Beyond Reason (23 page)

Janet’s face had turned ashen. She had never seen a constable or a prison. She had never been further than Braeheights. She shuddered at the thought of being locked up.

‘If only Fingal had come! He would know what I should do. He would believe me.’

‘We all believe you, lassie, but the constable will be a stranger. He will listen to that – that evil woman. Don’t wait for the constable to come. Don’t let him take you to prison to wait for a trial. Listen to me, Janet. Pack a bag now. Leave it outside the door of the laundry. Joe will pick it up and take it in the trap with us. As soon you’ve seen the mourners occupied with their food and drink you must slip away through the back. Joe says you can cut through the woods behind Crillion Keep to keep out of sight. We are going to stay the night with my mother. She lives on the edge of Rowanbank village. We’ll pick you up at the far corner of the wood and take you with us. Mother will give you a bed for the night. Then we’ll think what to do. Maybe you could go to my cousin over the border into England. You would be safe there until someone can convince the constable of your innocence. At least if you are free you can get Fingal McLauchlan to defend you!’

Janet had flopped down onto the bed and now she hid her face in her hands.

‘Why, oh why did Josiah have to die? He was a good man,’ she wept.

‘I’m sure he was, Janet,’ Hannah Foster said more gently, ‘and he wouldn’t want you to be locked in prison to await a trial for the trumped-up charges his sister intends to make. I want you to be safe until someone can help. Joe thinks Mrs Ross must be a wicked woman.’

‘Mrs McLauchlan tried to warn me,’ Janet said. ‘She says the Ross family have influential friends, but we never thought she would send for the constable.’

‘Please do as I say, lassie,’ Hannah Foster pleaded. ‘At least until
we know whether the constable will act on the word of Mrs Ross. I must get back to the others now and so must you. After the men return you can slip away. I have never seen so many people. Mr Saunders must have been well respected in the parish.’ She patted Janet’s shoulder. ‘Pack your bag now, Janet. We’ll wait for you at the corner of the wood. Better not tell Mrs McLauchlan in case Mrs Ross blames her for helping you.’

Janet didn’t want to run away when she had committed no crime, but would the constable believe her? Would he have to take her to prison while other men decided who to believe? She shivered and stuffed some of her things in a canvas bag. She longed to take her wooden writing box but it would take too much room; but she would take the pens Josiah had given her, and her bank book from the secret drawer. She gathered what coins she had.

After she had mingled a little while with the mourners, offering them the trays of food or drink, Janet slipped away. Once in the woods she felt the breeze and lifted her face to the sky, still visible in patches through the treetops. She found the path and followed it blindly. She didn’t want to leave the place which had always been her refuge in time of trouble, even when she was a helpless baby, but what was there for her now with the venomous Mrs Ross in charge? Josiah had said she would always be secure and he had made her promise she would take care of his loyal workers too, but how could she do that now? He was dead and she had no influence with anybody.

Most of the mourners were leaving by the time the constable arrived, riding an elderly horse which Donald declared in need of a good feed and a rest. He didn’t believe for a minute that the man could believe Janet guilty of hurting anyone but he was as surprised as everybody else when it seemed Janet had disappeared.

‘It proves she is guilty when she is hiding,’ Eliza Ross declared triumphantly. Even so she wondered why Janet had gone and if she knew she had sent for the constable.

‘Did you tell her, Henry?’ she demanded, rounding angrily on her son.

‘Of course not! What do you think I am?’

‘A fool. I will go and see if she has run away, or if she is just hiding until nightfall when she thinks the constable will have left.’ Eliza poked around in Janet’s bedroom. ‘Her clothes are still there, and even her precious writing box,’ she sneered. ‘She wouldn’t leave that. Josiah made her believe she was a scholar. She will be skulking somewhere in the lofts or outbuildings until you leave, my man. You had better stay the night.’

The constable was only too happy to get a bed and a sleep before embarking on the eight-mile ride back to town. In fact he didn’t think his hired horse would carry him back tonight.

‘McLauchlan,’ Eliza called loudly, ‘have the maid prepare a bed for the constable in the servants’ quarters, and give him some bread and a drink of ale.’ This was Eliza Ross’s first mistake. The constable didn’t like being despatched like a box of rubbish and he resented her superior manner. On the other hand, Maggie McLauchlan could see the man was hungry the way his eyes devoured the remains of the food from the funeral wake.

‘I’ll make you up a tray of food to take to your room,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Better not let her see you eating in here, even though half of this will probably go to the pigs. She will be expecting a cooked dinner tonight.’

‘You don’t seem to care much for your mistress?’

‘We don’t believe Mr Saunders meant her to be mistress here,’ Maggie said bluntly. ‘He promised we would all be secure in our jobs with Janet – er Mrs Saunders, his – his widow.’ She sighed. ‘The minister says he made a will but he can’t find it in the house, even though he is an executor, whatever that means.’

‘Well, I’m afraid I shall have to take the young widow away with me for trial when we do find her,’ the constable said. ‘It is not up to me to judge whether she is guilty or not, but why did she need to hide if she is innocent?’

‘She must have heard you were coming. She’s no match for a woman like Mrs Ross. She has warned all of us to keep our mouths shut or we shall lose our jobs.’

‘I don’t know what to think.’ The constable shook his head. ‘Mrs Ross made a good case for murder in her letter to the magistrates and running away smacks of guilt.’

‘If Janet had stayed here you would have had her halfway to prison by now,’ Maggie said sharply. ‘But I’m surprised she didn’t tell me she was going.’ She wiped a hand over her brow. ‘I hope she’s safe, wherever she is.’

When she returned to her own cottage for the night, Maggie had half hoped to find Janet hiding in the box bed, waiting for her. She knew Donald had searched the loft above the stable and the sheds where the joiner and the gardener worked and even the blacksmith’s forge and his barn. She had had a busy and upsetting day. She undressed and almost fell into bed in her exhaustion. Even so, sleep did not come easy. If only she was sure Janet was safe and warm somewhere.

A few hours later she was wakened by someone kindling the fire in the grate and pouring water from her big jug into the kettle. She drew the curtain aside and peeped out.

‘Fingal! You’ve come! Oh, laddie, I am glad to see ye!’ She sprang out of bed and hugged him tightly. Then she grabbed her shawl and pulled it around her. ‘You look exhausted, Fingal?’

‘I am. Janet’s letter was waiting for me when I arrived back in Edinburgh yesterday morning. I set out again straight away but I knew I would be too late for the funeral. How is Janet?’

Maggie filled him in on all the events since Henry’s attack on Janet to the arrival of the constable and Janet’s disappearance. ‘I could boil some eggs for ye in the kettle, Fingal, and I have some fresh bread I brought down from the kitchens. I might have guessed ye’d be here and hungry. You were always hungry when ye came home.’

‘Thanks, Mother. I could eat a horse, but I could whip Henry Ross and throttle his devious, lying mother.’

‘Oh, hush, laddie! Don’t talk like that, it will get ye into trouble.’

‘Tell me everything again, then, while I eat so that I have the story clear in my own head. After that I will sleep for an hour in the chair, then I shall waken the constable so that I can talk to him without Mrs Ross. I must try to convince him she has brought him here on a wild goose chase.’

‘I don’t think he’ll be pleased to be wakened so early. Oh, I nearly forgot. The Reverend Drummond gave me a note for ye.
He was sure you would come.’

Fingal broke the seal and read the brief note. He frowned. ‘He wants me to send word to him with Donald whatever time I arrive. He says something about a missing will and needing my help to deal with Mrs Ross and her son.’

‘He hasna seen the constable. He arrived after the minister had left for the burial.’

‘I will tell Donald on my way up to see the constable, then,’ Fingal nodded. ‘I wish I could think where Janet would go to feel safe. She has no one except us.’

‘We’ll both get some rest, then I’ll come up to the house with you and cook a good breakfast for you and the constable. It might get him in a better mood to listen.’

Tired though he was, Fingal found it impossible to sleep and he was up at the crack of dawn bringing in water and boiling the kettle so that he could shave and make himself as presentable as possible. He had learned impressions were important when dealing with people in authority.

‘I will serve your breakfast in the small dining room so you will not be interrupted,’ Maggie said later, surveying him proudly. ‘And I will introduce you as Mrs Saunders’s lawyer so it sounds more official.’

Fingal grinned at her but he agreed.

His mother was right about the constable. Once he had eaten his porridge and started on a large platter of bacon, eggs and mushrooms, he seemed less irritable and more willing to listen. Besides which, he was impressed with the smart young man who had travelled all the way from Edinburgh to speak to him on Mrs Saunders’s behalf. They were just finishing their meal when the Reverend Drummond arrived. Maggie brought him some breakfast too. The minister praised the young widow and proclaimed her innocence even more than her lawyer and it put the constable in a dilemma.

‘It is not for me to decide whether she is guilty or not,’ he said awkwardly. ‘When the wife of the Right Honourable Edward Ross made such a serious charge I was ordered to take her in to stand trial before the magistrates.’

Fingal sighed in frustration.

‘You must hear what young Lizzy has to say. Apparently she saw everything.’

‘The young maid? She was too nervous to answer any questions last night.’

‘Mrs Ross has threatened all the staff. They will lose their jobs if they talk to you.’

‘Bring Lizzy in here, Fingal. I must convince her to tell the constable the truth,’ the Reverend Drummond said decisively.

When she came into the office, Lizzy was trembling with nerves but the minister took her hands gently and placed one on the Bible on the desk.

‘Now Lizzy, my dear child, do not be afraid. Even if you lose your job I will find work for you, I promise. But if you tell the constable everything you saw, you will help Mrs Saunders. You don’t want to see her taken to prison and locked up, do you?’

‘Oh no, no sir! She is not the one who is wicked. She couldn’t get away frae Master Henry. He – he had tied her hands behind her back. He was laid on top of her. She screamed in terror.’ Lizzy shuddered, then with a little encouragement she went on to tell the constable what she had seen. ‘Then Mr Saunders dropped the wee dagger. His legs seemed to crumple….’ she began to cry. ‘He d-died, sir! There on the floor in front of the fire….’

‘Wait a minute, Lizzy,’ Fingal said. ‘Do you mean Mr Saunders reached for one of the daggers hanging on the wall above the high mantleshelf in the library?’

‘Yes. It – it made s-so much b-blood everywhere….’

‘Thank you, Lizzy. You can go now. You have done very well,’ Fingal said and turned to the constable. ‘Will you come with me to the library please, gentlemen? I will prove Mrs Saunders could not have tried to kill Henry Ross with a dagger, even though he deserved it, taking another man’s wife against her will, under that man’s own roof too.’

He led them to the fireplace in the library and pointed up at the semi-circle of daggers, flanked by the swords which adorned the walls. There was one dagger missing and it lay on the high mantleshelf now, waiting to be fixed back into place.

‘Now, Constable Reynolds, there was a good fire in the grate on the day in question. Can you lean over the fender and reach the place where the dagger belongs? Please try.’

Puzzled, the constable obeyed. He could feel the heat from the fire and he had barely reached the first dagger, even less the space for the third one, still lying on the mantle.

‘Now imagine you are a young woman in wide skirts and your height is about here.’ He held a hand to the middle of his own chest and turned to the minister. ‘Janet is about this height. Am I right?’

‘Aye indeed. Now, why didn’t Doctor Carr think to tell ye that last night, constable? There is no way Janet could have reached any of the knives. Anyway, Lizzy said her hands were tied behind her with Henry Ross’s own neckerchief. Josiah Saunders was taller than I am. He would know the best dagger to choose. He had vowed to keep Janet safe. Seeing her molested in their own home would drive any man to fury.’

‘But I understood he was murdered first….’

‘Murdered? Of course he was not murdered, man!’ The Reverend Drummond stared at him incredulously. ‘He had a weak heart. He had already lived years longer than the doctors had predicted. I can imagine his anger at seeing his young wife held captive by that – that scoundrel…. No wonder his heart gave way,’ the minister finished. ‘In an hour, Doctor Carr will be here to meet with the lawyer from Dumfries. He will vouch for Josiah’s precarious health.’ He caught Fingal’s surprised glance. ‘Mr Saunders left two copies of his will,’ he explained. ‘We thought he was being too cautious when he said he didn’t trust Mrs Ross, or her son. It seems he was right. The copy he kept in his desk has disappeared. Burned, I suspect, but Mrs Ross does not know he sent the other copy to his lawyers in Dumfries. I despatched my man to inform Mr Glenlydon early this morning as soon as I heard you had arrived from Edinburgh, Fingal. Constable, if you care to wait for the reading of the will, I think you will discover Mrs Ross’s motive in sending for you. She wanted Mr Saunders’s widow removed because she hopes to inherit his estate herself.’