Chapter 15 #2
Was it possible his grandfather actually had a heart?
No, he was mostly depraved, as well as ruthless in controlling his family.
“Why did you not tell me this morning?” Tulip asked Mrs. Granger, bringing his own attention back to the present.
Mrs. Granger appeared distressed. “I wanted to. I don’t know why I did not say anything then.
But please know, I did feel I could trust you.
However, I feared this was too much to reveal all in one sitting.
Who would ever believe me? The old duke had such a debauched reputation and it was deserved.
There were women all around the place, shamelessly offering their bodies not only to the duke but to his offspring. ”
“My father, uncle, and cousins,” Alex said with much disgust.
“Not your father,” Mrs. Granger insisted.
“I know you won’t believe this, but your father adored your mother and it broke his heart when you and she left.
Just as I think your grandfather’s heart was broken when Elspeth disappeared.
I believe my aunt and the old duke were having a true courtship, one that was intended to lead to their marriage. ”
“He told you this?” Alex asked.
“Yes, he confessed that he was her secret beau and not some mysterious naval officer. He told me that his intentions were serious. And why not? He was in his forties, still hale and virile, and Elspeth probably loved him sincerely. I think it would have been a love match.”
Her eyes began to tear. “I never believed what my mother and grandparents told me about Elspeth. Even if she had run off with someone, my grandparents loved her too much ever to disown her. They missed her very much. Elspeth was also a warm, loving girl. She would have written to them. Visited them. They had to know she was not alive.”
“Do you think the inheritance they supposedly received was actually a bribe on my grandfather’s part to keep them silent?” Alex asked.
“No, Your Grace. Not a bribe. Never that. But yes, I think he quietly helped them move away because living in Burnham was too painful for them. He took care of them because he loved Elspeth and this was how he chose to honor her.”
Alex struggled with this. “But if he loved her, then why not move heaven and earth to find her when she disappeared? He had to know she would never willingly leave him if they did love each other. And yet, there is no hint he ever insisted on an investigation or ever participated in one.”
To Alex, this meant his grandfather had to know she was dead.
But who would he protect with his silence?
One of his heirs?
Three heirs had ascended to the dukedom and all of them had died, no doubt by Ernfield’s hand.
“Yes, all you say is true,” Mrs. Granger muttered.
“But I am now convinced the truth lies with Ernfield. I think he knows what happened that night of her disappearance, and his nightly visits to your grandfather were not about two old friends chatting, but served as a warning to your grandfather to keep quiet about Elspeth.”
“Except, he didn’t,” Tulip remarked. “He began to confide in you.”
“Yes, and this is why I am convinced your grandfather did not harm Elspeth. But she died, somehow. Perhaps it was by accident. I think he would have told me if he knew she had been murdered. He would have given me a name. But he accused no one.”
Alex raked a hand through his hair.
Did this mean Elspeth killed herself?
Why would she do this if she believed she was going to marry a duke?
He shook back to the present, for more was needed to resolve the confusion surrounding Elspeth’s death.
There was enough evidence to imprison Ernfield for attempting to kill Mrs. Granger, but still not enough to link him to any other deaths.
One might build a circumstantial case around poisoning Martha, and now young Edward Wilcox could be added to his list of victims. But Elspeth? Or his three predecessors?
Well, perhaps he would have to settle for this one crime, and even that was Mrs. Granger’s word against Ernfield’s. Would it be enough to have him imprisoned for the rest of his life? Or hanged? “Too bad no one got a better look at him coming after you on the marshes.”
Tulip pursed her lips. “Why? Wouldn’t Mrs. Granger’s testimony be enough for a conviction?”
He shrugged. “Possibly, but it depends on whether Ernfield, a long time resident of Burnham whose family is well-liked and trusted, or Mrs. Granger, a stranger to these parts whose family left suddenly and under mysterious circumstances, is to be believed. Having additional evidence to bolster her claim could be the difference between Ernfield being found guilty or not guilty.”
“I can testify,” Tulip said.
Alex arched an eyebrow. “You? What proof can you offer?”
“His boots squished.”
Alex laughed. “What?”
“Ernfield came up to me as I stood on the terrace and I thought it was odd that his boots squished, which means they were wet. How do boots get wet when you are the Davenport head butler and your role is to stand indoors? So, obviously he was outdoors and the soles of his boots might still hold traces of marsh reeds and sedges. The fresh mud and grasses would link him to the salt marshes at the time Mrs. Granger was attacked.”
Alex smiled. “Thank you, Tulip. That was a clever observation.”
She cast him a delicious smile. “Shall we question Mrs. Crabbe next? Never mind about tonight’s dinner party. If we have to send word it is cancelled, my friends and family will understand.”
“No, let’s not cancel anything just yet. Let’s talk to Mrs. Crabbe first and then decide.”
They summoned the two maids to look after Mrs. Granger, and Alex repeated his stern warning.
“Do not leave her side for any reason. I want the two of you watching over her at all times. No substitutions. You do not leave except on my authority or that of my wife. No one else is to come in here unless it is Mr. Carver, the magistrate, or the doctor. No one else. Is that clear?”
“Aye, Your Grace,” they both said in earnest.
Mrs. Crabbe was barking orders to her scullery maids and cooks when they strode in.
“Your Graces,” she said, thwacking her meat cleaver down on the table as they approached, and then wiping her hands on her apron that held traces of animal blood on it.
“Are ye needing something? Maisie’s about to bring a bowl of broth to Mrs. Granger. ”
“We need to talk to you,” Alex said. “Come into my study. It won’t take long, but this is quite urgent.”
She nodded, not looking too happy about the request since they were taking her away from her supper preparations that were to be more elaborate than their usual dining fare. “Mind the pies, Annie. And Lucy, get the last of those chickens plucked.”
She lumbered after him and Tulip, and sat awkwardly once they entered his study and he offered her a chair. Obviously, she was not used to sitting in the presence of a duke, or settling into a chair of the softest leather.
As for him, he still had trouble thinking of himself as a duke. He had been proud of his reputation as London’s top investigator and sorely missed those days. “Mrs. Crabbe, tell us what you can recall about the night Elspeth Palter disappeared.”
“Elspeth?” She inhaled sharply. “Yer Grace, is there a reason to resurrect the dead?”
“The dead?” He had been leaning against his desk, his hands at his sides and loosely grasping the edge of the desk, but now straightened. “Why do you refer to her as that?”
Mrs. Crabbe paled as his gaze fixed on her. “I…well…no one ever heard from her again, did they?”
“But you know what happened that night, don’t you?
Do not bother to deny it, for it is plainly written on your face.
” This was not merely a shot in the dark, for Mrs. Crabbe’s first thought was to pronounce Elspeth dead while everyone else was still wondering whether she had eloped with a navy officer.
“It is time for the truth to come out, Mrs. Crabbe. How many more deaths must be endured at Thornwycke because of your silence?”
She clutched her heart. “Yer Grace! I never laid a hand on anyone. Upon my mother’s grave. I am a cook. I nourish people, not destroy them!”
“Then tell me what you know. I give you my word that you shall not be punished for anything you tell me, so long as you were not the one who killed Elspeth or assisted in her killing.”
“A killing? Ye think someone murdered the poor girl? No, no.” She shook her head vehemently.
“No one killed her. Dear Lord, is that what everyone is thinking?” She uttered a short prayer.
“Please, ye cannot tarnish poor Elspeth’s reputation.
She was a good girl and is meant to be in heaven.
Leave it alone. Please, Yer Grace. Let her rest with the angels. ”
“And you think revealing the truth will have her snatched from the arms of her angels?” Tulip asked.
“Yes, Yer Grace,” she replied, casting pleading eyes on Tulip. “You see…Elspeth jumped to her death.”
Tulip gasped.
Alex leaned forward, eager to hear more. “How? Why?”
Tulip took hold of the woman’s beefy hand and spoke to her gently.
“This is not about tarnishing the poor girl’s reputation, but perhaps salvaging it.
You must trust us, Mrs. Crabbe. My husband is the most brilliant man alive and the most honorable.
He would never do anything cruel to her memory or to you.
Nor would I. But there is a real danger lurking here at Thornwycke and it is time for this evil to be brought into light. ”
After a moment of agonizing uncertainty, Mrs. Crabbe nodded.
“That night Elspeth died…she did die, Yer Grace. I saw her body lying broken on the terrace. I was just a young cook in the household at the time and flirting with one of the footmen, Horace Crabbe. He’s now my husband.
But that does not matter, I suppose. It was the middle of the night and even the duke’s family and their debauched guests had gone to sleep. I…”
Mrs. Crabbe began to gasp for breath.