The Traitor's Bones

by Evelyn James

  “I had not connected your name with Mr Lound,” Clara said diplomatically.

  “You need not mask your feelings. I know my father,” Emily shrugged. “I suspect his instant acceptance that Christian was a traitor was sparked by his instinctive and completely selfish sense of self-preservation. It would never do for his political career, you see, if it became public knowledge his son had betrayed his country, so he never pushed to learn the truth. He let it all disappear.”

  Emily looked angry, Clara could hardly blame her. If someone accused her brother, Tommy, of being a traitor, she would fight tooth and claw to have him absolved.

  “Anyway, father was already angry with Christian,” Emily continued. “He wanted Christian to go into politics too. My father is not a religious man, but if you asked him he would most certainly say he was Church of England. For his son to not only defy his wishes, but to defy them by becoming a Roman Catholic priest was beyond the pale. They never really spoke after Christian joined the priesthood, though he always wrote to mother and father. I suppose it all made things too simple for father when the rumours surfaced. He could write him off as a bad egg, and pretend he never existed. It almost made him feel as if he had been right all along.”

  A tear trickled down Emily’s cheek.

  “I am sorry,” Clara said softly.

  “Honestly, I am used to it all by now,” Emily gave a weak smile. “I just want to do right by Christian. He always watched over me.”

  “When did he go to Belgium?” Clara asked.

  “Early 1915. I think it was the March. He had talked about it for a while, but my father was very against the idea. He was still certain he could get Christian to change his mind about politics and he didn’t want him going out there and getting shot. My father is very self-absorbed,” Emily said this as a statement of fact, rather than a criticism. “Christian eventually left in secret, my father was appalled. That was when he started to disown him. For months he would not even have Christian’s name mentioned in the house.”

  Emily groaned at the memory.

  “Christian seemed to flourish in Belgium. He found his calling there. He helped to start a retreat for soldiers, where they could go and take a pause from the fighting. It was a joint effort of Catholic and Anglican priests and it welcomed everyone, from privates to colonels. He wrote all about it in his letters and I know he felt a sense of worth in his work. He hoped he was bringing peace to men whose souls were in turmoil,” Emily explained. “They also ran services for the Belgians, trying to keep their spirits up too. He felt especially sad for the children caught up in the conflict. They held special Christmas parties for them and tried to bring them some joy amid the madness. It was such a noble thing to do, and my father just laughed bitterly when he read about it. He thought Christian was wasting his time.”

  “Some people do not understand why it is so important to look after people spiritually as well as practically,” Clara replied, hoping it was a tactful comment.

  “I don’t think my father cares much about people at all,” Emily said with no humour. “He thought the Belgians had got themselves into a mess and should get themselves out of it.”

  “Tell me about Christian’s disappearance,” Clara nudged. “I take it you had no warning?”

  “No. Well, you saw his last letter and there was nothing in that,” Emily frowned. “Two days after that letter the telegram came. It was all very formal, just said that Christian had been reported missing to the British authorities. That was it. Didn’t even mention if they thought he was alive or dead. I didn’t know what to do. In the end, all that seemed possible was to wait.

  “At first there was nothing but silence, then my father received a letter from a colonel he knew. I was never supposed to see the letter, but I stole a look at it while it was on my father’s desk. It stated that there were suspicions that Christian had been working with the Germans.”

  “Did the letter explain why they suspected this?” Clara asked.

  Emily shook her head.

  “It was very vague.”

  Clara was not entirely surprised. With a war raging, censorship was considerable and the colonel would have been extremely cautious about what he wrote, even in a private letter.

  “After the war, did you learn anything else?”

  “No,” Emily sighed. “Nothing. Christian was just gone. No one could explain what had happened to him. Nor did anyone elaborate on the claims he was a traitor. That is why I do not believe it. There is no proof. But, my father refuses to listen, and my friends are sick of hearing me talk about it. They seem to think it’s a case of ‘no smoke without fire.’ They are convinced I am wasting my time. The only one who supported my opinion was my late husband.”

  “I noticed you were in mourning,” Clara said sympathetically.

  Emily gave a bitter smile.

  “Gerald was always sickly, I was under no illusion we had a long future together ahead of us,” she said, toying with the wedding ring on her finger. “He was a brilliant lawyer, if his family had had money he could have been a barrister. Even my father was impressed by him, and that is something. Gerald was asthmatic and then he developed TB. We knew his time was limited, though we tried everything we could.”

  Emily’s hands were trembling and her voice had cracked a little.

  “He died last month,” she managed to say. “With him died the last ray of hope I had in this life. I was so happy with Gerald, he made me feel like I was worth something. Now I am back living with my parents, and I…”

  Tears made Emily’s eyes look watery, but she refused to let them fall. There had been a lot of tears shed over the last few years. Too many. They had become a burden rather than a release.

  “I have nothing now, Miss Fitzgerald. The two people I loved most in this world are now things of my past. There is just one thing that is keeping me going, the hunt for the truth about my brother. I don’t know if learning what became of him will make me happy or sad. Whether it will give me the strength to carry on or leave me wishing I never knew. But… what else is there?”

  “I understand your mixed feelings,” Clara promised her. “I am willing to take on this case, as long as you are aware that I can only reveal the truth, whatever that may be. If your brother did somehow betray his country, I shall have to reveal that to you, as much as if I discover he was innocent.”

  “I am fully aware of the risk I am taking,” Emily replied, her voice now stronger. “I know there is a chance you will discover my brother did something he should not have done. Yet, I also know in my heart that he was a patriot and loved his country. I could just ask you to find out what became of him. But I would still have questions. Knowing why he disappeared is just as important as learning where he ended up.”

  Emily paused, biting her lower lip.

  “I know the chances are he is dead. If he was not, he would have contacted me somehow, I am sure of that.”

  “There is another possibility I must raise with you,” Clara said gingerly, feeling awkward to mention the concern on her mind. “Considering your brother disappeared in Belgium, it would seem likely that I would need to travel abroad to pick up his trail. That raises the question of costs. My usual fees would apply, but also the price of travelling abroad.”

  “Please, say no more,” Emily held up her hand to politely bring Clara to a halt. “I have taken that into account too. I inherited my husband’s estate and that has provided me with a suitable sum to employ your talents. You need not worry if you have to travel abroad.”

  “I would only go for the minimum of time.”

  “Miss Fitzgerald, I trust you, I would not have come to you otherwise. This matter needs to be resolved and I am prepared to spend the money such a task requires.”

  Clara relaxed, with that difficult matter out of the way she could get on with business.

  “I shall need to begin by examining the letters your brother sent you during the war. The ones he sent your parents would be hel
pful too, but I appreciate they will be difficult to come by.”

  “I can look for them,” Emily nodded. “I shall try to get them.”

  “I will also need to interview the colonel who first told your father about your brother’s supposed treachery. Do you know his name?”

  Emily rummaged in her handbag and hastily produced a slip of paper.

  “Gerald planned on contacting him, but he ran out of time. He found his address, however.”

  Clara took the paper and was mildly disheartened to see that the colonel’s home address was in Durham County, a considerable distance from Brighton. If he was not available on the telephone, it would mean a lengthy train journey.

  “You say your husband supported your views on your brother, was he researching his case too?”

  “He was. Any spare moment he had Gerald was trying to piece information together. I have a folder of papers that he compiled. I didn’t bring them because I was not sure what would happen when I saw you, but I shall make sure you get them.”

  “I would also like to know the Seminary your brother attended and the names and addresses of any of his friends and fellow priests who were acquainted with him at the time of his disappearance. That is quite a number of people.”

  “I shall do all that,” Emily said without flinching at the daunting task. “I very much appreciate this Miss Fitzgerald.”

  “It is my job,” Clara smiled. “I shall do my best for you. Though, I warn you, five years is a long time. Information gets lost, memories fade, people forget.”

  “Then best the effort is made now rather than later,” Emily said firmly.

  Clara could not agree more, though she had her doubts about the whole matter. She was going to find out some dark secrets, she was certain of that. People, especially priests, do not just disappear without a good reason. And people aren’t accused of being traitors lightly, not when the punishment for such a thing was death.

  Clara expected to make Emily unhappy with whatever she discovered, but it was not her place to determine whether that was right or not. She only served her client and she let them decide whether they were prepared to risk unhappiness or not.

  “I’ll start looking into this right away,” she promised.

  “Thank you,” Emily looked very relieved. “I really can’t express how good it feels to have someone else on board. It is a lonely business believing in someone that everyone else has condemned.”

  Clara only hoped she was not about to discover that condemnation was justified. She shook hands with Emily and escorted her back to the main hall to await the return of the tour party. In the meantime, she was heading for home. She needed to host a council of war, so to speak, and figure out just where to begin in this complicated case.

  Chapter Three

  Tommy sat opposite his sister at the dining room table in their home. Next to him was Captain O’Harris. Both men were veterans of the last war and knew about the atrocities that had occurred in Belgium. They also knew how men could simply disappear into thin air and about treachery in the trenches. Clara outlined Emily’s story to them, hoping for their insight into the matter. Both men were sombre when she had finished.

  “I met a few priests during my time at the Front,” Tommy said after a moment. “Brave souls, usually. They put themselves in harm’s way to help men who very often wanted to deny God rather than be saved by him.”

  “What was the establishment he was part of again?” O’Harris asked.

  Emily had written down the name of the sanctuary Christian had helped to found.

  “Albion Hope,” Clara read off the paper Emily had handed her. “Ever heard of it?”

  “I have this vague feeling I went there once,” O’Harris mused. “I’m not certain. I did spend a lot of time around Belgium in 1916. I was flying reconnaissance across the border into France. I recall visiting a house that my friends had mentioned. It was a place of peace in the midst of war. I am sure there were religious services going on there too, but God and all that was not rammed down your throat. There was a good library, I remember that. I only got the chance to visit it once though.”

  “Had I known such a place existed I would have paid a visit,” Tommy interjected. Out of the three of them, he was the one who still retained his religious spirit. The years of war and bloodshed and made him hold firmer to God, rather than the other way around. He was very spiritual, in his own way. “I was deeper in France than you, old boy.”

  “We could have done with a few more places like that dotted around,” O’Harris nodded. “I remember thinking that at the time. But, you know how it is, the next moment you are on a mission or struggling to survive the latest German push forward and you forget all about that other stuff.”

  “You don’t think you ever met Father Lound?” Clara asked O’Harris.

  “Name doesn’t ring a bell,” O’Harris shrugged. “Sorry. I confess I was not really paying attention to who was running the place. Names were blurring into one at that point.”

  “What about this Colonel Matthews who wrote to Mr Lound to tell him his son was a traitor?”

  Both men looked blank.

  “There were plenty of colonels going about,” Tommy explained. “Sometimes seemed like there were more officers than regulars. Of course, every time an officer got shot someone had to replace him. A few colonels got their rank by filling dead men’s shoes.”

  “I know Amadeus Lound, however,” O’Harris spoke. “On a professional basis, that is. He knew my uncle, they moved in the same circles. Though my uncle disliked him a good deal. I met him at a few formal events over the years. He is a man acutely aware of his position and petrified of losing it, which of course he now has. I’m not going to say he was a bad fellow, just weak. He buttered up people he thought he needed to, to keep himself in his position. They say all his political decisions were prompted by the friends he desired to keep on side. I say, name me a politician who doesn’t, on occasion, think like that?”

  “Emily seems to think her father was so quick to believe the worst of his son because he was fearful of losing his seat. If he had made a fuss, or tried to find out more, then others would have learned of the situation and that might have dented his reputation,” Clara said. “It was easier, and safer, to accept this colonel’s word and pretend he never had a son.”

  “That sounds like Lound,” O’Harris agreed. “Not in essence a bad fellow, not even that bright. Just cowardly and inadequate.”

  “Aside from Colonel Matthews’ letter, what other evidence is there that Father Lound was a traitor?” Tommy asked.

  “As far as Emily is aware, none. But I can’t rule out that her father knows more and has kept it from her. Equally, there may be more in official documents that Emily cannot access. I’ll know more if I can speak to Colonel Matthews,” Clara explained. “Though Father Lound was not a military man, there would have been some sort of official investigation into the matter, I presume?”

  “You are right,” O’Harris answered her. “The army had an intelligence division working throughout Belgium and France, and later, Germany. They were badly stretched, of course, but they would be the ones to take up this case. The rumours could not be ignored. They would have tried to track down Lound and pursue the accusations. They probably have a file on him somewhere, but you will never get access to it.”

  Clara was disappointed to hear that.

  “There has to be a source for these rumours,” she said. “Something the Father did or said that made people think he was helping the Germans. That is what I need to find out. The start of the puzzle will help me figure out how this all ended. I hope…”

  “I assume you have prepared Emily for the possibility her brother is dead?” Tommy asked Clara.

  “I think we all know that is the most likely scenario, otherwise why has he made no contact with her? For that matter, if a traitor to King and country was on the loose, would not the government still be trying to track him down?”

 
; “Depends,” O’Harris shrugged. “If they felt he was no further risk, or perhaps they considered he was long gone and too much effort to chase, they would probably forget about him. From the way things are stated, it doesn’t appear as if his treachery came to much.”

  Clara agreed with him.

  “Really, until we know more we can make no assumptions about this man. Emily is bringing me all the papers and letters she can and that may help us. I need to contact this colonel and see why he accused the man in the first place. Then I shall know where to go next,” Clara placed her hands on the table. “Which reminds me, I must see if my passport is in order.”

  “Passport?” Tommy frowned.

  “The chances are I shall need to pursue this trail back to Belgium. I doubt I will find my solution in England.”

  “You won’t go alone?” O’Harris said tentatively.

  “Why ever not?” Clara asked him back. “Emily has agreed to pay my travel expenses, I can hardly ask her to pay for a companion too.”

  “You don’t know the language,” Tommy pointed out.

  “Did you when you first went over? Quite frankly Tommy, you might have a bit of French but you are not fluent. I studied the language at school.”

  “Don’t get prickly,” Tommy rebuked her. “This is not about us questioning your independence or abilities.”

  “Isn’t it?” Clara replied, but she moderated her tone to sound less defensive. “If one of you was going abroad alone, would you make such a fuss?”

  O’Harris and Tommy glanced at each other.

  “You think some harm will come to me,” Clara prodded them. “You think I shall not be able to cope.”

  “I think you poke your nose into places it is not wanted and end up in trouble,” Tommy answered.

  “That is the nature of my work,” Clara agreed. “But I always get myself out of trouble too.”