A boy like Donny could get hurt anyway, more so without any means to defend himself, but obviously Mrs. Duckley wasn't about to be swayed. No sooner had the Duckleys left when Ed Stokes barged in.
"Well boss? A baseball through a window? That woman sure did look mean standing out in the hallway all by herself."
"No Ed, just another Starnes' ghost story. Mrs. Duckley was mad about the kid making up stories. Seems that she was madder about the story he told than the fact that he was playing at an abandoned house where he could have been hurt, not to mention wondering how he even got to the house in the first place."
"Huh, women! Figures!" Ed scoffed. "Say boss, speaking of ghosts, any luck finding Ann Weissmuller yet?"
Chief Hunsinger shot a crumpled wad of paper at him. "Get outta here Ed, before I sick the Starnes' ghost on you!"
Officer Ed Stokes left the room laughing.
Table of Contents
* * *
THE BLACK WIDOW
Max had become obsessed with the murder of Edmond Halley and the compass he invented. Where Einstein, Newton, Cantor, and the Kent legends had taken up the first box of notes, Halley dominated the second. Brody had shared the story of the Black Widow and Max's fascination with the compass with Cindy. He didn't know why the compass was important, but apparently Max had a fixation with it beyond simply being a collectible. Cindy had become fascinated with Max's mysteries and had thus agreed to take the Cantor papers for safekeeping.
The Black Widow was the first in a number of theories regarding who killed Edmond Halley, and it involved a number of public records. In the printed register of the parish of St. Margaret in Westminster, England, there occurred a marriage on September 9, 1656, between Edmund Halley11, salter, and Anne Robinson, spinster, "both of this parish."
Edmond Halley, the murdered soap-boiler and salter, was the father of astronomer Edmond Halley. The senior Halley was a prosperous businessman and landlord who married Anne Robinson in a church ceremony only seven weeks before the birth of their astronomer son. The most likely explanation was that there had been an earlier civil ceremony of which no record has survived, and that the imminent arrival of their first child encouraged the couple to exchange religious vows as well. Having a civil ceremony followed by a church ceremony was common practice and some couples forwent the latter.
Sixteen years prior to the Halley marriage, a marriage took place in Middlesex County which was adjacent to Kent County. Halley must have owned property in Middlesex as he filed a Middlesex tax return in addition to his London tax return. Perhaps his dealings in Middlesex were what put him on the Black Widow's radar.
In Middlesex County in the year 1640, William Baker married the widow Joane Dawes, making it at the least her second marriage. Several months earlier a Joane Dawes had married George Wright in central England. A month after Baker's marriage, Joane Baker, which would have been her new name, married Henrie Gibbins in Wiltshire County west of Kent.
The entire country of England is smaller than the U.S. state of Arkansas so the many marriages of Joane were not all that far apart, especially considering how many took place in and around London. If the marriages were connected, it did shed light on the odd set of facts which surrounded the Joane who married Edmond Halley in 1682, and another man three years later. Is it possible that Joane was a Black Widow roaming the bachelors and widowers of England in the 1600s?
The name Joane Jones appeared in the will of yeoman William Henry in 1664, the same will that mentioned Sible Parry and Jane Watkins. The name Watkins appears in the genealogy of astronomer Edmond Halley. His stepdaughter, Mary Freeman, married John Parry, who then married Anne Watkins after Mary died. The name Sybilla Parry, also spelled Sibella and Sibble in the various Halley wills, also appears in Edmond Halley's genealogy. Thus the senior Edmond Halley, murdered father of the astronomer Edmond Halley and a man of great wealth, may well have known Joane Jones.
In 1621, there was a marriage record of a Joane Jones, widow of victualler Edward Jones, marrying a William Jones at All Hallows, Honey Lane in London. William may have been the brother of Joane's deceased husband. Two years later in 1623, Joane Jones married Bartholomewe Hopkins in Clerkenwell, London. In 1680, a Joane Hopkins married David Fleming in Bishopsgate, London. Earlier in 1666, Joane Hopkins of Bread Street, London, married Edward Dyer. We do not always know when the bride is a widow but it has been marked when known as follows in the various marriages of women named Joane:
1621: Joane Jones (widow) - William Jones
1623: Joane Jones - Bartholomewe Hopkins
1640: Joane Dawes - George Wright
1640: Joane Dawes (widow) - William Baker
1640: Joane Baker - Henrie Gibbins
1646: Joane Warburton - ??? Jones
1648: Joane Warburton - Thomas Mercer
1626: Joane Mercer - William Whitchurch
1666: Joane Hopkins - Edward Dyer
1674: Joane Dyer - Walter Stayner
1693: Joane Stayner - Moyes Edwards
1683: Joane Dyer - Thomas Griffith
1680: Joane Hopkins - David Fleming
1682: Joane ??? - Edmond Halley
1685: Joane Halley - Robert Cleeter
We know without a doubt that Edmond Halley's Joane and Robert Cleeter's Joane are one in the same, and that Halley's Joane had a lust for greed.
In 1674, Joane Dyer married Walter Stayner in Hampshire, London. In 1683, Joane Dyer of All Hallows, Honey Lane in London married Thomas Griffith. Note that All Hallows, Honey Lane appeared in the earlier record of Joane Jones. In 1693, Joane Stayner married Moyes Edwards in Hampshire, London.
All of these Joanes were married in and around London within a 72 year span, with a previous last name carrying forward to the next marriage. If Joane started her marriage career at twenty years old or younger, she could conceivably have been ALL of the Joanes.
In 1646, we find a Joane Jones mixed up in an accusation of fornication with James Parkinson, a church elder. Joane Jones testified on Parkinson's behalf and according to the written account, Joane Jones was previously Joane Warburton. In 1648, we find a marriage record for Joane Warburton to Thomas Mercer of Overtown. There is a town of Overton in Hampshire County. Also in Hampshire County, which is one county removed from Kent, Joane Mercer married William Whitchurch in 1626.
We know that dates were sometimes erroneously written and we cannot know if any of these Joanes were one in the same person, or if some were perhaps daughters of the previous Joane. However, if even half of the Joanes were one in the same it would mark her as a Black Widow, a woman who marries for money and then leaves or disposes of her husbands.
If so, Joane would not have been the only Black Widow roaming Kent at that time. There was a woman by the name of Mary Carleton who was charged with the crime of bigamy. She was the daughter of a musician but told her prospective husbands that she was a German Princess. She went by many aliases, most of which used her real first name of Mary, and one husband caught on and charged her with bigamy. The charge, however, could not be proven as the records of the previous marriages could not be found.
The case drew much public interest and the lurid tales of her exploits and fortunes became well known just nine years before Joane married Edmond Halley. The story of Mary-the-bigamist and her subsequent acquittal would have been well known to Joane.
The 1600s brought an era of strange laws to England, not the least of which involved witchcraft and sorcery. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1670 prohibiting the use of beauty aids to lure a man into marriage. Prohibited beauty aids included cosmetics, scents, paints, washes, artificial teeth, false hair, hoops, Spanish wool, iron stays, and high-heeled shoes.
Using such wiles on a man incurred the full penalty of witchcraft and sorcery and the marriage itself would thus become null and void. A woman marrying a man with ulterior motives had to be careful lest she lose the money and status that she intended to marry into. Killing off the husband would be one way to en
sure that he didn't change his mind and turn her in as a witch.
Astronomer Edmond Halley's mother, Anne Robinson Halley, died in 1672. Ten years later in 1682, the wealthy widower Edmond Halley the soap-boiler married Joane. We do not know what her last name was prior to the marriage or anything about her family. Marriage records often included the name of the wife's father or previous husband but in the case of Joane, we don't even find a marriage record. It was as if she came out of nowhere to marry Halley and two years after their marriage, he was dead.
Allegedly Halley left no will which plunged his estate into a bitter battle between his second wife Joane and his son by his first wife, astronomer Edmond. It was odd for a man of his status not to have a will and in those days, the well-to-do were usually pretty detailed in their wills which almost always included siblings, nieces and nephews along with their own children.
Edmond the soap-boiler had two brothers and a sister: William Halley, Humfrey Halley and Elizabeth Cawthorne. His brother William Halley of Peterborough, being the same city where the Bishop Sexwulf of Mercia built his monastery, left a will that mentions his wife, son, and his two brothers. Humfrey Halley named six different people in his will including his brother Edmond. A will by Edmond would surely have named his two brothers and son in addition to his wife. Or perhaps, as they'd only been married a short period, he may not have updated his will to include Joane.
One might imagine Joane making such a will disappear, especially in light of the battle that followed which apparently dragged on for a number of years, longer than Joane had been married to Edmond Halley.
Back in those days people did not have such definitive identification cards as we do today and thus names would be spelled differently from one document to another. In the same manner that Sybilla was also spelled Sibella, Sibble and Sible, the name Joane in relation to Edmond Halley was also spelled in a variety of ways. Her name was written as Joan, Joane, Joanne, Joanna, Joannae and even Jane. From the various accounts regarding the legal battle between the astronomer Halley and his step-mother over his father's estate:
Edmond Halley complains also that Joan got married again to one Robert Cleator, gent., of London, and they have taken up the rentals of the property at Winchester Street and on Cannon Street equal to 950 pounds.
The situation was complicated by Joane's remarriage to one Robert Cleeter in 1685, but Halley ended up with all the houses on Winchester Street except the one occupied by his step-mother.
Her new husband, Robert Cleeter, was also spelled Cleator/Cleater and possibly Clator/Claytor and even Chester. The junior Edmond Halley chose Sir John Buckworth to represent him in the estate battle, and Joane chose Richard Young. Documents from Young v. Halley showed where the senior Halley had purchased property at All-Hallows-Stayneing from Susan Sandwith. He also collected rent from the Dog Tavern in Billingsgate and the Hen and Chickens in Whitechapel, London, as well as properties at Winchester and Cannon Streets.
Young v. Halley, 1693, touching the settlement of the estate of Edmund Halley, sen. (who died in April, 1684), mention is made of the payment of a small legacy of 5l. due to Elizabeth Partridge from the will of Humphrey Halley, deceased. The same document sets forth the payment of an annuity from the estate of E. Halley, sen., to Mrs. Susan Sandwith in full till her death for the property at Minceing Lane and Fanchurch Streete in the parish of All-Hallows-Stayneing; Old All-Hallows-Stayneing.
Halley's father died intestate12, c. March-April, 1684. Litigation ensued between Halley and his step-mother, who remarried; see Edmund Halley v. Robert Chester or Cleator and Joane, his wife...
In 1694, an action was brought by Robert Cleeter, of London, gentleman, and Jane, his wife, (formerly the wife of Edmund Halley, of London, gentleman, who was a citizen and a freeman). The latter's estate...
Joane wasted no time in remarrying after the death of Halley, marrying Robert Cleeter in the year following the murder of Halley. She also wasted no time in going after the entire estate of the wealthy Edmond Halley even though they'd only been married for two years.
Edmond Halley was worth roughly 4000 pounds at the time of his death but according to Joane, he left no will. His entire family including cousins all had very detailed wills but the lack of a will from Halley allowed his widow to go after everything he had with no holds barred. The rents from the various properties that Halley owned brought in 950 pounds.
According to the Hearth Tax returns for London and Middlesex in 1666, an entry appears under the Parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, Finsbury: Edmund Halley, IX. In other words, Edmond Halley was being taxed for nine hearths which in those days indicated a house of considerable size. To put all of the numbers in perspective, we look at wages for that era.
According to the Farmer's Almanac, a labourer's daily wage was 8 pennies in 1688 so if the person worked five days a week for fifty weeks, his annual wage would be 2000 pennies. It took 240 pennies to equal one pound at that time and Halley's estate was worth 4000 pounds or 960000 pennies. In other words, his estate was worth the annual wage of 480 labourers making him a VERY wealthy man, and a prime target for a Black Widow.
Table of Contents
* * *
Memphis, Tennessee
Brody's apartment looked like a war zone after the police left. Sofa cushions had been removed from their slipcovers and thrown carelessly in a corner by the window. Pictures had been removed from the walls and piled haphazardly near the sofa cushions. Furniture was flipped upside down as they'd searched for wads of money or whatever other evidence they'd hoped to find. The trash container in his kitchen was missing and the one in the bathroom had been dumped on the floor. Even Brody's clothes had been yanked out of the closet and individually searched as though their pockets might reveal Max's secrets.
Brody breathed a sigh of relief. He'd gotten the Cantor papers out in time. Cindy had agreed to take them after hearing Brody's story on the condition that he'd let her read them. Cindy was studying to be an astrophysicist, a science that covered everything from meteors to wormholes, and the thought of reading about Einstein and his cronies fascinated her.
As Brody had glanced briefly at some of the papers before giving them to Cindy, he knew that the rest of the Cantor papers talked about sciences and theories which were way over his head and right up Cindy's alley. Though she was still in the early stages of her study at least she'd have some understanding of the technical jargon in the Cantor papers. To that end, Cindy had come up with a workable idea. If the police caught wind of Brody and Cindy's friendship they'd probably decide to search her place next.
Cindy said, "Look, why don't you let me read the papers and when I find something important I'll let you know. That way you won't have to spend any time over here and they won't get suspicious. Besides, I'll know better than you what's important and what's not."
It was the perfect plan and Brody had gratefully accepted the offer. It was a relief to have someone on his side, someone to share the burden with. He really needed a friend.
"You better go home now, Brody. We don't want them linking us together right now. Go get some sleep. You look beat."
"Okay Cindy, and thanks!"
She smiled. "Hey, cheer up! We'll find him. Don't worry!"
Brody managed a weak smile and then went home. He flipped the sofa right side up and laid down on it. The coils dug into his back. He let out a string of cuss words, stuffed the sofa cushions back into their slipcovers and put them back on the sofa. He collapsed on it with a loud groan. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately.
Brody was almost asleep when he remembered Max's fish. Damn! He'd forgotten to feed them in all the excitement. He hoped they'd be okay. He was too tired to drive back to Max's apartment assuming the police would even allow him entry. Somehow he doubted it.
Tomorrow he'd try to pick up Max's fish and plants and bring them home with him. He didn't have to worry about the mail and lights and curtains anymore since the police had Max's apartment under surveillanc
e. There was nothing he could do about all of Max's expensive equipment, assuming the police hadn't confiscated or destroyed it. Only an idiot would try to break in now. Brody giggled. The would-be burglar would get a whole lot more than he bargained for if he entered Max's apartment. He'd probably get thrown in jail on suspicion that he was Max's accomplice come looking for his share of the booty!
Brody had a hard time falling asleep. The police had done everything but rip his bed mattress open and they'd even threatened to do that. Brody wasn't exactly the neatest person in the world but it was awfully hard to relax in the middle of such a mess. It would take him weeks to put it all back together and what bothered him even more was that he had no idea what, besides his garbage, they had actually taken from his apartment.
He rolled over so that he couldn't see the mess and buried his face in the crook of his arm. He wondered if they'd found the towels he'd swiped from the Hilton a lifetime ago. The faded blue "H" in the corner of each towel was still visible and it clearly labeled him as a thief.
He also had an ashtray from the Playboy club and a set of salt and pepper shakers he'd filched from the diner down the street. There was no way to identify the salt and pepper shakers as stolen, though. Max would have chastised him for his guilty conscience, contending that since he'd taken these things when he was a kid and didn't know any better, and since he wouldn't have done it now, it didn't count any more.
Max always knew how to make things okay. He had a logical explanation for everything. Max could even justify a murderer's reasons for killing and they used to spend hours debating the rationale behind the various motives for crimes they read about in the paper. Max would have made an ideal investigator or lawyer with his quick mind and sharp analysis of people's hidden agendas. Brody wondered how Max would analyze his own situation right now.
The Cantor Dimension Page 9
