“Very good, my lord,” Deakin said, gathering up discarded clothes and bowing himself out of the room with his usual imperturbable dignity.
Edward donned his nightgown and robe, then returned to his chair by the fire, brandy in hand. He was thoughtful, but a little smile lingered on his lips. Coming to his room! And a balloon ascension, indeed! There was just no knowing what she might say or do next, the tantalising little minx.
10: York Gaol
The carriage had lumbered down the hill to Helmsley, the horses changed for a hired team of four and they were well under way again before Edward ventured to break the prevailing silence.
“Tess, you wanted to talk to me last night. Do you wish to talk now? If you prefer to speak privately, we can stop the carriage and we may walk into these woods on our left, so that Betty and Deakin will not overhear us.”
She looked at him thoughtfully, chewing her lip. “It is not private,” she said eventually. “I only wanted to know how we can get Tom out of York Gaol.”
“Not by springing him,” he said with a little smile. “I will do much to accommodate your wishes, Tess Nicholson, but I will not break the law quite so outrageously.”
That brought a hint of a smile to her lips. “Oh, not that. Besides, I do not know how it might be done, for gaols are always fearsomely well-guarded, are they not? So it would have to besome clever stratagem, and without seeing the place, I cannot think how it might be done.”
“You have clearly given the matter careful thought,” he said.
“Well, I have, yes. One must consider every option, however unlikely. But if he simply retracts his confession, would anyone believe him? That is the problem. And no matter how much his friends protest that he could not possibly have killed anyone, the judges will say, as my uncle did, that he has confessed and that is an end to it.”
“These questions are imponderable,” Edward said. “Of course, we are bound to ponder them anyway, that is only human nature, but we cannot yet answer them. Our first course is to talk to Shapman and find out why he confessed to a crime he did not commit. After that, we must find Captain Edgerton and see what he thinks about it.”
“Captain Edgerton! Why?”
“Because he was in charge of the investigation into your father’s death. He must have had suspicions as to who might have done it. If we can convince him that Shapman is innocent, then he can start looking for the real murderer again. That is the very best way to clear Shapman’s name, you see — to find out who really did it.”
“Ah,” was all she said, but he could see that she understood.
Their progress was slower than he would have liked, but Tess seemed more at ease, and when there was a delay in replacing the horses at the final post house, he took a parlour, ordered some food and was pleased to see her eat a little bread and ham. They arrived in York at an hour when working men were beginning to think of going home for the evening, and the gentry were watching the clock for the hour to change for dinner. There was the business of finding accommodation to be accomplished first, but as soon as rooms had been secured, Edward left Deakinand Betty to unpack, while he, Tess and Harold headed for the gaol at the castle.
The gaolers were disinclined to produce Shapman at such an inconvenient hour, but Edward’s title and the coins he pushed into their hands did the trick. They were shown into a small room furnished only with a table and a few rickety chairs, and a few minutes later, a man in manacles was led in.
Tess hurled herself at him, throwing her arms around his neck and sobbing, “Tom! Oh, Tom!”
With his hands confined, he could offer her no physical comfort, simply murmuring, “There now, Miss Tess, it’s all right. I’m fine.”
Edward saw at once why Tess was so enamoured of him. It would be hard to imagine a handsomer man, and built as so many working men were, with broad shoulders and muscular arms. In the rudest of rude health, he was a striking contrast to the slenderness of Kent Atherton, or the earl’s middle-aged portliness. He looked tired and very dishevelled, with straw clinging to his coat and breeches, and he wore no neck cloth, but that perhaps only made him more attractive to Tess. All her protective instincts would be roused by it.
He persuaded Tess to sit down, which she would only do if Tom’s seat was right beside hers so that she could cling to his arm with one hand, and wrap her fingers around his manacled hands with the other.
“Oh, Tom, why have you done this? Such a foolish thing to do! You had nothing to do with my father’s death, and everyone must know that.”
“They were quick enough to believe me, though,” Shapman said. “Not Captain Edgerton — he made me go through it step by step, but everyone else just sighed with relief.”
“Go through it step by step? What do you mean?”
“I had to tell him exactly how the murder was done.”
“But how could you do that? How did you know?”
“Well, it was you that told me how it might’ve been done, Miss Tess, don’t you remember? I said I thought it was a madman, and you said, no, he was clever not mad. And you thought up that whole business of hiding the axe in the big vase thing. It was your story… oh, the captain asked if I got covered in blood, and I knew the murderer must have been, so I said yes, but I wore an old smock and burnt it later. That was my own invention, but he seemed satisfied with that. Heavens, Miss Tess, I did this for you. I thought you’d be pleased with me. I didn’t mean you to come galloping down here. You wanted the captain called off the investigation and now he is.”
“But Tom, I do not want you to hang!”
“I’m not going to hang!” He laughed, quite at his ease.
“Will you retract your confession, then?”
“No, I’ve got a better way than that. You’re not to worry about me, Miss Tess. It’s not very comfortable in here, but as soon as you’ve found your fortune, you let me know and I’ll do what I need to do to get out of here.”
