Half A Mind TO Murder (Dr. Alexandra Gladstone Mysteries Book 3)

by Paula Paul

  “Where is she?” Nicholas demanded.

  Once again Polly stopped her slow, deliberate advance and turned her attention to him, her eyes now wild and blazing. “You’re annoying me.” she said and at the same time slashed at him with the scalpel. Alexandra saw Nicholas raise his hands to fend off the attack and in almost the same instant saw his hands covered with blood. He backed away, and Polly slashed at him again. Nicholas cried out, bending at the waist, hitting his head on the table that held the microscope. He slumped to the floor as Polly kicked him.

  Alexandra lunged toward him, but Polly was suddenly in front of her, close and looming. Instead of the slash Alexandra had expected, though, Polly lunged at her, not with her weapon, but with her body. In a sudden movement she pulled Alexandra’s body close to hers and held the scalpel at her throat. Alexandra sensed Polly’s breath, hot and sweet, on her face as she spoke.

  “I didn’t want to have to do this, Dr. Gladstone. Neither to you nor to Nancy. In time I could have made you both understand, but you both got to be too suspicious, and I no longer have time.”

  Alexandra caught a glimpse of movement on the floor where Nicholas lay slumped, but she couldn’t tell whether it was a sign of life or the throes of death that precipitated the movement. There was blood on his gloved hand and seeping from his midsection, staining his shirt. Polly was still talking, her lips moving very close to Alexandra’s.

  “You don’t have families, you and Nancy, and I thought that would make you understand what I had to do. You must know, don’t you, that families are not supposed to be the way they are. We have to protect the children from them, don’t we? Like little Alice. She’s a sweet child, and we all love her. I love her. That’s why we must protect her. Her papa’s not ripe for harvesting, but he will be in time, won’t he?”

  When Alexandra didn’t answer, Polly pushed the scalpel deeper into the skin of her neck, very near a scar where an old would had healed. “Don’t ignore me.” Polly shouted, spewing her spittle into Alexandra’s mouth as she spoke. “I’ll carve your pretty neck with another scar to match the one you already have. And ignoring me will not stop me from doing what I have to do. You must understand. It’s what I must do because that’s the only way I can control them. I have to kill them to stop them from hurting others the way he hurt me. The way he hurt my mum. It made me sick the way she never tried to stop him when he came at her, not even when he came at me. It made me sick the way she gave up control.”

  “Polly, please,” Alexandra whispered. “You must—”

  “Don’t tell me what I must do. I know! God has entered me, and now I have become His flesh and His mind. That’s how I knew what I had to do when everyone blamed that poor idiot and his mother. I’m sorry he found the heart. I didn’t mean for him to, and I did a poor job on the second one’s heart because I had to hurry, but I couldn’t let everyone go on thinking it was someone other than God ridding the world of those men, those manufacturers of the devil’s sperm. God is love. I am love, and vengeance is mine. Love cannot thrive until the evil is rooted out.”

  Alexandra felt the tip of the scalpel again, but in the same moment, there was a tangle at her feet, and Polly lost her balance. When she fell, her body toppled over a crouched and bleeding Nicholas and landed facedown. The scalpel clattered to the floor only a few inches away from the arm she had thrust out to break her fall. In less than a second, Nicholas had straddled her and leaned forward to pin her arms, splayed over her head, to the floor.

  He wasn’t quick enough. She had already grasped the scalpel in her left hand, and in one surprisingly strong bucking motion, she forced Nicholas off her just enough to allow her to turn on her back. Facing him now, she swung the scalpel toward his chest in a stabbing motion, but he caught her wrist before the sharp tip hit its mark. It slashed the side of his face.

  Alexandra watched the struggle, seeing the blood from Nicholas’s hand and face stain the front of Polly’s dress, her face, and arms. She quickly assessed that the wound on the side of his face was as superficial as her own neck wound, and, judging from his quick movements, Nicholas’s abdomen wound must be equally minor. It must have been the blow on his head when he fell that had rendered him temporarily unconscious.

  But Polly still held the scalpel, and the danger wasn’t over. Alexandra moved toward the two of them as they struggled on the floor. She felt helpless. What should she do?

  It was then she heard a familiar sound and turned her attention toward the door that led out to the hallway of the inn. She heard it again. Closer.

  A bark.

  Zack’s bark.

  The door flew open, and Zack plunged into the room. He took only a fraction of a second to assess the circumstances then ran to Alexandra and tried to nudge her toward the door while he growled low in his throat. In the same moment, Rob and Artie rushed into the room behind him, followed by Constable Snow. Both Rob and Snow ran to Nicholas and Polly, but it was Rob who arrived first. With a swift thrust of his foot, he kicked the scalpel from Polly’s hand. Snow then jerked her to her feet.

  “You’re under arrest, Miss Cobbe.” He restrained her with one of her arms twisted sharply behind her as he held her facing away from him. She struggled very little. Instead, she stared straight ahead at something invisible to everyone else, her mouth opened slightly with a strange small smile.

  Alexandra cried out in a frightened voice. “Where is Nancy?”

  Polly turned to her with her burning eyes, still wearing her secret smile, but she didn’t speak. She only continued to stare at her for what, to Alexandra, seemed a frightening and unnerving eternity.

  “Zack can lead us to her,” Artie cried.

  Rob shook his head. “Zack doesn’t understand how to—”

  “I was going to bury her. With the pigs. But I never got around to finishing it.” Polly’s voice was oddly calm, almost pleasant.

  “Bury her?” Alexandra’s voice trembled. “Is she—?”

  Polly suddenly jerked her body in a movement similar to the one she used to turn herself over under Nicholas’s restraint. Snow lost his grip on her arm, and she might have freed herself completely had not Nicholas moved swiftly to force her arms to her sides, stopping her.

  Alexandra saw the constable give a nod to Rob, and for the first time she noticed the coiled rope Rob was wearing, thrown over one shoulder and across his chest. He removed the rope quickly, but before he could hand it to Snow, Nicholas grabbed it and secured Polly’s hands behind her back.

  Nicholas gave the knot one last pull. “There! You’ll not escape from that.”

  Polly held her eyes on him as Snow led her across the room to the door. “Oh, I’ll escape, sir,” she said, still smiling. “And I’ll be back. Mind you stay out of my way.”

  She let Snow lead her away, offering no resistance until he opened the door. With a sudden jerk, she turned and lunged at him, but before he could push her away or anyone could reach them, she sank her teeth into his lip. A fountain of blood spewed from where their mouths joined. Nicholas reached him first and forced Polly away from Snow while he kept a firm grip on her arms. She smiled at him, while the constable’s blood dripped from the corners of her mouth.

  Nicholas ignored her and turned to Snow. “Are you all right, Constable?”

  Snow nodded while he dabbed his swelling lip, his blood turning his once white handkerchief the color of slaughter.

  “I’ll go with you,” Nicholas said. He turned to Alexandra. “Stay here until I return, then I’ll—”

  Alexandra was already on her way to the door. “I’m going to find Nancy,” she said, removing her gloves and tossing them aside.

  “But where—”

  “Seth Blackburn’s pigs,” she called over her shoulder as she hurried down the hall, Zack, Artie, and Rob following close behind.

  “Did she mean Nancy’s buried?” Artie asked, breathing hard from his efforts to keep up with the others.

  “She’s insane,” Rob said. “We
don’t know what she meant.”

  Zack, caught up in the excitement of everyone racing through the streets of Newton-Upon-Sea, barked constantly as they ran and kept barking as they reached the edge of the village and the short distance into the rocky countryside where Seth’s cottage and his pigpens stood.

  Alexandra’s lungs burned and her side ached, but she kept running until her feet were bogged in the muck surrounding the pens. The stench seared her nostrils and throat when she stopped, looking around wildly for any clue for where Nancy or her body could be. Rob was by her side offering a steadying hand when she stumbled. Zack kept up his barking and didn’t stop even after Artie caught up. The three of them stood together, gasping for breath, their eyes anxiously searching the surroundings. The few pigs left, alarmed by Zack’s noise, crowded together against the side of the pen and squealed with anger and annoyance, or perhaps with pain, as they pushed together tighter and tighter, trampling one another.

  Seth’s wife and two small boys stepped outside the cottage to investigate the racket. “What do you want?” Helen Blackburn asked, holding the baby and pulling Peter, the three-year-old, closer to her side. Her voice sounded frightened, and then, recognizing Alexandra, called out, “Dr. Gladstone? Is that you?”

  “Helen!” Alexandra called. “We’re looking for Nancy. Have you seen Nancy?”

  Helen hurried toward Alexandra, still carrying the baby and holding Peter’s hand. “You’re looking for Nancy? Why do you think she’s here?”

  “Polly Cobbe told us she was—”

  “Polly? The girl from the apothecary shop? Why would she think she was…?” Helen stopped and glanced toward a small area of brush and trees. “I heard something earlier. Out there. I thought ’twas only the idjet boy, Lucas. He comes around sometimes. Likes to play with the pigs. Poor idjet. Don’t know better.”

  “You heard something? What?” Alexandra asked. “What did you hear?”

  “Well, ’twasn’t Nancy, now was it? What would a nice girl like Nancy be doing out there?”

  Alexandra turned toward the wooded area, hurrying away while Helen called after her. “Maybe ’twas just Lucas out there. The boy don’t know what ’e’s doing ’af the time.”

  Zack stayed close to Alexandra as she and the boys made their way into the outcropping. Behind them they heard Helen calling out to them. “They’s nothing there save that old barn what’s falling down. Be careful now, mind you.”

  Zack stopped suddenly, almost causing Alexandra to stumble over him. He barked, loud and excited, his ears turned back, his nose pointing to an area in front of them and slightly to the right.

  Alexandra touched the top of his head. “What is it, Zack?”

  “Is it Nancy?” Artie asked.

  No one answered him, and Alexandra heard a sound, like the rustle of dry leaves. “Who’s there?” she called.

  There was only the sound of leaves again. Leaves being crushed. By someone’s feet. Then something emerged from the shadows.

  “Lucas? What are you doing here?” A mixture of annoyance, and relief flooded Alexandra’s soul.

  “I seen her,” Lucas said, ignoring Alexandra’s question. “I seen her hurt Nancy.”

  “Yes, Lucas. You saw Polly push Nancy, didn’t you? Just as you told Rob. Go home now, Lucas. Your mother will be looking for you.” Alexandra moved away from him, once again hurrying in the direction Helen had pointed.

  “She was good to me and to me mum. She stopped them people from hurting Mum, Polly did.”

  “Yes, Lucas, I know,” Alexandra said, pushing branches away with abandon. Zack continued to bark, responding to her frantic movements.

  “So why did she hurt Nancy?” Lucas asked, trying to keep up.

  “I don’t know, Lucas. Please go…” She slowed, breathing hard, when she saw the old stone barn. It was overgrown with vines on two sides, and half of the roof had collapsed. A heavy and weathered wooden door hung from one hinge, blocking the entrance.

  “That’s where I seen her,” Lucas said. “I seen Polly carry something in there. I think ’twas Nancy.”

  Fear set Alexandra’s blood afire, and she ran toward the barn. She didn’t stop when she reached the door. Still running, she pushed the door with her out-stretched hands, followed by her entire body. The door crashed to the earthen floor, sending up a cloud of dust. Zack, running beside her, barked even louder as the boys followed them inside the dark, shadowy space.

  “Quiet, Zack!” Alexandra said. He didn’t obey but continued to bark louder and louder as he stared into the corner at the same thing that held Alexandra’s gaze. It was the form of a woman, half hidden by shadows, her skirts spread around her as she sat, leaning against the wall. Half of her face was missing.

  “Oh God, ’tis Nancy.” Artie said, his words dissolving into sobs.

  “Hush!” Rob commanded. “It ain’t Nancy.”

  But it was. Alexandra recognized the dark muslin skirt. She took several slow steps toward her until she could hear her muffled sounds and see that it was a dirty rag tied around her mouth that, coupled with the shadows, made it appear as if part of her face was missing. She dropped to her knees in the muck to untie the rag. Nancy’s hair was matted and filthy and hung about her face in dirty ropes. Her dress was covered with filth and slime and held the same odor as the pigpens. Alexandra knew by the sound of Nancy’s muffled voice and the fire that danced in her eyes that she was unhurt, and that she would soon give them an earful.

  Alexandra dropped the rag and stood to pull Nancy to her feet. Nancy spat the taste of pig filth from her mouth before the barrage started.

  “’Twas Polly that killed them. All of them. You have to hurry and tell the constable. Rob, you go, and take Artie with you. No, don’t go. It may be dangerous. We must all leave. She’s coming back for me. And she’ll have you dead, too, Miss Alex. Said she’d kill us both because I finally saw ’twas she that killed… Said I was too clever for my own… Thank God you’re… What took you so long? I’ve been here for days. Can you imagine? In this…I thought at least the boys would… Forgot you can’t read. We must teach… What have you two been doing anyway? You’re not hurt, are you? Polly didn’t…”

  “The constable has Polly. She’s in gaol,” Alexandra finally managed to say after several unsuccessful attempts to interrupt Nancy.

  Nancy looked at Alexandra, her face, beneath the grime, now appearing drawn and tired. A tear found its way down one cheek, plowing a pink row to her chin. Alexandra’s own unshed tears made her eyes ache as she reached for Nancy to embrace her.

  Alexandra had little time to talk with Nancy until morning. The night before, Nancy had washed her hair five times and rinsed it with diluted vinegar, and she’d had two soaking baths in steaming water, the last soak lasting more than an hour. It was well past midnight when Alexandra heard her come upstairs to her room.

  Yet Nancy was up early the next morning. She’d already fed the boys their breakfast and sent them out to weed her herb garden when Alexandra came downstairs. She had prepared a breakfast of stewed tomatoes, beef, and scones for the two of them.

  Nancy took a sip of her tea and replaced the cup in its saucer. “’Twas Polly’s apron that finally let me figure it out,” she said, in answer to the question Alexandra had just asked.

  “Her apron?”

  “Yes. ’Twas Monday, you see, and I always do the laundry on the second Monday of the month, you know. Had that practice for years, I have. Just like my mum before me.”

  “Yes, Nancy, I know,” Alexandra said, trying not to allow her impatience to show.

  “Well, I was gathering the bed linens as I always do, including the ones in the room where Polly was staying. The one that used to be your father’s, you know.”

  Alexandra nodded.

  “’Twas there I saw the apron. One of the big white ones she always wears. Rather like the ones I wear, except the stitching on mine is fine, and I always make certain the cut is—”

  “Nancy�
��”

  “Impatient, aren’t you?” Nancy said, taking a leisurely sip of her tea. “And there’s something else about you, something that’s…what happened to you in London?”

  “For heaven’s sake, Nancy, tell me about the apron.”

  “Stained dark with blood.”

  “Polly brought a bloody apron here?”

  Nancy nodded. “I found it in a drawer when I pulled it open for the clean sheets. ’Twas laying there on top of them. Polly walks in as I was standing there, holding it up a bit from the drawer. ‘What are you doing?’ she asks. ‘Why just changing the sheets,’ I say. I felt uneasy, of course, as if I was meddling in her things. But I had made it clear to her that she could put her things in the other bureau, and I pointed out to her, just as you know I always do when there are guests, that the first bureau held the linens. If I didn’t know better, I would think she wanted me to find that apron.”

  “Perhaps she did,” Alexandra said, remembering what Dr. Mortimer had told her.

  “You really think so?”

  “Never mind. Please go on with your story.”

  “Oh yes. I was feeling guilty, as I said, but Polly finally just laughs it off and says she must have gotten the bureaus mixed in her mind. Said she meant to put it in the bottom drawer of her bureau where she put her soiled clothes. And as for the blood, she claimed ’twas her own. From her menses, she said. But anyone could see ’twasn’t so. No woman bloodies the top of her apron with her monthlies, and even if she did, ’twould soak her dress first, and there was no sign of a soiled dress. She wore the same dress the whole time she was here.”

  Alexandra frowned and shook her head. “I don’t understand how you would know immediately that she’d committed murder even if you knew it wasn’t menstrual blood on her apron.”