“Remember?” the coroner continued. “We are all sorry for your daughter’s death. Do not turn your daughter’s passing into something else. Her cause of death is God-given, not person-given.As you agreed,” he finished tightly.
Squire Inglewood’s jaw tightened, and he glared back at the coroner. Then he saw others staring at him. He turned his head and licked his lips as he relaxed his features.
Dr. Patterson, his arms crossed over his chest, scowled.
“We shall continue with witness testimony,” Mr. Davos said.
The clerk cleared his throat. “Dr. Patterson.”
The coroner nodded. “Dr. Patterson, please tell us the state of the deceased when you examined her.”
“I rappelled down the cliff side after Mr. Vernon. Mrs. Jones was lying almost on her back side, her head pointing down the cliff. It was evident she had only recently died, as her skin was still warm and rigor mortis had not set in. There were no signs of a struggle on her body, no scratches or disheveled clothing,no bruises that could not be accounted for by an attack upon her person. I believe she fell backward off the cliff. Whether she was pushed or fell, I cannot judge.
“She broke her right hip and leg, crushed her right shoulder, broke a couple of ribs, broke her left ankle, and took a severe blow to her head from a rock her head landed on.” He turned her head so the jurors could see the wound on the side of her head. He pointed to the area.
“She bled from this spot, and there was an associated puddle of blood on the rock her head lay against. Chalk and dirt particles were in the wound, indicating a fall against the ground, not a blow to the head. She wore a glove on her left hand, but not on her right. The fingernails of her right hand were clean and even.
“Given her age and the extent of her injuries, I do not think she could have recovered even if someone had gone for help immediately.”
Dr. Patterson looked across at the jurors. “Upon complete examination of the body after she was brought here, I have no additional observations.”
The coroner nodded. “I concur.”
Mr. Woodbine sanded what he’d written, then stood up to call the next witness. “Sir James Branstoke.”
“Sir James, had you ever been on that meadow before?” asked the coroner.
“I’ve ridden across one side of it to take the road to the valley on the other side; however, I’ve never spent any time on the meadow, no.”
“How long have you lived in the area?” asked the coroner.
“Two years. Since I purchased the Summerworth property from the Duke of Monteith.”
The coroner nodded and waited a moment for his clerk to finish recording the last statements. “Sir James, if you would, please, describe how you discovered the deceased.”
“I was lying on the picnic blanket next to my young son when I realized he needed his mother’s attention. I picked him up and carried him across the meadow to where my wife was standing, guarding the approach to the escarpment from Miss Charlotte Aldrich, who had been running around the meadow.”
“Miss Charlotte Aldrich?” repeated Mr. Woodbine, brow furrowed.
“My one-year-old daughter,” Lord Aldrich explained.
“So not another witness,” stated Mr. Woodbine as he made further notes.
“No,” Lord Aldrich said while others in the room laughed.
James smiled and continued. “After I passed my malodorous heir to my wife, I stepped back to look down the escarpment.”
“Why?” asked the magistrate.
The coroner scowled at the magistrate.
Sir James shrugged. “Curiosity. I’d not spent time on that meadow before and wanted to see how steep the escarpment was. That is when I saw the body about forty feet down, as the magistrate described.”
“What did you do when you saw her?”
“I called Lord Aldrich to come see. At that time, we didn’t immediately know who the woman was. It was Lady Branstoke who identified the deceased as Mrs. Jones.”
“Between Aldrich and me, we decided he would ride back to the village to notify the magistrate and collect people to fetch Mrs. Jones from her position on the cliff. While he did that, our wives would pack the picnic things away and attend to the children.”
