Death of a Dyer (39 page)
Authors: Eleanor Kuhns
Potter rubbed his finger thoughtfully up and down his nose. “No, I don’t think so. He identifies Richard by name and specifies the properties he is to receive.”
Properties Nate had won from James Carleton; that irony wasn’t lost upon Rees.
“Perhaps Gracie will care for you,” Richard said to his mother. “I won’t. You’re dead to me.” He turned his face away and said, “Marsh?”
Rees joined the servant in lifting Richard to his feet. The lad winced and Rees saw a widening scarlet stain across the white bandage. But Richard refused to pause. When he was finally upright, Rees said, “And what about Kate, Richard? Are you going to allow
your
child to grow up without a father?”
Richard looked across the distance and met Rees’s eyes. “No,” he said, his voice colorless. “I’ll do the right thing.” Then he turned and began his slow and painful descent down the stairs.
“Please return, Marsh,” Rees called after them.
“What are we going to do with her?” Caldwell asked, gesturing to Molly. “I no longer have a jail to put her in, and the tack room … Well, it just won’t do.”
For a moment no one spoke. Then, with a sigh, Rees said, “How long until the trial?”
“Judge Hansen is in town now, so it shouldn’t be long,” Caldwell replied. “Do you think she’ll hang? It’s an ugly business, hanging a woman.”
“Oh, I doubt she’ll hang,” Rees said cynically. “Not with Piggy Hansen and his wife among her confidants. Although, after the ostracism and the snubs I expect will be her lot, she may wish she’d been hanged.”
“Perhaps a room in the Contented Rooster?” Caldwell suggested. “Locked in and with her meals brought to her, she should be safe enough. At least until the trial. And she’ll be under my eye.…”
Rees looked over at Susannah and Jack. They nodded somberly.
“I’ll go and get a room ready,” Rachel said, starting for the door.
More irony: Molly would now be the recipient of kindness at the hands of the woman she despised and had evicted from her home.
Augustus ran after his mother. Jack, looking at his wife as though he no longer fully recognized her, crooked his arm. Susannah smiled at Rees and laid her hand upon her husband’s elbow.
“I’ll expect to see you in the inn,” Jack said.
“Of course.”
“And of course we’ll receive an invitation to the wedding,” Susannah added, darting a sly glance at Lydia. Lydia blushed and nodded.
“I’ll take my prisoner to the inn,” Caldwell said, offering her a sarcastic arm. “Please, milady…” She turned her face away. Chuckling, the constable grasped her elbow.
Rees looked at Potter. The lawyer was straightening everything on his desk, over and over. He looked up and said, “Is that story true?”
“I’m persuaded of most of the details.” Potter’s expression of dismay did not change. “I did warn you about secrets.”
“Yes but…” Words failed him.
“Molly’s past behavior is not your fault,” Rees said. Taking pity on his friend, he added, “And I would have looked into Nate’s death without your encouragement. I owed it to him.”
“Mr. Rees?” Marsh hesitated by the door. “You asked me to return.…”
“I have something that I believe belongs to you,” Rees said, extracting the packet of letters from his pocket. Marsh approached cautiously. “I fancy these were the items you searched for,” Rees added. Potter looked over, craning his neck to see the packet.
Marsh took them as though they might explode in his hands. “Thank you. Nate always loved you, you know.”
“I know,” Rees said, his voice thickening. “What will you do now?”
“Stay,” Marsh said in surprise. “Gracie will need me, now more than ever. Besides, where would I go?”
Rees nodded. Turning to Lydia, he said, “Shall we go?” She nodded, and when he offered her his arm, she laid her hand upon it.
“I’ll walk you down,” Potter said. He followed Rees and Lydia downstairs, with Marsh behind him. Both Rees’s buggy and the Bowditch carriage were drawn up to the curb.
Rees looked through the carriage window; Richard was slumped against the opposite wall. Rees turned and darted an anxious glance at Marsh.
“He’ll be all right,” Marsh said. “Eventually.” He climbed in beside the boy.
Rees guided Lydia toward their buggy, and the mounting stone that would allow her to maintain her dignity when she ascended onto the high buggy step.
“Where’s my wife?” Rees was suddenly driven forward by a tremendous weight that wrenched his arm away from Lydia’s hand. “Where’s Caroline, you interfering bastard?”
Using his powerful legs, Rees jerked himself sideways, dislodging Sam’s grip. He slewed around to face the other man. “Stop!” he shouted. “Stop, I tell you.” He heard Potter’s running feet behind him.
Sam, whose first stop this morning had clearly been the Bull, ran at Rees again. “I want my wife and family.”
Rees pushed Sam back, hard. “Stop it. You don’t want to do this.” He heard the carriage door open and Marsh’s feet thudding to the ground.
Potter circled around and made an effort to grab Prentiss, but the bigger, stronger man pulled away and launched himself at Rees again. Out of patience, Rees pulled his arm back and let fly, smacking Sam in the nose. Scarlet blood sprayed out. Already off balance, Sam staggered and fell backwards, plummeting to the ground and hitting his head on the carriage step with a sickening crunch. Blood pooled in the hollowed granite. Both Potter and Rees rushed to Sam’s side and bent over him.
“My God,” Potter gasped, looking up at Rees in horror. “Look at the blood.”
“He’s just unconscious,” Rees said, his stomach flipping over. “He can’t be dead.” He dropped to his knees by Sam’s body and listened at the chest. He heard a faint but steady heartbeat. Sam’s scarlet blood kept pumping out. Rees began ripping his shirt into strips.
“It was an accident,” Potter said, staring at Rees in shock and appalled horror. “And so I shall say.”
“We all saw it,” Marsh agreed.
Rees looked over his shoulder. Lydia broke into a run, hurrying to his side to offer her loving support.
ALSO BY ELEANOR KUHNS
A Simple Murder
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
DEATH OF A DYER.
Copyright © 2013 by Eleanor Kuhns. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Kuhns, Eleanor.
Death of a Dyer / Eleanor Kuhns. — 1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-250-03396-3 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-03397-0 (e-book)
1. Male weavers—Fiction. 2. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3611.U396 D43 2013
813'.6—dc23
2013006982
e-ISBN 9781250033970
First Edition: June 2013
