Page 30 of The Tempting of Thomas Carrick
“Would have been about half past ten—maybe a little later.” Mrs. Kennedy paused, then went on without prompting, “Joy would have come straight down to this hall. I’ve seen her get ready to go out before, and she always did things in the same order.”
Lucilla wasn’t surprised; she did the same.
“She would have got down her saddlebag,” Mrs. Kennedy continued. Both she and Gwen raised their gazes, looking beyond Lucilla. Mrs. Kennedy nodded, indicating the spot. “She kept it up top of that same dresser next to where Faith kept her knitting.”
“Aye,” Gwen softly said. “But it’s not there now, so she must have taken it.”
“She would have filled her canteen and collected any food she thought she might need, although I doubt she took anything from the larder that night. No need, and she was in a hurry. She would have left the saddlebag and her canteen sitting on the table right here.” Mrs. Kennedy tapped the table in front of her. “Then she would have gone to the still room and fetched her packets of herbs and such. She would have come back, put everything on the table, then packed it all into her saddlebag.” Mrs. Kennedy paused, then raised her eyes to Lucilla’s. “I’ve seen Joy do that so many times, I can almost see her doing it right now.”
Lucilla nodded; a strong, almost certainly exact memory then, one burned into Mrs. Kennedy’s mind. And Joy’s movements made excellent sense to Lucilla; when called to tend someone, she did much the same. “So Joy finished packing her saddlebag, picked it up, and walked out of the house.”
Gwen nodded. “Sean had her horse already saddled and waiting—he’d heard the young Forrester lad come riding in, so he knew Joy had been summoned. Sean said as Joy was her usual self when she fetched her horse. Said she mounted up and rode off, just like usual.” Gwen paused, then drained her mug.
Lucilla placed each fact she’d gleaned into the proper order, then took a mental step back and surveyed what she’d learned. “From all you’ve told me, when Joy came down here to gather her things and pack her saddlebag to go out to the Bradshaws, Faith was here, sitting and knitting.”
Both women blinked, then Gwen nodded. “Aye—that’d be right. The pair of them would have spoken.”
“Did they get on?” Lucilla asked.
“Oh, aye—they were two peas in a pod in some ways,” Gwen said. “Not to say they always agreed, but there was no bad blood between them. Close, they were.”
“So we can assume they would have chatted—about what, we don’t know.” Which, Lucilla felt, was a potentially pertinent point. Eyes narrowing, she let the vision in her mind play out. “So Joy laid out her bag and her canteen, then she went to the still room to fetch her herbs, leaving Faith here…”
Lucilla was accustomed to getting flashes of insight, but this one left her chilled. Carefully, she asked, “Do we know what time Edgar rang for the laird’s nightcap?”
Gwen shook her head. Mrs. Kennedy started to do the same, but then her expression cleared. “As it happens, I can guess. It was a little while after Joy went down. I heard her door close, then her footsteps headed off toward the stairs. It was perhaps…ten minutes later? I was falling asleep again when I heard the bell ring in Ferguson’s room.” Mrs. Kennedy nodded at the panel of bells above the door of the servants’ hall. “Same bells as those are on the wall between Ferguson’s room and mine. Normally, I don’t register them, not if I’m asleep, but that night I wasn’t yet, what with having got up.”
Gwen was studying Lucilla’s face. “If it’s important, you could check with Edgar—he tends to keep track of how much sleep the laird gets.”
Lucilla nodded, but she could now see how someone might have poisoned Joy Burns. She could even guess how. But where had they been while Joy and Faith had been talking?
The kitchen was separated from the servants’ hall by one long wall; two wide archways, one at either end of the wall, connected the rooms. The scullery and other preparation rooms lay beyond the kitchen. The door that led into the servants’ hall was directly behind Lucilla; turning to scan that wall, she saw two narrow doors set into the walls on either side of the main door. She pointed to one. “Is that a larder?”
“Aye,” Gwen replied. “We have two. One for dry goods and the other for cooked meats and such. Nice and large, they are.”
Lucilla rose and stepped over the bench seat on which she’d been sitting. She crossed to one larder door, opened it, and looked in. Shelves ran along three sides, packed with bags and packets of flour, dried beans, sugar, and other comestibles; there was plenty of room for a person to stand in the space between. “Do you have any trouble with mice?” she asked. “I know Cook grumbles at home.”
“Used to,” Gwen replied. “But there’s some new bait stuff Ferguson got that works a treat. There’s a packet of it in there. Look under the bottom shelf to the left of the door.”
Lucilla did, and saw the blue, red, and white packet of rat poison. The packet was open. She didn’t reach for it; she didn’t need to. The chill that slid through her was sharp and acute.
She straightened, shut the larder door, and turned to face the room. Thinking, juggling. One thing still didn’t quite fit. Focusing on Mrs. Kennedy and Gwen, she asked, “Where did Faith sit while she was knitting? Do you know?”
Mrs. Kennedy tipped her head back, toward the kitchen. “She used to sit before the fire in there. It’s the only one we make sure to keep going, and she needed it well up to make the laird’s tea quick smart. He’s particular about it being made properly, with the water freshly boiled.”
Lucilla had it all now; she even knew where to look for the proof of how Joy Burns had been poisoned. Not that it would do much good. She nodded to Mrs. Kennedy and Gwen. “Thank you.”
She should find Thomas and tell him what she’d learned, what she now thought, but there were several other things she still needed to know. She returned to the bench and slipped back into her previous place. “I understand that Joy had an apprentice who will be taking over as healer. Alice Watts. Can you tell me how far along in her training she is?”
Mrs. Kennedy exchanged a glance with Gwen. “From what Joy said, Alice was on the last leg of the training.”
Gwen nodded. “Almost, but not quite done.”
“She’s been sent for to come and fill Joy’s shoes.” Mrs. Kennedy grimaced. “She’s another would have taken Joy’s death hard, but the Wattses sent word she’ll be along as soon as she’s packed her things.”
“She knows she has to come and live here,” Gwen added. “She should be here tomorrow.”
Lucilla reviewed the list of questions she’d wanted to ask, then nodded. “I think that’s it for the moment. If you could show me where the still room is, I won’t take up more of your time.”
