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Thursday, 9th July 1908
Kirsty arrived at the breakfast table the next morning to find her aunt reading the Dundee Courier with a frown on her face.
‘There has been another murder,’ she said without looking up from the newspaper. ‘Apparently, it happened after a meeting on Tuesday.’ She laid the paper on the table and fixed her eyes on Kirsty. ‘Wasn’t that the meeting you attended?’
‘Yes, Aunt Bea.’ Kirsty held her breath, anticipating her aunt’s next comment.
‘In the circumstances, I think you should return home. It would be safer than Dundee.’
Kirsty leaned forward and grasped both her aunt’s hands in her own.
‘Not yet,’ she pleaded. ‘I can’t desert Martha when she’s lost her best friend to this maniac.’
‘She was a friend of Martha’s?’ Bea stared at Kirsty with an expression of horror on her face.
‘Yes – you met her on Sunday. The lady you were sitting beside.’
‘Oh, dear. Such a nice lady. I remember thinking, if every suffragette was like her, they would be much easier to accept.’
‘You must see, Aunt Bea? I can’t leave Martha in her hour of need. At least let me stay until after Constance’s funeral.’
‘I do understand. But I worry, dear.’
‘I’ll continue to be careful and only go out during the daytime. Please, Aunt Bea.’
‘Very well. It is against my better judgement, but you can stay here until the funeral. After that, you must return home to your parents.’