Page 50 of A Sorceress Comes to Call
Hester stared into her brother’s earnest face and didn’t know whether to laugh hysterically or dissolve into tears. She drained her teacup instead.
“Just what I told Evangeline,” Samuel continued. “Not her fault at all. Poor thing was trembling like a kitten.”
I’m sure she was, thought Hester grimly. And telling you that you were the only thing that made her feel safe, I’ll bet. She murmured reassurances to her brother and then Mary chased him out of the room and poured her more tea.
The next visitors were two constables, who wanted her statement on what had occurred. One was short, with a shock of red hair, and one was tall, with a long neck and a narrow, angular face that reminded her of a gander she’d owned once. He’d been a good goose. She’d gotten a fair few chicks out of him.
“Terrible business,” Red said, sitting down. “We won’t trouble Your Ladyship for long.” Gander leaned against the back of a wingback chair and said nothing.
“Terrible, yes,” said Hester. She took a fortifying gulp of tea and wondered what Richard had told them. “Ask your questions.”
“Can you tell us what you saw, precisely?” asked Red.
Hester ran down the list of events from the time she’d heard the scream. It made her realize just how quickly everything had occurred. Strange that something so huge and irrevocable could happen in so little time.
“Did you recognize the knife?” Gander interrupted, speaking for the first time.
Hester paused. “You know, I didn’t think about it at the time, but it may have been the one from the library. My grandfather collected all manner of objects. He couldn’t travel, you see, so he lived vicariously by buying things from the old country.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “You’d have to check. Willard can help you there.”
Gander nodded to Red, who quickly scrawled a note on his pad.
“That means she didn’t plan it, doesn’t it?” said Hester. “If she used a knife from here?”
Red shot a look at Gander, clearly deferring to him. Gander shrugged. “That’s one possibility. We are merely collecting facts.”
“Penelope Green would never have stabbed anyone,” said Hester. “I want you to know that.” She stopped, pinching the bridge of her nose. “At least, I would have sworn…” She hated how her voice sounded, how weak and querulous and old, so she stopped. Obviously she did stab someone. These men wouldn’t be here if she hadn’t.
“Your Ladyship—” Red began, and his voice was so obviously that of a man being kind to a flustered older lady that Hester wanted to curse him out roundly. Which will not help at all. Get control of yourself.
Mary stepped in and fussed with Hester’s shawl, keeping a sharp eye on the two constables. Hester took a deep breath. “Forgive me,” she said. “I know what happened. But I would have sworn that Penelope would never have hurt a fly. Given the fly the cut direct, perhaps.”
A muscle in Gander’s cheek twitched, not quite a smile but close. Red said, “I understand, Your Ladyship. Please continue.”
“There’s not much more to tell. Richard asked her to give him the knife. Evangeline shouted something, and then Penelope turned around and went for the balcony.” Hester grimaced. “She looked like she was trying to fight a strong wind. I would have said she didn’t want to jump.”
Gander put up an eyebrow. Red put up both of them. “Well,” Red said, after a moment, “it’s hard for some people to… err… nerve themselves up for things. You know. Is there anything else you can tell us?”
Hester stared at the ceiling. And what could I tell them? That I don’t actually believe that Penelope would kill herself?
But she did. I watched it happen. And she stabbed Ruth, and…
No, wait. No one saw her stab Ruth.
“No one saw her stab Ruth,” she said out loud.
Red flipped through his notebook. “Ruth Svensdottir, her lady’s maid, correct?”
“Yes. I didn’t know her last name, but yes, that’s who I mean. Penelope never had anything bad to say about her, though. And why would she stab her maid, anyway? To hear Doo—Evangeline talk, Penelope had planned to kill her all along. What would stabbing Ruth accomplish?”
Gander and Red exchanged looks again. “Perhaps she was an inconvenient witness,” Red said.
Hester suspected that Ruth would have been more likely to grab Doom by the ankles and help her mistress carry the woman to a shallow grave, but it didn’t seem like something she ought to say to the constables. “Evangeline said that Ruth was dead when she entered the room.” Hester spread her hands. “I’m sorry, gentlemen. I know this sounds like I’m grasping at straws, but it just doesn’t make sense. Penelope had to know she’d never get away with it. She wasn’t a foolish woman.”
Gander tapped the back of the chair. Red looked to him, like a sheepdog receiving a herding command, and nodded. “People can become unbalanced,” Red said gently, closing his notebook. “It happens more often than you’d think. Oftentimes the friends and family are the most shocked. Thank you for your time, Your Ladyship.”
He rose. Hester sank back in her chair. I haven’t convinced them that anything strange is happening. I don’t know if I’ve even convinced myself.
All I know is that if I hadn’t invited her here, she’d probably still be alive. Her and Ruth both.
