Page 92 of All of Us Murderers

“Row,” Zeb explained. “Mr. Wyckham. Awful man.”

That would have to do it, because he was going to throw up if he did anything but breathe for a while. Gideon straightened a bit to add, “Very disobliging chauffeur,” which was more syllablesthan Zeb could imagine uttering in one go ever again.

“That’s a nasty bit of work,” the grocer’s man agreed, with a darkling look. “Both on ’em, come to that. Sacked my young lady for nothing, that Wynn Wyckham did. You may as well hop on. Be a bit chilly, so there’s an old blanket in the back if you want. Mind, you’ve warmed yourselves up nicely.” He chortled. “Aye, warmed yourselves nicely, you have!”

Zeb helped Gideon get into the cart with a push, and then couldn’t make his unwilling thighs do the necessary climb. Gideon looked down at him and said quietly, “If I tell you we’re being chased, would that help?”

“Sorry,” Zeb said. “Worked, though.”

“Swine.” Gideon pulled him up. “We’re in,” he told the driver, who was still chuckling at his own witticism. “Might just lie down to catch my breath. Shall we go?”

They hunkered down in the cart, concealed by its wooden sides. Zeb took Gideon’s hand, cold and sweaty, and felt long fingers lace through his.

They trundled on to the gate with agonizing slowness considering how fast the cart had seemed to go before, and stopped again. It would take time for the gatekeeper to go through the lengthy palaver of opening the gate. They’d just have to wait, and keep still. Again.

Zeb stared at the sky. He wondered if he could hear the motor-car in pursuit, or if it was the blood still roaring in his ears. He wondered what was happening back at Lackaday House, and what they would do when they reached town. He wondered ifGideon might like to find a place together in London, or what he might feel about living in the countryside instead, and everything except whether the gate might not open, because he could not bear to think about that.

He could feel Gideon’s pulse in his fingers, thudding against Zeb’s. If the gatekeeper kept them here and sent to the house for help…

The gate screeched and squealed, agonisingly slow. They stood for aeons longer and then finally, finally, the cart jogged into motion. Gideon let out a long, silent breath and whispered on the edge of hearing, “Still us.”

Zeb squeezed his fingers. Gideon squeezed back. The cart drove slowly, ploddingly, into the moor, jolting their way to freedom, and behind them the gates of Lackaday House screamed one last time as they shut.

Epilogue

At the coroner’s inquest into the tragic events at Lackaday House, Wynn Wyckham and his staff testified that Elise Wyckham’s death was the act of her husband, Bram; that, in the course of a confrontation the following day, Bram Wyckham was fatally shot by Elise’s former lover, his cousin Hawley; and that Hawley Wyckham jumped off the roof rather than face justice.

Zebedee Wyckham attempted to interrupt the proceedings several times and was eventually removed from the hearing by order of the coroner, who had his bizarre and implausible accusations struck from the record. No blame was attached to Wynn as the unfortunate host of the disastrous party.

After the tragedy, Wynn Wyckham became more reclusive than before. However, local acquaintances noted that a Miss Jessamine Evans appeared to have taken up residence atLackaday House.

A few months later, on the evening before Wynn’s fiftieth birthday, the acetylene gas plant exploded and Lackaday House burned to the ground. Wynn’s charred remains were recovered from the ruins, with the coroner noting it was unclear what had prevented him fleeing the house. A disused well in a cellar was also discovered to hold a badly decayed human body, identified by clothing as Colonel Wyckham Dash.

Jessamine Evans’s body was not found, but due to the fierce blaze, she was presumed dead. An expensively dressed woman of her description carrying nearly fifteen thousand pounds in cash and jewels travelled on a cross-Atlantic steamer not long afterwards and disappeared in the United States, but no connection was ever established.

Zeb Wyckham inherited the remaining Wyckham fortune by default. He immediately had the full sum put into a trust to be repatriated to the islands where Walter Wyckham had owned plantations, administered by his live-in personal secretary and business manager, Gideon Grey.