A Circle of Dead Girls Page 18

  ‘I did. The full amount.’ He looked around. ‘Where’s Annie?’

  ‘Upstairs.’ A smile touched her lips. ‘Did the widow say anything?’

  ‘She was pleased. I’m optimistic there will be other housewives with commissions now.’

  Loud footsteps sounded on the stairs. ‘I have a surprise for you,’ Lydia said just as David burst through the door.

  ‘I got your letter,’ David said. Rees, his eyes moistening, reached out and hugged his son with all his strength.

  Lydia put out bread and cheese. David declined coffee but accepted some of Lydia’s home-brewed beer. ‘How long are you staying?’ Rees asked, wiping his eyes on his shirttail.

  ‘Just a few days,’ David said. ‘Although I’ve done most of the necessary chores at home, there’ll be more waiting.’ He smiled. ‘My wife and Simon are in charge and a friend is looking in on them. But I don’t want to leave them alone too long, especially with the planting coming up.’ He paused. ‘It looks as though you’ve done a fair bit already.’

  ‘The Shaker Brothers are helping,’ Rees said. ‘But the lambs still need to be dealt with.’

  ‘I stopped at the circus to see you,’ David said.

  Rees was very conscious of Lydia’s startled glance toward him. He did not know why he felt so guilty; he’d done nothing wrong.

  ‘I stopped briefly,’ Rees said. So, he had seen David running through the wagons. ‘Mr Asher said Boudreaux might not rejoin the circus.’

  Lydia inclined her head, her body stiff. ‘Did you see Bambola?’

  Rees shook his head and said truthfully, ‘No, I didn’t.’

  David, watching the interchange between his parents, said in annoyance, ‘Is that why you need my help? Because you are spending all your time at the circus?’

  ‘One of the Shaker girls was murdered,’ Rees said. ‘Elder Jonathan has asked me to look into it.’

  ‘Your father thinks Boudreaux – the trick rider – is innocent,’ Lydia said.

  David looked at his father. ‘And you would much rather probe the ugly side of human nature than attend to your farming chores.’

  Rees would have liked to contradict his son but both David and Lydia would know he was lying. ‘Someone needs to reveal the truth,’ he said. ‘And find justice for the victim.’

  David shook his head in disbelief. He had never understood his father’s passion for unpeeling the layers of deception and human evil, even if it resulted in identifying murderers. Rees, for his part, found David’s love of farming, even the tedious chores, beyond comprehension.

  David pushed away from the table and stood up. ‘I’ll go look at the new lambs,’ he said.

  ‘The Shakers are working outside,’ Rees said. ‘You may meet some old friends.’ David had been only a boy when he’d run away to the Shakers. Now he was a man, as tall as Rees himself, and married with a baby of his own. ‘If they even recognize you,’ he added.

  David smiled. ‘I have many happy memories of my time in Zion,’ he said.

  His departure left an uncomfortable silence behind. Lydia turned back to the dishpan and made a great show of washing dishes. Although Rees understood his wife was afraid for the security of her family, he was perversely angry with her for her suspicions. He had done nothing wrong! Before he could speak to her and profess his innocence, someone knocked at the door. ‘Must be Brother Daniel,’ he said, striding across the room. But when he flung the door wide, it was not Brother Daniel.

  Piggy Hanson, his cane upraised, stood on the step ready to knock again. Shocked, Rees fell back a step. For a moment they stared at one another. Then Rees demanded, ‘What the Hell are you doing here?’ He had never thought Piggy would track him to his home.

  ‘I must speak with you, Will.’ Hanson looked at Rees’s expression and backed up a few steps. ‘This is important.’

  ‘I am not giving you the opportunity to menace my family again,’ Rees said, his voice rising into a shout. The magistrate’s coachman turned to stare. ‘Haven’t you done enough? Go away.’

  ‘Will,’ Lydia said, coming up behind him and putting her hand on his sleeve. ‘At least hear him out.’

  ‘I know we’ve had our differences,’ Piggy said. ‘But I—’

  ‘Get off my porch right now,’ Rees bellowed.

  ‘I’m very sorry for what happened in Dugard,’ Piggy said. ‘But now we need to work together.’

  ‘No, we don’t,’ Rees said. ‘You allowed a superstitious fool to come after my wife and family.’ He barely heard Annie’s footsteps thudding down the stairs behind him.

  The magistrate’s pink and white complexion went even pinker. ‘I know. I’m sorry. But you managed to set everything to rights, didn’t you? And I put your friend Caldwell back into the position of constable.’

  ‘Put everything to rights?’ Rees repeated at such a loud volume a flock of birds in a nearby tree rose screeching into the air. ‘We’re living here because Lydia is still accused of witchcraft in Dugard.’ He realized he was shaking with rage.

  ‘I said I was sorry,’ Piggy said, his own temper fraying. ‘I can’t keep apologizing. Now we need to work together.’

  ‘No,’ Rees shouted, shoving the magistrate with all of his strength. Piggy lost his balance, went down a step and fell full length into the mud at the bottom.

  ‘You arrogant, pig-headed …’ Piggy struggled to his feet. Dirt covered his fine, black trousers and snug-fitting, gray jacket. Mud had even splashed his lacy cravat. He inhaled, clearly trying to master his fury. ‘If you change your mind I’ll be at the tavern in town.’ He stamped back to his coach and climbed in. Although Rees could hear Sharon wailing behind him, he waited on the porch until the carriage drove away.

  He went back into the kitchen and shut the door. Lydia had picked up Sharon. Over the child’s curly, red hair, Lydia glared at her husband, blaming him for the baby’s tears. ‘Was that necessary, Will?’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Rees said, reaching out for his daughter. Sharon turned her head away. She had never seen him so angry and now she was frightened. He felt guilty but annoyed as well. No one understood exactly what had happened in Dugard. No one appreciated his struggles to protect his family. Lowering his voice so Annie would not hear, he said to Lydia, ‘Piggy may be the murderer. He travels a circuit as well.’

  ‘Well then,’ she said tartly, ‘you need to find out what he wants. How will you ever know if he’s guilty if you avoid him?’

  Rees did not want to agree. ‘Likeliest, he’ll only lie to me,’ he said.

  Lydia’s mouth tightened but she did not argue. Instead she said, ‘We’ve learned one thing at least.’

  ‘What’s that?’ he asked.

  ‘If Magistrate Hanson did commit’ – she glanced at the children – ‘the crime, he might have had help.’

  Rees looked at her in perplexity. ‘How do you figure?’

  ‘He goes everywhere in his coach. The coachman would have had to know something.’

  Rees stared at her. ‘You’re right. I may have to speak to Piggy’s coachman.’

  ‘But wouldn’t the Reynard boy have seen the magistrate’s coach?’ Lydia asked. ‘It is very distinctive with its bright red wheels and that pretentious insignia on the doors.’

  Rees nodded slowly. ‘He did see it. I’ll have to speak to him again as well.’

  Annie, who had seemed a little startled herself by Rees’s outburst, came forward to take Sharon from Lydia’s arms. ‘Who wants some bread and butter with sugar on it?’ she asked with that forced cheer mothers and nannies used with children.

  ‘Me.’ Annie led Sharon to the table.

  ‘Brother Daniel told me Aaron is working out on North Road,’ Rees said to Lydia. ‘After dinner I’ll ride out and ask him some questions.’

  ‘Dinner isn’t for another hour or so,’ Lydia said. ‘What will you do until then?’

  Rees offered her a lopsided smile. ‘Help the Shaker Brothers in what will be another field of
rye.’

  She nodded, her forehead furrowed. ‘Will, I have something to tell you.’

  ‘Yes?’ He paused with his hand on the door.

  ‘When I went to the circus in David’s clothes the other day, everyone thought I was a boy. One of the crowd of boys. Anyway, I heard people talking.’ She hesitated.

  ‘And did you discover something?’

  ‘I did. It didn’t mean anything to me then.’ She paused and took a breath. ‘Miss Mazza, Bambola, you know, and Mr Asher are …’ She hesitated, searching for the word. ‘Connected.’

  ‘Connected?’ He had not seen any affection between the two.

  ‘Yes. They occupy their own wagons, it is true, but they frequently spend the night together. I couldn’t hear all of the rest, they lowered their voices then. But Miss Mazza had a baby.’

  ‘She did?’ Rees said.

  ‘I thought there might be something there,’ Lydia said, turning her face away. She added very quickly, ‘She likes you.’

  ‘Bambola?’

  ‘Yes.’ Lydia kept her face averted from him.

  Warmth swept up Rees’s neck and into his cheeks. As he thought of the readings she’d done, and his eagerness to see her when he visited the circus, his body prickled with both embarrassment and guilty pleasure. ‘There’s nothing between Bambola and me,’ he said truthfully as he pulled his wife into his arms. Truthfully for now.

  THIRTY

  When Rees drove out to the Perkins farm, he found Aaron, just as Brother Daniel had promised. As itinerant help Aaron had been given one of the worst jobs; shoveling manure out of the barn. Rees tied his handkerchief over his face and approached upwind, pausing within shouting distance. He really did not want to go any closer. ‘Aaron,’ he said.

  Aaron threw a spadeful of the scrapings from the barn floor into a pile and turned to face Rees. ‘What do you want?’

  ‘Shem is safe,’ Rees said. He thought he might soften up the irascible Shaker but Aaron only nodded. ‘He left the circus.’ Rees paused. ‘What is Shem to you? Son?’

  ‘Who told you that?’ Aaron stopped working and leaned on the handle to stare at Rees.

  ‘No one. It’s obvious there’s a connection there. Why keep it a secret?’

  ‘Huh. Even if he is my son I couldn’t say. We aren’t supposed to have special family, are we?’ Aaron spat to the side. ‘You, of all people, should know that.’

  Rees inclined his head, acknowledging that as the truth. ‘So, what is he to you?’

  ‘My son. On one of my selling trips I took him from that Jezebel, my sister. I knew she’d ruin him.’ Startled by Aaron’s frankness, Rees stared. Aaron retrieved his shovel and returned to work.

  ‘He doesn’t remember you?’ This was not a guess. Rees was unsurprised when Aaron inclined his head in affirmation.

  ‘No. I joined the Millennial Church when he was still a baby.’

  ‘But you kept an eye on him.’

  ‘Have to, don’t I?’ Aaron began shoveling as rapidly as he could and when he spoke again his voice was muffled. ‘I failed to keep Calvin safe.’ Rees nodded involuntarily. The disabled boy had been Aaron’s particular charge until he’d been murdered. At last Aaron paused in his frantic shoveling and stood up, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. ‘When I saw that girl, Leah, speaking to Shem I knew she was up to mischief. So, I kept a close eye on the pair of them.’

  ‘But Shem …’ Rees began. He stopped and took a breath. Shem had admitted to making several journeys to town without Leah in tow. Aaron had a blind spot where his son was concerned. ‘You must have seen Monsieur Boudreaux then?’

  ‘Yes, I saw him. Showing off. Well, pride goeth before a fall.’

  Rees regarded the other man in distaste. Aaron was unlike any other Shaker Rees had ever met and he wondered how he had lasted as long as he had in that community. Trying to keep his voice even, he asked, ‘What happened then?’

  ‘I followed them into town. Lost them in that warren of alleys that the townspeople call roads. By the time I found them again, they were talking to that circus rider. The girl was whining that it was boring and she wanted to go home. But Shem wanted to stay, keep talking about horses.’ Rees waited for Aaron to continue. For the first time the Brother seemed ill at ease. His eyes shifted from side to side and although the silence between the two men rapidly became awkward he didn’t speak.

  ‘You saw Leah leave?’ Rees finally asked.

  ‘Yes.’ Only the one word but it revealed a depth of shame Rees had not suspected. Once again Aaron began shoveling manure as though his life depended on it.

  ‘And then?’ Rees asked.

  Aaron paused and stood. ‘Well, I went back home when Shem left.’ He began speaking very rapidly, his forehead beading with sweat. ‘I had to, didn’t I? I had chores. And I’d already been gone a couple of hours. I knew Shem was safe …’

  ‘And where was Leah?’ Rees asked. Despite his attempt to remain neutral, his voice rose.

  ‘Don’t know.’ Aaron’s gaze shifted away from Rees. ‘She’d left. Said she was going home. And that’s where I thought she was.’

  ‘So, you did see her?’ Rees said, leaning forward on the balls of his feet as though he might charge the other man.

  ‘No.’ Aaron shook his head vehemently. ‘No. Shem had the devil of a time finding his way back to the lane and even if I was willing to let him know I was there I didn’t know the way either.’

  ‘What time was this?’ Rees asked.

  ‘Around four, I think,’ Aaron said, averting his eyes. ‘I swear, I didn’t see hide nor hair of the girl the entire time I was walking back home.’

  Rees thought it must have been about four thirty when he drove past Reynard’s farm and he had not seen the girl. Or either Aaron or Shem. Of course, Rees had been on the main road and not looking.

  ‘Did you see anyone else on the lane?’ he asked.

  Aaron shook his head. ‘Just the boy in the field. Couple of farmer’s carts and a carriage.’

  ‘The magistrate’s carriage?’ Rees asked in excitement.

  Aaron shook his head. ‘No. I would recognize his vehicle. It’s not fitting for a magistrate to ride in a carriage with red wheels and a fancy design on the door. This one was plain.’

  ‘So,’ Rees said, ‘let me see if I understand.’ Aaron took a step backwards from the anger in Rees’s voice. ‘You knew Boudreaux was innocent but you said nothing. Moreover, although you’d followed Shem and Leah into town, you did not announce your presence or offer to escort a young girl home. You do realize that, by the time you reached the lane, Leah was either already in her killer’s clutches being assaulted. Or dead.’ Rees’s voice rose until he was shouting.

  ‘It was her fault,’ Aaron shouted in return. ‘She shouldn’t of gone to town. She was disobedient. And she certainly shouldn’t of left Shem.’

  ‘She was a child,’ Rees bellowed, not realizing this argument had a witness until someone took him by the arm. He shook off the farmer’s restraining hand. ‘This was her first time in town. She didn’t know how to find her way to the lane, just as you didn’t, so she took the road. And that’s where her murderer found her.’

  ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ the farmer asked, inserting himself between Rees and Aaron.

  ‘Nothing,’ both men answered in unison.

  ‘It didn’t sound like nothing to me,’ Mr Perkins said. He looked at Aaron. ‘After you finish here, collect your pay and go. I don’t want any trouble.’

  ‘He’s not in any trouble,’ Rees said in reluctant defense. ‘I thought he might know something.’

  ‘Then let him finish his work,’ Perkins said to Rees.

  ‘Very well.’ Rees took a few steps back as though he were planning to leave. But instead he waited until the farmer had left the barn. ‘Will you go home to Zion now?’ he asked.

  Aaron shook his head. ‘Women are fools and the men who listen to them are bigger fools,’ he said. ‘Best I don’t go back.’


  ‘Shem went home,’ Rees said.

  ‘Thank the Lord and all His angels,’ he said, closing his eyes. ‘But no.’ Rees nodded and turned to go. As he approached the door Aaron said from behind him, ‘I swear I didn’t kill that girl and I didn’t see the man who did.’

  Rees looked back over his shoulder but he didn’t speak. A man could swear anything. It didn’t mean he was telling the truth.

  THIRTY-ONE

  When Rees left the Perkins farm he thought he might stop and visit with Rouge. But the circus – and Bambola – drew him like a moth to a flame and he found himself turning his wagon toward the fairgrounds. As he approached the field he heard the banging of several busy hammers. Although the wheelwright was there – Rees parked next to the repairman’s wagon – he was not the source of the hammering. The circus roustabouts were erecting two tall poles while Bambola watched. She turned with a warm smile. ‘Why, Mr Rees, how lovely to see you.’

  Rees felt heat sweep over his body. To hide his face he executed a clumsy bow. ‘What are they doing?’ he asked as he returned to an upright position.

  ‘Oh, the axle won’t be repaired for several more days at least,’ she said with a pout. ‘So, I thought I would practice. I have something new in mind. I’ve gone through the steps several times on the ground but now I need to see how it will work in the air.’

  ‘You have a dangerous trade,’ Rees said.

  She smiled. ‘My mother began training me when I was five. Rope dancing does not seem so dangerous to me.’ She looked back at the half-completed posts. ‘They won’t finish today.’ She fixed Rees with an impish smile. ‘We have time for another reading.’

  ‘Oh no,’ Rees said. But hadn’t he known all along, even though he had not admitted it to himself, that she would want to tell his fortune again? ‘Why me? There must be many here whose fortunes can be told.’

  ‘Indeed yes,’ she said with a trill of laughter. ‘But I have read the cards for most of them more times than I can count.’

  ‘Most of them?’

  ‘Some do not believe. Mr Asher for one.’ She sighed. ‘And others are frightened.’