C Harris - When maidens mourn

Hero watched him pull the dog's ears, her eyes widening.

`Good lord. You can't think Hildeyard... Because of Gabrielle?' She shook her head. `But that's impossible. He was in Kent.'

`He was. But his estate is only four hours hard ride from London. He could conceivably have left Kent early Sunday morning, ridden up to London, killed Gabrielle, driven her body up to Camlet Moat, and then ridden back to Kent late that night. We know he was there when the messenger arrived from Bow Street on Monday with word of Gabrielle's death, but I seriously doubt the man inquired into Mr. Tennyson's movements the previous day.'

A flicker of lightning showed outside the room's narrow window, illuminating Hero's face with a flash of white that was there and then gone. `But why? Why would he do such a thing?'

`I think Gabrielle had a seizure - one much worse than anything she'd ever had before. It was probably provoked by the emotional turmoil of learning the man she loved was thinking about escaping to France, or perhaps by their lovemaking, or maybe even by the fear and anger she experienced when she discovered the truth about Childe's deception. I think she wrote her brother about it and told him he needed to warn his betrothed that there was epilepsy in the family. And that's when he rode up to London.'

Thunder rumbled in the distance. `To kill her? I don't believe it.'

`I don't think he came here with the intention of killing her. I think he came here to argue with her. Then he lost his temper and stabbed her in a rage.'

`And murdered the children too?' Hero shook her head. `No. He's not that evil.'

`I seriously doubt he sees himself as evil. In fact, I suspect he even blames Gabrielle for driving him to do it. In my experience, people kill when their emotions overwhelm them, be it fear, or greed, or anger. Some are so stricken afterward with remorse that they end up destroying their own lives too. But most are selfish enough to be able to rationalize what they've done as necessary or even justified.'

`The problem is,' said Gibson, `you've no proof of any of this. Even if you discover Tennyson did leave his estate on Sunday, that would only prove that he could have done it, not that he did. D'Eyncourt could have done it too. Or Childe. Or Arceneaux.'

`What I don't understand,' said Hero, `is if you're right - and I'm not conceding that you are - then why would Hildeyard hide the children's bodies someplace else? D'Eyncourt would have a clear reason to shift the investigation away from the children's deaths onto Gabrielle. But not Hildeyard. He's been up at Enfield every day, looking for them.'

Sebastian let his hand rest on his thigh. `Has he? We know he went up there on Tuesday and made a big show of organizing a search for his cousins. But do we know for certain he's actually been there all day, every day, since then?'

She thought about it, then shook her head. `No.'

`For all we know, he could have been spending the bulk of his time scouring London in the hopes of finding the children and silencing them.'

`But if they re not dead, then where are they?'

Chien nudged Sebastian's still hand, and he moved again to stroke the brown and black dog's silken coat. He was thinking about a nine-year-old boy telling Philippe he should have called his dog Rom. Not Gypsy, but Rom. He had a sudden image of a blue and white nazar worn on a leather thong around the neck of an old Gypsy woman, and an identical talisman lying on a nursery table beside a broken clay pipe bowl and a horse chestnut.

`What?' said Hero, watching him.

He pushed to his feet. `I think I know where the children are.'

`You mean, you know where they're buried?'

`No. I don't think they're dead. I think they've gone with the raggle-taggle-Gypsies-oh.'

They drove first to the Adelphi Terrace in hopes the Gypsy woman might still be there. But the angry clouds roiling overhead had already blotted out much of the light from the setting sun. The windows in the surrounding houses gleamed golden with lamplight, and the terrace lay wet and deserted beneath a darkening sky.

`Now what do we do?' asked Hero, shouting to be heard over the din of the wind and driving rain.

Sebastian stared out over the rain-swollen river. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the underbellies of the clouds and reflecting off the choppy water. A charlie on his rounds came staggering around the corner, headed for his box. He wore an old-fashioned greatcoat and held one hand up to hold his hat against the wind; his other hand clutched a shuttered lantern.

`Sure, then, 'tis a foul night we're in for,' he said when he saw them.

`It is that,' agreed Sebastian. `We were looking for the Gypsy woman who's usually here reading palms. Do you know where we might find her?'

`Has she stolen something from you, sir? Nasty thieving varmints, the lot of 'em.'

`No, she hasn't stolen anything. But my wife...' Sebastian nodded to Hero, who did her best to look credulous and eager '...my wife here was desirous of having her palm read.'

The charlie blinked. But he was obviously inured to the strange ways of quality, because he said, `I think she belongs to that band what camps up around Nine Elms this time of year. I seen her leaving once or twice by wherry.' The hamlet of Nine Elms lay on the south side of the river, beyond Lambeth and Vauxhall in a low, marshy area known for its windmills and osier stands and meadows of rue and nettle.

`Thank you,' said Sebastian, turning to shout directions to his coachman and help Hero climb into the carriage.

`Funny you should be asking about them,' said the charlie.

Sebastian paused on the carriage steps to look back at him.

`Why's that?'

`Mr. Tennyson asked me the same thing,' said the charlie, `not more 'n a couple of hours ago.'

They found the Gypsy camp in a low meadow near a willow-lined brook, where some half a dozen high-wheeled caravans were drawn up in a semicircle facing away from the road. Wet cook fires burnt sluggishly in the gloaming of the day, their blue smoke drifting up into the mist, the penetrating smell of burning wood and garlic and onions carrying on the wind. At the edge of the encampment, a herd of tethered horses sidled nervously, their heads tossing, their neighs mingling with the thunder that rolled across the darkening sky.

As Sebastian signaled to his coachman to pull up, a motley pack of lean yellow dogs rushed barking from beneath the wagons. A tall man wearing a broad-brimmed black hat and a white shirt came to stand beside the nearest caravan, his gaze focused on them. He made no move to approach, just stood with one hand cupped around the bowl of his clay pipe, his eyes hidden by the brim of his hat as he watched the dogs surround them.

`Now what do we do?' asked Hero as the pack leapt snapping and snarling around the carriage.

`Stay here.' Throwing open the door, Sebastian jumped to the ground to scoop up a rock and hurl it into the pack. They all immediately drew back, ears flattened, tails low.

`Impressive. Did you learn that in Spain too?' Hero dropped down behind him. But he noticed she kept one hand in her reticule.

`Even if you don't have a rock, all you need to do is reach down and pretend to throw one, and the effect is the same.'

`I'll try to remember that.'

They crossed the waterlogged meadow toward the camp, the tall, wet grass brushing against their clothes. They could see more men, and women in full, gaily colored skirts, crouched around the fires, pretending not to notice their approach. But the children hung back in the shadows, still and quiet as they watched with dark, sullen eyes.

`O boro duvel atch pa leste,' called Sebastian to the lone man standing beside the nearest caravan.

The man grunted, his teeth clenching down on the stem of his pipe, his eyes fierce. He had weathered, sun-darkened skin and a bushy iron gray mustache and curly dark hair heavily laced with gray. A pale scar cut through his thick left eyebrow.