thirty-six

Annie took the baby downstairs over Lyda’s loud protests. I waited with Guy in Lyda’s bedroom.

“You can’t take my daughter away from me,” she wailed.

“I’m afraid we can, Mrs. Osgood,” Guy told her, looking pained to have to say it, being the father of a baby daughter, himself.

Wild-eyed, Lyda threw back the covers and attempted to climb out of bed. “I’m going to get my baby!”

Guy stepped next to the bed and set his hand firmly on her shoulder. “You aren’t going anywhere.”

Lyda glared at him and shrank from his touch. She abandoned her efforts to escape, though, and turned her back to him, curling into a ball. I hurried to the bed and pulled the coverlet over her silently shaking shoulders.

The nervous maid let us know of the police matron’s arrival nearly two hours later. I left Guy with Lyda, who appeared to have fallen asleep, and went downstairs to meet the female officer. She was a no-nonsense middle-aged woman in a dark uniform dress, a police badge pinned to her bosom. The department employed a few police matrons, specifically to keep watch over female prisoners. We stepped into the parlor where Annie sat with the sleeping infant. After I filled the matron in on the facts of the situation, she nodded.

“How long before Mrs. Osgood can safely be transported to jail?” she asked.

“I’d like her to stay here in bed for two days, if possible. She didn’t have a difficult birth, but the process takes its toll on any woman’s body, and I don’t want to risk bleeding by overtaxing her.”

“Very well. It won’t do harm to handcuff one of her hands to the bed, I trust?”

“I think it would be a prudent move,” I said. “I’ll bind her breasts before I leave, because her milk will come down in the next day or two. As for this little one”—I gestured toward Annie and the newborn—“I’ll telephone the grandmother who’s caring for the older Osgood boys. I expect she might agree to come and fetch the baby.” When the matron agreed, I obtained the grandmother’s name from the maid and put the call through. The grandmother turned out to be Elbridge’s mother, not Lyda’s, and she came promptly with a driver and carriage.

“One of my servants recently gave birth and can serve as a wet nurse for the time being.” The snowy-haired grandmother cradled her granddaughter, touching her cheek, then looked up again. “I never liked that Lyda. Not good enough for my son by half. And now look what she’s gone and done, dragging him into a life of crime, leaving her babies motherless. I hope she hangs.” She said good-bye and turned away.

I murmured to Annie, “It’s more likely her own son will hang.” I let out a heavy breath. “I have to go up and see if Lyda will let me bind her breasts. She might refuse.”

Which was exactly what happened, so I abandoned my efforts and told Guy and the matron that Annie and I were leaving. We walked toward town with heavy steps, Annie seemingly feeling the weight of what we’d just been through as much as I was. Another snowstorm appeared to be brewing and my headache was creeping back. Dark gray clouds threatened the sky and I tasted snow in the cold air.

“Annie, thee did well,” I told her, slipping her arm through mine. “Was it terribly frightening, having Elbridge apprehend thee like he did?”

“Mon Dieu, yes, Rose.” She crossed herself. “He kept insisting we go upstairs, and I kept telling him the baby wasn’t born yet and he couldn’t. In the end he almost dragged me. I’m sorry to have left you alone, with your headache, and all, but he was so irate I thought it was better to keep him out of the birthing chamber.”

“Thee did the right thing. And continued to by keeping the baby in thy arms. Lyda could have used her as a weapon, as a security.”

“You mean, threaten to harm the baby if we didn’t let them escape, or some such thing?”

“This is a woman who pushed her own husband to murder, don’t forget. That’s exactly what I mean.”

“She wouldn’t!”

“Annie, humans are capable of great wrong, even to their own families. I think she might have, and thee made sure she couldn’t attempt it.”

A wagon laden with pumpkins rattled by on the cobblestones as we approached Market Square, and the Baptist Church bell struck three times. A cry of, “Thief!” went up across the way as four lads ran by clutching small loaves of bread. Smoke danced up from the chimney of a nearby bakery, and the inviting aroma of fresh bread tickled my nose and taunted my stomach. Despite the terrible misdeeds of Lyda and Elbridge, everyday life went on as if nothing truly bad had happened. Merchants sold their wares. Mills and factories beat their industrial rhythms. Children played, women toiled, teachers taught. At least the Osgood wrongdoers wouldn’t be attempting any more crimes, ever.

“Luckily for all of us, not all births are so dramatic as this one,” I remarked, almost to myself.

“I should hope not.”

“Now that we know it was Lyda behind my attack, I can’t figure out why she would want to kill her midwife when her birth was imminent.” I frowned as I walked.

“She did say she was about to call a doctor when we walked in. Maybe she had arranged for someone else to help her. And then when you survived, she couldn’t very well not call you after labor started.”

“That’s a good deduction, Annie. I think you’re right.” Maybe Annie would be my helper in more ways than one in the future.

“Rose, I must return to Mrs. Roune’s and see if she has need of me for the rest of the day, even though she said she didn’t. Just in case.”

“Thee is a conscientious sort, Annie. And I know thee will make a successful midwife.” I squeezed her hand.

She said good-bye, trying to wipe the smile at the compliment off her face. I turned toward High Street, but thought the better of it. I wouldn’t be able to rest if I didn’t know that all the other messy ends of this ball of yarn had also been tidied up, and I thought knowing might help my head, too. I aimed myself in the direction of the police station instead of home.

Five minutes later I sat opposite Kevin in his office. He’d pumped my hand so vigorously when I walked in I thought it would fall off. Now he beamed.

“Excellent teamwork, Miss Rose, wouldn’t you say?”

“I suppose. But a few things still puzzle me.”

“Such as?”

“For one, what was Hilarius doing on Greenwood Street Seventh Day night if he didn’t kill Rowena? He’s always maintained his innocence.”

“Ah, I persuaded that bird to sing. Remember when we conjectured if Mr. Felch was involved, he must have hired someone to kill his wife?”

“Yes.”

“Bauer told me Felch did hire him!” Kevin ended on a triumphant note. “Bauer was supposed to kill her and make it look like a burglary. Felch had given him a key to the back door so he could sneak in and do the deed. But Felch didn’t know his wife would be out at a meeting. When Bauer got there, he spied Mrs. Felch waiting in front of her house. He says once he saw her, he realized he couldn’t kill her and he hid, thinking she would go inside. Instead he watched the Osgoods kill her.”

“With the cricket bat.”

Kevin nodded. “He said it happened so fast he couldn’t stop them. He watched them drag her under the bush. By the time they drove away and he went to check, she was dead. Mr. Felch had threatened him if he didn’t kill his wife, so Bauer figured he’d better stage the break-in, anyway.”

“He was terrified to tell the truth.”

“I convinced him we’d be lenient if he did. Although he plum made a mess of it, breaking the glass from the inside instead of out.”

“Thus the shards on the front stoop.” I gazed at the desk in front of me without seeing it. “So his agreement with Oscar was the reason he looked so frightened every time he spoke of that evening. Frankly, Kevin, I’m glad he’s innocent.”

“It’s always good to discover the truth. And now I have Felch in a cell next to Osgood.”

I thought for another moment. “I’m relieved Zula is innocent. I’d hate to see a young woman like her be a killer. Not to mention how it would have besmirched the suffrage movement. Can’t you just imagine the headlines?” I shook my head, then regretted it as I winced.

“You’re not better yet, are you?” He furrowed his brow, looking concerned. “Go on home and take a good rest. And Miss Rose?”

“Yes?”

“I can’t be having you helping me with another murder case. It’s too dangerous by a long shot. Look at what happened. You were lucky to get away with only a head wound.”

“All right, Kevin.” Although I couldn’t really vouch for what I would do if another murder was committed in our fair town. I’d gotten quite a taste for teasing apart the various threads that knit together a case. Despite the danger, I liked the feeling of solving a mystery, but I prayed it would be a good long time before another murder was committed. Never would be fine, too.