Read Online Death in the Valley of Shadows by Deryn Lake - Free Book Online

the watch. So yes to the first part of your question. As to the second, I’m not sure. She’s not the kind of woman that I could take to personally, but whether that makes her a murderess is a different matter.”
    “You’re right, of course. She’s horrible but one can’t hang her for that. Yet why was Aidan so convinced that she would do for him?”
    “Because she’s crazy and capable of anything,” Joe answered succinctly. “But those facts alone do not prove her guilt.”
    “So what’s the way forward?”
    “I think Sir John should see her. If anyone can break her down, it will be him.”
    “Is that what you are going to tell him?”
    “Yes, Sir, it is. Now, I’ve an idea. Can I drop you at Bloomsbury Square, ostensibly to enquire after the health of the bereaved but also to find out where the Bussell woman might be likely to bolt to. For bolt she will, I feel it in my gut.”
    “Of course you can. But would it be tactful? Aidan’s body might have arrived.”
    “I doubt they’ll bring it before tomorrow morning. He has to be shrouded and coffined, remember.”
    John shivered. “Oh, don’t remind me. Not a task I would relish.”
    “Come now,” said Joe. “You’re a medical man and used to death.”
    “Not like that I’m not.”
    “No,” said Sir John Fielding’s clerk, and within the confines of the coach there was sudden stricken silence.

    * * *

    The physick had clearly worked for there were no screams from the upper floor of the house. In fact a deathly calm hung over the place. Feeling that he was truly trespassing, John handed his card to the footman almost apologetically.
    “I simply called to see if any of the ladies required medical care. I have no wish to intrude.”
    “Mrs. Rayner said that you might visit, Sir. She and Miss Millicent are in the drawing room. Please to step this way.”
    They were speaking quietly together as John went in but two snatches of conversation were distinctly audible. Millicent was saying in that intense little voice of hers, “How could she? How could she? And with an upstart like Mendoza. The girl deserves to be whipped.”
    “And so does he,” answered Jocasta. “Why, if Papa had still been alive I swear he would have done it.”
    Millicent gave a loud sniff and it was at that moment that John walked into the room and all conversation ceased. Jocasta stood up.
    “Mr. Rawlings, how very nice to see you. I thought you might come to visit us. Will you stay and dine?”
    So poor Aidan’s shattered body had not yet returned home.
    “It would be a pleasure.”
    “It will only be very simple, in view of our mourning.”
    “I would have eaten lightly had I gone back to Nassau Street.”
    “You live alone?”
    “Temporarily, yes. My wife is staying in Kensington with my father.”
    “Oh,” said Jocasta.
    Millicent spoke up, her eyes shining earnestly. “My dear Mama - before she was taken from us, of course - was a great believer in keeping up one’s strength through regular meals. This is not a time to neglect oneself. Would you not agree, Mr. Rawlings? - you being an apothecary and all.”
    “I certainly do, Ma’am. I have always believed that a hearty breakfast is the only way to begin one’s day.”
    “There, Jocasta, there,” Millicent said triumphantly. “You must do more than sip tea, dear.”
    “Would you care for a sherry, Mr. Rawlings?” asked Jocasta, determinedly changing the subject.
    “Are you ladies going to have one?”
    “If you are,” they chorused.
    John nodded and bowed and all three sat down to have a glass of the very finest vintage, presumably imported by the late Aidan Fenchurch himself.
    “Such a pleasure to have your company,” said Millicent enthusiastically.
    “Yes, it really is,” Jocasta added, and it suddenly struck the Apothecary that there had been a great deal of sadness in this household, even without the added sorrow of the brutal murder of its head.

    “So,” said Sir John Fielding, guiding