Petals on the River (107 page)

said unsteadily.
 
"Yet I'd rather not go back up there all alone again .

.
 
.
 
at least not yet."

"Nor will I let you." Gage raised a hand to indicate William, who was

still waiting.
 
"Why don't you let Papa escort you back to the cabin?

I'll be in as soon as I'm finished with my tasks."

"I'm worn out," Shemaine admitted.
 
"But I want to help.
 
Twill keep my

mind busy so I won't be reliving everything over and over.
 
And Cain

will need to be washed up before he's laid in the coffin.
 
I can do that

while you're making the coffins, then we can come back to the ship

together and finish cleaning the deck."

"All right, my sweet, if that's what you'd prefer."

"Then I'll leave you two," William said reluctantly.
 
"But don't be too

long.
 
I'm going to fret until I know you're both safe inside the

cabin."

With Shemaine there, Gage dared not tell his father that he might have

good cause to be concerned while there were still others in the area

willing to pay for Shemaine's death.
 
His young wife had been through a

lot, and if she hadn't overheard what Potts had told him, then it was

just as well, at least for the time being.

Shemaine brought the subject to light herself.
 
"Gage, Roxanne said that

someone had paid her to kill me...."

William paused to look back at them.
 
He had become concerned about his

son' s young wife, and her statement assured him that he had good reason

to be.

"Potts said the same thing," Gage acknowledged with a weary sigh. "

Twould seem someone is very serious about wanting you dead, my love."

"But who would seek after my death besides Morrisa?" Shemaine asked,

totally baffled.
 
"Morrisa wouldn't waste her money trying to get Potts

to kill me.
 
He'd have done it for her willingly."

"I don't know who it could be, my love," Gage replied.
 
"But I intend to

find out.
 
Potts said that Morrisa knows who it is.
 
I'll be paying her

another visit tomorrow, right after I take the coffins into Newportes

Newes."

A troubled sigh slipped from Shemaine's lips as she searched her mind,

but she found no face to put to this unknown adversary, at least none

here in the colonies.
 
"I won't be able to sleep wondering who had

enough money to pay them."

"Then let us be about our tasks, madam, so we can finish up everything

and go to bed," Gage urged.
 
He stepped across the rocks and lifted

Roxanne.
 
He was amazed at himself for thinking how much boavier the

woman felt in his arms than his wife.
 
But then, it was true.
 
f t being

illogical, despite the trauma of having had three more þffed aut on his

ship.
 
After tonight, he would be hoping to see the last of the vessel

before any further disasters solidified his niggling apprehensions .

William walked with them as far as the cabin and went inside as they

made their way to the cabinet shop.
 
Gage returned for Cain's body and

laid the hunchback on a table near Roxanne.
 
At Shemaine's insistence,

Gage fetched her a pitcher of water and a basin, then observed her with

growing concern as she began to wash the blood from Cain' s face.
 
Her

hands were trembling, and soon her whole body was shaking.
 
He tried to

distract her with questions as he took the cloth from her and took over

the task himself.
 
"What was that about Cain killing Victoria?
 
You said

Roxanne had lied to him...." Unable to drag her gaze away, Shemaine

stared fixedly at the gnarled face of the hunchback as she told her

husband everything that Roxanne had told her.

" Twould seem that Cain was Roxanne's own private dupe, poor soul," Gage

commented at the conclusion of her story.

r "I really don't think he meant to harm Victoria," Shemaine murmured.

"He just didn't know his own strength, but it served Roxanne's i

purposes well.
 
I think, at the very last, Cain realized just how evil [

Roxanne really was.
 
That's probably why he said Roxanne had to die."

12 "He obviously thought he deserved to die, too, for killing Victoria,"

Gage reflected.
 
"He judged himself and decreed the sentence of death

was fit and just for what he had done."

"Roxanne said Cain was more deliberate about breaking Samuel Myers' s

neck before he threw him down the well."

tR "Well at least I'm better able to understand Myers's death than

could Victoria's," Gage said, heaving a sigh.
 
"She was so kind to ri

everyone, 1 just couldn't imagine why anyone would want to murder her,

and yet 1 refused to think that she had jumped to her death.
 
The only

one 1 ever suspected was Roxanne, but 1 just couldn't figure out how she

managed to lift Victoria over the prow and throw her down.

Victoria may have been slender, but she was incredibly strong for her k

size.
 
No doubt Roxanne realized beforehand that she would need an

accomplice to kill Victoria and lured Cain into believing her lies."

, The whys and wherefores of Roxanne's motives and Potts's vengeful bent

had been rehashed several times before Gage and Shemaine finally

returned to the cabin.
 
For the first time since the* wedding day they

did not conclude the evening making love.
 
Shemaine was visibly

distressed, and it was some time before she calmed down enough to drift

to sleep in her husband's encompassing arms.
 
Gage was too afraid for

his wife to even think of trying to relax, for he could find no release

for his roiling thoughts.

Once the house was quiet and dark, Gage roamed the interior, peering out

the windows into the ebon darkness beyond the glass panes, rechecking

the bolts on the doors, and placing his rifles within easy reach of the

front portal.
 
But after he realized he was disturbing Bess, who had

spread a feather-filled mat on the floor of the kitchen, he went back to

the bedroom and closed the door.
 
He rechecked the loading in his

pistols and, placing one on his bedside table, slipped into bed beside

his wife, Taking her in his arms again, he stared up at the ceiling,

mulling over the possible culprits in his mind.
 
He could name very few,

and although Morrisa was at the head of that list, he could only think

of one person with enough wealth to enlist others in her efforts to get

rid of Shemaine.
 
With Maurice du Mercer's presence in the colonies,

there could be a serious connection, albeit a very slim one.
 
Still,

Gage promised himself that he would go to the docks on the morrow to

make inquiries among the captains just to see if a titled elderly lady

had bought passage from England aboard one of their vessels and had

recently arrived in Newportes Newes.

Daylight finally came, and after a hearty breakfast that Bess laid out

for him, Gage went down to the cabinet shop.
 
By that time Ramsey and

the other men had arrived and were looking rather apprehensively at all

the newly made coffins.
 
They could only wonder if their employer had

gone into that particular business.

"Ye can just tell us if'n ye've decided ta stop makin' furniture,"

Ramsey offered drolly.
 
"The lot o' us will leave an' the'er hold it

against ye.
 
Better ta walk out o' here on our own accord than ta be

shipped out in one o' those."

Gage could not help but chuckle at the unassailable humor of his chief

cabinetmaker.
 
"Those boxes seem a bit small for the likes of you and

Sly."

Ramsey took exception to his comment and ran his hands down his own

torso, which had become rather bulky around the middle lately. "Are ye

sayin' we've gotten a bit broad and weighty?"

"A bit?" Gage scoffed with quick humor.
 
His friend's wit had always

been a good tonic for easing his woes.
 
"Why, the way you've been

filling out lately, I'm wondering if we won't have to widen the doors

around here."

Sly chuckled good-naturedly as he joined them.
 
"Aye, I was wonderin'

meself if I should extend him the use o' me britches ta cover his

backside.
 
Every time he bends over now, he exposes more'n I can bear."

Gage broke out into hearty laughter as Ramsey turned a wickedly baleful

glare upon his fellow cabinetmaker.
 
Already his heart was feeling

lighter.

About that time, Gillian came charging through the door, looking for

Gage.
 
At sight of the three coffins he halted abruptly with one foot

still dangling in the air.

"Holy Mother o'þ" he breathed as he slowly lowered his foot to the

floor.
 
The young Irishman stared agog at the pine boxes and, after a

moment, faced Gage with a noticeable gulp.
 
"Who did ye put in em,

Cap'n?"

"Roxanne, Cain, and Potts," his employer answered simply.

The three men gaped at him in shocked surprise, and Sly shook his head

sorrowfully.
 
"1 was hopin' they were empty."

The two apprentices hurried in from the back, curious to hear the story

firsthand.
 
All of them congregated around Gage.

"I gather they vexed ye a mite," Ramsey voiced the conjecture, eager to

know more.
 
"Ye shoot all three?"

"Nary a one," Gage responded with a lame smile.
 
"My wife shot Potts,

who was trying to kill me.
 
Cain killed himself and Roxanne by leaping

off the prow of the ship."

"Ye ever think that there ship is jinxed?" Ramsey prodded.

Gillian would not allow time for that thought to take firm root in

anyone's mind.
 
"Why did Cain kill Roxanne, Cap'n?"

"She was one of those trying to kill Shemaine, and he didn't like that