The Folly (24 page)

Chapter
4
7

Silas Manson slung his gun over his shoulder and turned his steps toward home.  His steps were heavy and slow, his vision blurred by tears.  He had watched
from a distance
as the grooms carefully wrapped the remains and carried them off to an outbuilding
,
where the coroner would examine them upon arrival.  He had lost many people during the course of his life
,
and thought that he was immune to death, but this time it had not been an act of God, but an act of man; an act that he had participated in
willingly
. 

Silas
told himself over and over that he had been presented with an impossible choice
,
and couldn’t have done otherwise, but deep inside he knew the truth.  He was partly responsible for the death of those two young people
,
and now he had to pay the price.  Once again
,
there was a choice to be made
,
and he would make it.  The right thing to do would be to go to the coroner or the magistrate and tell them the truth, but too many people’s lives were at stake and he couldn’t do that.  All he could do was atone for his sins in front of himself and God. 

Silas reached his cottage and stepped inside, carefully putting his gun in its place above the mant
e
l.  He had things to do
first
.  Silas spent an hour tidying the cottage from top to bottom.  He made his bed, washed his breakfast dishes
,
and swept the floor.  He found this cottage clean and tidy when he moved in with Adele all those years ago
,
and he would leave it in good order for the next gamekeeper, whoever he might be. 

After the cleaning was complete, Silas sat down at the scrubbed, wooden table to eat his lunch.  He cut himself a hunk of dark bread and a piece of cheese, chewing slowly and enjoying every bite.  He washed his meager meal down with a cup of cider
,
and put away the remainder of the bread and cheese, rinsing out the cup and setting it back in the cupboard.   He had one more thing to do
,
but
it was the most important one.  Silas pulled out a battered tin box from beneath a floorboard and took out his savings.  It wasn’t much, but it would make a difference. 
The box held nearly twenty pounds.  Silas carefully put the money in his pocket and pulled out Simon’s letter, looking for the address of the woman.  Once he found it, he carefully copied it out on a piece of paper and put it together with the money. 

The walk into the village took Silas nearly an hour, but he was in no hurry.  It was a fine day despite the cold
,
and he enjoyed the sound of the wind moving through the trees and birds singing in the woods.  He waved to a passing farmer, declining the offer of a ride.  He wanted to walk.  The postmistress greeted him cheerfully, taking his letter and gushing over his good fortune at arriving just before the mail coach.  His letter would go out today and arrive in London within a few days.  What luck.  Silas thanked her and wished her a good day before
stepping out into the lengthening shadows of the late afternoon
. 
He stopped by the church on his way back, but didn’t go inside.  He had no right to go there anymore. 

Instead, Silas went into the neat little churchyard and knelt by the grave of his wife. 
The stone looked weathered, but the grave was neat and well tended. 
He spoke for a while, telling her everything that was in his heart
,
before awkwardly kissing the headstone and rising to his feet.  It was time to go. 
He did a mental checklist of all the things he had to do
as he walked down the lonely road back to his cottage
,
and found that there was nothing more that needed seeing to. 

By the time Silas got home
,
the temperature had dropped
considerably
and the
first stars were beginning to appear in the twilit sky.
  Silas didn’t bother to light a candle or start a fire.  There was no need.  He took the gun off its hooks above the mant
e
l and left the cottage, carefully closing the door behind him. 

Chapter
4
8

Willa took her seat on the hard bench next to Jacob
,
and looked around.  The room was already full, with several people standing along the back wall
,
having gotten there too late to secure a seat on one of the benches.  Normally, an inquest would be held by a local magistrate at the house, but this case would be presided over by
C
oroner Davis, who had personally examined the bodies upon discovery.  Willa heard that it was part of the procedure to have the deceased in the room as the testimony was given, but under the circumstances
,
the coroner decided to forgo that step, especially since the hearing was held at the local schoolhouse.  If anyone wished to view the bodies before the inquest
,
they could do so at Flynn Manor
,
where they were laid out in one of the outbuildings
,
and would be prepared for burial immediately after the inquest. 

Elizabeth’s father had come for the inquest and the funeral
,
and now sat next to Sir Henry, his back straight and his lips pressed together in a grim line
;
a total contrast to Sir Henry, who kept dabbing his eyes with his monogra
m
med handkerchief
,
and
looking
as if he was about to slide off the bench onto the dirt floor. 
Mr. Shipley had seen Willa enter the room, but gave no sign of recognition as he stared into space.

Twelve men from the village had been chosen to act as the jury
,
and were seated separately in their place of honor along the wall. 
Silas Manson should have been there as one of the elders of the village, but Silas was dead.  He was found dead this morning by one of the stable boys who went to bring him some fresh milk and buns from Cook.  Silas’s death was incomprehensible.  Did he kill himself
,
or was he a victim of the same person that killed Lady Elizabeth and Captain Flynn?  The lad said that the cottage was in good order
,
and there were no signs of a break-in or a struggle.  What could have possessed Mr. Manson to kill himself?  Willa knew that h
e
had been fond of the Captain, but was he so distraught over his death that he would take his own life or had life become intolerable since the execution of his own son, Simon? 

Willa was distracted from her thoughts as t
he coroner called for quiet
,
and asked the first witness to come up and face the room. 

“Sir Henry, would you be so kind as to tell us what happened on the morning of September 20
th
of this year,” the coroner asked, giving Sir Henry a nod of encouragement.  Henry stood, twisting his handkerchief in his hands and looking miserably over the assembly.

“I got up at my usual time, dressed, and went downstairs for breakfast.  I was having my second cup of tea when the hall clock struck 9
a
.
m
.
and I realized that neither my wife nor my son had come down to join me.” 

“Was this unusual?”  asked the coroner.

“Yes.  On the days that I was at home
,
my wife usually joined me for breakfast by eight thirty
,
and my son came down no later than nine.” 
Sir Henry looked down for a moment
trying
to compose himself.

“What happened then?” 

“I waited a quarter of an hour before calling for Willa Adams, my wife’s maid, to go check on her.  Lady Elizabeth had been unwell due to…”  Henry trailed off, his eyes filling with tears.  “The maid reported that my wife was not in her room or anywhere in the house.  Neither was my son.”

“What did you do then, Sir Henry?” asked the coroner quietly.

“I ordered Willa Adams and my valet, who also saw to Captain Flynn, to search their rooms to see if anything was missing.  At ten o’clock
,
I called the staff into the foyer to question them.  No one had seen Lady Elizabeth or Captain Flynn since the previous evening.  Willa Adams and Hughes, the valet, assured me that nothing had been taken from the rooms.  All the
ir
personal possessions were still there, including jewelry and my son’s sword.  Nothing had been taken.  I ordered Jacob, the groom, to summon some men from the village and began a search of the grounds and the surrounding area.  We searched for three days.” 

“Did you find anything at all?”

“We found no trace of them until my wife’s body was discovered by Silas Manson two days ago.  She had been missing for two months.” 

“Sir Henry, some people have speculated that your wife and son had a romantic relationship and simply ran off together.  Did you ever notice any signs of a tendresse between the two?”  asked the coroner gently.

“There was nothing improper in their relationship.  My son treated his stepmother with the utmost respect
,
and my wife was a virtuous woman, sir.”  Sir Henry looked as if he was about to collapse, so the coroner bid him to take his seat.

“I call Miss Willa Adams,” droned the coroner, as Willa took the spot vacated by Sir Henry.

“Miss Adams, would you please tell us what happened on September 20
th
?”

“It’s just as Sir Henry said, sir.  My lady was not in her room when I went to wake her
,
and none of her things had been disturbed.  She was gone.”  Willa’s voice shook with nerves, but she tried to compose herself by taking steady breaths. 

“Sir Henry mentioned that Lady Elizabeth had been unwell,” enquired coroner Davis.

“Yes, she was suffering from morning sickness; common during the early stages of pregnancy.”  Willa heard gasps of surprise as the coroner called for quiet.

“Are you quite sure she was with child?”

“Both my mother and grandmother are midwives, so I know the signs.  Lady Elizabeth was in the family way.”

“Was she aware of her condition?”

“She was
,
and she was overjoyed.”  Willa tried not to look at Sir Henry as he dabbed his eyes again.

“Miss Adams, did you help Sir Henry identify the body of his wife?” asked the coroner.

“Yes, I did.  It was heartbreaking seeing her that way.”  Willa wiped a tear from her cheek and looked down at her shoes.

“Are you sure that it was Lady Elizabeth?”  asked the coroner sternly.

“Her face was disfigured beyond recognition, but she was wearing Lady Elizabeth’s dress and her favorite ring.  It appeared to be her, sir.”

“Thank you, Miss Adams.  You may go back to your seat.”

Willa barely listened as the coroner called Jacob to the stand
,
to report on the fact that no horses had been taken from the stable when Lady Elizabeth and Captain Flynn disappeared.  He had been up at dawn and had not seen or heard anything.

Coroner Davis
asked
Jacob to be seated
,
then
addressed the room.  “Ladies and Gentlemen, you have heard the testimony from the witnesses.  Silas Manson, the gamekeeper, was due to testify, but sadly, he was found dead yesterday.  I myself have examined the bodies found on the Flynn estate
,
and have concluded that both victims have been shot through the chest at what appears to be close range
,
and must have died instantly.  Based on the state of the bodies, I would venture to guess that they had been in that lake for at least a month.  It appears as if they had been killed somewhere else, since no one heard or saw anything and there were no traces of blood anywhere near the lake.  I cannot ascertain whether Lady Elizabeth was indeed with child without a post-mortem.  It is my opinion that the deceased are indeed Lady Elizabeth Flynn and Captain Jeremy Flynn.  Please consider the evidence and hand down your verdict.”

Willa stared at the floor as the jurors conferred between themselves quietly.  She just wanted to get out of this room.  She had lied to the coroner about the disappearance of Lady Elizabeth and Jeremy Flynn, but she had no idea what happened to them once they left the house. 
The
idea
that she had helped Elizabeth run away
,
only to get murdered in such a gruesome way
,
made her sick to her stomach. 
Who had killed them and why?  Of course, Sir Henry knew that they ran away together, but he was genuinely shocked when the bodies were discovered.  He had been angry and humiliated, but he didn’t kill them.  He hardly even
left the estate after their disappearance.  And why did Silas shoot himself?  Willa’s head buzzed with unanswered questions
,
as she watched the foreman hand over the piece of paper with the verdict to the coroner. 

Coroner Davis looked at the paper and then over at the assembly.  “In the death of Lady Elizabeth Flynn and Captain Jeremy Flynn
,
the verdict is “Murder by persons unknown”.  The case is now closed.”  The room erupted in conversation
,
as Willa pushed her way to the door and ran out into the cold December morning.