‘Miss Ardglass, wait a moment,’ I said. ‘How do you know all this? I thought you had not seen your father at all since he was admitted to the asylum.’
‘You are right that I was not allowed in, but I still found a way. Very early on I began visiting him at night, every new moon, so nobody would see me crossing the gardens – I’d wear this very cloak and I’d tell my grandmother I was going to one of our country cottages, or to London, and she never suspected a thing. It has been six years, so I was eventually spotted by some of the inmates, but apparently they thought I was an apparition, some tortured soul that would only come out when there was no moon in the sky. Nobody believed them, of course. I was safe.’
I looked at her black cloak, and for the first time noticed the very common clothes she was wearing, as if trying to pass for a girl of modest means. It was no wonder that the innkeeper back in Lancaster had confused us with his description: two slender girls, both with brown hair, both with good manners, both travelling with an older woman and an ogre …
‘What else did the witches do to Joel?’ asked McGray.
‘Well, he came to know the exact substances and doses they had been using on him, but he never told me anything more specific than what I’ve already told you. He said I’d be safer that way.’
‘Did ye see any potions, amulets?’
‘Only once, not long ago. He asked me to help him search his bedroom and we found a dead hummingbird stuffed with herbs. It was an alarming little thing to behold. My father threw it into the fire immediately. He knew what it was but again he preferred not to tell me, for my own safety.
‘He said he’d use the witches’ own methods to protect himself. He asked me to bring him things to which he had no access in the asylum: strange herbs, chemicals, red onions I had shipped from Spain …’
McGray was engrossed. ‘Did it work?’
Caroline bit her lip, tears again coming to the surface. ‘At first I thought he was going terribly mad,’ she said, ‘worse than ever before, asking me for all those items, but then …’ She sniffed and wiped the tears away. ‘It seemed to work! He improved so much. He even laughed at times! He hadn’t laughed in almost ten years. He never laughed much, not even before his madness took over …’
We had to wait for a moment, while Caroline gulped painfully and Bertha held her hands with motherly affection.
‘If he was feeling better,’ McGray said at last, ‘how come he didnae tell people? Denounce the harpies?’
‘I asked him that very question,’ answered Caroline. ‘In the end he was so sharp and well he could easily have walked out a vindicated man. But he simply told me I should wait … and I did. I could not tell anybody; I was not even supposed to be there!’
‘And I assume he hid the book from Oakley,’ I said. ‘Did she ever try to find it? Tell the other witches it had gone missing?’
‘I don’t know,’ Caroline began. ‘I wouldn’t think so …’
‘Oakley probably tried to keep it quiet,’ McGray interrupted, meditative. ‘Ye don’t want to upset a gang o’ cunning witches – but I’m getting ahead o’ myself.’
‘Did you ever suspect he was planning to escape?’ I asked her.
‘No … Well … no.’
I tilted my head. ‘You do not sound very convinced.’
‘I never thought he’d escape, Mr Frey. I hesitate because the last time I saw him he acted very strangely. He told me not to visit him the next month …’ She sobbed, but this time she managed to speak through the tears. ‘He said he loved me, that he’d always loved me. He was so earnest; he hugged me like never before and then sent me away.
‘The next new moon was New Year’s Day. The night he …’
She looked away.
‘Why did the witches use Joel?’ McGray asked. Mrs Greenwood was pouring cups of tea for everyone.
‘At first he was not entirely sure,’ Caroline said, ‘but soon after he found the book he asked me to investigate why they might have selected him. Of course I couldn’t ask my grandmother for help, so it took me a while. Sometimes I had to go away to do the research, also under pretence, but I found the first glimpse of an answer in our own home, in an inventory of my grandmother’s assets. I found a relatively recent acquisition she’d never mentioned to me: it was a large country manor with some fifty acres of land around it – in Lancashire.’
McGray looked up. ‘Was it called Cobden Hall?’
Caroline looked surprised. ‘So you know about it.’
‘We’ve been making enquiries too. Please go on.’
‘I investigated more, although I never dared go to the place itself, not even after I found that the house and the land had belonged to our distant ancestors, when the family name was still Ambrose …’
I remembered the grave we’d found in the crypts of Lancaster Priory, and that eerie skull stuffed with marigolds and pins.
‘My many-times-great-grandfather,’ Caroline went on, ‘lost the property in a very tragic turn of events. Everything was auctioned and ended up in the hands of a man named Oakley. Nobody knew him or how he’d made his money, but he settled into the manor and his family lived there for a very long time.
‘My family slowly gained back money and prestige. The Ambrose barony is now extinct, but my grandmother got hold of another title by marrying into the Ardglass clan.’
‘How did your grandmother manage to regain the property?’ I asked, and Caroline smiled crookedly.
‘My grandmother has a talent for snatching properties by dubious means.’ She looked at McGray. ‘She even tried to seize your house at Moray Place, even though your father had paid her more than half already.’
McGray smiled bitterly, surely revisiting unpleasant memories.
‘Apparently it was quite a scandal,’ Caroline continued. ‘My grandmother must have declared something in the Lancaster courts a few years ago, but I could not find any record of those proceedings. I travelled myself to Lancaster last November and hired a lawyer to look for them, but all he found was an entry in the property registry, stating the hall and all its land passed to my grandmother in June of 1882. I was appalled when I read that date. It was within weeks that my father’s mind began to crumble. Within a few months he was a different person, and by December he was in the asylum.’
Again she needed a moment, and Bertha encouraged her to have some tea.
McGray was stroking his chin. ‘So Lady Glass upset the witches by snatching Cobden Hall – something odd has to be going on there, that’s clear – so the witches decide to take revenge by turning him mad …’
‘That’s what I imagine,’ Caroline said.
McGray pushed his tea aside and took a sip of whisky instead. ‘Something doesn’t quite fit here, lass … Does yer grandma have properties across Britain? I thought she mainly hoarded Scotland and a wee bit o’ London.’
Caroline assented. ‘That is correct. Cobden Hall was a very odd investment for her.’
‘Did she do much with it?’ I asked. ‘I suppose not, otherwise you might have heard of it.’
‘That is the strangest part. My grandmother didn’t do anything with it. She didn’t let the manor, or the farming land. All she did was strip it and sell the furnishings and fittings. From her ledgers it looked like she made a small fortune from the Elizabethan and Jacobean items. As soon as she had sold everything she forgot about the place. She loves her profits, so I found that very odd. She has not been to the manor in years, and in all that time she’s not even sent any of her brokers to inspect it. Anything could be happening there …’
McGray was in deep thought. He stood up and began pacing.
‘That truly makes no sense. Could it be that … ? Perhaps the witches threatened to do something worse to her if she didn’t let them use the property?’
‘Possibly,’ I said, ‘and that might also explain why they did not kill Joel but went to so much trouble to keep him mad all these years. As a sort of guarantee.’
McGray
was still pacing. He was about to say something but then changed his mind.
‘What is it?’ I asked.
‘Besides Lady Glass not making sense … This Pimblett man … I recall from those files that he was yer father’s butler for a long time, wasn’t he?’
‘Yes, for many years, yet he left as soon as my grandmother arranged to send my father to Dr Clouston. He didn’t even leave a note; he simply disappeared one day. My grandmother was furious.’
‘Although, knowing her, probably secretly pleased she didn’t have to pay him,’ Bertha tutted.
McGray nodded, his eyes stern. ‘From what we’ve seen, he must have been in the witches’ service for quite a while too …’
‘Wouldn’t surprise me if he joined them as soon as he left Slaidburn,’ Mr Greenwood ventured.
McGray furrowed his brow and I knew what he was thinking.
‘It seems that they were planning this long before Lady Anne took possession of the manor,’ Nine-Nails said.
Caroline looked at him with alarmed eyes, her chest suddenly swelling. ‘Well, my father always was a little prone to depression, but … Do you mean to say … it was not only revenge for losing the land to her? Why else would they do it? Why would someone spend all those years spying on him?’
‘And then send two lassies to continue the job,’ McGray added. ‘It’s a lot of effort. And then the marigolds …’
I knew he was thinking of that ancient skull too.
‘The marigolds?’ Caroline asked.
McGray and I exchanged worried looks. It was a malevolent shadow we were discovering around the Ardglass family.
Nine-Nails shook his head. ‘Never mind, lassie. Let’s cross that bridge when we get to it.’
‘It’s not a trifling detail,’ said Caroline.
‘Course not, lass, but I cannae give ye an answer. Youse, on the other hand, still have a few answers I need. For instance, how come ye decided to follow yer dad’s footsteps, even if it meant attacking two CID inspectors?’
Her face went pale.
‘And how did you know where he was heading?’ I added. ‘You claim you had no knowledge of his plans, yet now I see we have encountered you at almost every step of our – and his – journey.’
Miss Ardglass opened her eyes wide. ‘What are you implying, Mr Frey?’
I could feel the tension rising in the room, the frowns of the Greenwoods tightening as I spoke.
‘Did you assist Lord Ardglass in any of his crimes?’
‘Of course I did not!’ Caroline spat. ‘I told you already! I never thought he’d escape, and I certainly never dreamed he’d harm anybody! I was genuinely shocked when you brought us the news that morning.’
‘Perhaps,’ McGray said. ‘But youse did follow him quite closely. How?’
She gulped, suddenly shrinking into her seat. Bertha patted her hand.
Miss Ardglass took a deep breath. ‘There is no point concealing it, I suppose,’ she said. ‘As soon as you left us that day I took a carriage and went to one of grandmother’s empty cottages. My father used to play there as a child, and that was the spot where we handed him to Doctor Clouston. My grandmother never let the place again; I imagine it brought her bad memories. I somehow knew my father would go there. It was mere intuition.’
‘Why did you not tell us?’ I interrupted. ‘We explicitly asked you if you knew where he could have –’
McGray held me back. ‘So ye went to the cottage and found him there.’
‘Yes. I didn’t believe he’d done it. I kept telling myself he couldn’t have.’
‘And he admitted he …’ McGray looked at the Greenwoods. Their faces were mortified. ‘He admitted he was responsible for Miss Greenwood’s death?’
Caroline struggled to speak. ‘I didn’t believe it until I heard it from him.’
‘You scum!’ Mrs Greenwood roared, hurling herself forwards, her nails ready to strike, but her husband seized her by the shoulders. ‘Your bastard father killed our poor girl!’
Caroline jumped up. ‘Your precious daughter poisoned my father for years! She got what she deserved!’
McGray tried to appease them, but they went on yelling, their faces red, spittle flying. Nine-Nails stepped back and we watched them let all that steam off, expecting them to tire at some point, but they could have continued until dawn.
Nine-Nails aimed into the fireplace and shot. Only then did the women stop. There was a moment of silence, but then Mrs Greenwood burst into tears; she covered her mouth and again cried miserably on her husband’s shoulder.
‘Sit,’ McGray told Miss Ardglass, whose chest was still heaving, but he had to push her by the shoulders to make her obey. ‘Now, focus, lass. Ye spoke to Joel. He told ye where he was going, right?’
Caroline grunted. ‘Yes. He said he’d go to Lancaster, to find Pimblett … God, I tried to persuade him not to, I honestly did! But he said his life was already ruined. He made me swear I wouldn’t follow … but I had to do something.
‘Bertha and Jed wouldn’t let me come alone. We took the next train, where I saw Mr Frey vomiting like the Trevi Fountain. Of course I warned my father, and he probably hid in the coal car. When we alighted Bertha saw him very briefly.’
‘He was all covered in charcoal,’ said Bertha.
Caroline’s eyes went from McGray to me and back. ‘After that, we found you were at the same inn. All we had to do was follow your tracks to know where my father was heading.’
‘Our tracks?’ I echoed. ‘How could you possibly have followed us all the way here?’
Miss Ardglass sneered. ‘Are you that much of a fool, Mr Frey? You two are unmistakable: a lanky Londoner who fancies himself a duke, travelling with a scruffy Scotsman who wears ridiculous clothes … We simply had to ask. Wherever you went, people remembered.’
‘She does make a fair point,’ McGray whispered.
‘Indeed,’ I said, ‘you do wear ridiculous clothes.’
Caroline went on. ‘We managed to follow you to those warehouses by the port. It was a miracle we found my father storming out of those buildings. We barely managed to get him into the carriage before you two and that moustachioed brute came out.’ Her eyes became sombre. ‘My poor father was not happy to see me. I’d never seen him in such a vicious temper. He said spiteful things and I even thought he’d lost his mind for good. He had taken a lot of strange artefacts from that warehouse – a glass knife, weeds, weird lamp oils … He gave me a strange “fire bottle” and said I should throw it at the witches if they ever came near me.’
‘Of course,’ I said. ‘It was you who attacked us on the road.’
‘Shall I apologize?’ she mocked.
‘I ken how much an Ardglass apology is worth,’ Nine-Nails said.
‘We did all we could not to kill you,’ Caroline went on. ‘You were standing in the middle of the road like an idiot – Jed nearly destroyed the carriage to stop on time. And I did try to throw the bottle a little off.’
‘Tried!’ McGray protested. ‘I bloody well caught fire!’
‘Moving on,’ I said, before another burst of emotion overwhelmed us, ‘did your father tell you where he was going?’
‘No, again it was you gentlemen who guided us.’ Caroline laughed quietly. ‘Mr McGray harassed almost every coachman in Lancaster to find transport to Pendle. As soon as we heard that I knew he’d be going to Cobden Hall. Although I didn’t know he’d be coming to this village. We stopped here because of Pimblett’s connection with the place – and because we needed shelter.’
‘You only just missed your monster of a father,’ Mrs Greenwood snapped.
Caroline drew in an indignant breath, but went on, ‘When we arrived the entire village was in turmoil. As this – lady said, the children had just been snatched and all the men were preparing to go and look for them. They turned us away when we requested a room; I knew the predicament they were in, but we had no option and had to force our stay.’
‘They terrorized us
!’ Mrs Greenwood told us.
‘We may have been blunt but we offered you good money,’ Caroline hissed, before turning to us. ‘We asked them to tell no one we were here. I assumed you two would come along at some point, and I was right. It was infuriating to have to stay put while you ate our dinner and His Royal Highness soaked in my lavender bath. I had no idea the children’s kidnapping was in any way connected to my father.’
Mrs Greenwood opened her mouth to speak but her husband raised his hand. ‘The girl’s telling the truth. They didn’t know Lizzy’s child was in question and we didn’t tell them our names when they arrived. They didn’t hear our story until you inspectors questioned us. When I went upstairs the miss here was distraught. She said that if we got rid of you they’d take us to the children. They said they could get to them, on the condition that you two didn’t know of their presence …’ He looked at Miss Ardglass with contempt. ‘I didn’t like that deal at all, and I would have preferred to tell you everything – but she claimed she knew where the children were.’
I arched an eyebrow and turned slowly to face Caroline. ‘Miss Ardglass, do you know?’
She did not reply, but looked down so swiftly she might as well have crouched like a cornered cat.
McGray smiled. ‘Aye, I think the lass might have been telling the truth for once … or at least part of it.’
34
‘Tell them!’ Mrs Greenwood hollered. ‘Tell them now!’
McGray’s patience had run out. ‘Mr Greenwood, control yer bloody wife; next time she yells like that I’ll punch yer face.’
The man did squeeze her arm and McGray turned back to Caroline.
‘Miss Ardglass, I need ye to tell us what ye think yer father did to those children …’
I smiled bitterly. ‘And the sooner you tell us the better. We do not want to lose innocent lives to one of Joel’s psychotic episodes.’
A Fever of the Blood Page 26
