Page 51 of The Peculiar Incident at Thistlewick House

‘Thank the Lord you’re safe. Damn fool to go out in that fog yesterday – worst I’ve seen in years.

What the hell were you thinking? I’ve been half expecting the constable to call and announce your body had been found at the bottom of the cliffs.

And then Wright went down to the village first thing because we saw smoke.

Turns out Jacob Palmer has been up to no good, and gunshots were heard in the woods yesterday afternoon.

I’ve been so worried about you – especially after all that funny business with the hair tonic. ’

Mrs Drayton appeared and helped Edward hang his coat on the hatstand and relieved Mallory of her cloak.

‘And what the blazes has happened to your head?’ Barnabas belatedly noticed the bandage.

‘I’ll explain everything. We need to talk. It’s important,’ Edward said.

‘And Mrs Grimmer needs to be present, does she?’

‘Absolutely, because she’s pivotal to what I have to tell you.’

His cousin narrowed his eyes, but nodded, reluctantly leading them both into the drawing room and then addressing his housekeeper, who had followed them in.

‘Some tea, please, Drayton. And tell Cook there will be three for luncheon.’

The housekeeper’s thin lips pinched tight at the thought of entertaining such a disreputable woman, but she nodded. ‘Very good, sir.’

The gentlemen waited for Mallory to take a seat, and Edward noticed how wide her eyes were as she looked about the tastefully furnished room. He doubted she’d ever been in such a well-to-do house in either of her tragic lives. She nervously patted her shabby skirts and picked at her fingernails.

‘It won’t be me ordering the staff about soon,’ Barnabas observed, but without resentment. ‘Fraud or not, it doesn’t matter to me. The house will shortly be yours and I truly believe I will be happier in the little cottage by the church. All I want is to be near my Emma.’

Edward reached for his cousin’s knee. ‘That’s what I’m here to talk about.

I understand now why you so readily handed the house over to me after her death – because she meant everything to you and your life felt empty without her.

I, too, have fallen in love and would equally sacrifice everything, all the wealth and comforts I thought I wanted in life, to be with the woman who’s so completely claimed my heart. ’

Mallory jerked her head in his direction at this dramatic declaration as Barnabas raised his head.

Yet again, he’d announced his depth of feelings to someone other than the person he should be declaring them to.

But he’d been certain of his love since she’d revealed who she truly was, and they’d engaged in that most intimate of acts on the knotted rug in front of her tiny fireplace.

‘In love? With whom?’

‘The woman you see before you today.’ He allowed himself to smile as he looked across at Mallory’s startled face. ‘And I don’t want your house, Barnabas, because she’s taught me what is truly important in life, and it isn’t money, or a big house, or fine foods. It’s being accepted for who you are.’

‘Maude Grimmer?’ Barnabas’s tone was incredulous, and then he remembered that the poor woman was sitting not five feet from him.

His cheeks coloured as he turned to her.

‘Apologies, but you are married and quite… erm… different to the sort of woman I imagined my cousin falling for.’ He swung back to Edward.

‘I always understood romance was not on your agenda.’

‘She knows my secret and yet she’s still here by my side. I acknowledge we’re in an incredibly complicated situation and she’s not free to marry, but I will find a way to be with her.’

He’d made a great many assumptions and turned to face Mallory, his eyes asking the questions he’d yet to voice.

Did she feel the same? She was frantically blinking away building tears but she nodded, and Edward knew it was time to trust his cousin with the truth.

Firmly closing the drawing room door behind Mrs Drayton after she’d presented the tea tray, he began to tell his cousin of a persecuted circus troupe and an astonishing spell cast by a mysterious snake charmer as a consequence.

At the end of his tale, he explained that it was Esfir, the young daughter of the circus owner, who’d found herself in Emma’s body, and that Mallory, the Toad Girl, had been Maude for the last four years.

Barnabas looked shocked by his revelations. ‘Is this more of your nonsense, Edward? Playing on my gullibility for your own ends again?’

‘Not at all, cousin. You were correct about the spirits possessing people, but we were both wrong about their intent. We assumed they were maleficent, but it was the villagers who turned on the troupe. A couple of lads poisoned a gift of food and wine, and other members of the community were either actively involved in covering this up, or turned a blind eye to the distribution of their possessions and failed to scrutinise the lie that the circus had moved on.’

His cousin nodded and Edward was once again glad for his trusting nature, even though everything he’d told Barnabas this time was the truth.

‘Then, my Emma died the night of the high fever?’ Edward nodded, and shortly afterwards Barnabas nodded to himself. ‘You never could have saved her. By the time I wrote to you, it was already too late.’

The room was silent for a moment. Poor Barnabas.

‘The time has come to start asking direct questions and demanding answers. Much like the detailed research I did before my séances, the information I now have at my disposal gives me an advantage. And by presenting an air of confidence, people will talk more freely because they will believe I already know the information they hold. So, if you would kindly ask Mrs Drayton to join us?’

Barnabas rang the bell and his housekeeper was summoned. She was obviously still rattled by the presence of Mrs Grimmer. Her eyes were wary and she was wringing her hands together as she entered.

‘Dear woman.’ Edward stood and gestured for her to take a seat.

He began a slow pace, back and forth in front of the fireplace, his deep blue tailcoat flapping behind him as he walked.

‘I understand you were a young woman when the circus came to Thistlewick Tye and I believe you know more about its disappearance than you’re letting on… ’

The older woman narrowed her eyes but didn’t speak, so he continued.

‘Mrs Shaw’s earthly body was possessed by a little girl called Esfir – the youngest daughter of Samson Ballard, owner of the Circus of Astonishing Spectacles.

Someone recognised her name and was worried that she’d reveal the dark truth of the troupe’s demise.

You were the only person with access to your mistress’s room the night she died.

You were also the only person to witness the delivery of the poisoned gift basket.

So, I have to ask if you administered the morphia to your mistress to stop secrets from tumbling out?

And whether you tried to kill me with tainted goods, too? ’

‘I loved Mrs Shaw!’ The housekeeper looked horrified.

‘I’ve no doubt. But someone wanted her silenced.

’ Mrs Drayton looked confused. ‘You were best friends with Mary Tutter back then and have understandably been angry if you thought she’d been attacked.

Yet, even before that accusation, your family sold the troupe a sack of mouldy potatoes, and tensions were running high.

For a woman who regularly attends church, your behaviour towards them wasn’t very Christian. ’

He was clutching at straws, trying to find a motive that would justify Mrs Drayton killing Emma, but the poor woman was now shaking.

‘How do you know all this?’

Edward kept silent – another trick he’d learned over the years. It made people uncomfortable so they kept talking to relieve the tension, often saying more than they intended.

‘I had nothing to do with Mrs Shaw’s death, your hair tonic or the circus leaving.

Ask who you like – even them spirits, if you really do have the ability to contact them.

’ She was indignant now. ‘I’ll be honest – I didn’t like the circus folk one bit, and I didn’t care where they went.

I was just pleased to see them gone and didn’t ask too many questions. ’

‘But they didn’t go, did they? They were poisoned by food and wine delivered by Silas Garrod, and they died horrific deaths.’

Mrs Drayton gasped. ‘The circus people were poisoned?’

Edward and Mallory exchanged a glance. The housekeeper’s shock seemed real enough.

‘Look, there were things that went on after the troupe disappeared that seemed odd, I’ll grant you.

The Tutters got a pair of carthorses and a new waggon, as did another farmer, out towards Cromer.

Yet the Reverend Marsham swore that he’d seen them leaving in the night.

That he’d had further words with Mr Ballard in the churchyard and that they’d stolen the silver plate. ’

‘You do know, don’t you, that Mary wasn’t attacked by one of the hands; Charlie Tutter is Jacob’s?’

She bowed her head to avoid his eye and nodded. ‘Not at the time, but it became obvious as he grew up. Truth is, the circus had done such wicked things, what did it matter if one more accusation was levelled at them? It saved Mary a thrashing.’

Mallory was furious and leapt to her feet.

‘See! That’s exactly the problem. Of all the crimes we…

I mean, the circus, supposedly committed, only the theft of the pig was true.

The hired lads didn’t even start the fight outside the pub.

That was young Jacob Palmer, sore because one of them was talking to the village girls, and probably where he got the idea to blame them for the pregnancy. ’

‘Mrs Grimmer has been helping me with my enquiries.’ Edward noticed the housekeeper’s confusion and hastily tried to explain away Maude’s outburst. ‘But she’s quite correct.

It’s too easy to pin everything on those who have different morals to your own, especially if they’ve disappeared and aren’t there to defend themselves. ’

‘Those people were mothers, daughters, fathers…’ Mallory was close to crying.

‘Many of them had extremely difficult lives, born with disfigurements, not wanted by their real families. The Giraffe Woman was stolen from her people, the Toad Girl was dying from the lumps that everyone laughed at, Harry had been beaten by his father as a boy, Samson grew up in a workhouse… All of them had unhappy pasts and were just trying to earn a crust. And yet there were people in this village who would see them dead.’

Mrs Drayton looked quite moved by Mallory’s passionate speech. Perhaps she’d not thought of it from that point of view.

‘I can promise you, sir—’ she looked over to Edward ‘—I may have kept quiet about some of the things that went on back then, and perhaps my silence is a sin I need to atone for, but I had no part in any murder.’

The housekeeper’s bottom lip wobbled as she spoke, but she held his eye. He was used to liars and knew the tell-tale body language that often gave them away.

‘No,’ Edward agreed, slumping back into his chair. He’d at least ruled out one suspect. ‘I’m inclined to believe you.’