The Folly (25 page)

Chapter
4
9

Willa sat down on her narrow cot, her valise on the floor at her feet.  She was almost finished packing, all her meager possessions fitting into the old bag with room to spare.
Now that the inquest and the funeral were over
,
she was no longer needed.  At least she had been allowed to stay for the funeral.

The preparations for the funeral began as soon as Sir Henry returned to the house from the inquest.  All the windows and mirrors had already been swathed in yards of black crepe
,
and a yew wreath with black ribbons had been hung on the door to alert the passerby that there had been a death in the family.  All the clocks had been stopped at the time of the discovery of the bodies, so no one knew exactly what time it was unless they chose to tell time by the sun, which had not been in evidence for several days. 

Sir Henry dispensed with the wake, since no one actually expected the corpses to come back to life after being shot through the heart and submerged under water for over a mont
h.  Every member of staff wore a black armband to signify mourning
,
and the house itself felt like a tomb
;
silent and grave.  Sir Henry wore mourning clothes
,
and even ordered handkerchiefs and stationery with a black border to be used during his mourning period. 

The funeral had been a grand
affair
,
with two horse-drawn hearses
,
pulled by black bays decked out in black plumes and ribbons.  The
mahogany
coffins with brass fittings were polished to a shine
,
and adorned with
fresh flowers, despite the December cold. 
The mourners followed the hearses to the cemetery on foot, shuffling quietly behind Sir Henry
,
who walked with his head uncovered as a sign of respect to his wife and son.  Two freshly dug graves yawned on
either
side of Lady Mariah’s final resting place, ready to receive the remains of her son and Sir Henry’s second wife. 
Elizabeth and Jeremy might have been together in life and faced death together, but they were not to be buried next to each other for fear of impropriety.  
Willa
wept as Elizabeth’s coffin was lowered into the ground, clumps of earth hitting the wooden lid with heartwrenching finality.

**

Willa
wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. 
She had cried for Elizabeth
,
and now she was crying for herself. 
She knew she wouldn’t be needed after the inquest, but she h
adn
’
t expected this morning’s interview.  Sir Henry called her into the library,
ordering her to close the door
. 

“You are to leave this house immediately.  Your services are no longer required.”  He didn’t even look at her as he said the words, choosing to continue reading the book in his lap.

“But Henry,” cried Willa, “what about your promise?”

“As of this moment, all my promises to you are null and void.  You will get a month’s wages and a good character.  If you continue to debate the issue, I will be considerably less generous.  Now, get out!”

“I let you use me body and soul.  You promised me that you would set me up in a shop of my own if I backed you up at the inquest
,
and now you are throwing me out like trash?”  Willa’s voice sounded hysterical even to herself.  “I can go to Magistrate
Buxton
and tell him the truth about you.”

Henry put down the book, facing Willa for the first time.  “If you recall, I did not rape you.  You came willingly, happy to trade your favors for a few pounds and empty promises.  You will not go to Magistrate
Buxton
, because if you did, you would have to admit your own part in the affair.  You are an accomplice
,
and you have
perjured
yourself at the inquest
.  Be happy it wasn’t your body floating in the lake.  Now, take what I
’
m giving you and leave.  If I ever see you again
,
I will not be so kind.
  Mr. Shipley has kindly offered to take you back to your family.
”

Willa turned and left the library.  She was shaking with fury and shame, but there was nothing she could do.  She had been trusting and foolish, thinking he would keep his promises to her.  The thought of him using her body made her sick, but she bit back the bile, knowing she had no one to blame but
herself.  She betrayed Elizabeth easily enough, allowing Sir Henry to stick his cock in her whenever he wished for the promise of a better future.  People like him didn
’
t keep promises to people like her.  She was as disposable in the bedroom as she was in the house.  Her services were no longer require
d
.  He made that clear enough. 

Well, she would take the money she saved and go to London to start a new life.  She couldn’t go back home.  She was too ashamed
,
and too many questions would be asked by her parents and her siblings.  She had to get away to a place where no one knew her
,
and maybe in time, she would be able to forgive herself and forget the disgrace she brought upon herself.  Willa closed the valise and took off her cap.  She didn’t need it any longer.  She put on her scuffed shoes and threw her cloak over her shoulders, closing the door behind her.  The future was uncertain, but at least she would
be
away from this house of lies.

Chapter
50

Jeremy checked his pistol one more time as he took up his position behind the house. 
His heart was hammering in his chest
, making it difficult to
breathe.  He could almost hear the roaring of the blood in his veins, overcome by the kind of bloodlust he hadn’t known since battle.  His mind was filled with countless thoughts, racing like wild horses through his
consciousness
.  Hearing Simon’s account had left him speechless and furious, but mostly scared.  He
’
d left Elizabeth with Hugh, thinking she was safer back at Tower House, when all along she had been in danger.  He prayed she hadn’t been hurt, despite knowing that hurting her would serve no purpose.  Rachel would want her pretty and pliant
;
not bruised and defiant.  She would be defiant anyway, but thinking him dead would probably break her resistance, leaving her desolate and indifferent to her fate.  He wished he would have warned her about Hugh’s duplicity, but how could he have known?  He had no concrete proof and didn’t want to alarm Elizabeth when she was so vulnerable.

As soon as Simon got to the part about Hugh turning over Elizabeth to Rachel, Jeremy bolted from the church, not bothering to hear the rest of the story.  Nothing mattered.  He had to get to Elizabeth as quickly as possible
,
and it was only Simon’s brute force that kept him from galloping to Newcastle.  Jeremy’s jaw still smarted where Simon hit him in order to bring him to his senses. 

Simon had been right, of course.  They needed a plan, even if it
wasted
valuable time formulating one.  Jeremy’s biggest fear was that Rachel would turn Elizabeth over to some man right away, trying to break her spirit.  The thug at the door would no doubt be happy to subdue
Elizabeth
,
before turning
her over to Hugh for
further
degradation.  Jeremy was filled with blood-boiling fury and remorse for his own stupidity.

“Stupid fool,” Jeremy cursed himself as he smashed his fist into the trunk of the tree.  The pain helped him to focus
,
and he turned his mind to the task at hand.   He
’
d berate himself later, once he had done what he came to do.  Now his mind had to be clear, his actions economical and precise.  He would do nothing to put Elizabeth in further danger
,
and he had one chance to get it right.

Jeremy heard the church clock
strike
eleven
. 
Simon would be in place
by now
, so he didn’t have much time.
  Jeremy looked up at the house, wondering which room Elizabeth was in. 
Most of the windows on this side of the house were dark, heavy curtains closed tightly against the December night. 
If he
were
Rachel, he would put her on the top floor at the back of the house
,
where she couldn’t call
out
to anyone in the street for help. 
Based on what Simon said, Rachel and Hugh would not be expecting anyone to come for Elizabeth
, but he still had to be careful
. 
They hadn’t survived for as long as they had by being careless.

Jeremy looked up again.  One room on the second floor was illuminated by candlelight
,
and Jeremy thought he saw Rachel’s silhouette pass behind the curtain. 
Simon had sent a not
e
to the Colonel, as agreed, advising him that the plan had been carried out.  Hugh believed Jeremy to be dead, which in this case was a great advantage
, but the element of surprise would last for only a few minutes
.

Jeremy pushed the pistol into his waistband and approached the house
on silent feet
. 
The only way to get up
there
was to climb
the
ancient oak behind
the house and break one of the windows. 
Hopefully
,
Simon would cause enough of a commotion
to muffle the noise
.  Jeremy
hoisted himself up onto the lowest branch and
began to climb.  He hadn’t climbed a tree since he was a boy and his boots slid off the damp bark
, slowing down his progress
.  He should have taken them off.  It would be easier to climb barefoot. 
His
knuckles
bled from hitting the tree, but he continued to climb, silent as a cat.

A
ruckus
could be heard f
rom the front of the house
.
Simon was doing his bit.  Jeremy concentrated on climbing, nearly losing his grip a few times.  He paused, and started again.  He
was level with the second floor now
,
and could see light streaming from one of the room
s
, a young woman sitting half-naked in front of the mirro
r
, pinning up her hair.  Her client must have just left
,
and she was preparing to go back downstairs.  Jeremy hoped she wouldn’t glance out of the window, but the girl seemed intent on her image in the mirror, pleased with what she saw. 
She
replaced the
brush
on the vanity
and put some rouge on her nipples, turning this way and that to see the effect.  She smiled at her image and rose from the stool, turning her back to the window.  Jeremy breathed a sigh of relief and looked up. 
The windows on the third floor were all dark, the rooms either
empty
or the occupants otherwise engaged.  Jeremy wouldn
’
t want to shoot some poor
sod
in the middle of his pleasure, but he would have to silence anyone who got in his way. 

Having
finally reached the third
-
floor windows
,
Jeremy
held on
to a thick branch with
one arm while
using the heel of his boot to
break the
window
.  The shattering
of
glass sounded like thunder to
his ears
, but
the brawl downstairs masked it nicely
.  Simon
seemed to be really getting into his part
.  Thankfully, the room was empty.  Jeremy listened at the door, before slipping out into the hallway.  He could hear
giggling
from the room to his left
, but not much else
. 
Jeremy put his ear to every door on the floor hoping for some sign.  Maybe they gagged her or given her something to make her sleep.  He reached the last door and listened intently.  He thought he heard muffled crying. 
That had to be Elizabeth.  He
put his shoulder to the door, nearly falling into the room as the wood gave way.

“Oh, God.  Jeremy!  You
’
re alive.” 
Elizabeth
’s
face was swollen from crying, but the joy in her eyes was all he needed to see
as she threw
herself
into his arms, nearly knocking the pistol to the floor
.  “They told me you were dead.  Hugh
brought me here
.”
  She was shaking hard and clinging to him in her agitation.  Jeremy had no time to waste before his
presence
was discovered, but he took a moment to hold Elizabeth and give her a tender kiss. 
He could see that she hadn’t been physically injured, just frightened
,
and breathed a sigh of relief.  At least she had been spared the humiliation and pain of being raped by Hugh. 

“
Elizabeth
, listen to me. 
Everything will be all right.  Just s
tay here until I come
back
for you
,
and lock the door from the inside. There is something I have to do before I get you out of here
.”  Jeremy gave her a
nother
quick kiss
,
and disappeared into the dim corridor
,
as Elizabeth
sank to her knees and began to pray.