by Jess Faraday
“But why target the pair of you?” I asked.
“You haven’t seen our house, have you? It’s large—large enough to hold a library with a house and a half left over. There are also the rare books, and, well, quite a pile of money, as well. If Sam had married Abby, he’d have gained control of her share of it. Or he might have swindled her out of it and left. Who knows? As for Tom, he might well have talked me out of quite a bit of my own share, if we hadn’t discovered they were working together. I was utterly besotted. God, it’s embarrassing.”
He seemed to become besotted rather easily, and threw his affections around more freely than I’d have thought wise. I wondered if he was equally quick to withdraw them.
I said, “A skilled swindler can make you doubt your own senses.”
Theo shrugged.” Well, they say an honest man can’t be swindled.”
“That’s a load of rubbish,” I said. “I’ve never met a more honest man in my life, and I’m a very good judge of character. All the same, it’s lucky for you we were standing in this field together when someone coshed Brewer with that rock.”
Now he looked aghast. “What?”
“It’s just logic. You have a strong motive, and out of my list of possible suspects, you’re the only one tall enough and fit enough to have pulled it off.”
He paled. I wished I could have slipped an arm around him, but we were coming up to the high street, now, the grass and mud beneath our feet giving way to packed earth. This was not the place for indiscretion.
Elizabeth said, “You told Wallace about St. Aldhelm’s riddles, didn’t you?”
Theo sighed. “I never could resist showing off. It’s hard enough to find someone who’s tolerable company. When you find someone who also isn’t bored to tears by Anglo-Saxon riddlesFit”
“I like your riddles,” I said and was rewarded with a smile that, for a moment robbed me of my composure. “But…how did you learn that Wallace and Brewer weren’t who they said they were?”
He sighed. “Abby’s the sensible one. She never mentioned the book to Sam. So when he brought up the collection, it all came out. There was a terrible row, all four of us, and we sent them packing.”
“Theo,” Elizabeth said. “Wallace and Brewer knew about your weekly jaunts to Penbreigh, didn’t they? They knew when you’d be gone, but they also knew—”
“Where we would be,” Theo concluded despondently.
We were approaching Dowrick’s tavern. The three of us went inside. The lights were burning brightly and the smells of Mrs. Dowrick’s simple but satisfying fare wafted toward us, making me think of supper and home. School had ended some time ago. Abby’s visit with the books would have finished. I hoped she’d gone to Angove’s, where she’d be safe.
The tavern was already busy. Nothing brings neighbors together like a murder, it seemed. I was relieved to find Trevelyan in the crowd. He appeared to be entertaining Jenny Stark, of all people. His expression was affable but sober. I watched with approval as he kindly turned down the beer someone had sent over to him. When he caught sight of me in the doorway, he excused himself from his conversation and came over.
“Evening, Sergeant,” he said. “Ma’am,” he said to Elizabeth. He and Theo exchanged a nod.
“At ease, Trevelyan. Anything to report?”
“Sir. I showed the sketch around the village, like you asked. No one’s seen either man, though one farmer, a Mr. Enys, did report hearing noises near his barn just before sunrise.”
“Thank you.” Enys’s farm bordered Guthrie’s to the south. It was possible Wallace was holing up nearby. “Constable, let me introduce you to Mr. Penrose, the librarian. I’d like you to take his statement, and then tell him everything you saw at the library this morning. Make sure to take good notes for the investigating officers back in Bodmin.”
“Yes, sir.”
Part of me wanted to sit in on their conversation. Part of that part didn’t completely trust Theo not to accidentally incriminate himself. But the man was in his late twenties. He wouldn’t have lived this long in one place if he were indiscreet. Fortunately, I didn’t have too much time to worry. Mrs. Dowrick had seen us, and was bearing down, a smirk on her face and a bar rag slung over one shoulder.
“Well, there he is, Constable Charmin’,” she said. “Ain’t you the white knight? Or maybe the dark horse?”
“Am I?” I asked.
“Didn’t think school girls was your type.”
I opened my mouth to speak, but couldn’t find a single word. Silently cursing small towns and the lightening speed of gossip therein, I finally said, “They’re really not.”
Mrs. Dowrick bit back a laugh. “That ain’t what Cora Stark is saying, you devil.”
Elizabeth said, “Simon, what did you do?”
“Bought that girl a beautiful gown,” Mrs. Dowrick answered. “Is it going to be a ring, next?” She widened her eyes. “Oh! It ain’t ‘cause you have to, is it?”
I ignored that. Beside me, Elizabeth appeared to be caught between a gasp and a laugh.
“It wasn’t any kind of gown,” I said. “It was a very modest and sensible cold weather dress, suitable for school. Her mother said she needed it. You should have seen what the girl has been wearing. The clerk in Bodmin assured me it was a perfectly appropriate—.”
Mrs. Dowrick laughed. “Maybe the clerk should have assured Jenny Stark, ‘cause she’s after your head, mate!”
“For fuck’s sake, stop!” I hissed.
Elizabeth was holding back a giggle, now. “Oh, Simon, you need to make this right.”
I agreed, but whatever anyone might have said next was forgotten as several rifle blasts cut through the night.
The shots had come from out near Guthrie’s. Trevelyan, who had been searching for a quiet corner in which to interview Theo, stopped in his tracks and turned, looking to me for direction. I gestured for him to join me.
We ran down the high street, cut through Elizabeth’s field, and hopped one of the low stone walls. The darkness was thick, by this point, and neither of us had thought to grab a lantern. Once or twice Trevelyan slipped in the muck, but somehow we managed to find our way to Guthrie’s. When we arrived, we found Guthrie outside his chicken enclosure, dancing about like he’d made the collar of the century. Not far away, Tom Wallace cowered while Guthrie’s hens squawked and scolded from the safety of their coop.
“I got him Constable!” Guthrie cried triumphantly.
“Mr. Guthrie, put that rifle away before you kill someone,” I ordered.
Trevelyan had his cuffs at the ready, but seemed at a loss for who to clap them on.
“Tom Wallace” I said. “I’m arresting you for burglary.”
“Of my little speckled hen!” Guthrie crowed.
“—at the Bodmin library,” I finished.
“Eh?” Guthrie said.
I turned back to Wallace. “And on suspicion of the murder of Samuel Brewer.”
“Sam died?” Wallace seemed genuinely surprised. In his movements, I saw hints of the refinement Theo had described. If I’d met him on the street, I wouldn’t have taken him for a man of violence.
“Anything you want to tell us about that, Mr. Wallace?”
“I didn’t mean to kill him.” No angry denials, no half-baked justifications. He admitted to the deed, but not to the intent.
“But you did hit him with that rock,” I said a bit more gently.
“She was just a little girl. He went too far.” Wallace was a man of indecent appetites, according to the constabulary. Of course under the law, so was I. But there was indecency, and there was barbarity, and regarding which was worse, it seemed Wallace and I agreed.
“I didn’t mean to kill him,” Wallace said again. “I just wanted to get him off of her. Is she all right, the girl?”
“She’s fine,” I said. “Now what did you do with the book? St. Aldhelm’s Riddles?”
He shrugged. “Sam claimed he hadn’t found it in the library bu
t I didn’t believe him. I thought he hid it here, where we were hiding, but I never found it. And believe me, I looked.”
“Right. Well, that’ll be a job for the Bodmin lads. Now, keep your hands where I can see them and come out of there. Slowly.”
He emerged from behind the enclosure, and Trevelyan fastened the cuffs around his wrists. Just then, a crack of thunder shook the night. The clouds opened up and released a week’s worth of water all at once.
“I was wrong about you, Detective Sergeant,” Guthrie said as Trevelyan and I walked the prisoner past.
I stopped, looked him in the eye, half-shouting to be heard above the downpour. “Then perhaps you’d care to take us to Bodmin in your covered cart.”
Even as I said the words, I knew it wasn’t going to happen. The ground was already turning to mud beneath my feet. I could feel my boots sink and slide. The road would wash out before we were halfway there.
“Not tonight, copper,” he shouted back. “But if you can spare that constable for a guard, you can keep him in my barn, and I’ll take you in the morning.”
After securing the prisoner, I trudged back toward the high street, keeping my eyes on the lights of Dowrick’s tavern. The early November night had fallen and fallen hard. It couldn’t have been much later than seven, but I was exhausted and wanted nothing more than a shot of something strong and warm, a change of clothes, and bed.
Unfortunately, to achieve any of it, I had to go back through the tavern. Jenny Stark met me as I passed through the door, hands on hips—never a positive sign. Behind the bar, Mrs. Dowrick set down the glass she was drying, crossed her arms over her chest, and settled in for the show.
“Miss Stark,” I began. “I don’t know what you’ve heard, but—”
“I’ve heard that you’re a gentleman, Sergeant.”
“I assure you, I didn’t mean—”
Her expression softened. “I know that.To hear Cora tell it, well, you can understand how a mother might lose her mind a little. I wasn’t much older than Cora when she was born. I know you’re a good man and you’d look after her—”
Good God! I’d worried Cora was simply trying to seduce me. This was much worse. “Miss Stark—” I interrupted.
“Let me finish. I know you’d look after her, but you were right. She needs to be in school. She’s quick. She could do better than I did. But the boys were starting in on her. They wouldn’t leave her alone, and I didn’t have the money to buy her a dress that fits like it should. I didn’t know what to do. And then when Cora said…. If I hadn’t met up with that constable of yours, I might still be out for your blood. But Mr. Trevelyan and I talked a bit, and after I thought about it, I realized that only a sixteen-year-old could look at that dress and see a gift from a suitor. That is a right and proper school dress. Thank you, Sergeant.”
“You’re welcome,” I said, hoping that this was where the topic would rest. The way the conversation had doubled and tripled back on itself had left me dizzy. “Most welcome. And if anyone troubles you or your family again, let me know. I’ll sort them out.”
Dowrick’s was doing a better business than I’d ever seen. The air shook with the sounds of conversation and clinking glass. A fire blazed in the hearth, and I took a moment to thaw myself out before it, the heat raising thin tendrils of vapor from the sodden wool.
“Looks like you escaped with your head intact,” Elizabeth said, suddenly at my side.
I snorted. “Barely.”
“It was a kind thing you did, Simon. I think you’re going to fit in well, here.”
I was beginning to think so as well. I’d never imagined myself as a village bobby, but perhaps I needed to expand my imagination.
Elizabeth said, “I imagine there are a lot of people here who would like to buy you a drink.”
“Another time. Right now, I just want to get out of these clothes and get into bed.”
She grinned. “In that case, the man you need is over there at the corner table.”
It wasn’t actually a table. Someone had taken an empty barrel and set chairs on either side. Theo was sitting on one of those chairs, and Abby on the other. Two pairs of glittering dark eyes lit up as I approached.
“Did you find Tom?” Theo asked.
“Yes. He’ll spend the night under Trevelyan’s watchful eye, then off to Bodmin jail in the morning.”
“Will he be hanged?”
“Possibly.”
A shadow drifted across Theo’s expression. Suddenly, I didn’t feel quite so satisfied with myself. Wallace was a criminal, and I’d see him punished—even more so for the fact that he’d hurt Theo. Nonetheless, Theo clearly harbored some residual sentiment for the man.
“Only thing was,” I said. “He didn’t have St. Aldhelm’s Riddles.”
“You mean this?” Abby asked, drawing a cloth-wrapped bundle from her bag. She unwrapped the cloth. Theo had said that this wasn’t the original, but it still looked very old and very valuable. “After the row with Sam and Wallace, I had a feeling we hadn’t seen the last of them. And I was right.”
Relief washed over Theo’s face. “I don’t know what I’d do without you, sis.”
“I don’t know what you’d do either,” she said, tucking the precious volume back into her bag. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, Alice challenged me to a game of darts, and I never back down from a challenge.”
After she’d gone, Theo set his elbows onto the barrel and leaned toward me. “Buy you a drink, Sergeant?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve a better idea.”
I left first, ascending the kitchen stairs to my little room. Theo followed, perhaps ten minutes later. We were careful to be quiet, though surely no one could have heard us above the din. The love we made was bittersweet. Was it Tom Wallace on his mind? I couldn’t blame him, especially since someone else was on my mind as well. But Theo was an enthusiastic and attentive lover. I liked him, and I would see him again if I had to move back to Bodmin to do it.
We ended up naked, entwined, crammed together on my narrow little bed, my head resting on his bicep. He still smelled of old books, but now he smelled of his own heady musk as well. He smiled down at me, his fingers gently combing through my hair. It was getting long. I’d have to visit the barber soon.
“Simon, who’s Cal?”
“What?”
My heart started to pound, but Theo was still calmly stroking my hair.
“You said his name at a rather crucial juncture.”
“Did I?”
He pressed his lips to my temple. “You did.”
“Sorry. It’s been over for months, now.”
“Did you love him?”
That brought me up short. I’d never thought to use the term. Never thought that word was for men like us. But, all things considered, it made perfect sense.
“I suppose I did,” I said.
“I loved Tom as well. But it’s done, now.”
“Yes.”
“Is he in Cornwall, this Cal?”
“No.” But how I wished he were. “Scotland. I was in Edinburgh on loan from the Met. I fouled that up as well.”
“Oh?”
“Then I came back to London and laid waste to my life there, too. I’m a disaster,” I said.
He was laughing a little now, but it was kind. “I’m sure it wasn’t as bad as all that.”
“It really was.”
He kissed me again. “I’ve no right to be jealous, Simon, but I am. I want you to myself.”
An alarm sounded in the back of my mind. He was quick to speak, quick to act, quick to fall in love. I wondered if I’d be able to keep up. I wondered if I’d end up disappointing him in some spectacular way, and adding Bodmin to the list of cities where I was unwelcome.
I tilted my head up to meet his gaze in the dim light. “A bit soon, isn’t it?”
“Probably, but that’s how I feel.” We searched each other’s faces. His own was open but serious. I wondered what he saw in mine.
“Huh.” He frowned. Then, “And you? Have you moved on?”
I pulled him closer. “I’m trying. I told you I’m inept. A disaster. A catastrophe of a human being. But, interestingly, a very decent copper.”
“Well, as long as you have your priorities straight. And you say you like my riddles.”
“I do,” I said.
“In that case, I have one more, only it’s not from St. Aldhelm. It’s mine.”
“Go on.”
He rested his chin on top of my head. I nestled into the crook of his neck. His voice was a pleasant vibration against my cheek.
“What’s stronger than war, more fragile than peace, useless when stolen, but when given freely, the most precious of all things? Think carefully,” he said. “There are several possible answers.”
I knew he wanted me to say “love” or perhaps “the heart.” Maybe one day, but not after a mere twenty-four hours, and not with Tom sodding Wallace still occupying his thoughts. The Devil take Wallace, anyway. And my insufferable jealousy as well. Jealousy had ruined things with Cal. I’d be damned if I let it drive Theo away as well. Justice would put paid to Tom Wallace. Or would it? Dark thoughts clouded my mind—nebulous, undefined, wildly conflicting, but dark. Suddenly I was not at all certain that justice, true justice, would be done.
I disentangled myself and began to dress. “I have to go.”
“Now?”
“I’m sorry. Let yourself out when it’s clear.” I slung on my still half-waterlogged coat then stopped and took his face in my hands. “I like you, Theo. I like you so much, and I want to see you again. But right now there’s something I need to see through.”
•••
Rain was still crashing down. My thoughts and stomach churned as I made my way around the back of Guthrie’s farm to the barn. There, against the padlocked door, Constable Trainee Trevelyan huddled in the inadequate shelter of the building, shivering and miserable. When he saw me he started to attention.
