The Fossil Murder

by Evelyn James

  Through the window Clara watched as Wallace Sunderland emerged from the back of the town hall and walked to one of the crates in the yard. He lifted a couple of lids and then pulled out something – Clara could not determine what it was at this distance – and walked back inside.

  “You are disappointed?” Maud asked quietly.

  Clara turned to her and saw the woman looked despondent at her failure to remember more.

  “It’s not your fault,” Clara assured her. “You were not to know that those two men were up to no good.”

  Maud put her scissors down and stared at the undone hem of the dress. She had come to a standstill in her work, unable to focus to the task. She rubbed at her eyes, shuffling her glasses down her nose.

  “So many hours I sit by that window and see nothing,” she said. “There is nothing much to look at, just the backs of houses and that yard. The one time something important was going on, I missed it.”

  “Honestly, don’t berate yourself,” Clara rose from the chair and walked to Maud. “Why would you have looked, anyway?”

  Maud did not seem convinced, she thumbed the edge of the dress hem.

  “Do you want to wait for me to do this?”

  “I won’t distract you any longer,” Clara said, feeling her presence would be an anxiety to Maud. “I shall arrange have it delivered.”

  Clara headed for the door, as she was just leaving Maud called out behind her;

  “I’ll try to remember something else.”

  The woman looked so acutely upset at disappointing Clara that she felt bad.

  “Thank you,” Clara said politely. “You have been helpful, I know one thing more than I did earlier.”

  “What is that?” Maud asked, puzzled.

  “Why, I now know that John Morley knew his killer, and that is very important.”

  Clara headed down the stairs, thinking that while it would have been good to have a clearer description of the man who had accompanied John to his death, she had not been lying when she told Maud she had gained some knowledge. After all, until that point, they had toyed with the idea that Morley had been slain because he was attempting to break the case of the Archaeopteryx – that was the only motive Dr Browning could have, anyway – now it appeared there was another, much more personal motive. That was something Clara could get her teeth into.

  Even if she was not meant to be investigating Morley’s murder. Oh well…

  ~~~*~~~

  Victor Darling looked quite morose when he arrived at O’Harris’. The cheerful fellow of the day before had disappeared.

  “What’s wrong, old son?” Tommy asked him, as if he did not know.

  “Ah, Miss Holbein gave me the cold shoulder this morning,” Victor said. “Caught me off guard. She says she has a new suitor and I am old news. Old news.”

  Victor looked as broken-hearted as any man who was watching a fortune evaporate before his eyes could. Tommy was starting to think Victor and Nellie deserved each other.

  “What you are saying, is you need to spark Miss Holbein’s interest again, and get her mind off this new gentleman in her life?” Tommy said, acting as though he had just come up with the scheme.

  “That’s it exactly!” Victor declared. “But I don’t know how.”

  They were in the front hall of the great house. Captain O’Harris now appeared from the library. He had been listening to the conversation, allowing Tommy to sow the first seeds of their plan into Victor’s mind. However, he pretended to have not heard anything as he walked up to Victor.

  “Good morning Victor! Glad you could come! As I said in my message, I have a couple of chaps here who would be very interested to learn more about the way car engines are tested, as you were explaining to Tommy yesterday, but…” O’Harris paused as if he had just noticed Victor’s glum mood. “Whatever is the matter?”

  “Miss Holbein has sent him packing,” Tommy patted Victor on the shoulder in commiseration. “She has her eyes set on someone else.”

  “Disgraceful!” O’Harris acted appalled. “You can do better, old man.”

  “I don’t want to do better,” Victor almost wailed.

  Tommy had not realised the extent of the man’s feelings. Could this all be about Miss Holbein’s wealth or was it just possible Victor really did care for her? Tommy found that thought slightly incredible, but stranger things did happen. The most unpleasant of people could have extremely devoted and loving spouses.

  “I’ve told Victor we’ll help him,” Tommy hastened to add. “We are going to think of a way to convince Miss Holbein that he is the only man for her.”

  “Quite a scheme,” O’Harris said. “Have you come up with an idea?”

  “Well…” Tommy looked to be thinking, “what we need to do is grab Miss Holbein’s attention. She needs to see that Victor will fight for her, that he is not giving up easily.”

  “I’m not,” Victor agreed.

  “And you need to show her that you won’t be pushed around,” O’Harris added. “She can’t control you, you mustn’t allow that. Stand up to her a little.”

  “Oh, I don’t know…” Victor cowered a fraction at the thought.

  “You keep acting like that then Miss Holbein will have no respect for you, worse, she shall start to treat you with disregard. You have to make it plain you are your own man,” Tommy insisted. “So far, all the men in that girl’s life have fawned over her and she has told them what to do. Eventually, that gets boring and she loses interest. What she needs is a man who will sometimes defy her and not concede to her every whim.”

  “But, she might not like that,” Victor said anxiously.

  “Victor, you are her suitor, not her servant. Act like it. We are not saying you have to be a bully, far from it. What we are saying is that if Miss Holbein tells you to jump, instead of asking ‘how high?’ you turn around and say no,” O’Harris interjected.

  Victor’s shoulders slumped, as if he had been asked to do the impossible, such as fly to the moon. Tommy couldn’t help him with that, it would be Victor’s choice whether he continued to be Miss Holbein’s lapdog or something more. But he could get the man back into Nellie’s affections in the first place.

  “Worry about the rest later,” he told Victor. “Let’s start by reigniting her interest in you.”

  “How do we do that?” Victor asked.

  “As I said, you have to prove you won’t be rejected without a fight. You have to take on this new lover of hers, show him you won’t be usurped so easily,” Tommy explained.

  “Do you mean fight him?” Victor looked uneasy.

  “It’s the only way, Victor,” Tommy patted him again. “You need to show Miss Holbein what sort of a man you are.”

  “I’ve never fought anyone in my life,” Victor said hopelessly. “I don’t think this will work.”

  “Here’s a thought,” O’Harris suddenly brightened up, as if he had just had an idea. “What if we stage it completely by putting a fake suitor in Miss Holbein’s path? Then you won’t have to fight this stranger, but someone who is in on the plan.”

  “But…” Victor started.

  “That’s perfect! After the fight, Miss Holbein will forget all about this new suitor. She will have eyes only for you!” Tommy nudged Victor.

  “But who?” Victor looked between them.

  “I shall step into the breach, old boy,” Tommy said with a tone of self-sacrifice. “I’ll help out a fellow in trouble.”

  “Would you?” Victor looked at Tommy in amazement, then he let out a long breath. “I would be in your debt.”

  “Don’t even think about it. I will be satisfied to know I have helped a man secure the woman he desires, that is all,” Tommy added mentally that the relief it would bring to him would be equally satisfying. “All we need do now is arrange everything. Leave it to me and O’Harris.”

  “Why, you are such good sports!” Victor’s face brightened. “What luck I met you two that day on the beach, else, what would I do now
?”

  Tommy glanced at O’Harris, catching his eye and exchanging a look that implied they both knew Victor would not be in this position had they not stuck their noses into his business in the first place.

  “We chaps have to look out for each other,” O’Harris told Victor warmly. “The world is changing. Women are changing. It can be tough for a man in love.”

  “It is most certainly that,” Victor nodded. “I really can’t explain how much I appreciate this all. If there is anything I can do in return…?”

  O’Harris smiled.

  “Why now, if you wouldn’t mind talking to those men I mentioned?”

  “Of course!” Victor said at once.

  “Excellent. And while you are doing that, Tommy and I shall sort out the details of our little ploy,” O’Harris winked at Tommy. “Oh, and you will stay for lunch, Victor?”

  “I would be delighted,” Victor agreed.

  “Then we shall have everything in place by teatime,” O’Harris grinned. “Won’t we Tommy?”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Clara returned home to waste a few hours before the time of The League for Christians Against Evolution meeting. Annie looked moody as she walked into the kitchen.

  “Has something happened?” Clara asked her.

  Annie dipped into the pocket of her apron and produced four slips of paper which she handed to Clara.

  “All from Miss Holbein,” Annie stated. “Wanting to know where Tommy is.”

  “He scuttled off to O’Harris’ this morning, didn’t he?” Clara asked.

  “Men always go into hiding when there is trouble,” Annie snorted. “How they ever won the last war I do not know.”

  “Don’t be too harsh on him, he feels awful,” Clara said lightly. “He never meant for this to happen. He was only supposed to be talking to that woman about Victor. I thought she would talk to him better than me, as she appeared to have only disdain for women.”

  “I’ll show her disdain,” Annie squeezed her hands into fists. “I have half a mind to go over to her house and tell her where she can shove her little notes. I’ll slap her one, Clara, I know I will!”

  “All right, calm down,” Clara placed her hand on Annie’s arm. She had never seen her friend so upset and angry. “Look, don’t spend the afternoon in the kitchen brooding on all this. Come out with me.”

  “What are you up to?” Annie asked, though she was not yet prepared to let go of her anger and stormed about the kitchen glowering at the pots and pans.

  “I am going to a meeting of the League for Christians Against Evolution. I expect it shall be entertaining,” Clara smirked. “I think they may be behind the threats to the exhibition. Dr Browning asked me to look into the problem.”

  “But you know who hired Morley,” Annie said. “Surely that is the matter resolved?”

  “The man who hired John Morley was only trying to highlight the danger to the exhibition. He was not the threat itself. No, Dr Browning asked me to discover who was behind the threats and to discover if there was any real danger. I intend to do just that.”

  Annie understood.

  “Wouldn’t I just get in the way?” She asked sheepishly. “I’m not really all that knowledgeable on Darwin or why anyone would be against him.”

  “You sell yourself far too short,” Clara told her gently. “I would be delighted to have your company. You can poke me when it looks like I am about to say something awful or laugh aloud.”

  Annie’s eyes had their sparkle back as she looked at Clara.

  “Are you out to cause mischief?”

  “I am investigating. I shall be very neutral,” Clara promised. “Well, probably I shall be very neutral. If it starts to get too absurd, I may struggle.”

  Annie shook her head.

  “There is no hope!”

  They ate a light lunch and were ready to leave the house by the early afternoon. As Clara fetched her coat, she noticed that another note had been slipped under the door while they were in the kitchen. She picked it up hastily and shoved it in her coat pocket. Annie would only begin to fume again if she saw it.

  They headed off to catch the bus and travel to the far side of town. Clara had handed Annie the leaflet she had been given by the protestors, to give her an idea of what they were facing.

  “I might not know a lot about science,” Annie said as she read it. “But I do know that if you are going to argue against something you do actually have to state your case. As far as I can tell, this leaflet just quotes random bible passages at you.”

  “I believe the main crux of the Anti-Darwin argument is that evolution denies God. God created the earth and all the people and creatures upon it, according to the Bible. To imply those creatures then evolved, is to suggest that God did not create everything perfectly to begin with. It is to suggest God is fallible. Which he can’t be, as he is an omnipotent being,” Clara elaborated. “The reason Darwin is hated by these folks, is that his theory of evolution goes hand-in-hand with the discovery of a prehistoric world filled with creatures that are not described in the Bible, such as dinosaurs and dinosaurs turning into birds. A couple of centuries ago, someone devised the age of the earth by working out the timeline of the Bible. However, this age was much younger than what we now know to be the case based on fossils and geology. Therefore, science is claiming the Bible is wrong, and for fundamental Christians that is a very scary thing.”

  Annie scratched at her ear and contemplated the leaflet again.

  “You know, I might not agree with them, but I do understand these people,” she said thoughtfully. “If the Bible, if God, is the thing that roots you to this world, gives you security and comfort, then to have it whipped away from you must be horrible. I have always perceived the Bible as allegorical, but not everyone thinks like that. Some people prefer things to be literal, it is the only way they can cope with life. The Bible becomes their rulebook, as long as they follow it, they are ok, and then someone says the Bible is mistaken and they are thrown into chaos. People don’t like chaos and they certainly do not like change.”

  “Some people need God to get them through daily existence, to face the hard realities of life,” Clara concurred. “They need to believe that God can never be wrong, else their fragile trust is shattered. And here you have notable scientists attacking God. It must be upsetting.”

  “What you really have to say is that so much of this is not about God at all, but about the way people have interpreted his words. Darwin’s theory does not mean God is wrong, it just means the people who have been spreading his religion were a little out with their dating. But, then again, if you only have people to rely on for your understanding of God, that still makes things scary.”

  “If you cling to a thought of a soul and an afterlife to help you get through the daily grind of existence, then to suddenly question that must be terrifying. It could lead to all sorts of dilemmas about your own path in life and what the meaning of it all is,” Clara paused as she considered this. “I don’t really believe, but Tommy does. It got him through the war. What if he had not had that? Would he have given up when he lay in that mud wounded?”

  “These people are not bad folk, as such,” Annie folded up the leaflet. “They are just very worried. Not all scientists appreciate that.”

  “Very true Annie. There are just as many dogmatic and single-minded scientists out there as there are these protestors. But, if they have been making threats against the exhibition, that is very serious. You can’t do that.”

  “No,” Annie nodded her head. “That isn’t good.”

  They arrived at the address which had been given for the league meeting. It was an older style Victorian semi close to the outskirts of Brighton. It was possible to walk just a little further up the road and look across a vast expanse of fields. The day was warm and the sun mellow, there was something very peaceful about the property, rather like it was the house equivalent of an old, well-to-do lady who has just sat down in a comfortable chair
to relax in the sun. Clara almost felt the windows of the house smiled. She felt welcome even before they had knocked on the door.

  They were greeted by a bright-eyed older woman, wearing a blouse and dress that would have been fashionable before the war, but was now rather dated. She studied them keenly, before noting the leaflet in Annie’s hand.

  “Ah, you have come for the meeting!” She said with glee. “I do love new faces! Reverend Parker, we have two new members!”

  An older gentleman emerged from a doorway into the hall of the house and looked at Clara and Annie. He was dressed in a black suit with a grey waistcoat and his dog collar was about his neck. Clara recognised him as one of the protestors outside the hall. He had long, frizzy hair, that he swept back from his forehead and the sharpest eyes Clara had seen in a while. He recognised her too.

  “You, young lady, went into that infernal exhibition,” he declared in a light voice.

  Clara felt uneasy and then he laughed.

  “Why, we welcome all!” He said. “Don’t look so startled, I have a brilliant memory for faces. You took one of my leaflets, while your male companions barged past with such distaste on their faces.”

  He had remembered them well. Clara was a little stunned.

  “What a remarkable gift,” she said. “I truly wish I had something similar. I confess I am curious about your league, but I am not convinced that Darwin was wrong.”

  “My dear, many like you come here. We only ask that you listen. Some will see the light, some won’t,” the bright-eyed woman stood back and ushered them through the door. “We allow God to decide who is ready to accept our cause and who must, for the moment, be rejected. My name is Wilhelmina Frost. This is my house and Reverend Parker is one of my oldest friends. You must come through to the morning room, that is where everyone is gathered.”

  “Except for me,” Reverend Parker chuckled. “I was taking a moment to smoke, and Wilhelmina won’t allow it in the morning room.”

  Wilhelmina gave Clara a look which implied they must suffer the foibles of men from time-to-time.