Page 62 of The Curse of Penryth Hall
“Did he do any damage?” It was a hopeful question. After all, if the boy had harmed his attacker, it should be as simple as looking for someone with a corresponding wound.
“I don’t know.” His voice cracked with the admission. “I… I didn’t think meself a coward but I ran… Jago.” He shook his head and brushed away tears with his other hand. “When I realized he wasn’t following me I went back. That’s when I found him. But the ghost was gone.”
I let go of his hand and took him squarely by the shoulders, forcing him to look at me, much as Ruan had done the night before. “You’re not a coward. You did right, Charles. It was the sensible thing to do, to run. And you brought help. If you hadn’t gone back with the others, he might have died like Sir Edward.”
I still had a difficult time believing it was some sort of creature after them, despite the very otherworldly description Charles provided. Ghost. Wraith. Curse. Whatever it was supposed to be. Though after this sighting, it was clear the village would never let that pass. Someone around here meant to do harm, but who was it after? And why? It was one thing when it was a single man killed in an unusual way, but a sighting of a murderous ghost attacking mere boys? That was another thing entirely.
The commotion outside grew louder. At least a dozen voices clamoring for attention.
I moved to the window, pulling the curtain back to reveal a crowd outside. Folks not from here by the cut of their clothes, men and women alike dressed more suited to London than Lothlel Green.
“Were they here when you arrived, Charles?” I asked him with a deep frown.
“Three newspapermen and a photographer. They wanted to take my picture but I wouldn’t let them. So was she.”
I growled low in my chest. These must be the ones Mr. Owen warned me of. The press and charlatans both. And then my eyes lit onher. It was the woman I’d spotted outside Dr. Quick’s. She must be the one who had been asking for Ruan. The one spotted at the crossroads. She stood apart from the rest. Youngish, middle-aged at most. With a Roman nose and keen golden eyes keeping a watchful presence over the crowd. She was dressed in an old-fashioned black gown, a decade ormore out of fashion, but it was clean and pressed. Her hair was dark like a raven’s wing and falling loosely around her shoulders. There was an odd stillness about her, a sense that if I didn’t know better, I’d have imagined her a statue, frozen in place. In time.
“What about the woman? Is she the one the townsfolk have been talking about?”
He nodded grimly. “Yes, ma’am. Something’s not right about her. I saw her a time or two at the crossroads asking after Mr. Kivell.”
“Did you tell her anything about him?”
He shook his head. “I don’t like the looks of her, miss. I know it’s not right to say, but anyone who has business with the Pellar knows where to find him. So why didn’t she just go on to his cottage like everyone else does?”
My sentiment exactly. Curiosity and caution warred within me. I could go speak with her, find out once and for all what she wanted with Ruan and no one would be any the wiser. But something told me not to. She was after Ruan. And that was a thought I didn’t like one bit. No. We’d take the back door. There was something wrong about her, terribly wrong.
HOURS LATER,AFTERhaving narrowly avoided the crowd outside of Jago’s house and somehow placing the woman in black squarely from my mind, Ruan and I were strolling through the gardens at Penryth. Dr. Heinrich remained sequestered with Sir Edward’s body. He’d shooed us both away over an hour ago in order to focus upon hiswork, though I was beginning to think that Ruan’s proximity unnerved him much as he did everyone else in this village.
Everyone except me. “What do you make of what Charlessaid?” I walked slightly ahead of him, along the path between yew hedges. The air sweet and green.
“It doesn’t fit with the previous killings, nor Sir Edward’s either. And if wewereto entertain the possibility of the curse—”
I sucked in my breath. I didnotwant to entertain that possibility.
“If…”Clearly he didn’t either. “Then it wouldn’t have gone after the boys. They have nothing to do with the Chenowyths.”
“Then do you think they are involved somehow? That they saw something? Did something to offend the killer?” I shot Ruan a glance over my shoulder.
Ruan pressed his lips together in thought. “They’re troublesome lads I grant you, but I cannot fathom what mischief they could have gotten into that would lead them to this. Neither ever worked on the estate, or had any dealings with the baronet.”
“Which only means they had to see something.”
Ruan nodded thoughtfully, pushing a low-hanging branch out of our way. “Or got in the way. But of what… I don’t think they even know what they saw out there.”
The edge of my mouth curved up, despite the twinge of my cut. “Then you still agree with me the killer is human?”
“Of course I do.”
Which was a relief, as I was beginning to doubt everything. “I’m still not convinced they didn’t make it up.”
“No. They saw something. Charles for certain. I’ll have to wait until Jago’s awake to speak with him. Perhaps he got a better look at it.”
“Did you…” I didn’t want to put it into words but Ruan gave me a grim nod.
“What’s it like… eavesdropping on people’s thoughts? I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around it.”
He chuckled beneath his breath and shoved a hand into his coat pocket. “Bloody inconvenient.”
