Don Gutteridge - Minor Corruption

Dora paused, and choosing her wordscarefully, she said, “Auleen did ask that question. But the girlwas fevered and delirious. She’d been mutterin’ and murmurin’ inher fever all along, mostly gibberish as far as I could makeout.”

“But the name Seamus did come out?”

“It did. Right after Auleen’s question. But Iwas nearest to the poor thing. Her tone was much closer to beggin’than accusin’. I think she wanted someone to fetch Seamus, or UncleSeamus as everybody out there calls him.”

“If he was her lover, though, she could’vebeen askin’ fer him, eh?”

“It’s possible, but it sounded more like achild callin’ out fer an adult to come an’ comfort her.”

“Either way, that don’t sound too good, doesit? The girl’s with child and she don’t call fer her mom or dad butfer Uncle Seamus.”

“She was dyin’, not birthin’. And she’dprobably grown fond of the old gent, eh?”

“Not too fond, I hope.”

“Besides, Baldwin ain’t the only Seamus inthe county. We can’t go accusin’ a man of a hyena’s crimejust because a girl called out his Christian name?”

“That right. And that’s why the Chief’s sentme out to see if there is anythin’ that looks like realevidence.”

“If we c’n believe the Thurgoods, there was afive-pound note passed from the girl to Mrs. Trigger.”

“Who’s skedadelled off to Buffalo or Detroitwith it, and with the murder weapon.”

“So what’re you gonna do?”

“I’m goin’ out to Trout Creek. Thurgood’ll beat work. I want to catch Auleen Thurgood by herself. The Majoralways says it’s best to question suspects alone and separate. Younever know when or where their stories won’t match.”

“What about Seamus Baldwin?”

“I’ll go see him – dependin’ on what I findat the Thurgoods.”

“That won’t be easy.”

“I know. I ain’t lookin’ forward to it. TheBaldwins are bigwigs. And they’re all good friends of theEdwards.”

“And they been good to us, too. Invitin’Fabian out there fer the birthday party and the like.”

“Don’t make it worse, Missus Cobb. Youremember what Fabian told us about the old gent’s antics after hecome home – foolin’ about like a clown with the children and makin’goo-goo eyes at the little girls.”

“Don’t talk nonsense! I’ve seen you cavortin’about in yer Shakespearean costumes playin’ the jester with theneighbourhood kids.”

Cobb grunted and rose to go. “I hope there’snothin’ to all this,” he said.

***

Once again in the morning Edie Barr was ordered intothe library to play dominoes with Uncle Seamus. He had had apromising evening, sitting with Robert and Dr. and Mrs. Baldwin inthe parlour and appearing to follow the conversation even if hewere not contributing to it. But the night had seen a relapse intonightmare, wakefulness, and crying jags – and a lot of concernedcare on the part of the servants. He had refused breakfast, but atthe mention of Edie and dominoes in the library, he had agreed tocome downstairs. Robert waited outside until he heard the exchangeof giggles and guffaws. Then he tapped gently on the door. He wasnot looking forward to what lay ahead.

***

At the Chief’s suggestion, Cobb rented a buggy anddrove up Brock Street to the Spadina road. There were now severaltaxicabs in Toronto, but they were notoriously unreliable, andcould usually not be persuaded (without a suitable bribe) to gobeyond the city limits. So only twenty minutes had passed before heturned onto the rugged bush-path that led to Whittle’s mill. Theroad improved as he approached the mill itself, its huge wheelturning ponderously in the race that ran down from the mill-pondand Trout Creek. He passed a small partially cleared farm on hisleft, crossed a rickety log bridge over the creek, and soon came toa clutch of log shanties set willy nilly along a rutted path. Dorahad told him that the Thurgoods occupied the first one.

Auleen Thurgood must have heard the horse andbuggy approach, for she popped her head out the front door, spottedthe stranger in uniform, and ducked back inside, slamming thedoor.

Cobb tethered the horse and walked up to thehouse.

“Let me in, Mrs. Thurgood. I’m ConstableCobb, and I just wanta ask you a question or two: there’s nothin’to be scared of.”

Ten minutes later Cobb was sitting with a mugof tea at the kitchen table, and Auleen Thurgood had finallystopped fluttering about like a lop-sided butterfly. She satopposite him, thin-faced and large-eyed, with her fingersclenched.

“You want know more about what happened lastFriday?”

“I don’t need to go over what you told thecoroner, ma’am. I know how painful that must’ve been. But yerhusband’s made a serious charge against Mr. Seamus Baldwin.”

“I know, he told me. I begged him to leavethings be, but he never listens to me – or anybody else. He’ll getus all ruined.”

“Only if he ain’t tellin’ the truth. Which iswhy I’m here. I need you to tell me what happened in the minute orso before yer daughter . . . uh, passed on.”

Auleen’s lower lip began to quiver, but shetook a deep breath and said bravely, “After Mrs. Trigger walkedoutta here floutin’ her five pounds, we run inta Betsy’s room andright away we saw what she’d done . . . what the two of ‘em hadcooked up together. But Betsy was just a child, so she didn’t knowwhat she was doin’, it was that dreadful – ”

“Yes, yes,” Cobb said. “And we’ll catch upwith her. It’s what happened after Mrs. Cobb arrived that I need toknow about.”

“And a wonderful woman yer wife is, sir. Shedone all she could fer Betsy, but the . . . the thing’d come outtaher before she got here, and the fever was already terrible. We gothot water and cold cloths, but we could all see she was slippin’away from us . . .”

Cobb pulled a clean handkerchief from hispocket and waited until Auleen had finished sobbing into it. “Takeyer time, missus.”

“I thought I was all cried out, but I waswrong.”

“I take it you or yer husband had asked Betsywho the father of her babe was when she first hinted she waspregnant?”

“We did, but she said nothin’. Then laterwhen she was wild with the fever I asked her again. And this timeshe answered. She said it was Seamus.”

“Seamus Baldwin ?”

Auleen looked puzzled for a moment, thensaid, “No. Just Seamus. But she said it twice. She said, ‘Seamus .. .please . . . Seamus.’ We all heard it.”

“I know you did. Mrs. Cobb told me the same.But you see, it could’ve been any Seamus. And I’m worriedabout the word ‘please.’ Sounds more like she was callin ’fer him.”

“’Cause he was her lover!” Auleen cried.“’Cause he seduced her! A child! A girl’s who’s only had hermonthlies since last March!”

Cobb squirmed at such bold woman-talk, butsaid kindly enough, “Please, calm down, ma’am. I’m here to get atthe truth, not to doubt yer word.”

“What about the five pounds? No mill-handever saw a note like that. The only people within three miles ofhere that could’ve had that kinda money are the Baldwins. AndBetsy’s worked up at Spadina for over two months.”

Cobb nodded as if he agreed, then said, “Anyof them mill-hands named Seamus?”

“I thought you was lookin’ into the chargeBurton made against Seamus Baldwin ?” she cried, defiant.Then she put her head onto the table and wept.

“I take it there aren’t?” he said softly.

She shook her head without raising it.

“Mind if I take a peek at Betsy’s room?”

Auleen nodded miserably. Cobb got up andentered the cramped cubicle that had served as the dead girl’s onlyprivate space. The bloodied pallet had been removed entirely,leaving only a home-made night-stand as the sole piece offurniture. Two crude drawers had been fashioned and attached to theunderside of an apple-box. A shard of broken mirror lay on its top,the girl’s pathetic looking-glass. In the first drawer he foundseveral pairs of cotton underwear and two strips of cloth that wereprobably used for her menstrual periods. Cobb blushed at thethought, and was about to shut the drawer without further searchwhen he heard the rustle of paper underneath the cloths. Slowly hedrew into the dim light a half-sheet of writing paper. Cobb went tothe oil-papered window and was just able to make out the pencilscrawl: