“Held him underwater.”
“Yes. According to Dr. Worcham, drowning was the cause of death.”
“What do you know of the gentleman you have arrested?”
“The Earl of Soothcoor?”
“Yes.”
He pursed his lips as he shrugged. “Mr. Ratcliffe told me he was acquainted with Mr. Montgomery and Mrs. Montgomery from their childhood in Scotland. That he had, twenty years ago, asked for Mrs. Montgomery’s hand in marriage and had been refused because she was to marry Mr. Montgomery. Now that he thought she was free he determined to marry her and when he found she was still married, traveled here to kill Mr. Montgomery.”
“This you got from Mr. Boyd Ratcliffe.”
“Yes. And the staff at Camden House confirmed he arrived first the previous day to talk to Mr. Montgomery, then returned late in the next day to see Mr. Montgomery when he was at dinner. After dinner the two of them went outside to talk and walk the grounds. Mr. Montgomery’s body was discovered in the canal early the next morning.”
“So why the quick arrest of the Earl of Soothcoor?”
“I’m a busy man, Sir James, besides being the local magistrate, I am a property owner, and this has been a hard year for property owners, freeholders, and tenant farmers alike.Everything Mr. Ratcliffe said fit the facts. The earl had plenty of motive and time. He was the only one there. Who else could or would have done it?”
“So, without proof, you arrested him.” James saw the magistrate growing frustrated and angry with his questioning.
“Yes! If there is doubt, it is a matter for the court. I did my job!”
“Including treating a well-respected member of the aristocracy, well-known for championing the weak, the innocent, and the ill, like a common murderer and having him thrown into the general prison population?”
“The warden wasn’t there, and Mr. Ratcliffe said it would be fitting for the night to have him in the general prison for what he did to his cousin,” he explained, with some discomfort in his voice.
“Do you know he was injured in that violent population? Instead of using what money he had to have a surgeon see to his wounds he had the warden buy decent blankets for everyone there?”
“No, and I don’t see what that has to do with the matter of his guilt.”
“And you have never gone to see him since you arrested him, to ask him for more information about that night, have you?”
“I told you I am a busy man. He was arrested and put where he needed to be.”
James rose from his chair. “I do not argue that this is a particularly hard year for all rural property owners. I am one myself. I understand the time required to fight against nature. Nonetheless, a magistrate for an area is an important position. If you do not have the time to be a magistrate, then let someone else have the position.”
The magistrate rose as well, anger quivering in his body. “And what makes you so sure this Earl of Soothcoor did not kill Mr. Montgomery?”
James ticked off the reasons on his fingers. “I know more of Mr. Montgomery’s illness, I know more of their childhood history, I know the earl, and lastly, I know when he arrived back at the inn he had dry clothes on. How do you drown someone without getting wet? Now, excuse me if I leave you to your property woes while I investigate who really killed Mr. Montgomery.”
CHAPTER 14
MR. MONTGOMERY AT CAMDEN HOUSE
“Iwonder why Mr. Montgomery claimed he was not married?” Julia mused the next morning as she and Cecilia walked along one of the winding paths around Camden House. It was not a sunny day but a far more pleasant day than the others Cecilia had felt since she came up north.
“Two years ago, Mrs. Montgomery was told he died, that he had committed suicide,” Cecilia offered.
“Suicide!” exclaimed Julia. She shook her head. “That does not sound like the Mr. Montgomery I knew! I’m sure I do not understand.” Her brow furrowed a moment as she stopped on the path. “I do recall,” she said slowly, “he was very ill at one time—over two years ago now,” she said. She started walking again on a path that took them around the bushes toward the back of Camden House. “He did come close to dying, then; however, Dr. Worcham and the staff here took excellent care of him, and he recovered, for which he wasnotgrateful.”
“Not grateful?” parroted Cecilia.
Julia shook her head. “I overhead one outburst, some months later, when he played Archie, and quite dramatically told Dr. Worcham he should have let him die.”
Cecilia stopped in the shade of a large tree as she looked out over the canal to the fens. “I wonder why Dr. Worcham went along with the death tale? According to Mrs. Montgomery, Mr. Montgomery’s father, his cousin, her father, and their vicar were all aware he lived. They were the ones to spread it about that he had died. The rest of the family went into full morning. It is only in the past year that Mrs. Montgomery has put the past behind her and found a new love. She tells us she was happy, giddy even, to find love again and wrote to family members to share her news. That is when Mr. Montgomery’s cousin wrote to her and told her she could not marry again as Mr. Montgomery was not dead.”
Julia shook her head. “Poor woman,” she said. She linked arms with Cecilia as they walked on down the path. “And is it this woman’s daughter whom my Benjamin wishes to marry?” she asked.
