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Surprises
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Mid-June 1900
“Eli’s been arrested!”
Gwenna stared at the distressed girl standing before her breathing hard and fast. Strands of hair clung to her face, still sweaty and red from the exertion of running. “What for?” she demanded, her pulse racing. She knew who this girl was talking about, even if she herself never called him Eli.
“Accessory after the fact,” the girl panted. “At least, I think that’s what they said. But I got such a fright when they said murder, I didn’t listen any more.”
Murder? Gwenna shuddered and goose pimples rose on her arms. No one had mentioned murder.
With her breathing under control, the girl tilted her head to one side. “You’re Gwenna, aren’t you? I’m Alice Woodman.”
The two women assessed each other over the doorstep. Going by her appearance, Alice hadn’t stopped long enough to change. She wore a simple checked skirt, apron and white blouse, and looked precisely as Tillie had described, and Gwenna instantly took a liking to the girl.
“You’d better come in, Miss Woodman.” Gwenna stood back and opened the door wider.
Introductions were made and Bethan made a fresh pot of tea. With a tea cup in their hands to hide behind, the women relaxed a little.
“I’ve never seen Eli so furious,” said Alice. “I thought he would hit one of the policemen until my father stepped in.”
Gwenna heard the new name and asked herself whether being Eli was part of his new identity, his new life – like hers.
Bethan was too agitated to listen. “Did Elias send you?”
Alice shook her head. “Oh. No. He didn’t want me to come, but I had to. You need to know. I hope you don’t mind my intrusion. My father has gone with him. He’ll find out what’s going on.”
“I’m sure I’m grateful to Mr Woodman, but we should go ourselves,” said Gwenna, replacing her cup on the saucer.
Shocked, Alice sounded sharper than she intended. “You can’t go there. It’s a dreadful place.”
Bethan appeared confused. “Which place? Haven’t they taken him to the new police station in Princes Street? The one they opened earlier this year?”
“I hadn’t thought of that. I just assumed they’d take him to the prison in Mount Eden. Horrible stone place that it is.” She shuddered. “I can see a glimpse of it from our upstairs window.”
“Well, I suppose we’d better find out.” About to rise, Gwenna realised Alice had no intention of moving just yet.
“I saw a side of Eli this morning I’d not seen before. Has he been angry like that in the past?”
Bethan and Gwenna glanced at each other. Should they warn her about Elias’s temper, or could they consider the change in him permanent? Thanks to the very girl who was asking the question.
Bethan cleared her throat. “Elias had many disappointments in life at an early age. He was too young to understand and often lost his temper when he couldn’t cope. I thought he’d grow out of it, in time, and he has for the most part. But he still has his moments.”
Gwenna respected how much it hurt Bethan to reveal her son’s weaknesses to a stranger, but if what Elias had told them was true, this girl might not be a stranger for long. “He’s learnt to control it a lot better in the last six months. Much of it is thanks to you. He speaks of you often.”
A soft blush tinged Alice’s cheeks, and she briefly lowered her lashes. Her eyes were large, dark globes with hints of sunshine, and perfectly formed. “I believe I have made some changes to his manner. When I first met Eli – he asked me to call him Eli, you know – he was sombre and withdrawn, but he’s different now. I know you call him Elias. I’ve wondered if that’s part of it. Does he feel a different person using a different name?” Alice asked, echoing Gwenna’s thoughts.
Gwenna would have struggled to consider anyone could change so much or so fast if she hadn’t seen and heard it for herself. From her own experience, a name mattered. “I can’t answer for him, but yes, quite possibly.”
“When he first came,” Alice continued, “Eli stumbled over words, but his eyes followed me all the time, without him speaking. He talks a lot more these days. He told me about your husband, Mrs Jones. I am so sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. But please call me Gwenna, and ...” She hesitated. Alice’s unexpected visit had just strengthened Gwenna’s resolve to keep her maiden name. “For business reasons, I will be known as Mrs Price. I’m keeping my name.” Gwenna shuddered at the thought of Black Jack Jones and all the trouble he’d caused. “But getting back to why you are here. Are you saying the police believe Elias is responsible for this murder?”
Fear put an edge on Gwenna’s words. For all his faults, and he had several, the greatest of which was the chip he carried on his shoulder, she couldn’t bring herself to conceive Elias capable of murder, however unintentional. Even in his worst fits of temper, once he’d cowed her, the steam went out of him and he was no longer violent.
“Not responsible as such,” said Alice. “But they claim he knew about it and kept it a secret. I’m sure Eli and Dad will sort it out and he’ll be back with us before day’s end.” Alice dismissed Gwenna’s concern and smiled, turning the edges of her lips up by the merest amount. Whatever was going on in Alice’s mind, Gwenna saw the girl’s shoulders relax and sereneness cross her face.
“May I see the baby?” Alice’s eyes turned to the basket on the floor where Georgie slept.
“Of course, but please don’t wake him.”
As nimble as a butterfly, Alice fell to her knees beside the basket and stared at Georgie as though he was a rare and precious doll. Her face softened as she leaned over him to breathe in the fresh smell of soap and rosewater and that characteristic baby smell. Alice was older than Gwenna by three or four years and yearned for a child of her own.
However, they had more pressing business to attend to.
“Shouldn’t we at least try to find out why Elias has been arrested?” pressed Gwenna.
“We know why. I told you, the police think he knows something,” Alice answered over her shoulder without taking her eyes off Georgie. “Dad and Eli need to convince them otherwise. There is nothing we can do. The police won’t talk to us.”
“Oh, surely they must talk to his mother,” said Bethan, kneading her hands in her apron.
“Is it worth the risk? And you’d have to take Georgie to those awful places. The authorities will deal with it as they see fit. I’m sure we women would get in the way.”
The girl was far too infuriatingly pragmatic to suit Gwenna’s mood, but Gwenna did admire her logic and calm. Yet another reason to consider Alice would be good for Elias – like water and fire. Fire to keep the water warm, and water to calm the fiery beast.
Despite Alice’s rational viewpoint, Bethan and Gwenna still wanted to find Elias.
“I feel it’s my duty,” said Bethan. “He doesn’t have a father to stand up for him.”
“Dad’s doing that,” Alice said breezily. “He likes Eli. He won’t let anything untoward happen.”
“I could at least take them some food,” said Bethan, meandering from task to task, clutching for any reason to go. “They’ll be hungry. It’s been a long time since breakfast.”
“Mam. Calm yourself.” Gwenna took her stepmother’s hands in hers to steady the uncontrolled fluttering. “It’s no good. Much as I hate to admit it, Miss Woodman is right. Whatever happens, Mr Woodman will tell us when the time is right. I can’t take Georgie out into the cold weather without knowing where to start.”
In the end, they agreed rushing down to the police station or the gaol, or wherever Elias could have been taken, would not be in his best interests.
“Dad says if we repeated anything Eli told us it wouldn’t help. We’ve only heard his version of events. Dad will vouch for Eli.”
Gwenna hoped Alice was right.
* * *
They waited throughout the endless day. Gwenna made more jars of boiled sweets between feeding Georgie. The rhythm of pulling and twisting the sugar mixture suited her mood and kept the worst of her agitation at bay. Bethan baked and prepared the meat for dinner with enough vegetables to feed an army. Warm, homely aromas filled the air, and the three women knitted together as they worked.
Alice threw them off guard by sweeping and dusting, but for much of the time she watched Georgie and chattered about Eli. “He’s been such a godsend to Dad. I can’t tell you what a difference he’s made.”
Alice prattled about how her father loved his furniture making, but he was getting tired, he said.
“But it’s not a physical tiredness, it’s a subconscious thought. He was worried there’d be no one to take over the business. And he couldn’t see the point in carrying on.”
“But your father can’t be old,” said Bethan. “What if you marry and have children one day?”
“Wouldn’t matter. Unless it was to another wood-loving man. Dad says a piece of wood has its own energy, and a good wood-man knows how to find the heart. It’s not something that can be taught. But once you lose the desire to find it, it’s gone for good.”
Gwenna heard her father’s voice echo in her head at Alice’s words, and understood. You have to love what you do to succeed, Gwenna, bach. If you don’t have the heart for it, you’ll always find an excuse not to do it.
Bethan couldn’t bear to admit this slip of a girl could know more about her son than she did. “So what’s Elias got to do with it? He’s never known one piece of wood from the next, except to split it for firewood.”
“No disrespect, Mrs Price, but I believe you’re wrong. Dad reckons Eli has a natural ability to draw it out in abundance. It’s given him a new lease on life to teach Eli how to develop it.”
A suspicion crept into Gwenna’s mind. “How long has Elias been working for your father?”
“Since last December. I remember because it wasn’t long after the election. Dad says ...”
Gwenna was getting a little tired of ‘Dad says’ and interrupted. “And if you don’t mind me asking, who keeps the ledger?”
“I do.” A slight frown marred Alice’s forehead. “Dad can measure something to within an eensy amount to make a table stand square, or mitre a join, but he can’t add up a column of figures and get the right answer.”
Mr Woodman and Elias would be two peas in the same pod in that case, chuckled Gwenna to herself. “And you do sell the furniture he makes, don’t you?”
Alice frowned, perplexed. “Of course. How else do you run a business?”
But Gwenna hadn’t quite finished. “And who works out the costs of time and materials so you know what price to charge?”
“I do. Dad made me go to school and learn my numbers properly.”
Gwenna nodded, satisfied. In hindsight, she could now piece together when Elias started to change and become a better person. Bethan had been right in her assessment that something was making him happy. And Gwenna’s leaving wasn’t the cause.
“Why all the questions?”
“Just curious, Miss Woodman. Just curious.” Gwenna smiled. “However, I suggest you don’t let Elias anywhere near the ledger either.”
From her position seated on the floor next to the sleeping Georgie, Alice tilted her head to one side. The radiant smile that lit her face and reached deep into her eyes startled Gwenna with its brilliance. “Now, why would I let him do that? To each his own, I believe the saying goes.”
No wonder Elias was smitten.
* * *
At the point of suggesting either Alice return home before dark, or inviting her to stay the night, Gwenna heard the latch click on the door. As soon as the two men entered, Bethan rose from her chair preparing to go to her son, but hesitated, unsure of her welcome. Alice leapt to her feet and stood beaming from ear to ear before Elias, her hands folded behind her back. Gwenna felt sure Alice would have preferred to wrap her arms around Elias’s neck but restrained herself at the last moment. A vacant, lost expression dulled his eyes, and his face sagged with exhaustion. He began to tremble as all three women threw questions at him.
“What news?”
“Are you all right?”
“What happened?”
An awkward laugh filled the void.
“All is well,” answered the older man.
“Thanks to Woody,” confirmed a relieved young man.
Gwenna extended her hand as she approached Alice’s father.
He was nothing like she had imagined. His neatly trimmed, auburn beard and moustache suited his lined, craggy face, even while his thick mop of hair stuck out at strange angles, but the warmth in his eyes was what drew Gwenna to him. “Welcome, Mr Woodman. We’ve heard a lot about you. Thank you for rushing to Elias’s aid.”
Thomas held his trilby against his chest as he took Gwenna’s hand, bowing slightly in a stiff, old-fashioned way. “Mrs Jones. I am delighted to make your acquaintance and be of service to your family.”
“Please, call me Gwenna.” She would explain about being Mrs Price later. “I feel I know you already, and you’ve done so much for this family.”
For a few moments, nobody moved. Elias and Alice were too intent on staring at one another while Bethan wrung her hands.
“My brother seems to have forgotten his manners. Please take a seat and tell us about the day’s events.”
Bethan began making a pot of tea and emptying the cake tins onto plates. Gwenna watched her from the corner of her eye, wishing she would sit down but, from experience, knew she wouldn’t.
Thomas Woodman repeated what Alice had told them about the police turning up at his workshop, accusing Elias of being an ‘accessory after the fact’ and wishing to talk to him down at the station. Despite Alice’s interpretation, they had not in fact formally arrested Elias, but Thomas had, nevertheless, considered it prudent to attend the police station. During his explanation, tea was poured and cake handed around, both of which helped fill the momentary silences when no one could decide what to say.
“Something funny is definitely going on,” said Elias as their tale came to an end. “I’ve always had my suspicions that Jack’s wagon did not go over the edge by itself.”
“You have?” Gwenna’s voice rose to an unusually high pitch. The tea cup clanked in the saucer as she replaced it.
The expression of horror crossing Elias’s face at that moment told her more than any words. He was hiding something, but was it just from her or was he trying to protect Alice – and Bethan – from the details?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you before, Gwenna, just like I tried to spare you the details of what I found, but they’ve come out now anyway.” Elias rubbed his hands through his hair.
“I apologise to you too, Alice. Mam. There’s no point trying to keep any of it from you any more. It’s got too involved.”
At length, he reached the point in his story where he related the conversation in the Tuakau pub. Bit by bit, Gwenna learnt how others had feared and loathed Black Jack as much as she did. She wouldn’t be sorry if she never saw the man again, but to discover people meant him serious harm came as a shock.
“We all agreed someone, or maybe more than one person, would sooner or later teach Jack Jones a lesson,” said Elias. “But after Will remembered seeing Black Jack only a matter of days earlier, I realised the accident was more than likely a case of mistaken identity. Johnno had been in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“My problem was I had no way of proving it, so I said nothing,” admitted Elias. “And apparently, that was their problem, even though Bill reported the accident and told them about finding Jack’s wagon. Someone – one of the men who helped haul the Pokeno Store’s delivery van out of the bush, I suspect, but it could have been anyone at the pub – reported me to the police saying I was hiding something.”
Thomas Woodman picked up the story, telling them how he had argued finding a wagon in the bush was not a crime. Nor was finding a body, even one the police were now saying could have been suspiciously placed.
“Suspiciously placed?” Gwenna couldn’t believe the nightmare was continuing.
The shock of knowing Johnno was dead was bad enough, but to learn someone may have deliberately caused the accident and tried to conceal it was much worse. It was almost beyond belief, but believe it she must. Nothing would change the outcome. And if she was honest, she had always suspected there was more to the tale than anyone was telling her.
She listened as Mr Woodman and Elias finished their story.
“Mrs Jones, er ... Gwenna,” interrupted Mr Woodman. “I’m sorry for your loss, and I’m sure this is all a great shock to you – and you, Mrs Price. It’s a terrible thing to see your children suffer, whatever causes their suffering. I do understand.”
Bethan smiled, and Gwenna could read the relief in her eyes, knowing someone shared her distress for her son. Her shoulders relaxed.
“But I believe in Eli, if it’s any help. He has a future as a woodturner, and I am sure we eventually convinced the police Eli had not committed a crime in any way. He reported what he’d found and told them all he knew. It was not his place to cast suspicion or suggest foul play.”
“Are you certain?” asked Gwenna. “This family has had more than its share of upheavals of late. We cannot move on with our lives with anything more hanging over our heads.”
Thomas Woodman smiled. He turned his head towards Elias and Alice who had drifted into their own world made for two. Gwenna followed his gaze towards the unusually quiet and now pale Alice and Eli, this new person Gwenna would one day get to know better – and maybe even like.
“Yes. I’m certain,” said Mr Woodman.
