Harriett (36 page)

“
I have a lady called Charlotte here. Can anyone take a
Charlotte?”

“
I can,” Hillary replied, “but she is about as dead as that
woman’s Johnny.” She pointed to the woman behind her.

“
I didn’t say she was dead,” Madame Humphries snapped and gave
the woman a baleful glare. “Do you know a Charlotte?”

“
Yes I do.”

“
Good, then it is you the message is for then.”

“
Fine.”

“
A lady in the spirit world has come forward and issues you a
warning about Charlotte. She is leading you toward too much
gossip.”

“
No, I do not,” the woman beside Hillary piped up.

“
Well, you do gossip a bit,” Hillary argued.

“
So do you.”

Mark
sniggered. He could sense an argument brewing and he was no
clairvoyant. He wondered just who he was going to have to arrest;
the women who were on the verge of having a fight with their carpet
bags or the fraudulent clairvoyant who had started the
debacle.

Hillary
began to snivel and glared at her friend who merely looked
undeterred. “I don’t gossip. I don’t, and Charlotte isn’t dead, she
is here. I didn’t want to come to this stupid thing tonight. I
really didn’t, but you all thought it was a good idea.” She glared
at Madame Humphries. “It is all your fault. You and your stupid
messages.”

Madame
Humphries ignored her and began to rock backward and forward in her
seat again. She gasped, threw her head back and glared at the
ceiling moments before she slumped forward.

“
Is she dead?” Someone whispered from the back of the room
after several moments when nothing happened.

“
No, she is faking,” Mark whispered. “Just watch.”

Nobody
made any attempt to correct him and they watched Madame Humphries
eventually sit upright again. She had some sort of white froth
coming out of her mouth, or was that cloth?

Despite
the fact that Harriett knew the woman was pretending, and
undoubtedly had props tucked away somewhere in her skirt, she
couldn’t help but be caught by the atmosphere within the room. The
tension was so thick that she struggled to breathe.

“
I have a message for Bob. Bob. Bob. I have a message for
Bob.”

“
Can anyone take a Bob?” Miss Hepplethwaite called when the
room remained silent.

Madame
Humphries’ words were low and deep in timbre but, unsurprisingly,
when she began to speak, the frothy cloth dropped onto her lap. She
clearly couldn’t speak with a mouthful of muslin. Mark studied the
cloth and wanted to study it a bit more closely. His thoughts
turned to Minerva Bobbington’s death, and the small square piece of
cloth that had choked her. Had it been one of Madame Humphries’
props that had inadvertently dropped into Minerva’s drink? He
scowled and leaned sideways in his seat to talk to
Harriett.

“
Are you alright?”

“
I am fine, Mark,” she hastened to reassure him.

“
This is nothing but fraud.”

“
It has to stop before they cause somebody some real harm.”
She glanced at Hillary and her friend, who now glared at each other
in the darkness.

“
I agree. Will you be alright if I have to draw this to a
halt?”

“
Of course I will,” Harriett replied and smiled at him through
the shadows.

The
gentleness of her smile and the calm acceptance in her eyes made
him want to kiss her. He hated to bring the evening to a halt
because it meant that he would have to take her home. It was still
relatively early, but he couldn’t allow such shenanigans to
continue and people to get so upset, not while there was still a
murderer at large and the supposed clairvoyants were under
suspicion of fraud.

As a
member of the Great Tipton Constabulary, he couldn’t exactly sit in
the congregation and allow the collection box to be handed around
while he suspected that these women were obtaining money by
deception. Fraud was fraud at the end of the day, and he couldn’t
turn a blind eye to it, even for one evening. The props they were
using were enough to prove that they were trying to fool the
audience. He glanced at his mother who nodded her
acceptance.

“
Do what you need to Mark.”

Despite
his words, Mark sat in his chair for several moments and continued
to watch. A strange haze appeared above Madame’s head, which he was
convinced was nothing more than thin muslin wafted in front of
mirrors. Whatever it was, it was certainly nothing
spiritual.

“
I have a message from Edward. Can anyone take an
Edward?”

One
person stood up. “I can.”

“
You work down the mines.”

“
Yes, I do.”

“
You have to be more careful. There is going to be a fall. A
big fall and it will result in many deaths.”

Someone
from the back of the room gasped.

“
I am married to Edward. Is this message for me?” A rather
timid looking woman stood nervously and glanced around her, clearly
worried sick.

“
It is for the man who is having an affair. He is a traitor to
your marriage. You should not trust him.”

The
woman gasped and began to cry.

“
That’s enough,” the elderly woman beside her demanded. “We
know you are charlatans. You have heard the ridiculous gossip. You
were talking to Esmeralda Morris yesterday. She was the one who
started this nefarious gossip that is based on absolute rubbish. I
insist that you stop this nonsense now.” Her voice rang loudly in
the room.

“
I am only telling you what the spirits are telling me. I am
merely a channel for their voice.”

“
You are no more spiritual than I am,” the woman scoffed. “If
you think for one second that I am going to sit here listening to
any more of this nonsense you can think again.”

A chorus
of cries heralded her outburst, and the room began to grow
restless. Mark sensed the anger in the air and knew that if he
didn’t do something now the entire room would be thrown into
chaos.

He stood
and moved to the front of the room. “Someone light the gasoliers,
now please.” He pointed to a tall, energetic looking man at the
back of the room. “Go and fetch several constables from the
Station, and be quick about it.”

“
We don’t need bobbies,” Miss Hepplethwaite replied in a voice
that was panic stricken.

Mark
turned to glare at both women. Strangely, Madame Humphries seemed
to have come out of her trance and now stared at him with something
akin to horror in her eyes. “I strongly recommend that both of you
sit still. If either of you make any attempt to leave this room, I
shall set this lot on you.” He nodded toward the restless crowd
behind him.

“
Arrest them. They are nothing but frauds,” someone called
from the back of the room.

The
gasoliers were lit. It cast the room in considerably more light,
and was enough to reveal the extent of the fraud the women had
intended to carry out. There, in plain view on Madame Humphries’
lap, was the large rectangular piece of muslin that she had put
into her mouth as the first stage of a supposed spirit
‘manifestation’.

He
glared at Miss Hepplethwaite, and shoved a chair at her. “Sit.” He
stalked toward the carpet bag.

“
Wait! That’s ours.”

“
It belongs to the constabulary now,” Mark replied and opened
the bag. He didn’t draw the contents out in case it enraged the
crowd further, but he had witnessed enough to be able to
confidently assign all of the supposed ‘clairvoyant’s’ props to
their specific schemes.

He moved
to stand beside Miss Hepplethwaite and Madame Humphries, and raised
his hands to quieten the crowd.

“
I am Detective Inspector Mark Bosville, from Great Tipton
Constabulary. I am here to arrest both ladies for their deception.
I would ask that all of you leave your name and address with the
lady there. “He pointed to his mother and issued her with an
apologetic look. From the surprise on her face, she had been caught
off guard but offered no protest. He dug around in his jacket
pocket and took out his small black notebook and a pencil. He
caught Harriett’s eye and was relieved when she didn’t hesitate to
collect it from him. He was impressed and delighted when she
started to take down the details of the audience while Henrietta
and Babette arranged everyone into an orderly queue.

Within
minutes, several constables, along with Isaac, appeared in the
doorway.

“
Arrest them for fraud,” Mark ordered and moved to Harriett’s
side. “We could do with you in the constabulary,” he whispered
ruefully.

She
glanced at him and gave him a smile. “It’s a little like taking
orders for tea,” she replied with a wry grin. “I hope you can read
my writing.”

Mark
took the opportunity to edge a little closer and peer over her
shoulder. Whatever he was about to say next was interrupted by
several members of the audience who were evidently reluctant to
leave without finding out just what was going on.

“
Are they going to jail?”

“
What is going to happen to them?”

Mark
gave them a stern look. “If you have given your name to my
colleague here, then I think you should head home. There won’t be
any further psychic demonstrations of this kind in Great Tipton, of
that I can promise you.”

Mark
drew Harriett to one side and they watched as Madame Humphries and
Miss Hepplethwaite were led out of the room.

“
Take them to the cells. I will question them in the
morning.”

“
You cannot do this,” Miss Hepplethwaite snarled. Her usual
nervousness had been replaced with a fierce belligerence that was
nothing like with the aged spinster she had presented to the world
in recent weeks. “You have nothing you can prove.”

“
Oh, I beg to differ,” Mark sighed and turned his attention
Madame Humphries. “I just needed to be able to prove your tricks
were fraudulent and, thanks to the help of the audience this
evening, I have the evidence that will stand up in court. I also
suspect that you are the same clairvoyants who are wanted by
Scotland Yard. If you are, then you will face trial for several
counts of theft and fraud in Charing Cross, Islington, Westminster,
Tipton Hollow and Great Tipton.”

“
I haven’t stolen anything,” Madame Humphries gasped. “I am
not a thief.”

“
You are not speaking to the dearly departed either,” Mark
retorted. “Accepting money from anyone with false claims that you
are doing something you know you are not is fraud. You will have to
account for your actions in court. Until then, I suggest you get
yourself a good solicitor.”

“
Did they steal Harriett’s brooch?” Babette asked with a sigh.
She felt strangely tainted by the events of the evening. It was as
though something that should have been sacred had been defiled in
some debased way.

“
I think they might have done. We got a description of the
woman who traded it and it matches Miss Hepplethwaite, although the
pawn broker was a bit vague who he purchased it from and couldn’t
be altogether sure that it wasn’t a man. We will search their homes
now and see what else we can find.”

Henrietta didn’t know what to make of the entire evening. She
had looked forward to being able to join a circle or group of some
sort in order to get out and start to socialise more. As it was, it
seemed highly unlikely now that there would be another meeting of
the Tipton Hollow Psychic Circle, especially given that the only
one who professed to be able to talk to the spirits was now behind
bars.

“
I think that we should call it a night.” Mark suggested and,
being ever a gentleman, offered Harriett his elbow.

“
Unless you have any objections, I should like to hurry off. I
would like to see my friend, Theresa, before I call it a night.”
Babette glanced ruefully at Harriett. “I only came to see Madame
Humphries at work, so to speak. Now it all seems rather sad, if
more than a little annoying. Now that I have the time, I am going
to go and have a cup of tea with her.” She didn’t wait for anyone’s
objection and hurried out of the door after a brief
goodbye.

“
My, she is in a hurry, isn’t she?” Henrietta
sighed.

“
We will drop you off at home, mother, and then I will take
Harriett home.” He already had a strong suspicion that he knew
where Babette was going in a hurry and, from the look on Harriett’s
face, she had a good idea too. Earlier in the evening, she had
looked incredibly sad, and he couldn’t help but wonder if she
suspected that Babette was having an affair.

An hour
later, he instructed the coachman to pull up on the outskirts of
the village and glanced at Harriett. “I hope you don’t mind, but I
think I would like to walk the rest of the way.”

“
What about your journey home? It’s a long walk back to Tipton
Hollow,” Harriett replied as she slid across the seat and let Mark
hand her down.

“
I don’t mind. It isn’t raining and besides, I can borrow
David Wood’s curricle. I can bring it back to him in the morning
before he leaves for work. I have to take you to work, so it works
out fine.”