The Sudbury School Murders Read Online Free PDF Page A

door. She stood
in the yard, arms folded, as though she were a sentry. The prisoner
would have to go through her, her stance said, if he wanted to
escape.
    Sebastian may have wanted to escape, but he
looked in no condition to do so. He hunkered on the bench, hugging
himself.
    I looked pointedly at the woman, and she
looked back at me, hands on hips. I pulled the door shut, closing
it in her face.
    She never moved. I imagined her outside
facing the closed door, hands on hips, waiting for me to open it
again.
    I turned to Sebastian. "Are you well?"
    "Captain." Sebastian spoke in a low voice,
his Romany vowels slurring, "I cannot stay here."
    "Well, you will have to at least until after
the inquest," I said. "I warn you, you might have to face the
magistrate after that. Rutledge has taken against you."
    He looked up at me, his face gray. "I will
see the magistrate, I will face him, I am not afraid. But I cannot
stay here. I cannot breathe. The walls. . . " He gestured with a
shaking hand.
    I thought I understood. This was more than a
Romany man's dislike of being indoors. Sebastian must have an
unnatural fear of enclosed places. I had met a man in the army with
such a malady, a lieutenant. The man was brave-hearted in battle
and could rally his troops like the best general, but put him in a
cellar and he developed cold sweats and clawed his way to the
door.
    "I am willing to help you get out," I said.
Sebastian looked up at me with dark-eyed hope, like a seasick man
who believes shore might be near. "But you must tell me exactly
what you did last night. I need the entire truth."
    Hope receded. "I cannot."
    I sat on the bench beside him, tired of
bending my head. I rested my hands on my walking stick. "Did you
meet with Miss Rutledge?"
    He looked alarmed. He avoided my eye, bowed
his head. "I will not speak."
    "Do not be so pig headed," I said. "Dying
nobly on the gallows to spare your lady's name would be foolish and
help no one."
    Sebastian stared at me in amazement.
Suffering for love was noble--at least that was fashion these
days--especially when that love was forbidden.
    I softened. "I know, Sebastian. When I was
young, I too fell in love where I should not have."
    He looked skeptical, but I spoke the truth.
My father had expected me to marry a rich man's daughter. I instead
had fallen in love with a young woman of little fortune. What's
more, I'd eloped with her, with the help of my friend and mentor,
Aloysius Brandon.
    Carlotta had regretted marrying me almost
right away. One day, three years into our marriage, she'd left me.
I had not seen her since. James Denis knew where she was. Last
summer, he had offered the information of her whereabouts to me. I
had refused, knowing that he had only offered to make me obligated
to him. He'd told me once that he would win the enmity between us
by making me owe him too many favors to oppose him.
    Often in the night when I lay awake, fighting
off melancholia, I was very tempted to go to Denis and beg for the
information. I wanted to find her. I wanted to look into Carlotta's
pretty eyes and demand, Why did you leave me?
    If I found my wife, I'd also discover what
had become of my daughter. Was Gabriella still alive? Was she
happy? Would she remember me?
    I had not yet succumbed to the temptation to
sell myself to Denis, but I was coming close.
    "Tell me," I said to Sebastian, my tone
severe, "everything you did from the time I saw you yesterday
afternoon until now. The entire truth. The sooner you tell me, the
sooner you can leave this room."
    Sebastian shuddered. His face shone with
perspiration. "Very well." He wet his lips. "I did my duties in the
stable as usual. I cleaned the tack and brushed the horses, then
helped feed and bed them down for the night. No different from any
other day."
    "And Middleton? What did he do?"
    "He asked about you."
    I stopped. "Did he?"
    "Asked about you and why you were here. Did
you know him?"
    "I'd met him once," I said carefully. "In
London. What