Sweet Things Dying - Chapter X

In which a disturbing discovery is revealed...

X

While he stared at the photograph Cole concealed his alarmed thoughts from Milly who watched from the bed. He smiled and tucked the photograph back between the leaves, as if it were nothing significant.

He checked the page where he’d found it, to see if there was any purpose for the photograph’s placement or whether it had been inserted randomly. On it was a list of recipes to treat female maladies. A line near the top read, “to remove female obstructions, for headaches, lowness of spirit, nervousness and a sallowness of the skin.” Ingredients and instructions followed. He skimmed through it and immediately his interest was piqued – the page had not been marked randomly. To avoid drawing Milly’s interest he made quick mental notes, waiting until later to commit the details to his notebook. Then he snapped the tome shut and placed it back on the shelf. His eyes and thoughts wandered back to the washstand and the gunpowder residue in the dish.

“We should not be much longer,” Milly warned.

“I’m almost done.” He wasn’t, but knew she was right. “You said Heather was distant right before she left. Could she have been ill?”

“Perhaps. She did eat less. Father pressed her a few weeks ago when she wouldn’t finish her supper. She argued that she wasn’t hungry.”

“Was she weak or tired?”

“I cannot say I noticed.”

He made a note to ask Mac the same question – perhaps he’d spotted something subtle about her appearance or habits he’d not thought to report.

“We had best go,” Milly prompted. “Have you found anything useful?”

“Time will tell.”

They went out to the landing. Cole took a final look into the room. The soap dish, the book, the money – the photograph. He had a last glimpse of the pretty, red-haired ghost that sat upon the bed. She stared at him with haunted eyes. Her crimson lips mouthed the incomplete sentence from the letter. If it is too late, please do it not for me but for her…. The words hung over the deserted room like a silent scream.

He turned to Milly and smiled, then closed the door to shut the ghost away. But his memories of Heather Bloom draped over him like a leaden cloak.