a bit far-fetched. Why would someone be riding the constable’s horse?”

  Nancy made an innocent-sounding cough but said nothing. She was pretending to be busy folding bandages as she relaxed in one of the red velvet chairs next to the fireplace. Zack ambled over to stand next to Alexandra, who sat in a matching chair, his eyes never leaving Nicholas.