Murder at Locke Abbey (14 page)

He didn’t particularly enjoy wearing bright colours or the patterns that were becoming common among gentlemen, but he
did have a pinstripe suit and silver waistcoat which he liked.

Since he had
plenty of time, he dressed himself, letting his valet go so he could choose his own accoutrements.

He was threading his cufflinks when someone knocked on his door.

“Come,” he called, assuming it was his valet.

It wasn’t. As bold as brass,
Eliza Buchan walked into his dressing room.

“Miss Eliza! What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you, William.”

“This is neither the time nor the place.” He knew she had been making a play for him, and that her parents had tried to push them together a time or two, but she was too young for him, still as innocent as a child in many ways.
She was very pretty and were he not biased, he would probably say that she was prettier than Thea, whose dark colouring and bold features were considered unfeminine by many.

Eliza’s light blonde hair and almost chalk white skin, was considered preferable by most
beauty standards, and she had clearly taken time and care over her appearance. Her cheeks and lips had been pinched to produce a healthy pink glow. Her hair was so curled that she must have slept overnight in rags, as opposed to the simple braid that Thea had worn to bed last night. Eliza’s curls had then been pinned into an elaborate style that appeared relaxed and feminine, with curls carefully left loose around her face to frame it, unlike the small strands that sometimes worked lose from Thea’s more utilitarian styles, but were as natural and unfettered as Thea herself.

Were he to choose a wife like her, she would be little more than decoration to his
arm, not his equal nor his partner. She would no doubt devote her time to keeping his home and herself looking good, but what time would she devote to their relationship? She wasn’t someone he would feel free to confide in or share his burdens with, let alone someone who could help him find solutions for problems. Even if she had wanted to be his confidant, she was largely innocent in the ways of the world; she knew little of politics, current affairs or the social problems that plagued the country.

Her
innocence prevented him from being blunt with her however, and he now feared that his attempts at kindness might have given her the wrong impression.

“I need to speak to you on your own. Please,
William, this is very important.”

Her use of his Christian name felt odd, not only because a young lady should not refer to him in such a manner, but because no one called him that, save for the servants, who still called him Master William. Thanks to his father’s nickname, his friends all called him Cole, and his acquaintances referred to him as Master or Mr Cole.

Eliza seemed very sincere and a little worried however, so he ceased his task with only one cuff fastened, took hold of her shoulders and guided her over to a chair, pulling another chair closer for himself.

“What’s troubling you?”
he asked.

“It’s, well…” now she seemed hesitant, so he reached out and took her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. When he tried to withdraw
his hand, her grip tightened, so he simply waited patiently for her to find her courage.

He was surprised to find himself feeling annoyed with her. It seemed that in the space of a few days, he had become accustomed to Thea
’s bluntness, to the point of wishing that more people were as guileless as she.

“It’s all right, Miss Eliza, you can tell me anything.”

“I- I- I’ve- I-” She stopped and took a few deep breaths.

“It’s all right, you can speak freely.”

“I came here to tell you that, well, I think I love you, William.”

Damn. “Miss Eliza, I appreciate your honesty in this matter but… I’m afraid that I do not return your feelings,” he said as kindly as he could.

Tears began to form in her doe-like eyes and spilled over.

“Here,” he used his free hand to pass her a handkerchief. “Please don’t upset yourself.”

“Don’t upset myself!” She cried harder so he tried flattery, that usually worked to cheer up a young lady.

“
You are a beautiful young woman. You are poised, polite, the picture of elegance and grace, not to mention, a delight to converse with.” His flattery seemed to be working, so he continued. “Please, Eliza, do not fret, this is just a small bump on the road of life, not the final destination. You are young, beautiful and any man would be honoured to have you on his arm.”

“But you prefer Athena to me.”

Her tears had slowed and he began to wonder how real they had been, however he wasn’t about to change tactics since this seemed to be working. Besides, what could he say about his relationship with Thea? They hadn’t exactly become engaged, nor were they even courting.

“Lady Thea is different to you but that does not make her better. You are a very special woman in your own right.”

***

Thea brought four of the school
room tablets to the head groundskeeper, Mr McCall, but after she had explained what she required, he replied that he kept sheets of slate for roofing repairs and would be able to cut her exact sizes from that, without needing to damage the other tablets.

He assured her that it was
not a long nor arduous task. He thought that it would take an hour at most to do as she asked, and he would leave the tablets with the butler for her. She thanked him profusely and returned to the house, Ann trotting at her heals.

She had done well with the coin trick and was confident that she would be ready to perform it
after breakfast.

As she returned to her room, she heard voices coming from the room opposite, Cole’s rooms. ‘Curiosity killed the cat’ was a well-known saying bu
t the Devil made her press her ear to the door and try to hear what was going on. She hoped that perhaps he was telling his valet about her, his feelings for her or his intentions perhaps. After last night, just hearing his voice as he discussed the weather would be welcome.

The door was too thick for her to hear anything other than the fact there were voices, so she returned to her ro
om and fetched the glass that accompanied her water jug. By placing the hollow of a glass against a door or wall, the glass amplified the sound, making it easier to understand.

She felt a tiny bit of unease at spying on him
, but her eagerness to hear his voice soon quelled such qualms.

“…
a beautiful young woman. You are poised, polite, the picture of elegance and grace, not to mention, a delight to converse with. Please, Eliza, do not fret, this is just a small bump on the road of life, not the final destination. You are young, beautiful and any man would be honoured to have you on his arm.”

She still couldn’t make out the words that his guest was saying, but she knew from his words that he was with Eliza
Buchan.

“Lady Thea is different to you but that does not make her better. You are a very special woman in your own right.”

“Oh, William-”

Thea reared backwards, not wanting to hear another word. She had called him William, showing a startling lack of formality which suggested intimacy.

But why?

Hadn’t Cole defended Thea when Eliza tried to make disparaging remarks? So
now why was he placing Eliza above her? Last night… well she didn’t really know what last night meant, but it clearly meant a lot more to her than to him.

Even Thea, with her poor understanding of human nature, could see that Eliza was making a play for Cole, a blind man could have seen that, and if Co
le was interested, why was he pursuing Thea? Was she just a distraction? An interesting dalliance before settling down to marriage? He wouldn’t be the first man to do so, but why choose Thea to dally with?

‘
Because you’re easy pickings
,’ a snide voice in her head told her. ‘
Unmarried at your age? He thinks you will fall for the charms of any man who shows you the slightest attention
.’

She felt like such a fool.

She closed her door behind her and fell against it, fighting back her tears. She didn’t understand it, she hardly knew him,
she shouldn’t feel this much upset at his actions.

Try as she might, she couldn’t hold
back her tears, the best she could do was cry silently, which she managed to do. She made her way to the sofa and sat down, so it would not be immediately obvious to anyone who came in, that she was crying.

Ann sat beside her and placed a paw on her thigh, almost as if she knew something was the matter and
that Thea needed comfort. Thea pulled the little dog into her arms.

She had never felt like this before, it was almost as if she had been punched in the
abdomen or at least, how she imagined that might feel. She didn’t know why people waxed lyrical about the heart either, this pain was not centred in her chest at all.

When her tears didn’t slow, she decided to focus on the thoughts flying through her brain, as odd as they were. She placed her fingers at her wrist and took her pulse, which was strong and even, although perhaps a little fast. Further proof that the poets were wrong and her heart was unaffected by this.

The distraction was working and her tears were drying, then her eyes alighted on the coins still lying on the coffee table.

She had promised her father a demonstration after breakfast, and Cole would surely want to see as well. She had to remain focused on the reason they were here, to
prove that nothing supernatural was going on and to find the murderer.

What did her emotions matter when people were dying?

“Oh, William, if all that is true, then why don’t you love me?”

“Because love isn’t like that, Eliza, it isn’t predictable. You will make a fine wife one day, but not my wife.”

Her tears were almost dry now and perhaps because she felt slighted, she reacted with anger.

“You are a fool to love her over me.”

Cole reminded himself that she was just a child who was
lashing out in anger.

“Fool or not, I think that I am in very great danger of falling in love with her, and I cannot regret that.”

“Honestly, Cole, Can you not see that she is turning your family into a laughing stock!”

An angry Eliza was not nearly
so charming as a hurt one had been, but he didn’t rise to the bait.

“
Even her name is ridiculous, Athena? I mean please, she is no goddess! Mother says that you won’t be able to get a single invitation in London next season, if you maintain your association with her.”

“I care little for your mother’s thoughts on th
e subject of the Copleys, Miss Eliza.”

“You should. Bringing in a female investigator is laughable enough, taking up with such a woman will irreparably damage your family’s good name.
It is not only you whose social prospects will be harmed, but also your sisters; they will need good husbands one day!”

“My true sisters are already wed. If my half-sisters
turn out even a fraction as scheming as their mother, they will fair very well, regardless of any so-called ‘shame’ I bring to the family.”

“How can you care so little for your
siblings? How can you treat your own reputation so lightly?”

“
I might ask you the same thing, no? If it is known that you make a habit of visiting unmarried gentlemen in their rooms, your reputation will be irreparably harmed, and that stigma will damage
your
sisters prospects as well, not to mention the shame and accusations your father will face, for not having taught you better. You should go now, before my valet returns to help me finish dressing.”

His words had the desired effect and she had visibly paled. Any
whiter and she would make a good candidate for the ghost seen in the woods.

He frowned as he opened the door for Eliza, his mind already having moved on to considering the possibility tha
t the ‘ghost’ that had been seen might have been a real live woman. Considering the supernatural suspicions that many already harboured over Mrs Garwood’s death, a woman outside at night time, dressed in white night clothes, with only moonlight to illuminate the scene and seen from a distance, it was easy to see how an active imagination could turn a person into a ghost.

Mrs Lanning
had been the one who saw the ghostly apparition and she was in the oldest wing of the house. Glass production in the 1600s was not what it is now and tended to distort the images seen through it.

It
was the most logical answer, that the apparition was a real person. Now he just needed to find out who had been out in the woods that night but considering that in all likelihood, their intentions had been nefarious, that might prove harder than he thought.

He realised that he was still holding the door open, although Eliza had clearly left. He hurried through the rest of his dressing, eager to see Thea again and tell her of his
idea. He hoped that she would be pleased with him, and his use of logic and reason.

***

Thea was a little late coming down to breakfast. Not only had she been so focused on practising her magic trick that she lost track of time, a quick look in the mirror revealed her eyes to be rather more red that she night wish.

Her apothecary chest held a number of
things with medicinal qualities, including witch-hazel. She put a little of the liquid onto some cotton, which she carefully wiped around her eyes and nose. The liquid cooled the skin immediately, reducing the redness and although her eyes stung a little, she did not begin crying again. After a few repeated applications, she looked almost normal.

Her father would probably know something was wrong with her but hopefully, no one else here knew her well enough to see the difference. If Cole or anyone else did ask, she would tell them that it was from lack of sleep.

Thea was rather practiced at hiding her feelings and for once, she was glad of it.

***

Only Cole and Lord Copley were at the table for a long while and they made polite conversation, although Cole’s gaze kept flickering to the door in anticipation of Thea’s arrival.

Instead
the next person to enter was Black, with the news that his father was so unwell that he wanted to send for the doctor. Cole of course approved that and Black left to see to it.

Lord and Lady Buchan were next, with their sons, Peter and Simon. Then Mr and Mrs Buchan entered with Eliza.

Cole made sure to ignore Eliza as much as possible, turning his attention immediately back to Copley once he had greeted her.

Cole was beginning to get worried and about to suggest someone check on Thea, when she entered. She looked particularly fetching this morning, in a rus
set coloured riding habit.

“Good morning,” he smiled at her, and was a little disconcerted when she simply nodded her response and sat next to her father, rather than next to Cole as had been her habit.

He noticed that her eyes were a little swollen.

“Are you well?” he enquired, which was as much as he could
ask in public.

“Very well, thank you, Mr Cole.”

That ‘Mr’ didn’t escape his attention either.

Mrs Dale an
d Selena entered then and took their seats.

“There you are, Ann!” Selena cried as she spotted her little dog who was
sitting beside the table, waiting to clean up any dropped morsels.

“How did you fair this morning?” her father asked her. “Are you ready to reveal how everything was accomplished?”

“I believe so,” she told him.

“How what was accomplished?” Lord Buchan demanded.

“How the psychic achieved her tricks,” Thea answered. She didn’t much care for the Buchan family to begin with, given the patriarch’s vigorous defence of the wrongs happening in Ireland but after overhearing Cole’s rendezvous with Eliza, she was even less inclined to change her opinion.

“Yes, the
boys were telling me all about that,” Lord Buchan said with derision. “In fact, they have hardly spoken of anything else this morning.”

“That is a gross exaggeration, Father. Besides, you don’t know, you weren’t there, but it was all very real, I can assure you!” Peter argued.

“It was,” his brother agreed.

“So you have discovered how she performed her tricks?” Mrs Dale asked.

“I believe I have,” Thea answered. “I agreed to give a demonstration for my father, but all are welcome to watch, if you would like.”

“I would love to,” Selena answered.

Cole thought that odd, she had loved the idea of the supernatural up until now.

“Shouldn’t you be with my father?” he asked.

“Why?” Selena seemed irked to have been reminded of the man.

“Because he is quite unwell, according to Black
, so we have summoned the doctor. I thought you would want to be at his bedside.”

“
You
are his son.”

“And you are his wife. Sons are supposed to form their own families, wives are supposed to care for their spouse.” He knew that he was
being more confrontational than usual but he couldn’t help it. Although he and his father were not close, he still wasn’t anticipating his death with any sort of relish.

There was a time when he had adored his father, who seemed more patient with his later children than his earlier ones. His mother said that age had made him more patient. Their rift didn’t really form until he married Selena and even then, they had veered between civil and friendly, until his father’s recent bouts of ill health, which had
given him rather mercurial mood swings.

“I will check on him later and bring him the hot chocolate he so enjoys, as I do every day.
I want to see how this mystic fooled us first, if in fact, she has fooled us.”

Selena
did visit him every day when he was bedridden, although she never stayed for longer than fifteen minutes. Still, he didn’t want to argue.

“I will need some time to
prepare the room, so the demonstration can be delayed a little,” Thea said, directing her words to Selena rather than Cole.

“It might be better to get the display over with,” Cole suggested. “Then we will be free when the doctor arrives. How much time do you need?” he asked Thea.

“Five to ten minutes. I just need to check that the room is absolutely dark when the shutters are closed.”

“Then we will commence once breakfast is over.”

“I’m not very hungry, so I may as well make the necessary preparations now, if I can be excused.”

“Of course,” Cole allowed.

“I’ll help you,” Copley said, and they left the room together.

Cole wondered at Thea’s sudden coldness towards him. Was she upset about last night? Had her father told her that he had discovered them together? Or perhaps she was just worried that he had compromised her
?

He would speak to her as soon as they were alone.

***

The
demonstration was in the same parlour as last evening and Thea was seated at the table when the others arrived. Most of the wooden shutters had been closed, just one large set left open for everyone to see by as they entered.

Every
one wanted to watch proceedings, more than had wanted to see the psychic, in fact. Only Mrs Lanning and their neighbours were not present.

The slate boards had been prepared and were ready to be used. Her father didn’t participate since he was to help her.

Cole took the seat to her left and she did her best to ignore his presence.

“I’ll begin with the boards, as the psychic did,” Thea stated. “I would like to remind everyone that no matter how fantastical the tricks appear to be, they
are
only
tricks.”

She held both chalk boards up for everyone to see that they were blank, then put them together and placed them on the table before her.

“The waiting is just theatricality,” she explained, lifting the top tablet off and holding it up.

The chalk writing said ‘Surprise!’

“The other board also has a message from beyond.” She held that up too, and it read ‘This is not magic’.

The table gasped in wonderment.

“If Papa would be so kind as to rub the writing off, we can repeat the process.”

She handed him one board, which he w
iped with his handkerchief, then she took the clean board and handed him the second one. Once finished, she held them up for everyone to see that they were blank, then she put them together and placed them on the table before her. After a beat she picked the top tablet up.

‘Surprise again!’ it read. She held the other board up, which read, ‘It’s a trick’.

“How?” Cole asked.

“Surprisingly easy,” Thea
replied. She turned one tablet over and into her waiting hand fell two pieces of slate. “One slate sat on top of the framed slate, writing side facing down,” she demonstrated. “And the same with the other board. The frame keeps the slate in place as long as I angle them correctly. When I put them together, I raise the top board directly upright, so both boards are left on the lower slate.”

“Truly amazing,” Peter Buchan grinned.

“When I put the plates together again after they have been wiped, I make sure to place them the other way around, revealing the writing hidden on the second board and slate.”

“That’s
brilliant!” Simon Buchan agreed.

“I could have worked that out,” Lord Buchan appeared unimpressed.

“I agree,” his brother said. “A simpleton could work out how that trick is performed.”

“Indeed.” Thea gave him a tight smile. “It is s
imple yet effective. After I perform this next trick, perhaps you would both be kind enough to explain how it is done for the other guests.”

“Of course,”
they both agreed.

Thea took a coin out and balanced it on her thumb and two first fingers. With a wave of her hand and a click
of her fingers, the coin appeared to vanish.

“Also ridiculously simple to understand, no?” Thea asked, looking from Lord to Mr Buchan. Neither gentleman spoke. “Here, I shall show you again.”

She repeated it, then looked expectantly to her detractors.

“Well, clearly…” Mr Buchan began.

“Clearly the coin is on a string or some other such nonsense.” Lord Buchan suggested.