The Scandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place Read online

  “Kitty?” Dear Roberta’s voice quavered. She wished they’d gone two-by-two to search. “Did you open up Mr. Godding’s things?”

  She backed out of the schoolroom and crept toward the dining room. Bare shelves in the china cabinet greeted her. Its doors were left wide open.

  “Mary Jane?” she called. “Did you remove the dishes from the cabinet when you dusted in here?”

  But her calls went unanswered. Louise’s echoing calls to Aldous drowned out other voices. Roberta heard one of the girls—she wasn’t sure who—let out a frightened cry.

  She ran for the parlor with its protective fire. But the other girls weren’t gathering there. They were in Mrs. Plackett’s bedroom. Roberta groped along the hallway to join them.

  The window to the back garden was smashed. Cold air blew in and waved the sheer curtains like fronds of seaweed. By candlelight, shards of glass glittered on the floor like diamonds in new snow.

  There on the floor, by the foot of the bed, lay the still form of little Aldous.

  CHAPTER 23

  Pocked Louise sank to her knees. She reached out to touch Aldous. Her hands shook.

  Dour Elinor knelt beside her and wrapped her arms around her. By the light of her little candle, the others saw a teardrop fall into Louise’s lap.

  Stout Alice took a pillowcase from Mrs. Plackett’s bed and draped it over Aldous, then gently lifted him and laid him on the bed. She pressed her palms against his side and frowned.

  “Louise,” she said. “I think he’s alive.”

  Pocked Louise wiped her eyes furiously and hurried to the bed. The other girls gathered round.

  “What’s happened to him?” Dull Martha’s voice trembled. “Who could have done this?”

  A chill breeze blew in from the open window.

  Louise’s scientific mind regained mastery of her emotions. “No blood,” she said. She palpated his head and side. “No sign of trauma.” She looked at the others. “Perhaps he was drugged.”

  Kitty watched Louise with the little dog; she took in the flapping curtain and the shards of glass. She looked at each of the girls, their drawn faces flickering between candlelight and shadow. How dear to her they all were. How sweet it would have been, just the seven of them there, forever! And then, Julius Godding. Admiral Lockwood. Miss Fringle. Their prospects had shattered like this window. This thief put an end to all their hopes by robbing them, not of dishes and candlesticks, but of safety. It was so cruel and so arbitrary that greed should have such power, and all for a sack of silver and china.

  But was it the thief who had stolen their safety? Or was it the murderer?

  What if they were one and the same?

  What should she do? What would Aunt Katherine do?

  History books never say so, Kitty thought, but sometimes surrender is the bravest choice.

  “Martha. Mary Jane,” she said. “Run quickly together to the Butts home, and tell them what’s happened. We’ve had a burglar, and they’ve hurt our dog. Ask Henry to hurry into town and notify the police. Ask him to find Doctor Snelling if he can, and beg him to come along.”

  Mary Jane nodded. “Will you be safe here?” she asked.

  Stout Alice seized the poker by Mrs. Plackett’s fireplace, and Dour Elinor surprised them by gripping the coal shovel. They nodded grimly. Martha and Mary Jane disappeared down the hall. In seconds the others heard the front door slam.

  “Let’s bring him in by the parlor fire.” Alice gathered up Aldous and carried him out.

  “Roberta, dear, help me tack up a blanket to cover this window,” Kitty said. “We can sweep the glass while we’re at it.”

  Elinor shoveled coal onto the parlor fire, then brought in a teakettle from the kitchen and hung it over the flames. It would heat slowly that way, but they had time to burn. Alice lit the parlor lamps and some extra candles she found in a drawer, which made the room feel more cozy and more safe.

  Kitty and Roberta rejoined the others in the parlor and found Louise sitting in front of the fire, stroking Aldous in her lap.

  “Come on, boy,” she whispered. “Wake up and tell us who did this. Come on, Aldy. If you tell us, we’ll let you bite his ankles.”

  They sat, waiting, watching, expecting, and trying not to expect.

  “What was that?” Dear Roberta cried. She sat straight and tall, wavering, sniffing the air like a mongoose. “Didn’t you just hear something, out in the garden?”

  Stout Alice and Smooth Kitty looked at each other. Not another hysterical fit. Not now.

  “It was just an animal, Roberta,” said Pocked Louise. “Or maybe the wind in the trees.”

  “Alice,” Kitty said, “come around with me, and let’s make a list of all that’s missing.”

  “It’ll pass the time,” Alice agreed.

  They couldn’t believe the devastation. Brass candlesticks, stolen from almost every room. Mr. Godding’s belongings, stowed in the schoolroom, were strewn everywhere, but there was no way to know what might be missing. China dishes and silverware had vanished from the dining room.

  They entered the drawing room. The glass curio cabinet was smashed and ransacked, and the ebony elephant and every other valuable object inside were gone.

  Alice wrote “elephant” on her inventory of stolen items.

  “You’re a brick not to say ‘I told you so,’ Alice,” Kitty said. “You warned me not to leave the elephant here in plain sight.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Stout Alice said. “Our thief has been a thorough one. Chances are if you’d put it anywhere else, he’d have found it.”

  Disgraceful Mary Jane and Dull Martha returned just then, shivering from the cold night air. They hurried to the parlor, where Kitty and Alice joined them.

  “Henry and his father rode into town on horseback,” Martha said. “They’ll be back with the constables soon. And the doctor, if they can find him.”

  “Mrs. Butts offered to come and sit with us until the police arrived,” Mary Jane added, “but I told her that we were quite well here with Mrs. Plackett.”

  “I’ve got matters well in hand,” Stout Alice said wryly. “No fears for our safety, with Mrs. Plackett here to guard us all.”

  There was a defiant set to Pocked Louise’s chin. “I’m not afraid,” she said. “Whoever did this to Aldous had better be afraid of me.”

  “Hear, hear!” cried Disgraceful Mary Jane. “That’s the fighting spirit!”

  “And me, too,” Alice said, in Mrs. Plackett’s voice. “Whoever meddles with my girls will get a wallop they won’t soon forget!”

  “A toast,” cried Kitty. “Hold a moment.” She hurried to the kitchen and returned bearing a tray, cups, and bottles of foaming, just-opened ginger beer. She poured and passed a cup to Mary Jane. “To the Saint Etheldreda Maidens! Sisters forever, come what may tonight.”

  “Or tomorrow.” Mary Jane smacked her lips, heedless of the mustache of foam left by her ginger beer. “Or whenever Julius Godding shows up to greet his aunt and claim his inheritance. Say! Suppose I marry him. Then you can all stay as my students-in-law. He was rather a good looking fellow, wasn’t he, Kitty?”

  “I don’t know,” Kitty snapped. “I had no chance to measure his shoulders.”

  Dear Roberta sipped her ginger beer delicately. “Would you really wallop someone, Alice?”

  Alice laughed. “We never know what courage we might find in extreme moments, Roberta, dear.”

  Pocked Louise shook her head when Kitty offered her a drink, so Kitty rubbed her back and peered over her friend’s shoulder. “How’s our laddie getting on?”

  “I may be wrong,” Louise said, “but I think his heartbeat’s growing a bit stronger.”

  Kitty was surprised at how much this lifted her spirits. “Good boy, Aldous.”

  They leaned against each other in chairs around the fire and watched Louise caress the dog. Every sound from outdoors—and there were maddeningly many—made Martha run to the front door to peer out the window
, only to trudge back with no news to report. But finally there could be no mistaking the sound of hoofbeats and carriage wheels on the gravel drive.

  Kitty flew to hurry the newcomers in. She was glad, for once, to behold Constable Quill on their doorstep. He brought two other constables with him, sturdy chaps whose eager expressions suggested they’d waited long, dull years at the Ely police station to face this one moment of bona fide crime. Henry Butts and his father were there, and Dr. Snelling, mercifully, was with them also.

  Less merciful, perhaps, or at any rate less welcome and less expected, were the arrivals of Reverend Rumsey, and Julius and Mrs. Godding, climbing out of the police carriage. Kitty failed to suppress her astonishment at the sight of them.

  “We were both at the police station,” Julius explained, by way of greeting. “There were statements to make for the coroner’s report. It appears there will be an inquest into the admiral’s death.”

  Kitty nodded, still too shocked to speak.

  “Naturally, when we heard that my sister-in-law’s home had been burgled, and her dog savaged, we wanted to offer any aid we could,” said Mrs. Godding. “I had no chance to greet Constance properly this evening at the social, so we hurried along.”

  “And I am here,” announced the vicar, “to offer what spiritual comfort I can at trying times like these. I, too, was at the station when the message came.”

  “Of course. How kind of you.” Kitty hoped she had regained her composure. “Please come in.”

  They converged upon the parlor.

  “Constance!” Mrs. Elaine Godding cried. “How good to see you, after so many years, but under what sorry circumstances!”

  Stout Alice returned her embrace without missing a beat. Does she know her name? Kitty wondered in a panic. She racked her brain to think of a way to supply it before disaster struck, but Alice showed her true mettle.

  She gripped the woman with both hands and gazed meaningfully into her eyes. “Elaine,” Alice said. “It was good of you to come. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  Kitty sagged with relief.

  “Doctor,” Dull Martha cried, “will you please see to our dog? We found him in this state near the smashed window in Mrs. Plackett’s room.”

  “Come on, lads, let’s start investigating there,” Constable Quill said. “Mrs. Plackett, ma’am, begging your pardon, but would you show us which one is your room?”

  Stout Alice nodded. “Right this way.” She left with the constables following after, while Dr. Snelling, with some difficulty, knelt down beside Louise.

  “They never said my patient was a dog,” he muttered.

  Dr. Snelling opened his black bag and pulled out his stethoscope. Kitty remembered how she’d feared that device only a few nights ago. Now she held her breath as he slid the bell of the instrument around Aldous’s ribs, searching for a suitable spot. Close by and leaning against the mantelpiece, Dour Elinor watched over Aldous. Her black eyes seemed even larger and more inky-black than ever tonight. She’s watching for Aldous’s spirit to fly away, Kitty thought.

  “We believe he was drugged by the thief,” Pocked Louise told the doctor.

  “The brute!” cried Mrs. Godding.

  “I can’t believe someone from Ely would stoop to such an act,” said an indignant Reverend Rumsey. “This miscreant must be from out of town.”

  Henry Butts sat in a chair by the door, clutching his hat in his lap and seeming all knees and elbows. He’d run out the door, Martha realized, having pulled trousers on over his night shirt, and the effort to tuck it into his trousers had not produced a neat result. She was glad he was here, all the same. His father stood behind him, likewise gripping his hat.

  “Come on, Son,” the elder Butts said at length. “Let’s help the officers look around.”

  Kitty edged away from the center of activity near the fire and leaned against a wall. Its papered surface felt cool against her flushed cheek. She closed her eyes. There was nothing to do but wait. Wait and see. She wondered what Dr. Snelling’s stethoscope would reveal if it amplified her own racing heart.

  “Miss Heaton.” A low voice beside her made her start. She opened her eyes to see Julius Godding close by. He took a step back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten you.”

  “Not at all.” She tried to smile.

  “Miss Heaton. How can I be of help? After all you’ve been through tonight, is there anything I can do?”

  Kitty wished, for a moment, that Julius Godding did not need to be her enemy. But matters had left her control.

  “I scarcely know,” she said. “Unless you can restore drugged dogs. I don’t know what else it is we need. But I thank you.”

  He nodded, and turned to watch the doctor, but stayed by Kitty’s side.

  “I’m going to try something,” Dr. Snelling told Louise. “I don’t know what effect it may have on a dog, but it can scarcely hurt to find out.” He fished around in his bag, retrieved a small round jar, and unscrewed its cap.

  “Camphor?” Louise asked.

  The doctor nodded. He held the jar close to Aldous’s nose.

  Nothing happened. Then the dog snorted, sneezed, and pawed its top leg for a moment.

  Pocked Louise laughed aloud and hugged Aldous to her.

  “Ho, not yet,” Dr. Snelling said. “He’s got a long way to go, sleeping that off. My guess is it’s laudanum he’s been given, and that will take time. Your dog is lucky to be alive, and in my professional opinion, it’s too soon to celebrate his recovery.”

  “What’s this?” Louise said, picking something up off her lap. “A bit of wet fabric.”

  “From between his teeth,” the doctor said. He gathered it up with his handkerchief and tucked it into his pocket. “Puppies like to chew.”

  Stout Alice slipped into the parlor and joined Kitty in the rear of the room. “Julius, dear, how wonderful to see you, and your mother,” she said, and Kitty marveled once again at her presence of mind as an actress. “I wish our reunion had been more joyful than this one. But how well you both look.”

  “Thank you, Aunt Constance,” Julius replied, and kissed her cheek. Alice blushed. She turned to Kitty. “Katherine, dear, the constables are exploring the grounds with their lanterns, looking for footprints and evidence. I thought you would like to know, since you’ve been so concerned about this whole affair.”

  Kitty curtseyed. “Thank you, ma’am,” she said. “It is a comfort.” It was anything but a comfort! Exploring the grounds … Kitty prayed the darkness would hide their buried crimes.

  Over by the fire, Dr. Snelling packed his gear back into his bag. With great effort, he shifted his weight so as to rise to his feet.

  Just then, the kettle began to steam, and Kitty remembered she must play hostess. She moved toward the fireplace and stood next to Disgraceful Mary Jane.

  “Doctor Snelling,” she said. “Mrs. Godding. May I fix you some tea? Reverend, if not tea, might I offer you a ginger beer?”

  “Ahem.” Reverend Rumsey made a small cough. “Any more of that port? If, er, ginger beer is all you have, I’m sure it will be refreshing.”

  “So that’s why he tagged along,” Disgraceful Mary Jane muttered, for Kitty’s ears alone.

  “Ssh!”

  “I’ll come with you, Katherine,” said Stout Alice. They started for the kitchen.

  Then a shout from outside made them pause. Men’s voices shouted in reply, and running steps converged from all sides of the house to the front.

  The girls’ eyes met.

  “We’ve got him!”

  They heard a shrill cry. Then the front door opened, and loud, scuffling footsteps echoed down the hall.

  “We’ve caught our thief,” Constable Quill announced.

  Behind him came the other two officers, each pinning in their grips an arm belonging to Amanda Barnes.

  CHAPTER 24

  Kitty felt she’d better sit down.

  “Miss Barnes!” cried Mrs. Godding.

&nb
sp; Amanda Barnes struggled against the iron grip of both her captors. But could it be Amanda Barnes? Disheveled hair, soiled skirts, hands and face streaked with dirt. “Is this how you treat a woman, you vultures?” she cried. “I wasn’t doing anything wrong. Let me be!”

  “Oh, Barnes,” Stout Alice said. “What is the meaning of this?”

  Kitty’s mind raced. She couldn’t have done it. There must be some mistake.

  “Amanda Barnes,” barked Constable Quill. “You are hereby charged with breaking and entering, grand thef—”

  “Doctor Snelling?” said Dour Elinor.

  Dear Roberta sniffled into her handkerchief. “It’s not possible!”

  “Now, ladies, let’s calm ourselves,” said one of the officers.

  “Let me go!”

  “What she means,” said Disgraceful Mary Jane tartly, “is that it’s not possible. What have you done to her?”

  Mrs. Godding rose from her seat. “Did you find stolen goods on her person? What evidence do you have to accuse her?”

  “Doctor Snelling?” said Dour Elinor.

  Reverend Rumsey raised both hands. “Now, if everyone would settle down for just—”

  “Look at her!” cried Mrs. Godding. “The poor woman looks about to faint. Bring her over to this couch, and let her lie down, if you have any decency.”

  “She can rest later,” said Constable Quill. “I have any number of questions to ask her.”

  “Thank you, ma’am,” said Amanda Barnes. “You’re the only one here to treat me decent.” She cast a venomous look at Stout Alice. “And I include you in that charge, Mrs. Plackett.”

  The whole room quieted.

  Alice met this verbal assault bravely. “Never mind, Barnes,” she said. “I understand why you are upset with me.”

  “No, you don’t. Not a bit of it.” Barnes struggled against the policemen’s grip. “While you’re arresting left and center,” she cried, “go on and arrest her.” She nodded fiercely toward Stout Alice.