Page 28 of One Last Whisper

I leave the rest unsaid, but Theresa understands. She nods slowly. “Of course, Mary. I’m sure they’ll be fine. Summer’s comin’ round. Warmer days and brighter skies. It always helps.”

She doesn’t sound convinced. Quite frankly, I’m not convinced either.

***

Oliver falls asleep shortly after I set him up in bed. I leave the movie playing, partly to soothe him and partly to conceal my voice.

I call Sean, and when he answers, he says, “I’m glad you called. I was actually about to call you.”

“What have you learned?”

“Well, this maid who’s disappeared wasn’t the first woman to go missing from Blackwood Manor. I don’t suppose she’s been found?”

“No. No one’s heard from her.”

I leave out the part about the cries for help. I’m still not convinced those cries are genuine and not my imagination. If there’s somewhere in this castle where women are being kept, I still haven’t found it.

“I’m not surprised. It turns out that there’s a long-standing legend in Northumbria about Blackwood Castle.”

My eyes widen. “A legend?”

“Yes indeed. It dates back all the way to the time of the fifth Earl, Lord Thomas Blackwood. It seems Lord Thomas was urged to marry his cousin, the Lady Rowena, Countess of Lancashire. Unfortunately, the marriage wasn’t a happy one. The countess made her disdain for Lord Thomas known far and wide and was renowned for taking lovers in a bedroom in one of the castle turrets so that all could see her profaning her vows.”

“Goodness.”

“Not the word I would use. Well, Lord Thomas eventually had enough. He carried the Lady Rowena to the top of the castle and threw her from the wall.”

I gasp. “Good God.”

"Again, not the word choice I would have made. Lord Thomas was acquitted, primarily because he was a good friend of the Duke of Lancaster and officially because it was known far and wide that he was a cuckold, and in those days, it wasconsidered just that a philandering woman should be killed for her transgressions. Not by being thrown from a battlement, but still.

“Here’s where the story becomes interesting. Lord Thomas married again after the Lady Rowena’s death. Five times, in fact.”

“And did all five of those women meet their fate at the base of the castle wall?” I ask.

“No one knows.”

A shiver runs through me. I can see what Sean is getting at. “So that is when the disappearances began.”

“Yes. All five marriages lasted less than a year. All five women disappeared and were never seen again.”

“And Lord Thomas was allowed to continue murdering?”

“That’s the next interesting part. Lord Thomas swore up and down that he had no idea what was happening to his wives. He insisted that he had nothing to do with these disappearances. In fact, he became increasingly paranoid and convinced that Lady Rowena’s spirit was taking vengeance on him for murdering her. After his last wife died, he went mad. He raved that Rowena was a vindictive spirit hellbent on tormenting him. He ran himself through with his sword, and when that didn’t kill him quickly enough, he stabbed himself in the eye with his own dagger.”

I can’t think of an epithet to match that crime. I glance at Oliver to make sure he’s still sleeping, then say, “And the disappearances? Did they continue?”

“Off and on. There are a total of nineteen others over the next four hundred years.”

“That’s more than one disappearance per earl.”

"On average, yes, but there were a few earls who never suffered a tragedy and some who suffered several. Our current lord Edmund has in fact seen three women disappear in hishome. Before this maid, there was his first wife, Lady Evelyn, and before her, his sister, Lady Alivia."

“Yes, I’d heard of those.” I frowned. “I don’t believe in curses, Sean.”

“Really? That surprises me. I thought you would jump all over such a superstition.”

“When have I ever suggested that the supernatural was responsible for anything?” I scold. “No, I think we have a very human culprit. I want you to look deeper into Lord Edmund. If he’s covered up past sins, then there will be some evidence of it that can prove his guilt.”

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