Page 24 of Death of a Courtesan
‘What makes you imagine that Mary’s life was not respectable, Miss Huxton?’ Salter asked.
‘She was bad to the bone, sergeant. Always making a show of herself, even in church, and then inventing stories, blaming others, to get herself out of trouble.’ Once again the thin lips stretched across yellowing teeth and a muscle in her jaw ticked. ‘My brother refuses to accept the truth, but she followed her mother’s example. I hesitate to speak ill of the dead—’
‘But you will anyway,’ Salter said, his tone hostile.
‘Certainly I will, sergeant. I am a God-fearing woman, devout and honest. My brother was deceived by the pretty face of a manipulative hussy, but has yet to acknowledge the fact. I pray for him, and hope the day will come when he eventually realises that he is better off without them both.’
‘That will be enough, Ruth!’ Huxton’s head shot up. The sister looked so surprised by the sound of his raised voice and authoritative tone—a situation which Riley suspected seldom occurred these days—that her month snapped closed. ‘What happened to my girl, inspector?’
‘Always assuming it is your daughter, and we will require you to come to London and make a formal identification—’
‘Yes, yes, of course.’
‘I regret to tell you that she was working as a prostitute—’
‘I knew it!’ Miss Huxton couldn’t disguise her glee. ‘The shameless Jezebel.’
‘She’s paid a high price for her rebellious ways,’ Salter said, treating Miss Huxton to a scathing look. Well done, Salter, Riley thought. The pious old harridan appeared to have rid his sergeant of his disapproval of Adelaide, or perhaps given him a better understanding of the choices she’d been forced to make. ‘Her throat was cut from ear to ear.’
Riley frowned at Salter’s blunt expression when Huxton sobbed and buried his face in his hands. Miss Huxton, on the other hand, expressed no shock and seemed anxious for more information.
‘Was it indeed.’ Her dour face showed the first signs of animation Riley had seen on it since entering the room. ‘Well, God judged her, just as I always knew He would.’
‘Not terribly forgiving, is he, your God?’ Riley said.
‘God forgives those who truly repent, inspector. Clearly, Mary did not, and so got what she deserved.’
‘I cannot imagine anyone doing anything that would make them deserve such a violent end,’ Salter said, glowering at the woman.
‘Lord have mercy!’ Huxton dropped her head into his hands and shook it from side to side. ‘I failed her. I failed them both.’
‘You failed no one, Peter,’ his sister replied sharply. ‘I will not listen to such talk. Mary was never an obedient daughter and you know very well that the lies Fanny repeated were products of Mary’s vindictive imagination.’
Huxton looked too devastated to make a response.
‘What lies, Miss Huxton?’ Salter asked.
‘I cannot bear to repeat such scurrilous gossip.’ Her thin shoulders shuddered. ‘There is absolutely no truth in them. The girl would say anything, make accusations against anyone who tried to temper her wild ways, simply to conceal the depths of her own depravity. Nothing was ever Mary’s fault. Someone else was always to blame, and you can be sure that Peter and Fanny would always take her side, encouraging her rebellious behaviour, until I made Fanny see sense. Spare the rod and spoil the child has always been my mantra.’
Riley didn’t doubt it. ‘Even so, Miss Huxton,’ he said. ‘We would like to know what drove her from this house. I am told she had a comfortable upbringing and benefited from the attentions of a governess. What changed?’
Huxton pulled himself together and it was he who answered Riley’s question. ‘Mary was our only daughter,’ he said. ‘She has two older brothers who live here and have worked with their uncle to keep the business going since I had my breakdown.’
Riley didn’t bother to ask what had caused the breakdown to which he referred. He didn’t look old enough to have permanently absolved himself from his responsibilities, but it was equally clear from the manner in which he kept glancing at his wife’s portrait that he had loved her very much. Her dying so soon after his daughter’s abrupt disappearance had made him lose touch with reality. Throw a dour and bitter sister into the mix and it would be enough to make the strongest of men lose his wits.
‘We doted on Mary and made sure she had everything her heart desired,’ Huxton said. ‘Ruth is wrong to say that she was wicked, and that she didn’t have strict guidance. If anything, the restrictions placed upon her were too severe.’
‘Spare and rod and spoil the child,’ Miss Huxton said for a second time, accompanying the words with another of her increasingly annoying tuts.
‘As Mary grew older, it quickly became apparent that she would become even more beautiful than her mother.’ Huxton smiled at a private recollection. ‘She loved her books and was thirsty for knowledge. Educated women have a place in the modern world and are taken seriously. That was what I wanted for Mary.’
‘I thought it was dangerous to give her too much latitude, but precious little notice was taken of my opinion,’ Miss Huxton said.
‘Then, when she was fourteen, perhaps fifteen, she started to change.’
‘In what way?’ Salter asked, keenly interested from a father’s perspective, Riley assumed.
‘I can’t say precisely.’ He frowned with the effort of recollection. ‘It came on gradually. She became more withdrawn, more secretive.’
