The Heiress of Linn Hagh (The Detective Lavender Mysteries Book 1)

by Karen Charlton

  ‘You’ve enough evidence?’

  ‘I have.’

  ‘Thank you, Detective. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.’

  ‘When you felt threatened, why didn’t you return to Whitby or seek help from John Armstrong?’

  ‘I did ask Uncle John for shelter, but he couldn’t accommodate me, and I knew that if I returned to Whitby, then George or that man’—she shuddered—‘would eventually find me. Then Isobel made it plain that George expected me to marry the disgusting Lawrence Ingram, and I knew I had to flee.’

  ‘Because you had already fallen in love with Doctor Goddard?’

  She blushed and Goddard shuffled in his chair.

  ‘How did you know about us, Detective?’ Goddard asked. ‘I thought we had managed to keep our courtship a secret.’

  Lavender smiled.

  ‘Sometimes folks fail to see what’s happening beneath their noses,’ he said. ‘It takes someone from the outside to spot the obvious, and you two haven’t been as discreet as you thought. Once we had heard from a witness that Miss Carnaby had been seen talking intimately with a gentleman on horseback, my constable and I knew that she had an admirer. It was quite simple to work out the identity of your admirer.’

  ‘How?’

  Lavender turned to face Helen Carnaby. ‘The only man whose company you had regularly shared since your return to Bellingham was the doctor who attended your sick mother. I could tell by the reaction of the other women in church last Sunday that Doctor Goddard was a bachelor—and regarded as a popular catch.’

  Helen Carnaby smiled and Anna giggled. The doctor just looked embarrassed. Lavender then turned to face him.

  ‘Besides which, when I visited you at your home, you always displayed real empathy and compassion for the plight of Bellingham’s missing heiress. You also breached patient privilege on several occasions during our discussions, and you were not objective about the Carnaby family, which I would have expected from a professional physician.’

  Goddard shrugged. ‘I gave you whatever help I could with your enquiries. We had faith in you, Detective. Helen and I quickly realised that if anyone could help us bring George and Isobel Carnaby to justice, then it was you.’

  Caught off guard by the unexpected compliment, Lavender paused for a moment.

  ‘I’ve no doubt that your relationship grew out of the compassion you shared at the bedside of the dying Esther Carnaby,’ he continued. His tone was gentle. ‘And it developed under the ignorant noses of your brother and sister and the servants, who obviously had no idea about what was happening in the sickroom at Linn Hagh.’

  ‘You’re right there,’ Anna interrupted as she returned with a silver tray of china teacups and saucers. ‘You coulda knocked me down wi’ a feather when I found out.’

  ‘I have to point out something, Lavender,’ Robert Goddard said. He reached over for Helen Carnaby’s hand. She glanced at him with affection. ‘You must understand that everything that has passed between Miss Carnaby and me has been entirely proper. She’s been chaperoned by my maidservant for the last six weeks, and more recently by Anna. My feelings for her are deep and genuine. We intend to marry as soon as I can get a special licence.’

  ‘Why aren’t you married already?’

  They both sighed.

  ‘We planned to elope to Gretna Green the night I left Linn Hagh,’ Helen Carnaby explained. ‘We were going to marry and brazen it out with George. We knew he would turn nasty and threaten Robert with arrest, but we were prepared for that.’

  ‘Unfortunately, my own mother’s illness took an unexpected turn for the worse that day, and I wasn’t able to leave the area,’ Goddard said sadly. ‘My mother had a lingering death.’ He grimaced. ‘Helen has remained here with a maid, nursing my dying mother for most of the weeks since her disappearance.’

  ‘I only made the two trips back to Bellingham, Detective, to place the flowers on my parents’ graves.’

  ‘And one of those trips nearly cost you your life,’ Goddard commented.

  ‘Robert has been the perfect gentleman while I’ve lived in his mother’s house.’

  ‘I’m sure he has,’ Lavender observed wryly, ‘but it’s not me that you’ll need to convince. There are your uncle and cousin Katherine to consider, for a start. You appreciate that there will be a great scandal once you reappear? Initially, the local gossips will be distracted by the arrest of your brother and sister. Then everyone will suddenly want to know where you’ve been for the last six weeks. Once your marriage to Doctor Goddard is announced, the speculation will start.’

  Goddard squeezed Helen Carnaby’s hand tighter.

  ‘We’re ready to face the consequences,’ he said.

  ‘We intend to leave the area anyway, Detective,’ she added. ‘I’m trying to persuade Robert that we should move to Whitby.’

  ‘And if Whitby isn’t far enough away from the malicious tongues, then we shall emigrate to the New World,’ the doctor announced firmly. ‘They’ve a great need of medical professionals in America.’

  Lavender drained his teacup. ‘Well, don’t go too far away,’ he said. ‘You’ll be needed as witnesses next summer for the trial of your siblings at the assizes. However, after that your lives are your own. Whatever happens, I wish you both good luck in the future.’ He reached for his gloves.

  ‘In the meantime, I’ve writs to serve and a sham funeral to stop. I expect to see you back in Bellingham at your uncle’s tomorrow morning, Miss Carnaby. Doctor Goddard? You’ll please be so kind as to ride to Hexham Gaol and secure the release of her brother Matthew? That’s one young man who will be delighted to see his “Ela” again. I’m sure that he won’t ask any awkward questions. Anna—’

  The little maid dropped a spoon off the tray onto the bare floorboards. It landed with a clatter. She looked up nervously at the detective.

  He winked at her.

  ‘Take good care of your mistress.’

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Monday, 29th November 1809

  Snow fell softly onto the stone roof of St Cuthbert’s Church, when Lavender drew up in a carriage. With no wind, the tiny flakes danced theatrically in the still air. They muted the crumbling grey of the drunken headstones scattered amongst the weeds in the isolated graveyard and flecked the crimson uniforms of the shivering militia who waited patiently with Constable Woods at the gate.

  ‘Have you got the warrants?’ Woods asked as the detective climbed down from the carriage.

  ‘Yes.’ Lavender closed the door quickly behind him and checked that the blinds were properly drawn. ‘Did you have any luck over in Otterburn?’

  Woods beckoned to a nervous man who hovered at the edge of the soldiers.

  ‘This here fellah is Charlie Peters. He’s landlord of The Redesdale Arms. He has already been with me to Linn Hagh and identified the dead man as Baxter Carnaby.’

  ‘You’ve done well,’ Lavender murmured.

  Woods’ smile beamed across his broad face.

  ‘Oh, that’s not all. He also has a large amount of Baxter Carnaby’s possessions and documents. The cove had been livin’ there fer weeks, on and off, and had fallen behind with his rent, so Charlie here purloined them after Carnaby disappeared. I haven’t had the chance to go through it all, but I reckon there’ll be plenty more evidence to tie him in to his brother.’

  ‘Excellent work, Ned.’ Lavender said. ‘George Carnaby will be surprised to discover that we’ve made the connection to The Redesdale Arms. Where are the mourners?’

  ‘They’re still inside. I reckon that vicar is probably goin’ on a bit. Do you intend to interrupt the service to make the arrests?’

  Mock alarm flashed across the detective’s face.

  ‘I don’t think so, Ned. I’d rather face a gang of silk-snatchers on a moonless night in Covent Garden than the wrath of St Cuthbert’s
vicar.’

  Woods laughed, and the two men waited in companionable silence.

  Eventually, the church doors opened, and the pallbearers carried out the plain wood coffin that contained the body of Laurel Faa Geddes. Behind them walked a large crowd of mourners that included the Carnabys and the Armstrongs as well as Jethro Hamilton, Isaac Daly and their wives. Everyone cast curious glances at the policemen and the militia gathered on the lane beside the low wall of the graveyard.

  George and Isobel Carnaby scowled.

  Lavender wondered what was going through their minds. He had no doubt that the sudden appearance of Captain Wentworth with their brother’s body would have alarmed them. The realisation that Lavender had uncovered one of Linn Hagh’s darkest, best-kept secrets—the truth about Baxter Carnaby—must have unnerved them. Nonetheless, they were still determined to continue with their charade, it seemed; even now they relentlessly pursued their sister’s fortune.

  ‘Now?’ Woods asked.

  ‘Wait until they put down the coffin,’ Lavender cautioned. ‘We don’t want them to drop it in shock.’

  He was amused to see Hamilton and Daly here and wondered how much they had neglected their farms over the last week. They, along with the Armstrongs, knew the truth about his intentions and the identity of the poor gypsy girl who lay in the coffin. He’d never seen a funeral like this, where so many of the congregation knew the vicar was about to bury the wrong body. Their discretion impressed him; this community could be closed-mouthed and work together when required.

  Hamilton was the last of the mourners to disappear around the buttressed corner of the church. He threw a worried backward glance in their direction.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Lavender said.

  With the militia following, they marched down the snow-dusted path and turned the corner.

  ‘Stop this funeral!’ Lavender instructed the vicar. ‘That is not the body of Helen Carnaby in that coffin.’

  The mourners, gathered around the open grave of Esther Carnaby, looked up in surprise.

  ‘This is scandalous! How dare you interrupt my sister’s funeral?’ Isobel Carnaby screamed. ‘Have you no respect?’ Her face contorted with anger.

  ‘Explain yourself, man!’ the vicar blustered.

  ‘The body in that coffin is the body of the gypsy girl, Laurel Faa Geddes, who was brutally murdered by the man known as Baxter Carnaby.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘This is ridiculous—you’re a blethering idiot, Lavender,’ said Carnaby. Everyone else fell silent. ‘I’ve had this corpse identified by a leading Newcastle doctor,’ he continued. ‘This is—was—my sister Helen.’

  ‘No, it’s not,’ Lavender said firmly. ‘It’s the body of Laurel Faa Geddes. I know this because I drank a cup of tea with your sister Helen yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘What!’

  Gasps escaped some of the mourners. Isobel Carnaby turned white, but her brother’s features flashed with vicious anger.

  ‘You’re a lying, incompetent bastard, Lavender! I’ll have you thrown into Hexham Gaol for this gross impertinence!’

  ‘I don’t think so, brother. I think it is you who is destined for Hexham Gaol.’

  The soft voice came from behind him. The stunned mourners gazed, wide-eyed, over his shoulder. Lavender spun around.

  Helen Carnaby stood defiantly on the path behind him, a slight figure in a black bonnet and cloak. She glared at her siblings with anger.

  ‘Helen!’ Katherine Armstrong’s voice was shrill with amazement.

  The congregation gasped and murmured in surprise. Some threw their hands over their mouths in alarm, as if a ghost had just risen from one of the ancient tombs.

  ‘Helen, darling!’ Isobel Carnaby had recovered quickly from the shock and began to move slyly towards her sister. Helen shrank back from her outstretched claw.

  Suddenly, Katherine Armstrong elbowed Isobel out of the way. The elder Carnaby sister stumbled and fell back in surprise as the portly Miss Armstrong raced, with surprising speed, to the side of her pale cousin and flung a protective arm around Helen’s shoulders.

  ‘Keep back, you murderous trollop!’ she yelled at Isobel Carnaby. ‘You keep away from Helen, do you hear me?’

  Lavender turned quickly to the landlord of The Redesdale Arms.

  ‘Do you recognise anyone here?’

  ‘Aye,’ Charlie Peters said. He pointed at the master of Linn Hagh. ‘He were the one who paid fer the room and visited that Baxter Carnaby.’

  Lavender pulled out a warrant.

  ‘George Carnaby, by the power vested in me by his Royal Highness, The Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, King George III, I arrest you on suspicion of perverting the course of justice . . .’ The authority in his voice echoed around the graveyard and cut through Carnaby’s protestations.

  The militia moved forward and seized Carnaby by the arms.

  ‘. . . and conspiring with your brother Baxter Carnaby to murder your sister Helen Carnaby and the gypsy girl Laurel Faa Geddes.’

  Isobel Carnaby screamed.

  George, in the grip of the two soldiers, struggled and cursed. ‘It’s a lie!’ he yelled. ‘Damned calumny!’

  Lavender hadn’t finished. He held up the second warrant.

  ‘Isobel Carnaby, by the power vested in me by his Royal Highness, The Prince Regent, in the name and on the behalf of His Majesty, King George III, I arrest you on suspicion of perverting the course of justice and conspiring with your brothers Baxter and George Carnaby to murder your sister Helen Carnaby and Laurel Faa Geddes.’

  Isobel Carnaby squealed again. Her hands flew to cover her horrified face. As the militia surrounded the woman, Lavender added:

  ‘In addition to this, Isobel Carnaby, I also arrest you on the suspicion of the murder of your stepmother, Esther Carnaby, earlier this year.’

  A sudden silence fell over the shocked crowd. Even George Carnaby paused in his struggle against the grip of the guards.

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Lavender said calmly. ‘Vicar? I’d be grateful if you would ask the sexton to leave Mistress Esther Carnaby’s grave uncovered. We intend to exhume her body later and examine the remains for evidence of digitalis poisoning.’ He took out a small silver casket from his coat pocket and waved it at Isobel Carnaby. ‘The same digitalis my constable found in a drawer in your bedchamber.’

  Isobel Carnaby went limp and collapsed, half-fainting, into the arms of the soldiers.

  ‘Lies! All lies!’ George Carnaby yelled. ‘I’ll have you for this, Lavender—you’ll see if I don’t! You incompetent bastard!’

  Now Jethro Hamilton stepped forward. ‘I’ve had enough!’ he yelled.

  The crowd fell silent again as the big farmer advanced menacingly towards the prisoner.

  ‘Carnaby—you’re a bastard. Is there anyone in yer family you didn’t try to hurt?’

  ‘Step away, Hamilton,’ Lavender warned quickly.

  ‘Damned if I will. By the power vested in me by the excellent ale in The Rose and Crown—I give you this fer what you did to yer younger brother!’

  Hamilton threw a punch at Carnaby, smashing his nose and splattering blood across his face. Carnaby howled in pain. The soldiers looked at Lavender for instruction, but the detective gave them none.

  ‘And I give you this fer what you did to that poor faw lass!’

  The soldiers loosened their grip on Carnaby as Hamilton’s second blow hit home. Swept off his feet by the ferocity of Hamilton’s fist, the master of Linn Hagh stumbled and fell backwards. The horrified mourners screamed and leapt out of the way. Carnaby landed with a sickening crash in the open grave behind him, his boots poking helplessly out of the hole.

  Isaac Daly tutted with mock irritation. ‘Damn yer ruddy temper, Jethro,’ he said. ‘Now we’ll hev to gan down there and pull the bugger
out.’

  It took Lavender and Woods and the militia the rest of the day to transport George and Isobel Carnaby to Hexham Gaol. Once there, they had paperwork to complete, and Lavender went through Baxter Carnaby’s possessions and documents, which had been retrieved by the landlord of The Redesdale Arms. He found several more incriminating documents in which the brothers openly discussed the campaign of terror they were to wage against their sister Helen, but nothing about the plot to murder Laurel Faa Geddes and pretend that her corpse was that of Helen. Lavender began to suspect that Baxter Carnaby had acted independently in this instance. This would weaken the case against his brother.

  But he needn’t have worried.

  The moment the gaoler pushed Isobel Carnaby into the private cell at Hexham Gaol, so recently occupied by her younger brother, she baulked and began to squeal.

  ‘George made me do it! He was in league with Baxter to murder our Helen! Drop that ridiculous charge against me that claims I tried to murder my stepmother, and I’ll tell you what went on. He forced me to help. I swear I’m innocent . . .’

  With a growing sense of satisfaction, Lavender told the gaoler to slam the door shut.

  ‘Let her stew for a few days in here,’ he said. ‘This is one for Magistrate Clennell to sort out.’

  ‘You always said that the case against her for poisoning her stepmother was a weak one,’ Woods whispered as they descended the gloomy stairs of the gaol.

  ‘Yes,’ Lavender confirmed, ‘but she doesn’t know this. The threat of the charge has been enough to make her confess and implicate her brother. He’ll have a hard time wriggling out of a murder charge with the testimony of both his sisters against him.’

  They were on their way back to Bellingham when Woods asked about Helen Carnaby. ‘Where did she come from? It were spooky that—the way she just appeared out of the snow and began to throw accusations at her brother.’

  ‘She returned from Morpeth in the carriage with me,’ Lavender told him. ‘When I left Goddard’s house last night, she ran after me and asked to travel back to Bellingham under my protection. She and Anna were in the carriage all the time. I told them to stay there, but Miss Carnaby ignored me. Quite frankly, I’m glad that she did. It removed the necessity for further explanations once she appeared.’