Page 68 of The Lover's Eye
These details had to be unearthed.But it didn’t stop them from making his muscles clamp, his teeth clench.He wanted all the eyes to turn away from him.It didn’t matter that they were sedate and lolling, not accusatory in the least.He felt them with crushing pressure.
“She did.”
“And did this anger you?”
“No, sir, it did not.”
Even worse, it had felt like deliverance.Like being freed from a commitment that he had grown to regret shackling himself to.Though in the months since, the memory of his reaction had turned into more fodder for his guilt.
The coroner, seemingly mollified, began to recount the bodily evidence he had found upon closer examination the night before.Giles would have accepted one of the copper mugs now, after such close questioning.He was only relieved the coroner had stopped when he did.If he had pressed, asked what the larger part of that argument had centered around, andwho …
Some of Giles’s answers had sat a little left of the truth, not disclosing all.But he was not prepared to outright lie for anyone.
“The sea is a tricky beast.It makes it nigh impossible to determine how long a body has been submerged,” the coroner said.“But given the accounts from Reverend Gouldsmith and Lord Trevelyan, I think it most likely Miss Gouldsmith drowned the same day she went missing.”
“There was an awful lot of her left, to have been at sea more than eight months, no?”Bellows asked incredulously.
“The sea is cold enough to help preserve the tissues,” the coroner said.“And there was clear evidence of animal activity upon the body.Not much remains, aside from some flesh and scraps of dress.”
“Why’d she just now wash up?”Heppel asked, downing the last of his ale.
The coroner shrugged.“Another thing I cannot account for.She may have been trapped on the seabed, or even caught up against the cliffs, dislodged by the recent winds and currents.”
“So you don’t know anything,” Pemberton said, his voice flat as the horizon.He placed his palms on the table as if preparing to rise.“May we go?”
The coroner’s lips flattened.“I would be obliged if we all remained awhile longer, until the matter is settled.Does anyone object to my findings?Did any of you see something additional?”
All four pairs of jurors’ eyes fixed on the table in thought before they shook their heads.
“Does anyone have reason to believe this was not an accidental death?”
Giles’s heart, which was already racing uncomfortably, accelerated further.He was privy to the whisperings about himself, the unfounded speculation that he might have harmed Aurelia.Having revealed she ended their engagement that night might only bolster the rumors.
There was more shaking of heads.
“That begs the next question, then,” the coroner continued.“Is there a chance Miss Gouldsmith jumped from Ceto’s Hole?”
Mr.Heppel’s eyes grew massive.“Take her own life, you mean?”
The coroner’s face was unyielding.“Her father swears it impossible, but no parent wishes to believe their child capable of such an act.What do each of you think?”
Heppel and Burrows declined to answer, saying they did not know Aurelia well enough but had no reason to believe she wished harm to herself.Eyes travelled, curious and shy, to Giles.
“No,” he said, feeling his foot threaten to shake beneath the table.“I do not believe that possible.Miss Gouldsmith was reckless and spirited, perhaps, but would not have harmed herself with intention.”
“Ceto’s Hole is generally avoided,” Pemberton said, “but not so feared that she could have lain there unnoticed for nine odd months.”
“Now that’s true,” Mr.Heppel nodded vehemently.“Between children going on dares and men going on wagers, someone would’ve found ’er ’fore now.Or the sea would’ve pulled her out.”
The coroner nodded, removing a handkerchief from his pocket and blowing his nose.“Very well.So what of it?She went for a swim and got swept up by a current?I find it difficult to believe a petite young lady took a boat out and capsized it, especially as one hasn’t been reported missing.”
No one had an answer at first.Then Bellows scrunched his nose.“You don’t reckon she tried to walk out to the witch’s island, do ye?She’d sure enough crossed the channel before, with the reverend.Maybe she had want of some cure.”
The air seemed to vibrate around Giles.He knew what conclusion they were all silently reaching, too bent on propriety to voice:
Aureila was rumored to have been expecting his child, a tale everyone found easy to believe given their whirlwind engagement and public show of affection.If she had ended their engagement, then she would have had need to end the pregnancy, too.Women made the treacherous journey at low tide all the time for the same purpose.Men, too, for their own myriad of reasons.
“What fudge!”Pemberton boomed, striking the table with his fist.His tan countenance was flushed dull red.“A young girl would never dare take on that journey by herself, much less a vicar’s girl.”
