by Issy Brookw
“That a cart can be driven over?” Cordelia said, shaking her head in disbelief. “No, surely he would have known he cannot come this way. Ruby, do you know which way he has gone? What has George told you?”
“That he is a dangerous man and that he will surely try to ambush you if he thinks he is being pursued! When I told him what you were about, he confessed all. Lloyd is not just an angry man. He will kill you all!”
“Which road is he on?”
“The smaller one, the other one that will go to his village. George told me the name of the place it goes by, but I cannot say it. Llan—?”
“I know it!” Constable Evans said. “I told Geraint to go that way on the way back from the village.”
“So Geraint will be coming up it, when Caradog Lloyd is coming down it?” Ruby’s eyes were wide and wild. “He will kill the policeman, you know. We have to get to Lloyd first.”
“Well, this is a narrow road, so everyone get off the cart and help me turn it around,” Geoffrey said with a hint of annoyance.
“No,” said Evans. “If we leave the cart here, we can go up that hill there — do you see a track? — and drop down into the valley beyond. Even on foot, we will reach the right road more quickly.”
Cordelia could see some darkened lines through the grass, but nothing that she’d call a track. Still, this was Evan’s patch and so she had to believe him. She was glad she had chosen some substantial boots. “Should someone stay with the horse, and Ruby’s pony?”
“I will make them right, but you will need all of us,” Geoffrey said.
They wasted a few minutes while Geoffrey unhitched the horse and tethered him safely in reach of water. Cordelia tried to eat something to sustain herself but everything now tasted dry and dead.
Finally they were on their way. Geoffrey had grabbed the shotgun again, and Constable Evans had said not a word about it. The cooler evening had brought out clouds of midges which hung above their heads and wormed their way into their hair. The ground was soft and boggy from the rain, and from time to time they encountered small landslips of rocks and boulders that had been tumbled by the floods.
Constable Evans was at the front, striding forward. He kept up a fast pace and Cordelia, though she enjoyed the physical exertion, had to concentrate to keep her breath and also her footing. It was less easy to see where she was putting her feet, and her corset, while a flexible one, didn’t let her use her whole body for balance as easily as the unencumbered men could do. Behind her came Geoffrey, and then Stanley and Ruby. They were most definitely not walking together. But whenever Cordelia glanced over her shoulder, she could see that Stanley was there, ready to catch Ruby should she stumble.
Ruby ignored him and kept her attention on the path.
The track doubled back. It took a zig-zag route up the hill but now the terrain was growing ever more steep and they had to slow down. Cordelia stepped to one side and let Ruby catch up with her. Stanley scurried ahead to give them space.
“I know what you are about to ask me, my lady,” Ruby said.
“Of course. So, tell me. In truth … I would have laid down money that you would not return.”
“Really? You thought that of me?” Ruby looked hurt, but Cordelia could not understand why.
“Yes. You were away with a man whom you clearly love, and who loves you. And you are proud.”
“Perhaps if I had gone away for weeks and months and years, it would have been difficult to return,” Ruby conceded. “And maybe, after all this is done, I will still go with him.”
There was a tone in her voice. Cordelia knew that Ruby would not go. She said, “I am so sorry. Can you tell me what happened?”
“Oh, it is nothing dramatic. He has left Aberystwyth, of course, and I was with him, and on the way we talked about what you were about, and his master, and I wanted to know more about him. And I told him what you intended on doing, and he grew afraid for you.”
“But did you argue? Did he … was he forceful?”
“Oh, no, my lady! He was always a perfect gentleman, and that is why I loved … I love him. But you see, he told me that Caradog Lloyd was unpredictable and he thought he would be violent. He’d been getting more and more angry lately. It was one reason that George wanted to leave. There was always this horrible threat hanging around him. I could not persuade George to come with me, to help you, but I knew I had to try, myself. Lloyd blamed those ladies for his injury, you see.”
“What injury? Oh! He is lame, is he not? He limps.”
“He is, and that is a recent thing. He was taken by the Ceffyl Pren and tied to a ladder and paraded around the village for his sins and his crimes, you see.”
“But why would he blame the ladies for that? I understand that this kind of mob justice is done by men dressed up as women.”
“No. In this case, it was women, dressed as themselves but with cloths over their faces. They took matters into their own hands.”
The landlady’s words came back to Cordelia. We women must stick together. Cordelia said, “But would that be enough for him to want to kill the ladies?” She could easily see how the ladies could have galvanised the village women into action against someone such as Lloyd. Yet, while Lloyd would have felt angry, would he have been angry enough?
“George said that Lloyd felt more shame that it was women doing it to him, than if it had been men. The men have a kind of joking manner about them but the women were so deadly serious and he felt that he was unmanned because they were able to restrain him and tie him up and taunt him so. And everyone in the village knew, of course, and he felt eyes on him, all the time. He was never a popular man, you know.”
“No, I can see that,” said Cordelia. “So he took it all to heart very much. Too much.”
“Indeed, and when he moved here, he wanted a fresh start, but he’s not the easiest man to get along with. He’s too charming so women avoid him and men mock him.” Ruby sighed. “George was always being teased by him but he accepted that, being the apprentice. I told him it wasn’t right but he said it was how things were. And George said Lloyd could be fun, too. A job is a job, you know?”
They were just a hundred yards now from the top of the hill. Evans had stopped just below the rise and was waiting for everyone to catch up. Cordelia didn’t have long alone with Ruby now. Quickly, she said, “So, if you and George have not argued, why are you here?”
Ruby increased her pace and Cordelia had to half-skip to keep up. “When George and I were discussing this matter, I realised that you were in danger. George made it very clear. I had to warn you. There’s more. I need to tell the constable something before we go over the top there…”
“What more is there?” Cordelia said, and she thought she already knew.
Her fears were confirmed.
“When Lloyd left the barber’s shop he took all his razors and knives with him.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Geoffrey heard Ruby’s words and he turned to them with a grin. “I have a shotgun. Which one do you think wins over this kind of distance?”
Constable Evans put a finger to his lips. He removed his top hat and placed it on the ground before crouching and making his way with an awkward squat-crawl motion to the top of the hill, using humps and clumps of grass as rudimentary cover. Geoffrey simply threw himself full-length to the ground, the shotgun held out to one side at an angle, and used his elbows to crawl up to the summit. Ruby hung back with Stanley. Cordelia knew she ought to stay out of the way too, but curiosity got the better of her. She followed Geoffrey’s example. Lying flat on the ground was actually easier than trying to squat because of her horsehair petticoats. They had the added advantage of cushioning her from the rough ground.
She inched her way to the top and peeked into the valley. They did not have a clear view, however. The ground didn’t drop away neatly, but was instead pitted with rises and falls, obscuring the road in places as it passed from left to right.
And to the right, as h
er eyes followed the road, stood a single-storey house in a state of considerable disrepair. There were holes in the slate roof, and no windows or doors that she could see, just black holes in the grey walls. Outside the house stood a horse and cart. The horse was still in the traces, with its head hanging down and one rear leg cocked, at rest.
There was no sign of any movement.
“He must be in the house,” Evans hissed. “I have a small pistol which will fire one shot if I can get close enough. Geoffrey, will you accompany me?”
Geoffrey showed all his yellowing teeth like a wolf as he grinned and grunted.
“We cannot get there without being seen,” Evans said. “Not unless we skirt around the back.”
“We don’t have time,” Geoffrey said. “Let’s do this.” He stood up, the gun in his right hand, held casually to nestle in the crook of his elbow with the barrel leaning along his forearm.
Constable Evans picked his top hat up and plopped it back onto his head as he, too, straightened up.
Cordelia’s heart was in her mouth. “Ruby, does Lloyd have a gun also?”
“George did not say that he did,” Ruby replied. She was looking pale and strained. “But he was very worried about the razors.”
Cordelia knew the ones she meant: the great long cut-throat razors commonly used by barbers. She began to stand up, too, but Ruby grabbed her arm. “Get down!”
Cordelia was back on her knees instantly. “Ruby!”
“You have not re-instated me as your maid,” Ruby said, getting her argument in before she was reprimanded. “So do not presume to tell me off.”
“I cannot stay up here and watch.”
“So you’ll go down and get in the way? You’re a woman. The men will get all confused and want to rescue us.”
“I doubt that very much,” Cordelia said. “I don’t need rescuing. I have hatpins.”
“Hatpins against cut-throat razors and possibly guns? Let us watch and wait … oh!”
Ruby’s exclamation became a groan of horror.
The horse and cart had not moved, but two figures had emerged from the abandoned house. They were low down in the valley but not too far away. Caradog Lloyd, however, was visible because he was behind another figure.
“That’s the policeman, the petty one sworn in lately … Geraint,” Cordelia said.
Lloyd had Geraint in a stranglehold, his left arm around the petty officer’s neck. His right hand held a long blade to the officer’s exposed skin. Even in the fading light, the razor shone.
Geoffrey and Constable Evans stopped. Lloyd stared up at them. Ruby, Stanley and Cordelia all hunkered down, trying to peer through long reeds and grass. The forms became blurry and hard to make out but Cordelia didn’t dare to raise her head. She could hear the conversation quite well, however. It carried up to them on a light breeze.
“Stop! You will come no further, the pair of you,” Lloyd shouted. “I can see you both. You know what I will do if you approach me. Tell them, Geraint.”
“St—stop!” the part-time constable gasped, barely audible in his fear of moving when he spoke.
“We have stopped,” Evans said. He dropped his voice to a whisper that Lloyd would not be able to hear. “Geoffrey, can you get a shot at this distance?”
“In this light? To hit the right man when they are both standing so close? No. But I can chance it anyway. It might be better that I hit both of them, and send the bullet through the boy to the man behind.”
“For heaven’s sake, man!”
“Oh well. I did think you might have scruples,” Geoffrey replied, and she caught his shoulders shrugging though she could not see his face.
She heard Evans sigh heavily, though whether that was at the situation with Lloyd or her own immoral coachman, she did not know.
“Now then,” Lloyd continued. “So you will both stay up there, you see, and I am going to get back in this cart soon and we will continue and you will not try to come after me. You would not want to lose this man, and have his death on your conscience, would you? Anyway it would give the police and the council his family to then look after. So many mouths to feed. You cannot do that. I know you cannot.”
“The horse is resting,” Ruby whispered. “At least he has some feeling for his beast.”
“But we know where you are going,” Evans said in frustration. “How long do you think you can run for?”
“Oh, you are so clever, are you? You know nothing. I will get to a port and then I’ll be away, make my living somewhere else, I will. Don’t fret. I will let this one go as soon as I am away from here.”
“We will catch you and the longer this goes on, the worse it will be.”
Lloyd laughed. “Worse than death by hanging? How so? Oh, you are a funny man. Go home, both of you. What has happened to that woman who was hanging around with you, Evans? Was she not that one’s employer? I have some bad news for her, you know.”
“Lady Cornbrook?” Evans said with suspicion in his voice.
“Yes, that meddling witch. She thinks she can see into people’s hearts. She didn’t see into her own maid’s soul though, did she? Soon she will find her maid long gone with that silly apprentice of mine. Not that they will get far, either. It was I that told his family of their intentions, after all. Fools, the lot of them.”
Now it was Cordelia’s turn to put her hand out to prevent Ruby from getting up. They looked at one another. Ruby set her jaw. “He thinks I am not here,” she said. “I am no threat, then. Listen, I have a plan. I will need to take Stanley.”
“Take Stanley? Where?”
Ruby looked back over her shoulder. “Stanley? You are a brave man under all that, you know. Will you come with me?”
“Yes,” he stammered. “If I know what you are to do. But my lady…”
“Yes, what about me?” Cordelia demanded.
“You must make yourself known and use all the skills you have to distract him and prevent him from taking flight. We will go and get ourselves into position. Stanley? With me.”
Cordelia was left there, open-mouthed, as Ruby and Stanley wriggled backwards away from the summit of the hill. When they were a few feet away, Ruby put her mouth close to Stanley’s ear and he reddened in shame at the proximity of her body, but he listened, and then he nodded.
“My lady?” Ruby hissed through the heather. “Go to your role. Distract him. But trust us. We can do this. And only we can do this.”
Ruby slithered away to one side of the hill, and Stanley took the other.
Cordelia gathered her wits, her courage and her skirts, and stood up to silhouette herself on the skyline.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Cordelia was terrified, but it was easier to act than to be passive and watch everyone else act. She was never one to stay on the side-lines. She took a few deep breaths, hoping to steady herself, but she did not get the chance to find her calm.
Caradog Lloyd spotted her as soon as she stood up, and he started to laugh.
Out of the corner of her eye, she tried to watch where Ruby and Stanley went, but they were good at evading detection. Perhaps it was something servants were bred to. Geoffrey half turned his head and frowned at her.
“My lady! Will you get down?”
“How do we know he doesn’t have a gun?” Constable Evans hissed in concern.
“Surely he would have shown that to us by now,” she said. “I have found that men are inordinately fond of waving their weapons in the air. In all ways.”
Geoffrey grunted. Constable Evans kept his voice very low, and said, “What of the other two?”
“They have a plan,” she whispered back. “And do not let him know that they are with us. Instead, we must keep his attention focused up here. That’s why I’ve stood up. We mustn’t let him — oh! Ho, there!” she cried. “You cad!”
Lloyd had taken the chance while they were distracted with their hissed conversation to begin to walk young Geraint awkwardly towards the back of the cart. It was goi
ng to be a difficult manoeuvre, she could see; Lloyd’s leg seemed to be causing him more trouble than usual, and of course, the moment he let his guard down, Geraint would be able to wrestle the razor away from his neck. If he dared.
When Cordelia shouted, he stopped, and had to tighten his grip on Geraint’s neck. They were at the back of the cart, but still in plain view, as the horse and cart were side-on to them, and the house was behind.
“You cannot think to stop me. What, are you planning on using some feminine wiles on me?” Lloyd yelled. “There isn’t a feminine bone in your body, is there? That day you were in my shop. I was trying to be nice but you didn’t know what to do or say. You are as bad as those two ladies! Unnatural.”
“Perhaps you need to face the fact that you are simply unappealing to a woman,” she retorted. She had decided that getting into an argument was the easiest way to keep his attention. He did not seem like a man who would willingly walk away.
“How would you know?” he called back, clearly agitated. “How did your husband die? Of boredom? Or shame, perhaps? Or simply disgust? Death must have been a blessed released for the man.”
Geoffrey raised the shotgun and pulled the stock into his shoulder.
“Aha!” Lloyd jeered. “Oh, your tame monkey there has some feelings for you, at least. Oh? Oh, is that it? A common scandal, there! Well, well, you wouldn’t be the first—”
Geoffrey’s finger tightened on the trigger. Cordelia did not dare speak in case she startled him into action.
But he did not.
And then she saw what Geoffrey had seen.
From either side of the house, two small figures were converging on Lloyd from behind. Ruby was one and Stanley was the other.
No! Cordelia wanted to shout. He has a razor in his hands. If you make him jump, he will slit Geraint’s throat as easily as trimming a beard. No!
She saw Ruby point towards Lloyd’s legs, and Stanley nodded.
Of course. From George, Ruby knew exactly what the nature of Lloyd’s injuries were and where his weak spots might be.
