Violet passed him another letter. "Try this one."
"Much of the same," said Lawrence. "Idle chatter."
"Don't you find it rather intimate?"
Lawrence knitted his brow as he scrutinised the pages. "It is somewhat," he conceded. "Perhaps Dunleavey was a relative."
Violet raised her eyebrow half an inch.
"You're not suggesting..."
She passed him another envelope, this time white and square. The Scole address was typewritten, and the letter inside bore the date, 1887. The formally written missive contained a thinly veiled warning from the Hobart branch of the Plymouth Brethren. Moyse should not approach the Norfolk Brethren sects who were now aware of his behaviour. The letter referenced a scandalous relationship and Moyse's subsequent voyage back to Blighty.
Lawrence squirmed in his chair. "I see," he managed.
"You see? Is that all? Why are you not angry at their treatment of him?" Violet demanded. "That poor man. He cannot help his feelings or choose who he loves. They destroyed his life when they banished him from New Zealand. Look through the rest of the letters when you get a chance," she continued. "Before the incident, Moyse was a highly regarded evangelist. He made huge personal sacrifices to spread God's word. But not content to expel him from the Antipodes, these so-called men of God conspired to ruin his life in England."
"So, the stranger who approached William Jackson was from New Zealand?"
"Or Tasmania. It could have been either. But, yes. That is my best guess. William Jackson could not bear what his brother-in-law was and sent him away. Poor Edward went to Liverpool where nobody knew him in the hope of privacy so he could continue his life without scandal."
"Only to be murdered." Lawrence steepled his hands and considered the transience of life. "We should make the most of every moment," he said, gazing towards Violet. She was unjudgmental and compassionate. What more could a man want in a partner? "We need to talk," he said, voice brimming with emotion.
As Violet opened her mouth to speak, the doorbell jangled, and an elegant young lady closed her parasol and came into the room.
Lawrence turned hot and cold as he met Loveday's eyes.
"Are you pleased to see me?" she gushed. "We had such a lovely time in Liverpool, that I thought I would look you up."
Violet stared at Loveday open-mouthed, closing her eyes as if in pain. Swallowing hard, she got to her feet, cleared the letters from Lawrence's desk and stowed them in her drawer. Nodding silently at Loveday, Violet left the office with her head bowed. Lawrence watched in stunned silence as she disappeared from the Butter Market and made her way towards the railway station.
THE END
Author Note: The Scole Confession combines the real-life murder of Edward Moyse in Liverpool with the unsolved drowning of Fanny Nunn in Diss. Edward Moyse is a real person and was an evangelist in Tasmania. He returned to England after becoming the subject of a scandalous relationship. As usual, many characters in The Scole Confession existed. Some are creations of the author's imagination.
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The Lawrence Harpham Mysteries
Book 1: The Fressingfield Witch - Scores of innocent women died during the Suffolk Witch trials. Fear and uncertainty swept the land. Years later and two unexplained deaths in the village of Fressingfield stir up rumours of witchcraft again. Private Detective Lawrence Harpham agrees to investigate. But Lawrence is still tormented by the loss of his family in a house fire. Can he discover who is behind the flurry of deaths?
Book 2: The Ripper Deception – An Ipswich death leaves clues to the mysterious demise of Edmund Gurney in Brighton. Lawrence Harpham investigates leaving Violet to unravel a series of strange disturbances at a Suffolk rectory. Both inquiries lead to Whitechapel and the murder of Frances Coles. Was Frances a Ripper victim and is her murder linked to the autumn of terror? Jack is back – or is he?
Book 2.5The Montpellier Mystery (short story) – When Lawrence and Violet take a well-earned holiday in the Cotswolds, nothing is as it first appears. Within hours of arrival, they are asked to investigate a poisoning case, which rapidly turns into two. What is going on at the hospital and will it ruin their Christmas break? Join Lawrence and Violet in this short Christmas mystery set in the regency town of Cheltenham.
Book 3:The Scole Confession – On holiday in Overstrand, Lawrence and Violet witness a suicide. Beneath the body, lies a bible with clues to the violent death of a bookseller and a chilling confession from the past. From Norfolk to Liverpool, investigations point to the unsolved murder of Fanny Nunn in the town of Diss. But how are the murders connected, and why do the parish registers contain so many unnatural deaths? Will Lawrence and Violet stop the murders before more lives are lost?
Also, by this author:
Vote for Murder - In 1911, Louisa Russell joins the Ipswich suffragettes in protest at the Old Museum. Inside, she finds a diary belonging to a prisoner - and not just any prisoner – the infamous Mary Cage who was executed for murdering her husband six decades before. When Louisa's next-door neighbour dies under suspicious circumstances, the parallels between his death and the poisoning of James Cage become impossible to ignore. Is there a link between two deaths sixty years apart? And will Louisa find the poisoner before an innocent woman is convicted?
The Lawrence Harpham Boxset Page 74
