Darcy's Second Chance

by P A Hill

  “Over a fortnight ago my sister Lizzy saw a girl in Fletcher’s Boutiques and she was sitting in a small room in the back of the store on Mr. Wickham’s lap. Lizzy said the door was partly open and that the girl and Wickham were kissing and that he was fondling her breasts. She told me that Mr. Fletcher thought she was watching a rat and grabbed a broom. He found no rat but did find Maggie, his daughter, and Mr. Wickham. It is all so funny.”

  “No, it is very serious.”

  “I do not mean the murder sir, I mean Wickham fondling her little breasts. She is but fourteen years, though she is quite pretty. After I heard of this I wanted nothing to do with Mr. Wickham or Maggie. At least I never did anything naughty with him like I suspect Maggie did.”

  “You do not mean that your friend, I mean...”

  “Do not be shy sir. They probably did it often but I cannot state that as an absolute certainty. Maggie and I both liked him but after her father caught her with Wickham I do not like either of them. Recently Maggie has told me that I am not good enough for Mr. Wickham.”

  “Thank you Miss Lydia. I have no further questions. You have nothing more to worry about. If anyone presses you on what we discussed, say you are sworn to secrecy due to the investigation.”

  Mr. Stanwick and Darcy then went to speak with the boy who worked at the hardware store. The boy said that on the day of the assembly, he overheard Mr. Fletcher telling his daughter that he felt bad and asked her to close the store early. He said that when he arrived at the hardware store the next morning he saw the body and realized the back door to Fletcher’s Boutiques had been left open. Mr. Stanwick next asked if he had told these things to Mr. Bottoms or Inspector Worthington or any others and he said no, that no one had asked him very many questions before now.

  “I am at a loss, Darcy and wonder who I should talk with next. This case is beginning to look very scandalous to me. There are any number of possibilities, so I will let you have a go with your thoughts.”

  Darcy said he agreed that there were many possibilities and said he thought that Wickham had brought Lord Elkton to the store to meet the young woman. He said it looked as though Wickham was making his friend available to Lord Elkton as a young plaything, and perhaps at a price.

  “Look Stanwick,” he said, “you may speculate on what they each did behind closed doors, but Lord Elkton must have made plans to meet again with the young woman after the assembly. Of course, by then Wickham was in his bed passed out. As for naming the killer, I suspect it could be the girl’s father or another person. It also appears that Mr. Fletcher may have been drugged much earlier in the day. It is not uncommon for men that prey on young women in town to drug them. Because it is unlikely that she drugged her father, that leaves Wickham and Lord Elkton. Wickham would not drug himself so that leaves Lord Elkton as the man who drugged both of those men. If the killer is Mr. Fletcher, than he must have woken later and when he discovered that his daughter was not about, he may have walked to his store and overheard his daughter and Lord Elkton. Either way, I think we should speak with them.”

  “Not yet Darcy. I need to think of another way to get my answers other than confronting the father and daughter. Mind you, it appears that Maggie was paid for her services but we do not know. We need to go through Lord Elkton’s things and Wickham’s things to see if either man has any drugs that might have been used. How can we do that?”

  “I would think that all of Lord Elkton’s personal effects have been looked over. He might have hidden the stuff on Wickham so he would not catch the blame if it was determined that someone had been drugged.”

  ***

  That evening Darcy and Georgiana and Mr. Bingley were invited to Longbourn for dinner. There was little discussion of the murder but finally Lydia spoke. “I do not believe that Mr. Wickham is capable of murder. He may not be a gentleman but he is not a murderer. This case was wrapped up too quickly for me and I think the authorities are happy to have found an acceptable suspect so all this bad news can be hushed up.”

  Mr. Bennet looked at Darcy and Elizabeth to gage their reaction. Lydia was usually a very silly girl but tonight she expressed herself well and she spoke with earnest. Darcy and Elizabeth now traded looks as Elizabeth offered her thoughts. “Lydia, I agree with your assessment of things. The town is looking to find the killer and Wickham is an easy choice based on his performance at the assembly. I cannot believe they have the right man but expect he will be found guilty and will be hung.”

  After dinner Georgiana and the three youngest Bennet daughters went off together and Mr. Darcy spoke with Mr. Bennet to tell him the latest.

  “What you have done is most extraordinary, Mr. Darcy. What do you hope to gain from your own investigation?”

  “I want to know what really happened and who the killer is. If it is not Wickham, we have a killer still on the loose. There are many possibilities and my investigator is on top of things. He also does not believe that Wickham is the killer. Now if you will excuse me, I need to speak with Miss Elizabeth.”

  Mr. Bennet nodded as Mr. Darcy walked outside. He had spotted her a few minutes earlier and Mr. Bennet knew that Darcy had seen her so he slowed his conversation to make Darcy’s wait uncomfortable for the man until he could make his break. As Darcy walked briskly looking for Elizabeth, her father contemplated just what kind of future the two might share together.

  “Mr. Darcy,” Elizabeth said as the man approached, “I am happy you are free from my papa’s library and I hope the two of you have solved the murder. This is just surreal that Mr. Wickham is under arrest and has been charged with murder. It was not so long ago when I welcomed him as one of my favorites. Of course, that was before I was informed of his real character. He has been nothing but a problem to your sister and you and now he is accused of murder.”

  “Miss Bennet, I wish I knew who the killer is, but it is not likely we will know before Wickham goes on trial. We almost need a confession to stop the process from doing in your former friend. I have hired an investigator to get to the bottom of all of this. It is important that everyone have a fair trial. Certainly the world of rich men and nobles is very different from the lives of almost everyone else, but when it comes to the law there should be no distinguishing any two people being tried in a court. The law demands fairness and that means a vigorous investigation and looking for the truth.”

  “You are a good man, Mr. Darcy and I am learning to appreciate you more each day. It is all so confusing that here is Wickham, a man who hates you and your family and works to steal from you and extort you and tries to elope with your sister and does other things as well, and even this man you try to save.”

  “Miss Bennet, I do these things because I believe he is innocent and because I am tired of trials that have been decided in advance. If we can find the killer and save an innocent man, this is good, but it is the effort that separates us from those who have already decided on Wickham’s guilt.”

  “Why are Mr. Wickham and Lord Elkton so attracted to very young women?”

  “You are asking the wrong man, Miss Bennet, but we are now looking into Mr. Wickham’s introducing some young women to Lord Elkton.”

  “Then have you looked into the owner of Fletcher’s Boutiques in Meryton? I once saw Wickham in a closet in the back and he was kissing the daughter of the owner as he fondled her. The man caught them and beat him about his head with a broom. The story that goes around is that she has gone wild since her mother died three years ago. If the story is true she is likely to get pregnant if she does not change her habits.”

  “If Wickham has been with the young woman, do you think he could persuade the girl to go with his friend, Lord Elkton?”

  “Yes, Mr. Darcy, I believe she would willingly give herself to him if he showed her any affection. Poor thing, her father works long days and she has no mother and few friends. It will be no surprise if she is in trouble. One thing for sure, there are so many more men who would further take advantage of her than would stop
to help her.”

  “Do you believe I am that type of man, Miss Bennet?”

  “If you mean the good type of man, I believe you are. It must not be easy to resist temptation when a young thing acts like she wants you. Is that not every man’s fantasy Mr. Darcy?”

  “It is not my fantasy Miss Bennet. You are in my fantasy but it is not a fantasy of a man and a woman in bed. My thoughts of you go to making you happy and safe and earning your love every day that I live.”

  “We must return to Longbourn before my sisters have run off with Georgiana, so make haste Mr. Darcy.”

  CHAPTER 11

  That night Elizabeth thought of all Darcy had told her about the investigation. While he was back at Netherfield discussing the investigation with Mr. Stanwick, Elizabeth sat in her room thinking of who the killer might be. The suspects that she had come up with included the boy who found the body, Mr. Wickham, the girl Maggie, Mr. Fletcher, an unknown boyfriend of Maggie, Mr. Darcy and other unknowns. Increasingly it began to look as though Mr. Fletcher, Maggie’s father, was the killer. If so, then he had also been a victim because he had probably been drugged earlier the day of the assembly and if he did awaken many hours later and discovered that his daughter was not at home, he may have gone to his store. There he would have found Lord Elkton and his daughter.

  Elizabeth now concluded that Lord Elkton must have put the drug into Mr. Fletcher’s drink in the shop that morning of the assembly. She suspected that once he saw the man leave the shop, Lord Elkton and Wickham came back for some fun. He probably never told Wickham about the drug and most likely drugged Wickham later at the assembly. The drug worked quickly and Wickham was now out of the picture and Lord Elkton, having not been successful in meeting any ladies at the assembly, returned to visit with Maggie and have her all to himself. Maggie was his fallback plan in case he had no success with any of the women from the assembly. Elizabeth surmised that Mr. Fletcher came to the store and discovered his daughter was with another man. In the dark he probably believed the man was Wickham and followed him out the back door as the man was trying to pull on his britches.

  After the attack, which probably lasted less than a minute, Mr. Fletcher would have stumbled back to his house. Elizabeth thought it likely that the man was fully sick again and the sight of a dead man lying in a pool of blood likely made the man even more sick.. She believed it likely that the first blow was to the back of his head and knocked him unconscious and several more strikes finished him off. Darcy had told her that the trail of vomit led in the direction of Mr. Fletcher’s house. It was possible, she thought, that Mr. Fletcher then went home and went back to bed believing he had killed Wickham.

  Elizabeth knew that Maggie had the answers to all of these questions and now thought on how she could speak with her. She planned to walk with Darcy later in the day and thought they might then discuss her ideas.

  ***

  Back at Netherfield, Darcy and Mr. Stanwick looked at the evidence and also concluded that Mr. Fletcher was the prime suspect. Because Maggie and her father were never questioned, Darcy and his friend thought to snoop around and visit Fletcher’s Boutiques. They already knew that Mr. Fletcher had been home for two days but no person had interviewed him or his daughter. Suddenly Darcy had an idea. He would ask Elizabeth’s Aunt Phillips. She was the next best thing to the neighborhood gossip. The two men then went into town where they had the good fortune to see Mrs. Phillips as she came out from a store.

  “Mrs. Phillips, how are you today? It is a lovely summer day in Meryton.”

  “Thank you Mr. Darcy. I see you have a friend with you.”

  “Oh, forgive me Mrs. Phillips. Let me introduce you to my good friend, Mr. Stanwick. He is visiting with me a few days.”

  After the greetings Darcy mentioned the murder and asked her opinion. Mrs. Phillips was a treasure trove of knowledge and facts and all Darcy or his friend needed to do was steer her in the direction they needed. When they brought up the place where the man’s body was found she suggested he was doing something inside Fletcher’s. Mrs. Phillips lived in Meryton and her house was set across the street from Mr. Fletcher’s house.

  The men just let her talk and picked up the information they needed just by listening. The young Fletcher woman was an orphan that the Fletchers adopted when she was an infant and she had no other relatives. Mrs. Phillips described the Fletchers as good people who attended church often and who minded their own business, but did say she thought that young Maggie had changed since her mother passed three years ago from the fever.

  Mrs. Phillips said Maggie had few friends and her father was with her constantly but she did not infer anything immoral about their relationship. When she was asked about Mr. Fletcher closing his store early the day of the assembly she replied that a lady friend said she saw Maggie and her father at near eleven that morning and Maggie was helping him walk home as he was very sick. That woman said that Maggie then ran back to the store. Mrs. Phillips suggested that the girl had probably forgotten to put the closed sign in the window. Another woman told Mrs. Phillips that two men, probably just shoppers, came into the store whilst she was away.

  “I just wish the authorities had asked me for information,” she said. “There is more to this murder than one thinks, but I must assume the people who do these investigations are good at their job.”

  The two men pressed the woman on George Wickham and she told of his attempted seduction of the young girl in her father’s store and of her being caught sitting on Wickham’s lap as they were kissing and that Wickham had his hands all over her. When they asked her how she knew Wickham had done this she said she overheard her arguing with her father about it. Such details confirmed that Mrs. Phillips was an excellent gossip, but she broke no laws and in this case her gossip might be useful in saving Wickham’s life. Finally, Mrs. Phillips said that Maggie and her father argued very late the day before the assembly and she accused him of being jealous of her having other male friends.

  When it appeared that she no longer wished to talk of these things, the men took their leave and went into Fletcher’s. They were the only people inside other that a young girl, Maggie, who sat behind the counter on a stool.

  “Sir,” the young woman said, “you are Mr. Darcy are you not?”

  “I am Miss. Do you work here?”

  “Yes, can I help you find anything sir? Our prices are very good.”

  “So I see. You have some interesting pieces.”

  “Are you involved in the business of discovering the murderer of Lord Elkton?”

  “I believe they have found him.”

  “Mr. Darcy, I am a friend of George Wickham. He claims that you are the worst man in the world and that you hate him.”

  “I certainly am not happy that he has been arrested or that he might be falsely accused. We do not get along well but it was not always that way. If I hated him I would not be in the store inquiring about him. I am trying to save him because I believe he is innocent.”

  The young woman raised her finger to her lips as a signal for Mr. Darcy to be silent as someone approached. Darcy continued to peruse the shop as the man came into the front of the store and barked orders to his daughter. It was Mr. Fletcher and Darcy noticed a bump on his head as he saw the man and his daughter were laughing. Mr. Fletcher had not noticed that Darcy and the other man were in the store. In a few minutes Maggie returned and slipped a note to Darcy along with a gift she suggested he might buy. He accepted her note and quickly turned his head and nodded that he agreed. After that he made the purchase.

  Mr. Darcy,

  I know who murdered Lord Elkton. Meet me here at eight the morrow morning.

  The men next left and Darcy had a wide grin.

  “Come now Darcy, Maggie left you a note. When are you going to meet with her?”

  Darcy showed the note and now both men grinned but agreed to disguise their exuberance. “We will soon learn the identity of the killer, Stanwick. Any bets?”

&n
bsp; “Yes, my guess is Maggie’s father killed the man.”

  Later that afternoon Darcy collected Georgiana and the two took the carriage to Longbourn. Mr. Bingley was already there and so Jane and Bingley waited for Elizabeth and Darcy to walk with them. Georgiana was then greeted by the other sisters and they went into the house for tea.

  As Darcy and Elizabeth paced slowly behind the others, Elizabeth began to tell Darcy of her thoughts on the murder. She left nothing out of her investigative work and indeed Darcy thought she had just about nailed it. His smile did not allow him to keep his thoughts from her for very long as Elizabeth was beginning to read Darcy as well as he could read himself.

  “Come out with it, Mr. Darcy. What have you found?”

  “I cannot tell you at present, Miss Bennet, but will tell you later. If I am correct, we may be able to save Wickham, though it means I will have to get my lawyer friend from town to come here.”

  “Mr. Darcy, I promise not to tell anyone a word of what we have spoken. The inquest is being held in three days here in Meryton and we probably do not have the time to enter a defense, but we should have it put together in time for the summer assizes in town.”

  “Miss Bennet, we will soon learn the identity of the killer and if there are extenuating circumstances. When I learn this information I shall share it with you and you alone. If you would like to join me and my investigator, Mr. Stanwick, I can promise you an interesting time as we determine if justice will prevail.”

  “Answer me this question, Mr. Darcy. If it is determined that Mr. Fletcher killed Lord Elkton that night in his store, might he be acquitted? Would it make any difference if he said he mistook the man for a thief or that he saw the man abusing his daughter?”

  “You are trying to see if the man would be hanged if exposed as the killer, but I cannot tell you. There will be the trial in town and I feel we must play our hand there. They will never expect the surprise they will get and all they will be able to do is request a recess or ask to defer the trial for a later time. It is even possible that they will drop all charges against Wickham and say Lord Elkton was caught attempting to rape a young woman and was killed by a man who had come to defend her.”