The Witching Pool: A Justice Belstrang Mystery (Justice Belstrang Mysteries Book 2) John Pilkington (top 10 ebook reader TXT) 📖

tears, she jumped to her feet and ran from the room, banging the door behind her. I thought Jane would follow, but before she could rise Hester stood up and placed a hand on her shoulder.

‘I will go to her,’ she said. ‘You can help by telling Master Belstrang all that you know – will you do so?’

The girl gave a nod. With a sigh she watched Hester leave, then turned her sad eyes upon me.

‘Ask me what you like, sir,’ she said quietly. ‘For I fear I’ve neither the strength nor the will to keep these secrets any longer. But in the matter of Parson Woollard, it is too late to deal him the justice he deserves. He has fled, perhaps to London, perhaps even further. He swore we would never see him again - which is one blessing, at least.’

Whereupon, having taken a drink of weak ale, she at last told her story – which chills me now, as I think on it.

***

Susanna, being the eldest, had been the first to suffer. Even before her mother died, she was the victim of her father’s lustful attentions in secret. It had gone on for years, until she was old enough to protest, by which time Jane too knew what went on behind the locked door of her sister’s chamber. Yet they were afraid to speak – even to their mother.

‘To this day, I do not know how much my mother knew,’ Jane said, biting back tears. ‘But she became ill, growing weaker by the day until at last she could not leave her bed. Then she died, and all the while my father had his way, growing bolder. Until the day came when he learned of Howell, and his night-time visits.’

She shook her head. ‘Father is a cruel man, yet I never saw him so angry as the day he found out. I believe he could have slain Howell.’ She sighed. ‘And now that he’s dead…’

‘You think your father killed him?’ I broke in, unable to keep the question back.

‘I cannot know. He could have got someone else…’ on a sudden, her face hardened. ‘Abel Humphreys, for one. That varlet… he would have been glad to do it.’

‘Will you say more of Humphreys?’ I asked. ‘For I’m most curious to know-’ I stopped, jolted by a new notion. Once again, I pictured Humphreys and Cobbett that day at the graveside. I looked at Childers, who was aghast, then back at Jane. ‘Was he also a party to your father’s wicked practices?’ I asked – to which, her expression was answer enough.

‘Not merely landlord and tenant, but brothers in lust.’ Jane met my eye, her face taut with bitterness. ‘He would cross the river by Tait’s boat and come to Ebbfield some nights, to share Susanna as if she wore a whore. And he way he looked at me…’ She paused, then: ‘It was but a matter of time. I never told anyone until now. It feels as if a yoke is being lifted.’

For a while after that I was speechless. It was past dinner-time, yet I had no appetite; nor did Childers. But when I suggested to Jane that we cease our discourse for a while and walk in the gardens, she shook her head. There was an urgency upon her to finish her testimony, now she had begun. Later, she said, she would go to her sister. And hence, what could I do but let her continue?

‘She would tell me everything… Susanna, I mean,’ Jane said. ‘After our mother died, we began to make plans to run away. She knew that, as I was now becoming a woman too, father would turn his attentions to me – and to Alison, in time. She couldn’t bear that. When she and Howell began to keep tryst, they would plot her escape, along with mine and Alison’s.’ She thought for a moment. ‘If you wish, I will go back to last year, to the time when Eliza Dowling came to Ebbfield.’

At mention of that name I would have spoken, but quickly she stayed me. ‘She did us no real harm. Yet she was our turnkey, brought in by my father to watch us. She knew what he did, but she would never go against him…’ the hard look returned. ‘In the end, she’s a fool. He promised he would marry her, make her the new mistress of Ebbfield - but he had no such intent.’

‘Will you speak of what came later?’ I asked, reining in my anger. ‘The time leading up to Susanna’s death?’

At that, Jane became distressed; but again, she showed a strength that almost shamed me. ‘I will, Master Justice,’ she answered. ‘For I come to the worst tragedy of all, that is still to be uncovered…’ she drew a breath. ‘And yet, it may be that you are the man who will see it through.’

I said nothing, only waited for her to continue. But when she did, it was all I could do not to exclaim aloud.

‘I can tell you now why Susanna’s body was not examined before the inquest,’ Jane said, keeping her voice steady. ‘For if it had been, it would be known that she was with child.’

I gave a start, my mind leaping ahead – but quickly she shook her head. ‘It was not Howell’s. How could it be, when they could only speak in haste, at a window? Now you begin to understand, I think.’

I was still, my eyes on her face; I had no words. That was how Childers and I heard the last part of her tale, sitting silently in my chamber, deaf to all else but her soft voice.

‘It’s what brought matters to the nub,’ Jane said, her eyes downcast. ‘And that’s how, at last, Susanna found the courage to stand up to our father. That night is as