Read Online Solemn Vows by Don Gutteridge - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Don Gutteridge
Ads: Link
family negatively. Perhaps it was something a previous council did, and Rumsey decided to take revenge at the earliest opportunity. I recall that your itinerary for the York Township address and the names of the accompanying contingent were published in the Upper Canada Gazette a full ten days before the event.”
“Yes, that was part of my strategy to win the ordinary folk over to the King’s side, even before I officially dissolved theAssembly: to publicize my addresses widely and to include selected legislators to sit with me on the platform and share the limelight.”
“Rumsey had, then, forewarning and the time to set up his alibi in Buffalo,” Marc said. “In that regard, we’ll have to have someone, from Fort George perhaps, slip across to New York State and check out Rumsey’s dying mother.”
“And try to ascertain whether Rumsey had connections with any republican fanatics over there. He might be a member of one of the Hunters’ Lodges, the ones I read about in Sir John’s report of your first investigation in January.”
“That is always possible. But from the looks of his cabin and the wretched state of his family, I’d say not likely.”
“Nevertheless, I’ll send a request to Fort George to have the Rumsey clan checked out.” Sir Francis gave a little sigh. “I suppose, though, we’ll have to face the fact that if he did murder the councillor, he may decide to stay in Buffalo or go farther inland where we’ll never catch him.”
“I don’t think so, sir. His wife and six children are near to starvation. I believe he’ll be back in the province within the next few days or so.”
“But if he is that indigent, then I suppose you’ll have to consider the possibility that someone might have paid him to murder Moncreiff.”
“In which case there could be a personal motive.”
“And that means you’ll have to look into Moncreiff’s private life.” Sir Francis grimaced. “An unsavoury task, andone that will demand the utmost tact. Which is why I want you to undertake it. What do you propose to do first?”
“Well, sir, we need to have Rumsey’s cabin watched day and night. As a hunter and long-time resident, he knows the area and the bush around it. He won’t stroll across the square at Danby’s Crossing and wave to his friends. Phineas Kimble, the harness- maker, will need to be questioned again, and anyone else up there who knew Rumsey, to get as much background information on him as we can. I myself will interview Councillor Moncreiff’s brother- in- law, Ignatius Maxwell, and discreetly explore the victim’s recent personal life and his political connections. And I thought of doing something un-orthodox in order to discover how he was viewed politically by the Reformers.”
“Unorthodox?”
“Yes. I was hoping to obtain your permission to interview William Lyon Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie was the leading Reformer, a rabble-rousing firebrand, and editor of the
Constitution
, a weekly newspaper whose pages routinely excoriated the government and its leadership.
Sir Francis flinched. “That man’s a fanatic. What he won’t prevaricate he’ll equivocate. You’d be wasting your time and putting the investigation at risk.”
“I met him back in January, sir. In fact, I saved him from a tar-and-feathering, and we had a brief conversation. I know he trusts me, and I believe he will give us aperspective on the councillor’s political status that might prove invaluable.”
Sir Francis began to fidget with his coffee cup. The sun had risen close to its zenith and no longer flooded the room. “All right, you may go ahead. And while you’re there, I want you to ask him to provide me with the name of a very irritating letter- writer who’s been filling the pages of the
Constitution
with tripe and nonsense now for the past month—someone who hides like a coward behind the pseudonym of ‘Farmer’s Friend.’”
“I’ll ask him, sir.”
Sir Francis detected the note of
“Yes, that was part of my strategy to win the ordinary folk over to the King’s side, even before I officially dissolved theAssembly: to publicize my addresses widely and to include selected legislators to sit with me on the platform and share the limelight.”
“Rumsey had, then, forewarning and the time to set up his alibi in Buffalo,” Marc said. “In that regard, we’ll have to have someone, from Fort George perhaps, slip across to New York State and check out Rumsey’s dying mother.”
“And try to ascertain whether Rumsey had connections with any republican fanatics over there. He might be a member of one of the Hunters’ Lodges, the ones I read about in Sir John’s report of your first investigation in January.”
“That is always possible. But from the looks of his cabin and the wretched state of his family, I’d say not likely.”
“Nevertheless, I’ll send a request to Fort George to have the Rumsey clan checked out.” Sir Francis gave a little sigh. “I suppose, though, we’ll have to face the fact that if he did murder the councillor, he may decide to stay in Buffalo or go farther inland where we’ll never catch him.”
“I don’t think so, sir. His wife and six children are near to starvation. I believe he’ll be back in the province within the next few days or so.”
“But if he is that indigent, then I suppose you’ll have to consider the possibility that someone might have paid him to murder Moncreiff.”
“In which case there could be a personal motive.”
“And that means you’ll have to look into Moncreiff’s private life.” Sir Francis grimaced. “An unsavoury task, andone that will demand the utmost tact. Which is why I want you to undertake it. What do you propose to do first?”
“Well, sir, we need to have Rumsey’s cabin watched day and night. As a hunter and long-time resident, he knows the area and the bush around it. He won’t stroll across the square at Danby’s Crossing and wave to his friends. Phineas Kimble, the harness- maker, will need to be questioned again, and anyone else up there who knew Rumsey, to get as much background information on him as we can. I myself will interview Councillor Moncreiff’s brother- in- law, Ignatius Maxwell, and discreetly explore the victim’s recent personal life and his political connections. And I thought of doing something un-orthodox in order to discover how he was viewed politically by the Reformers.”
“Unorthodox?”
“Yes. I was hoping to obtain your permission to interview William Lyon Mackenzie.”
Mackenzie was the leading Reformer, a rabble-rousing firebrand, and editor of the
Constitution
, a weekly newspaper whose pages routinely excoriated the government and its leadership.
Sir Francis flinched. “That man’s a fanatic. What he won’t prevaricate he’ll equivocate. You’d be wasting your time and putting the investigation at risk.”
“I met him back in January, sir. In fact, I saved him from a tar-and-feathering, and we had a brief conversation. I know he trusts me, and I believe he will give us aperspective on the councillor’s political status that might prove invaluable.”
Sir Francis began to fidget with his coffee cup. The sun had risen close to its zenith and no longer flooded the room. “All right, you may go ahead. And while you’re there, I want you to ask him to provide me with the name of a very irritating letter- writer who’s been filling the pages of the
Constitution
with tripe and nonsense now for the past month—someone who hides like a coward behind the pseudonym of ‘Farmer’s Friend.’”
“I’ll ask him, sir.”
Sir Francis detected the note of
Similar Books
