‘Where are we going?’ Kirshaw asked, his voice petulant. His coat, old and trailing almost to the ground, was buttoned all the way to his throat against the November chill.
‘Mr Nottingham wants you to look at someone.’
The apothecary muttered as he followed, lifting his legs to move through the overgrown grounds of the manor. The Constable was waiting by the building.
‘Thank you for coming,’ he said. The girl stood at his side, looking down at the ground.
‘Where is he?’ the apothecary grumbled.
‘She,’ Nottingham corrected him. ‘She’s in there.’
‘She?’ Kirshaw bristled.
‘A little girl. Look at her, help her.’
‘Who’s going to pay me?’
The Constable smiled. ‘You’ll get your reward in heaven,’ he said slowly, his voice firm enough to brook no argument. ‘Mr Lister will stay and help you.’
Light filtered through the door. The child was in a corner, a ragged blanket pulled around her. Rob watched as the apothecary lifted one of her hands then ran a hand across her forehead, muttering to himself. He delved into the bag, then turned.
‘Don’t just stand there,’ Kirshaw said sharply. ‘Fetch some water.’
‘Will he make her well?’ Lucy asked as they walked.
‘If he can,’ Nottingham told her.
‘What if he can’t?’
‘He’ll do everything he can.’
She nodded. He knew the world she lived in, where the line between life and death often blurred to nothing, where some never woke in the morning.
He found Holden standing behind a hefty oak tree close to Howard’s house.
‘Keep her out of sight,’ he ordered. ‘Howard can’t see her.’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Mr Holden knows what to do,’ he told her. ‘Just listen to him.’
She looked scared. ‘You did this with Caleb, didn’t you?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ he admitted. She stared at him, her eyes unblinking. ‘Mr Holden will make sure no one sees you.’
Finally, with a sad, unbelieving smile, she nodded.
By the time the apothecary left, the little girl was sleeping quietly. Kirshaw had fed her a few drops of liquid in water Rob brought from the spring.
‘She needs food,’ the apothecary said as he stood. ‘There’s nothing to her. She needs to be warm and something hot in her.’ He looked at Rob. ‘She needs looking after. Do that and she’ll be fine. If not. .’ He shrugged and gathered his bottles and potions. ‘And tell Mr Nottingham I’ll be sending my bill to the Corporation.’
‘You do that.’
Alone, Rob watched the girl. A few of the other children had come, then scattered like sparrows when they saw him, vanished from view. He couldn’t leave her helpless and on her own. He scavenged dead wood from the orchard and lit a small fire in the building then settled back against a wall.
He was dozing when Lucy returned. The blaze had brought a little warmth to the room and the child slept on, a smile on her lips, the blanket pulled around her face.
‘How is she?’
‘She’ll rest for a while. When did she eat last?’
‘Yesterday, maybe,’ Lucy said. ‘Day before.’
Rob pulled some coins from his pocket. ‘Buy her some food. Something hot.’
The Constable completed the daily report and left it with Martin Cobb at the Moot Hall. He’d taken three men to the Petty Sessions for their trials: the baker with adulterated bread would find himself in the stocks on Briggate and the two apprentices found drunk would be handed over to the masters for a thrashing.
He listened to the people passing, a murmur of voices outside the window, the creak of carts and the yelling of the drivers. Finally the door opened wide and Holden strode in.
‘She says it’s him, boss. Howard is Gabriel.’
Inside he felt a surge of satisfaction replacing the anxiety that had been bubbling through him.
‘Go and find Mr Sedgwick then keep watching. Where’s Howard now?’
‘Down at the warehouse. He’ll probably be there until dusk.’
‘Stick with him.’ He paused. ‘Let him see you,’ he decided. ‘I want him to know we’re there.’
‘Yes, boss.’
The deputy arrived within the quarter hour, breathless and grinning. ‘Bob told me. What are we going to do now?’
Nottingham picked up a mug of ale and sipped slowly. ‘We’re going to find the evidence to put him on the gibbet.’
‘What about that lass who recognized him?’ Sedgwick asked. ‘You know what happened to Caleb.’
‘I might have an idea there.’ He said no more.
‘Are you going to bring Howard in again?’
‘Not yet,’ the Constable answered slowly. He pushed the fringe off his forehead. ‘I want him to understand that we know. It’ll stop him trying anything else, too.’
‘He’ll be down here with a lawyer,’ the deputy warned.
‘Let him.’ Nottingham smiled. ‘He’ll have to explain things to others then. In the meantime I want you to ask around more. See if there are other little dark secrets you can find.’
‘Yes, boss.’
The house was filled with the smell of a stew cooking on the fire. He heard Mary moving around upstairs and the swish of a broom.
‘Home in the middle of the day again?’ she asked wryly as she saw him standing in the doorway of the bedroom. ‘Folk will think you don’t like to work any more.’
‘You need a serving girl to do that,’ he said.
‘And become a lady of leisure?’ She laughed.
He looked at her hands, red from work, the knuckles becoming gnarled and misshapen. ‘You deserve it after all these years. At least not to work as hard.’
‘We haven’t had anyone since Pamela, and the girls were little then.’
‘Maybe it’s time we had someone else.’
Mary leaned on the besom and stared at him suspiciously. ‘Why now? What is it, Richard?’
He explained it all, watching the emotions cross her face.
‘Where would she sleep?’ she asked. ‘We don’t have any room.’
‘In the kitchen,’ he countered. ‘Believe me, it’s better than where she is now.’
She swept a little more, pushing the dust closer to him so it settled on his boots. ‘If she doesn’t obey and work hard I’ll dismiss her,’ she threatened.
‘Of course.’
Mary nodded her agreement, then asked, ‘What would you have done if I’d said no?’
‘I’d have told John that Lizzie needs some help.’
She laughed. ‘You had it all worked out, didn’t you? Go on, get out and bring her back here.’
He knocked twice on the door of the building. The walls were solid enough, put together for the ages, but even at its best it had never been intended for man nor beast. Slowly the door was pulled open over the rough ground and Lucy stood there, the knife in her small fist. Late daylight came in through the missing slates of the roof. The little girl had gone.
‘Where is she?’
‘Some of the others found a place where she’d be warmer. Down in the Ley Lands.’
He knew the way children became family, tending one another, the older caring for the younger as much as they could.
‘What about you?’
‘I’m safe here.’ She shrugged.
‘You asked if I wanted a servant.’
He watched the glimmer of hope in her eyes before she spoke warily. ‘Aye, and you never answered.’
‘Have you done the work before?’
Lucy snorted and gestured at her dress. ‘Who do you think I’d know who needs servants, mister?’
‘Are you willing to work hard?’
She lifted her chin. ‘Give me a chance and see.’
‘I will,’ he told her.
‘What?’ She looked at him in disbelief. ‘Do you mean it?’
‘I do. You’ll help my wife, and it’ll be easier to keep you safe. Who do you need to tell first?’
‘The others, so they know nothing’s happened to me.’
‘Do that, and meet me at the jail. Bring your things.’