Bloody Relations Read online

  Cobb’s distaste for such detail must have shown on his face, for Mrs. Burgess smiled grimly and said, “I apologize for my frank language, but you asked for the truth.”

  “You ain’t embarrassin’ me,” Cobb said, but his nose belied the disclaimer.

  “The girls and I made a pact never to speak of Sarah’s former employment.”

  “But lots of folks knew about it. I can’t believe you people don’t gossip.”

  “We use no last names in our business. You and Mr. Edwards alone know the surnames of my girls. I have tried to be wholly truthful with you, except for Sarah’s working up there.”

  “You said ya had two reasons fer lyin’.”

  “For omitting part of the truth,” she corrected. “The second reason was that Sarah herself asked us to keep it a secret. You see, she was saving her money and planning someday to move back into respectable society, probably in another town. She was a very independent young woman—as her papa discovered when he tried to force her into a marriage she found repugnant.”

  “And you didn’t object to her talkin’ about runnin’ off? It’s hard ta believe you’d actually help her leave yer business.”

  Mrs. Burgess sighed, looked almost wistful. “She wasn’t the first girl to have a dream like that.”

  “So you figured it would all peter out?”

  “It always does.”

  Cobb suddenly thought of something neither he nor Marc had thought to ask yesterday, and he silently congratulated himself even as he said, “Was her money stolen after she was killed?”

  Mrs. Burgess took umbrage at this veiled accusation. “I keep a tally of what my girls earn each week, I’ll have you know, and every Friday I walk them up to the bank on Church Street. I stand at the door while they go in and deposit their earnings. I have no way of touching that money.”

  “And you went there last Friday?”

  “We did. You can ask them at the bank. We’re usually noticed.”

  “I will do that.” Afraid that he was being bested in this exchange, he looked stern and said sharply, “So you’re tellin’ me yer girls are all gettin’ rich?”

  “I am not telling you any such thing. Before we go to the bank, we promenade along King Street.”

  “And visit the shops.”

  “Yes. Whatever’s left goes in the bank. And some of that gets mailed home.”

  “So Sarah really didn’t have a lot of savin’s?”

  “Sarah was not like the other girls—yet. Almost all of her earnings went into the bank. But she’d only been working for two months.”

  Cobb felt deflated. Mrs. Burgess’s explanation seemed not only plausible but downright convincing. Still, he could relay all he’d discovered to the Major: perhaps he had overlooked some telling detail that Marc would tease out.

  “I’ll let ya get back to yer washin’,” he said, then added, “Where’re ya plannin’ to hold the service?”

  “In the old Mechanics’ Institute hall on John Street at ten o’clock. We’ve found a minister who hasn’t forgotten who Christ was.”

  Chastened, Cobb made his way back to Lot Street and his rendezvous with Marc Edwards.

  TEN

  Over lunch and a flagon of ale at the Cock and Bull, Marc and Cobb exchanged detailed accounts of their morning’s work. Marc was obviously pleased and impressed with Cobb’s efforts at the two brothels.

  “What d’ya make of this business of Sarah bein’ at Madame Charlotte’s?” Cobb said, between bites.

  “I agree with your initial assessment, Cobb. But I think I’ll refrain from further speculation on the matter until I’ve had a chance to talk with the girl’s parents. Then I believe we’ll have the full story of Sarah’s sad odyssey.”

  “Whatever you say.”

  “Now, what do you make of the whist players?”

  Cobb, at a loss to see any import in the self-interested complaints of the whist players up at Government House, said so.

  “I didn’t expect to learn anything directly incriminating,” Marc said, brushing pie crumbs off his lower lip. “But both Lord Durham and I wanted to get acquainted with them personally—His Lordship is a keen judge of character—and develop a sense of whether their opposition to his mission here is serious enough, and similar enough in kind, to allow them to be considered co-conspirators.”

  Cobb washed down a helping of oysters with a satisfying swig of ale. “And what do you figure after all that palaver?”

  “In terms of their disagreement with Durham’s known position on key issues, yes, they might, despite being radically different characters, decide to band together to sidetrack the mission. It’s hard to see such diverse personalities getting together merely to play whist.”

  “Might, you say?”

  “Well, that’s something we’ll need proof for. When we find Badger and unmask the person who led Ellice to the brothel, we’ll have all the proof we need.”

  “When.”

  “My, you’re laconic this afternoon.”

  “I’m feelin’ quite fine, thank you, but I’d feel a whole lot better if we could dig up a few more facts.”

  “Spoken like a true investigator.” Marc drained his ale. “And this afternoon may well see that happen.”

  Cobb looked regretfully at his empty flagon. “What’re you plannin’ to do?”

  “While His Lordship keeps the whist players occupied, we’re going to visit their homes. I will question their wives and you will go to the stables and question any men or boys who might have been on carriage duty Monday night.”

  Cobb’s skepticism was visible. “We’re just gonna sashay up to these pillars of the community and ask them if their hubbies took young Ellice to a cathouse to get his ashes hauled?”

  Marc smiled. “I see now why you were such a success up in Irishtown this morning. But I have worked out a ruse for us to use when we approach these people. We will tell them that some valuable jewellery was stolen from Lord Durham’s chamber on Monday during the gala. An investigation yesterday revealed that one of the guests was apparently an interloper—”

  “A gate-crasher, ya mean?”

  “Exactly. Moreover, this person, whom nobody seemed to know, was seen lurking near the doors to the north wing where the Durhams are domiciled, and then again later he was seen being invited into one of the fancier barouches—hitching a ride to the city, presumably with the stolen goods. We, of course, are trying to trace this felon and need to know which of the respectable guests was kind enough to give him a lift, et cetera. Naturally, the description we have of him is that he was young, slim, not tall, and apparently shy—as he would be if he were hiding his identity. If you’ll give me a description of the clothes Ellice tossed beside Sarah’s bed, we’ll add them to our portrait of this mysterious jewel thief.”

  “I c’n do that,” Cobb said, “but I can’t go usin’ all of them Shakespeare words with stable hands!”

  “True, but the essential question to put, after feeding them our little story, is whether anyone like that rode back in their master’s carriage. I’ll do the same with the wives, and try to prompt them to admit to any sort of unexpected rearrangements in their travel plans that night after the ball.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Cobb said, “if it really was one of them whist players, of course.”

  They were about to leave when Nestor Peck, Cobb’s most obsequious snitch, angled up to their table. He was sporting a bump as big as a crane’s egg on the right side of his head.

  “You been fallin’ down steps again, Nestor?” Cobb asked.

  “Some yegg clunked me up at the Tinker’s Dam,” Nestor whined. “I need a whiskey real bad, Mr. Cobb.”

  “You got anythin’ to trade fer it?”

  “Yup.” He waited until Cobb’s chin bob signalled a deal, then whispered, “Badger was seen headin’ east along the Kingston Road.”

  “We know that.” Though it was nice to have his son’s sighting confirmed.

  “Way p
ast Scaddings Bridge.”

  Cobb dropped a coin on the table.

  “Keep yer head down, Nestor,” he said.

  • • •

  BETH EDWARDS ENJOYED THE HALF-HOUR WALK along fashionable King Street to Government House at the corner of King and Simcoe. The day was glorious. The sun shone resolutely as it had for the past week, leaving the rutted and indifferently gravelled street dry and passable. The good weather had enticed more than the usual number of shoppers to the chic array of stores between Church and Bay that catered to those who had cash to spend or credit to demand.

  What attracted her more than the gaudy bow windows of the jewellers, booteries, and haberdasheries, however, were the quaint and the idiosyncratic among the merchant class, a reminder that commerce and individuality could remain wary bedfellows. Diagonally across from the Court House, for example, stood the Checkered Store, a wooden edifice painted in red-and-white squares, tempting customers to come in and play checkers. Next to it sat Rogers’s fur and hat store, announcing its proprietor’s Indian heritage via a life-size sign depicting an aboriginal voyageur limned by local artist Paul Kane. Just visible down West Market Lane was the whimsical invitation of McIlmurray’s clock-repair shop: a golden lion whose forefeet sprouted watches instead of paws.

  Approaching the corner of Yonge and King, Beth could never quite suppress the chill that seized her as she walked through the shadow cast by the imposing, three-storey grandeur of the Commercial Bank. The chill eased nicely, though, as soon as she neared the twin shops that once were the dry-goods emporium of her father-in-law, Joshua Smallman. Now hers, they invited her to pause and ponder what might have been. Mr. Ormsby, who rented one of the shops but would soon be gone, came out and chatted amiably with Beth for several minutes.

  With just the tiniest shiver of regret, Beth continued on towards Government House. Unlike most of the ladies today, she carried no parasol to keep the sun off her face, only a straw bonnet that she wore in the garden every morning. Beyond Bay Street, the boardwalk ended: the town council, as deadlocked and divisive as the other political bodies in the province, refused monies either to extend the walk or to keep the existing one in repair. She was forced to compete with horses, mules, and aggressive teamsters for walking space. Eddies of dust whorled about her feet, and she was glad she had decided to wear a short frock that settled comfortably at her ankle-tops.

  After crossing Simcoe she came to the gates that presaged the long driveway up to Government House, nestled in its six acres of parkland. It was a pleasant, shady stroll along the tree-lined way and, although anxious about what was facing her up at the house, she was in no particular hurry. A sociable being, she had out of necessity lived much of her adult life alone and had learned to enjoy her own company. In a few minutes she rounded a bend and caught a glimpse of the great building, its chimney pots tickling the fluffy cloud above them and its myriad glass windows shimmering in the early-afternoon heat. To her immediate right she spotted a small, shrub-enclosed garden with stone benches around a reflecting pool. She decided to pause for a moment to catch her breath and decide how best to approach Lord and Lady Durham about the mission she had in mind regarding their nephew.

  She was just about to sit down when she noticed a tall, formally attired gentleman standing with his back turned to her, hands clasped behind him, staring into the trees. The rustle of her dress or scrape of her boot must have alerted him, for he turned quickly around, looked puzzled for a second only, then smiled broadly. She recognized him right away.

  “Good afternoon, Mrs. Edwards,” Durham greeted her with a bow.

  “You remember me, then?” Beth said, taken aback. “Your Lordship.”

  “A change of dress and a little daylight have not been sufficient to render you unmemorable.”

  “I was coming to see you, sir, or Lady Durham, if she’s here.”

  “I know. We’ve been expecting you. I am, alas, about to be closeted with four gentlemen who collectively have not half the charm or charity you have brought with you to Government House.”

  “I’d like to talk to Mr. Ellice. I thought I might be able to help.”

  Durham held out his arm. “Here, I’ll take you straight in to my lady.”

  • • •

  MRS. FINNEY DREW THE FIRST LOT. As Cobb sauntered down towards the barn and two rustic fellows lounging next to it, Marc knocked at the door of the fine, clapboard residence of the dissenting minister. A slovenly, overweight housemaid with unkempt hair gave Marc a gap-toothed smile, blushed, and led him into a pleasant sitting room, where Mrs. Finney was biding her time between knitting and stroking a black tabby.

  “Mister Edwards?” she said with some surprise when Marc introduced himself. “But I understood—”

  “I’ve retired from active service, ma’am.”

  “But you did do some brave thing or other at some French village or other last—”

  “I did.”

  “Then good for you. I hate the French.”

  It took all of Marc’s tact and most of his aplomb to keep his temper and spin his cover story for this exceedingly plain and aggressively prejudiced woman. But he did so.

  “A common thief, you say, pretending to be one of us? How shocking! First the horrid revolt and now this. What is the world coming to?”

  Marc was amused by the wife of a Methodist pastor herself pretending to be part of the aristocracy, but then, as he himself knew, such distinctions were relative, not absolute.

  “You can imagine, ma’am, how important it is for the reputation of our city that we recover Lady Durham’s jewels. Moreover, our inquiries have to be utterly discreet.”

  Mrs. Finney bobbed her chin, much in the manner she was accustomed to doing whenever the Reverend Finney paused pregnantly in a sermon. “But how can we help?” she said. “I don’t recall seeing anybody I didn’t know or recognize.”

  “Well, as I mentioned, the thief seems to have hitched a ride back to the city with one of the unsuspecting parties respectable enough to be travelling in a barouche.” That many of these extravagances, like the Finneys’, had been rented needed not be emphasized here: flattery would suffice. “I trust that you and Mr. Finney returned with the same members of your party who rode out with you?”

  There was no hesitation. “Yes, the three Carters and Temperance and I went out and came back together. You may wish to check with them, of course. They live at number twenty-six George Street.”

  “There’ll be no need for that, ma’am. The word of a minister’s wife is good enough for me,” Marc said, though he had every intention of double-checking every claim made. He rose and bowed.

  “I could give you a cup of tea, if you’d like?” she offered belatedly.

  “Thank you, but I must continue these inquiries.”

  Mrs. Finney understood perfectly: she would have to be content with the gossipy tidbits supplied thus far.

  At the door, Marc said without preamble, “Did you employ a young woman here last fall by the name of Sarah McConkey?”

  Mrs. Finney froze in her tracks. A deep scowl suddenly gave some character to her bland, undistinguished features. “Why do you utter the name of that Jezebel in my home?” she hissed.

  Marc winced, recovered, and said, working out the lie as he went along, “I apologize, ma’am, but the chief constable has asked me to look into the disappearance of a girl by that name. It seems that her parents, good Christian people, have not been able to locate her here in the city. And until now, the police have been of little help. But just this morning one of our informants revealed that she had been seen working here last fall. I thought that, while I was here on the more important matter, I should try to verify the informant’s story. Last fall is a long time back, but it might help if you had any idea where she might have gone after leaving your employ.”

  “She didn’t leave our employ, sir!” The scowl had intensified. “We tossed her out onto the street, which is where women like her belong!”

&
nbsp; “She offended you in some way?”

  “In every way, sir. She was a lewd and grasping hussy!”

  “Those are strong words about a young woman from a decent family who’d only been in the city for a few weeks and entirely in your employ.”

  “They aren’t strong enough! She flaunted her flesh before my fourteen-year-old son, tempting him beyond endurance. She was caught kissing the hired man! We’d had enough by then, so out she went. I feel sorry for her parents, but I can’t spare one ounce of pity for such a creature.”

  Marc thanked her for her frankness, bowed, and left. On the gravel driveway, he met Cobb coming up from the barn. Marc summarized his conversation with Mrs. Finney, to the constable’s considerable amusement. Cobb then told him that one of the stablemen, a fellow he knew personally, corroborated Mrs. Finney’s account of their trip back from Spadina on Monday. But when Marc suggested that they return to the barn to question both men about Sarah’s troubled tenure there last September, Cobb stayed him.

  “Them fellas just started workin’ here at Christmastime,” Cobb said. “Before they come on steady, they told me—when we got to chin-waggin’—that the Finneys were so hard to get along with that half a dozen men had come and gone before them. If work wasn’t so scarce since the uprisin’, they said they’d be packin’ it in, too.”

  “That’s too bad,” Marc said. “However, we’re gradually filling in the brief life story of Sarah McConkey, post-Streetsville.”

  “Sounds like she took a fancy to men right off.”

  “Perhaps,” Marc said, but did not elaborate. Instead, he pointed Cobb in the direction of the Carters’ residence, the family Mrs. Finney claimed rode with her and Finney on Monday. It never hurt to triple-check.

  • • •

  LADY DURHAM SHOWED BETH INTO THE sickroom. Word had been put out that Handford Ellice had fallen ill with a fever after the ball, an affliction general and vague enough to cover the symptoms of his condition. He had been moved to Government House to be near Sir George’s personal physician, Angus Withers. But Lord Durham’s executive powers could extend only so far and for so long. If the real killer could not be found by Friday morning or if Ellice did not recover his wits quickly enough to help himself, he would have to be formally charged and led in chains to the Toronto jail—with dire and irreversible consequences for Durham and possibly for the province.