Read Online A Death Along the River Fleet by Susanna Calkins - Free Book Online Page B

never wish to leave my employment. Master Aubrey has been ever so good to me.”
    Seeing the slight shadow that crossed his face when he heard her words, she began to hastily explain all that had transpired over the last two days.
    â€œHow curious,” he said when she was finished. “Why did you not tell me sooner?” Then, before she could answer, he touched her hand. “Never mind about that. It’s all very strange, is it not?”
    She nodded. “Do you know Octavia Belasysse? Have you met her? Or maybe her brother?”
    He shook his head. “No. I have met Lord Belasysse, who would be this woman’s father, if her identity is true. But he is in Tangier now, from what I understand.” He furrowed his brow. “Although he might have returned. Has anyone sent word?”
    â€œI imagine that Dr. Larimer and Constable Duncan have thought to do so. I believe they have sent messages to the family, here in London and at the family seat,” Lucy replied.
    â€œDuncan? You have spoken with him about all this, have you?”
    â€œYes,” she said hurriedly. “He was summoned here this morning.”
    Molly opened the door that led out to the courtyard. “If you would, miss, the woman is awake again. We need you.” She darted back inside the house, leaving the door open.
    â€œI am sorry, Adam, I must leave.”
    He nodded. “Please let me know if there is anything I can do in this matter. Other inquiries I could make.” He seemed about to say something else, but did not. “You must go. I shall show myself out.”
    *   *   *
    As Lucy approached the bedchamber, she wondered if she would be met with another dramatic hue and cry. Instead, when she opened the door, she found the woman lying on her stomach on the floor. She was not suffering from convulsions; she was just tracing a crack on the floor with her fingernail, her eyes gleaming with unshed tears.
    â€œMiss,” Lucy said, kneeling beside her, “may I help you back into the bed? It is too cold to lie here.”
    When the woman did not reply, Lucy sighed and began to tug the straw pallet from the bed onto the floor. The woman’s eyes flickered over to her, but she seemed otherwise wholly disinterested in what Lucy was doing.
    Without saying anything more, Lucy rolled the woman on top of it. After covering her with a blanket, Lucy finally crept back into her own room, keeping the door open between them, so that she could listen for the woman’s breathing. Finally the woman began to breathe more deeply and, except for some odd grunting and exclamations, soon fell into a mostly sound sleep.
    Lucy, however, found it hard to grow accustomed to the strange bed, and could not keep from tossing and turning. Eventually she went over to the small window and unlatched the shutters so that she could peer out at the moonlit world below. For once, the fog was not rolling in, and she could see the shadows of houses and church pinnacles in the distance, beyond the branches of the apple tree.
    She sighed. It was not just the strangeness of her surroundings and the oddly sleeping woman in the next room that were keeping her awake. Seeing both Adam and Duncan earlier that day had brought up feelings that she was still not ready to address.
    *   *   *
    By morning, the woman’s lethargy had deepened, and she would answer only yes or no or shake her head. She seemed unable to eat or drink on her own, as if all the energies from the day before had been spent.
    Even using the chamber pot became an ordeal, because the woman suddenly seemed completely unable to tend to even her most private acts. Dr. Larimer said that she was entering a melancholic state, which was common with those who had experienced great anxiety, trauma, and loss.
    â€œWe must tend to her carefully, Lucy,” he said. “I fear now that her moroseness will weigh her spirit down so that she