Jessica (10 page)

“Oh.”

“How did it happen?”

She looked innocently at him. “I would not know, for I was not there at the time. I merely accompanied Sir Nicholas from Varangian and was with the unfortunate Mr. Parr for a while. Hence the bloodstains that, no doubt, you have noticed.”

“Couldn’t help but notice, could I? Red do have a habit of showing up on yeller.”

“How observant you are.”

“Oh, you’re proper uppity now, aren’t you? Farmer Durleigh’s stuck-up daughter.”

“You are as insolent now as ever you were, Cluffo. I wonder if Sir Nicholas would hear your words so kindly.”

“I didn’t mean owt by it. ‘Tis just hard to forget as how you was a little girl what liked to help me with the horses.”

“Until you got drunk once too often and overturned the wagon and so lost your position. You were lucky to get yourself in at Woodville House.”

“Ah. ‘Tis that scrumpy, it do go to my head.”

“Cider gets the blame, does it? Not the willing hand that raises the glass time and time again.”

“You’m sharp-tongued, and all. Did you see the kerfuffle in Ladywood last night?”

She met his gaze. “Kerfuffle?”

“Aye.”

“What do you mean?”

“I hears there was a rumpus there again, and I wondered if’n you saw it when you passed.”

“What sort of rumpus?” she asked, avoiding the question.

“Oh, shooting and shouting and hounds. A general uproar.”

“Really? I do hope Tamsin was all right at Applegarth all by herself.”

“She knows where you was, anyhow, for I was sent to push a note through the letterbox for her to find the minute she woke up this morning. It seemed quiet enough when I was there. Reckon she’d gone to bed.”

“I wonder you didn’t knock the door to find out,” remarked Jessica dryly.

The thrust went over his head, for he did not even glance at her as he urged the lazy pony on toward Applegarth. The sunlight cast dappled shadows across the lane and the birds were singing merrily in the trees. Then a figure hurried toward them, appearing suddenly from a path between the trees. It was Jamie, running for all he was worth, with Nipper loping along beside him.

Cluffo reined in. “Morning, Jamie.”

Jamie halted, leaning breathlessly on the gig. “Cluffo. Miss Jess.” He tipped his hat politely, his dark eyes resting momentarily on the bloodstains.

“Is something wrong, Jamie?” She felt vaguely alarmed but did not know why.

“Yes, Miss Jess. There’s been someone break into Applegarth. Tamsin’s had a blow on the head, but she seems all right. I was running into Henbury to fetch the physician, or the apothecary.”

“Someone broke in?” she repeated, staring at him.

“Aye, but Tamsin seems to think nothing was stolen. But ‘tis in a real mess.”

“Oh, Cluffo, hurry and get me back there.”

Jamie stepped away from the gig. “She found the note to say you were at Woodville House with Sir Nicholas,” he said, smiling slightly.

Cluffo leaned forward, looking earnestly at the shepherd. “She were with Harry Parr, him as got his self shot last night.”

Jamie’s clear eyes moved to her face thoughtfully. “Sir Nicholas’ coachman?”

She nodded. “Cluffo attended his wound.”

“Not the physician? Why so secret?”

She remembered what Nicholas had said. “Well, I believe it was an accident involving Sir Nicholas. Perhaps he chose to avoid tittle-tattle.”

“Ah, that’s the way of the gentry, right enough.” Jamie tipped his hat again and watched the gig rattle away down the lane between the trees.

Jessica’s heart was thundering now as she sought the first glimpse of the cottage. Suddenly she remembered the fine horse Jamie had ridden the night before. If he possessed such a horse, why then did he choose to run all the way into Henbury on so urgent an errand? Or was it perhaps the beast he used when he held up mail coaches on the Taunton road? It was certainly a mount to remember once seen.

“We’m there, Miss Jessica. I’ll set you down at the gate here and go back to take Jamie into Henbury. It’ll still be quicker than he is on foot.”

Jessica ran through the grass beneath the cider-apple trees and threw open the front door. The clean, tidy kitchen that was Tamsin’s pride and joy was in a shambles. Everything had been knocked from the shelves, the fire had been riddled and the ashes tossed over the tiled floor, and all the flour had been emptied from the barrel and then walked through so that footprints covered the raddling. A glance into the drawing room revealed similar chaos.

“Miss Jess?” Tamsin came into the kitchen, a dustpan and brush in her hand. “Oh, Miss Jess.” Her plump face puckered and she burst into tears.

A short while later the kettle was boiling on a newly-lit fire and Jessica pushed a fresh cup of tea across the table. “Drink this, Tamsin, and dry your eyes. It isn’t the end of the world.”

“Not quite.”

“Is your head aching?”

“Like someone was inside with a mallet. Reckon I’ll be right glad to see the physician.”

“When he’s been, you must go back to your bed and have a good rest. You’ll soon feel better. But tell me what happened?”

“Well, if you looks in the drawing room you’ll see how they got in, for there’s a broken pane in the back window. That’s what I heard. Well, first off, I was woke by the noise in Ladywood when Sir Francis and the poachers had another set-to. I was lying there wondering when you would be back, when I heard the glass breaking. It weren’t much of a noise and I wouldn’t have heard it at all if I’d been asleep. I reckoned it must be that tortie cat come in through the larder window for something for her kittens, and so I went down to shoo her off. My heaven, did I see stars for a second. Something hit the back of my head and I went out like a candle. Next thing I knew it were daylight and I was lying there at the foot of the stairs and everything was like you sees it now.”

“You didn’t know until this morning that I was at Woodville House?”

“No. The note hadn’t come when I went to bed and I found it when I come round. Why?”

“Well, Cluffo Dowdeswell brought it.” Jessica glanced around at the mess.

“You reckon as how Cluffo might’ve done this? No, Miss Jess, not him. He be a crafty old rogue, and no mistake, but breaking in and causing all this damage ain’t in his line. He’m more of a poacher and a smuggler, is that one.”

“A smuggler?”

“Cluffo? Oh, aye, he’m always ready for such like. You ask his wife Dolly. I tell you, she’ve got two barrels of good cognac in her cellar. Cognac. And him a groom, that’s all. She give me the wink once. Cluffo is one of the ring.”

Suddenly the old groom’s questions about Harry Parr’s accident took a more sinister meaning. Did Cluffo suspect Nicholas? She thought of Jamie riding to scatter Francis’ horses. Was the shepherd one of the ring, too? She stood as she heard the gig returning.

“Here they come with the physician.” She opened the door as the gig came to a standstill. Jamie, worn out with all his running, lolled in the seat with Nipper on his lap, and Cluffo climbed down to tether the pony. The physician pushed past Jessica and went to attend to Tamsin.

Jamie got down wearily, setting Nipper on the ground. “Reckon that’s a job well done, Miss Jess.”

“Thank you so much, Jamie. Will you have some Madeira? It’s all we have here but you are welcome.”

He nodded. “Reckon that’ll go down a treat.”

“Clifford, you’d best get yourself back to Woodville House.”

“Aye. See you in three days then, Jamie.”

Jessica glanced from one to the other. “Three days?” she asked innocently.

Jamie grinned and put his finger to his lips. “A spot of poaching, Miss Jess. We’ve a fancy for some good venison.”

He followed her into the cottage where the physician was finishing bandaging Tamsin’s head. He closed his bag and pointed to a small phial on the table.

“She’s to have that when I’ve gone, Miss Durleigh. It’s laudanum and will help her to sleep. Rest and quiet is all that’s needed. She’s had a bit of a shock, no more.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“That’ll be nine shillings and sixpence, if you please, Miss Durleigh.”

Jessica took her purse from the shelf and counted the coins into the man’s hand. When he had gone she mixed the laudanum and ushered Tamsin up the stairs.

Jamie was waiting by the range, holding his hands to the warmth. Nipper whined and wagged his tail as Jessica came down the stairs. Jamie looked at the bloodstains. “Harry Parr bled like a stuck pig then?”

“He did indeed.”

“Where did it happen, Jess?”

She took the Madeira from the cupboard and carefully poured two glasses. “Where did what happen?”

“The shooting?”

“I did not see the shooting, Jamie. Is that enough wine?”

He nodded, his dark face clever. “You left the ball early they say.”

“They have a lot to say. How did you know?”

“The postboy from the Feathers. He went back to Varangian for you and was told you had left with Sir Nicholas.”

“That is correct. I went back to Woodville House with him.”

“A link back to Master Philip is he, Jess?” he asked softly.

“Don’t presume on our friendship so much, Jamie. It is none of your business why I accompanied Sir Nicholas.”

“No, but I can guess for he’s a good-looking chap. Single and all. Not so much of a way with him as his brother, but comely enough.”

“Jamie!”

“I mean no harm, Jess, for I’ve always liked you. You had a fair pair of ankles and I recall watching for a glimpse of them in the schoolyard. I’ve a weakness for pretty ankles and so I forgive you all your sins.”

“My sins! You have a nerve, Jamie Pike.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the mail bag in my stable loft.”

He put down his glass. “Why should I know anything about that?”

She told him of having seen him. “So don’t preach to me about sin, Jamie.”

“You knew that, and yet you didn’t tell on me to the magistrate?”

“I remember holding hands with you on Sundays in church, Jamie, and I could never betray you.”

He bent forward and kissed her cheek gently. “Thank you, Jess Durleigh. I reckon I owes you something now.”

“You owe me nothing.”

“Oh, I do. I’m in your debt and there’s a way I can repay it.”

“How?”

“By telling you who did this here last night.”

“You know?”

“I reckon so, though I couldn’t prove it. I was out and about last night looking after some sickly sheep. I came up past here and saw a horse tethered secretly by your stables.”

She sipped her wine. She knew well enough that Jamie had been abroad the previous night. Had she not see him herself. “Whose horse was it?”

“Miss Rosamund’s.”

She almost dropped the glass. “You jest!”

“No. I saw her. Not going into the cottage or anything like that. Just standing, looking toward it as if undecided.”

Jessica turned away. She saw again Rosamund’s flushed face as she had appeared at the head of the stairs in that jade-green dressing gown. She had still been wearing her evening gown underneath and had looked as if she had been hurrying. Had she returned to the big house only moments before the barouche? “Could you be mistaken, Jamie?”

“No. And Cluffo found her horse back at Woodville House. It was lathered up a treat when he put his own nag there to go and look to Harry Parr. You don’t have to look far for a motive, do you?”

“Oh, Jamie.” She bit her lip, easy tears filling her eyes. Only that morning she had thought all was well between her and Rosamund once more.

Jamie put his arms around her and held her gently. “Don’t take on, or I’ll wish I’d held my tongue. I thought you should know, though.”

She leaned her head wearily against his shoulder. He pushed her gently into a chair and crouched before her, his hands enfolding hers. “Don’t let it swamp you, for you’re better than all of them. Get out of Henbury because it’ll do you no good to stay. I’m going the minute I’ve got all the money I need. And a good pair of heels I’ll show Somerset and all.”

“Where shall you go?”

“America.”

“Do they have mail coaches there, too, then?” she asked, trying to smile.

He grinned. “Reckon so.”

She sat quietly in the kitchen after he had gone. She could hear the slow ticking of the grandfather clock in the drawing room, and the shifting of the new fire in the range. She looked around at the destruction of her home and then she buried her face in her hands.

She did not hear Nicholas arriving. He pushed open the door and looked inside in amazement.

‘“Miss Durleigh?”

She started, sitting up from where she had slumped her face on her arms on the table. Her eyes were red from weeping and there was nothing she could do to conceal the fact. “Sir Nicholas?”

He came in, flinging his tall hat on the table and taking off his fine leather gloves. “What happened?”

She told him, omitting the fact that she suspected Rosamund to be the culprit.

“Was anything taken?”

“I don’t think so. The only thing of value I possess was on my person.”

“The necklace?”

“Yes.”

“And Miss Davey?”

“She’s upstairs. The physician prescribed some laudanum. Whoever broke in hit her on the head. But she will be all right, I’m assured.”

“And you?” he said gently.

“Merely shaken.”

His riding boots squeaked slightly as he went to the window to look out. “I came the moment my mother told me what she had done. I am sorry she treated you so appallingly.”

“She felt justified.”

“You were my guest. She should not have spoken as she did.”

“I had forgotten. This terrible mess had put it from my mind.”

“You are too kind.”

“No.” She smiled a little. “I gave Lady Amelia as fine a verbal set-to as she’d had in a long time, I fancy.”

“For her that would be a novel experience. To make amends for all you were forced to endure, though, I shall send some maids over from Woodville House to tidy up here.”

“There is no need.”

“I insist.”

“Then I accept. Sir Nicholas, I think Cluffo Dowdeswell may be one of the smugglers. He drove me back here this morning, and he was most interested in your coachman’s accident. He asked me if I had seen anything in Ladywood last night, and when he asked he knew that I had been with you. I wondered if he was suspicious of you.”