The Body on the Beach (The Weymouth Trilogy)

It was when
Kathryn’s husband hit her
for the first time that
she realised the enormity of the mistake she had made in marrying him.

It had all come out of nowhere. Even once it had happened, even after she had gone through the incident time and time again in her mind, she could not for the life of her think what it was that had led him to do it. Perhaps it was a look.
Perhaps it was a word she had used.
Perhaps it was an inflexion
, a tone
.
Perhaps it had been nothing
at all
to do with her. Giles might have been responding to some other incident, real or imagined, and she had just happened to be in the way at the time. But whatever
the reason
, and why ever he had felt the need to strike out at her and knock her to the ground, the overwhelming love that she had felt for him until that very day evaporated as if it had never, ever existed.

He had been instantly remo
rseful. He had picked her up, held her in his arms, caressed her, cried with her. He
had
promised her, faithfully, that he would never ever hit her –
never
try
to hurt her ever again. And for a few days he had been as good as his word. He had been
affectionate
, caring. He had
stayed with her, been helpful, keen
,
anxious almost
,
to look after her and do her bidding. He had resisted the lure of the card tables in Harvey’s library where he had played – and lost – so many times before. He had resisted the draw of
the Osmington
‘
Crown
’
– the
camaraderie
, the excitement of the smugglers, the temptation of Susie, the serving maid.
He had been the man, in short, that she had thought that he was. The man
that
she had been so keen and so excited to marry only a few short months before.

Then, one afternoon,
one of Giles’ drinking partners turned up at the door. It had been
cold and
wet for several days and Kathryn could tell that Giles was getting
tetchy. He had picked on
Bob for s
ome trivial misdemeanour and
shouted
so ferociously
at him that the poor little lad had scu
ttled
, petrified, to his m
ama
’s arms. Bob was not a brave child at the best of times. He w
as quiet and serious, like his pap
a
had been
. It wasn’t necessary to shout at him like that. So when ‘Cutlass’ Chard had appeared at the door and demanded that Giles accompany him to the drinking dens of Weymouth she had been very pleased to see him pick up his greatcoat, and go.

He got back quite early, before Kathryn had gone to bed, full of a scheme and bursting to tell her about it. And i
ndeed, it sounded quite
wonder
ful
. Cutlass had asked Giles to take some jewellery up to sell in London. He had
n
o
t said where he had got it
,
and it was always better not to know.

‘So how about we both go there? It’ll make a nice change for you, to go up to Town for a few weeks
, Kitty
. You can dress up in your
pretty
outfits and we can see the sights and go to
the circus
. What do you think?’

Kathryn was thrilled.

‘Oh, it
sounds
perfectly
delightful
, Giles. I can ask Aunt Shepherd to come and keep ho
use and look after
Bob
while we
’
re awa
y.
I can’t expect poor Sally to do everything on her own.
I’
m sure
my aunt will
help out
– i
t
’
ll make a change for her as well.’

‘Yes, you do that. You’d better be quick about it, though. Cutlass wants his
kelter
as soo
n as possible
so I told him I’d set off tomorrow.’

Kathryn was taken aback.

‘Tomorrow?’

‘Yes. That’s what I said, wasn’t it?’

‘But I can
’
t possibly be ready to go to Town tomorrow. Why, how do you expect me to get Aunt Shepherd here in time
?
There
’
s no way
that
I can walk ov
er
to Weymouth
in the dark – it would take me
more than
an hour to get there
– and she
’
ll be in bed by now anyway
. And even then she might not be able to come at the drop of a hat.
She has her income to think of and
I really...’

‘Stop it, woman.’ Giles had sudd
enly switched from almost
boy
ish
delight into a
raging,
black inferno. He
threw himself toward
s
her and tore her sewing from her hands. ‘I
thought you would like the idea. We could have spent some time together, on our own.
We could have enjoyed ourselves for a change.
We never enjoy ourselves any more.
I
might have known
that
yo
u
’
d try to ruin everything. Canno
t do this. Can
no
t do that.
Cannot do the other.
Do you want to come to London with me, or do
n’t you
?’

Kathryn looked up at him. She was feeling a little afraid.

‘Of course I do, Giles. There
’
s nothing
that I
’
d like better
than to come with you
. But I h
ave responsibilities. Much as I woul
d like to come with you I have Bob to think of, and Tom and Sally to inform. I would need a few days to get myself ready. Can it not wait until
Thursday or Friday? I’
m sure I could
be ready by then.’

‘Did you not listen to me
at all
,
you stupid
mort? I have already said that I have to go tomorrow. I am not
just
going to please myself and I am certainly not going just to please you. This trip is wor
th an amount of money to me. It i
s a business trip. You can come with me if you wish to but you can only come on my terms. Otherwise just sta
y at home with that precious brat
of yours. I’ll go there on my own.’

Giles towered above her for a moment. He seemed to be expecting a reply. Kathryn could
n’t
look at him. The anger on his face was too awful to behold.

‘Well?’

She shrugged her shoulders hopelessly.

‘Well?’ – very loudly this time.

‘I’
m sorry, Giles. I cannot go with you so immediately. You know it cannot be done.
If Aunt Shepherd still resided with us perhaps it could have been done. But since you ordered her away...
’

‘Oh, so it’
s
my
fault, is it? It’
s
my
fault that you cannot get off your lazy fat backside and sort something out when I invite you for a jaunt. Nothing about it being
your
fault that you are burdened with a child to look after. Nothing about it being
your
fault that the
re’s scarcely enough
money to keep
body and soul together
. Oh no
.
Nothing about that at all. It’
s never
your
fault,
is it? It’
s strange how it always appears to be
mine
.’

Giles thrust his face close to hers. He was still shouting and she could smell the beer on his breath
. It repelled her. Without realising it,
she recoiled as far into the chair as she could.

‘What are you doing?
’ he yelled. ‘What are you doing?
Eh?
Why do you recoil
from me
like that?
How dare you
move away from me
, you miserable, sullen slut
?
Show me some respect
, woman
– the respect that is due to me as your husband.’

‘I’
m sorry Giles. It i
s just that you frighten me when you shout at me so loud
ly
.’

Giles took her by the shoulders. He shook her very hard.

‘So I frighten you, do I? Good – I should think so too. How does this frighten you?’ (Moving his hands to her neck and squeezing it a little). ‘How does this frighten you? Eh? You don’t yet know the meaning of fear
but I can show you if you like.’

Kathryn was quaking as she struggled for breath under his thumbs.

‘Please, Giles – please stop doing that – you are hurting me again. There is no reason to be annoyed with me. You know I would come with you if I could...’

‘
How dare you answer back to me? How dare you
even think of it
? Go to your room
, you common whore
. Now. Go to your room before I change my mind
and throw you out of the house
.’

He
released her neck and
stepped back a foot or so
. Quivering
and
coughing
and gasping for breath
, Kathryn crept out of her chair and ran. He marked her escape with a great kick
to her leg
. She hardly noticed the pain. She was just relieved that he had let her go. She took up her skirts and
made for the stairs. She reach
ed her room and locked the door behind her. Then she locked the door that joined her chamber to his
, keeping the key in the lock
. Only then did she feel able to breathe
a little more
easily
again
.

It was a stormy night
. T
he wind and driving rain batter
ed
the house relentlessly from the east.
For hour upon hour she listened as it lashed the
building
, screaming round the corners, drumming on the panes.
On a normal night it probably wouldn’t have kept her awake.
She was used to storms like this.
Tonight, though, it seemed to
be feeding on
Kathryn’s own
sensations. It kept her awake f
or hours until it gradually blew itself out and she finally drifted
into a fitful
, restless
sleep
.