The Mysterious Death of Mr. Darcy (67 page)

She bent to kiss Darcy's forehead. “Rest. We have plenty of time to renew our acquaintance. I have missed you.”

“And I you,” he said with a smile.

The countess started for the door. “By the way, I should tell you that I thoroughly approve of your choice of Mrs. Darcy as your wife. Any woman who risks what Mrs. Darcy did to save you is of the first tier. Her connections are of no consequence.”

“The lady's connections are my connections, Cynthia. Elizabeth is all I require for my happiness.”

The colonel arrived for their nightly game of chess. Darcy had remained in bed for three days, and he thought he might go insane if he had to spend many more days in his quarters. “Thank goodness, you are early,” he said in greeting.

The colonel assumed the chair Darcy's many visitors had used over the past few days. “I have heard from Cowan,” Edward announced. The Runner had seen Stowbridge, the magistrate's wife, and Gaylord to London. With the truth of the trio's crimes becoming common knowledge, Edward and Cowan had thought it best if the threesome were removed from area.

“And?”

Edward relaxed into the chair. “It appears Cowan had the right of it to take McKye with him for additional protection: Stowbridge attempted to kill both his wife and Gaylord.”

“Then our assumptions proved true?” When he and Edward had deconstructed the crimes, they had come to the conclusion that Gaylord had been Mrs. Stowbridge's current lover.

“Even more nefarious than we anticipated,” the colonel shared. “Merrick Gaylord was actually Merripen Gry, the man with whom the Baronesa had made her escape all those years before. They had been together all this time. The man is Andrzej Gry's father.”

Darcy's recognition arrived. “Mr. Gaylord was the man I saw climbing from the back of the gypsy wagon when we called unexpectedly about the horses.” He hated that he saw everything so clearly in hindsight.

Edward added, “It is likely why Andrzej asked that you send for him. If we called upon the band without notice, we would likely have found Merripen leading his people.”

“I should have noted how both the housekeeper and young Gry referred to my cousin as
Mr. Samuel
. No one else used the appellation in speaking of Samuel Darcy. If I had taken notice, we could have saved ourselves many headaches.” It was too late to regret the blinders he had worn during the past several weeks.

“And what of the Baronesa's relationship with Glover?” Because of his interest in the answer, Darcy pushed himself higher in the bed.

Edward steepled his fingers and then folded his hands across his waist. “As Mrs. Darcy previously discovered in Samuel's journals, your father's cousin had received news from Mr. O'Grady of a woman who matched Mrs. Ridgeway's description. O'Grady spoke of a woman who lured men with a promise of marriage and then did away with her suitors. What we did not know is the woman had an accomplice: a surgeon, a man who paid for the bodies she provided.”

“Glover,” Darcy said in amazement.

Edward nodded his agreement. “Likely, if we had discovered the bodies of any of Mrs. Stowbridge's suitors early on, we would have recognized how each had been a victim of an anatomy lesson. However, as the bodies were badly decomposed, we had no means to recognize the degradation exacted upon the bodies. The markings on Mr. Bates's grave were meant to divert attention from their true intent. To place the blame on the coven.”

“Did Glover and the housekeeper arrive in Dorset at the same time?” Darcy's interest had piqued.

“According to the Holbrooks, they did.” The colonel hesitated for a fraction of a second. “Likely, the surgeon and the woman singled out your cousin on his return journey from America.”

Darcy's mind raced with possibilities. “Glover's examination room?”

“Was used for anatomy lessons,” Edward confirmed. “Mr. Newby has verified that he attended several such sessions in Mr. Glover's quarters. Of course, no one suspected from whence Glover had acquired the bodies. The late surgeon was a respected teacher in his students' appraisals. Evidently, the housekeeper convinced Glover to use her son and several others from the gypsy band as his body snatchers. Glover's minions were given permission to line their pockets with whatever jewels or coins they could discover within the coffins. The man who escaped the night Besnik was killed was Vandlo Pias, which explains how Mrs. Stowbridge manipulated the gypsy into his attack upon Mrs. Darcy. The housekeeper must have threatened to speak to the authorities if Pias did not exact revenge for your interference in the Baronesa's life.”

Darcy shook his head in belief. “No wonder we struggled with making sense of this puzzle: There were multiple culprits and multiple motives.”

Edward clapped his hands in anticipation of the game. “Enough of this maudlin history. I came to best you in a game of chess.”

“It has been a long time since you have won, Cousin,” Darcy reminded him. “What makes you believe today is your day?” The smile had returned to Darcy's lips.

Edward set up the board on a small table. “I plan to play on your guilt by reminding you of the danger I faced in liberating you from your grave.”

“If you mean to blackmail me, Colonel, you have sorely misconstrued my kindness on your behalf.” A chuckle and a knowing nod of affection proved the strength of their everlasting relationship.

His wife slipped into his bed well after the hour that country society would have retired. Newby had removed the bullet in Darcy's shoulder and had properly stitched the knife wound, but Darcy held no qualms about plastering his wife's warmth along his frame. Elizabeth was his healing balm. “You went to the nursery again,” he said as he snuggled into the curve of Elizabeth's neck.

“I want a dozen children, Fitzwilliam,” she announced without preamble. Her breath warmed his chest. “May we return to Pemberley soon and make beautiful babies to fill its halls?”

He smiled against her skin. “I knew you would find inspiration in the Sandersons' brood.”

Elizabeth crawled up his body. “I miss our home, Fitzwilliam. I miss the park and Pemberley House and Georgiana and Mrs. Reynolds.”

“I thought you wished to call in at Hertfordshire?” he said with hesitation.

Elizabeth kissed the line of his chin. “May I not ask Kitty and Papa to come for a visit? I have no desire for my mother's drama in my life. I wish to know Papa's calming presence and my sister's spontaneity. Papa would be happy to live in Pemberley's library, and Georgiana requires another young lady with whom to share her secrets and desires. All girls should have multiple sisters.” Clutching at Darcy's arm, Elizabeth pressed her cheek against Darcy's chest.

He rested his cheek against the top of Elizabeth's head. “And what of you, Elizabeth?”

Her emerald eyes flashed with a familiar fire. Her chin jutted upward. “I require only one thing to know happiness: you, Fitzwilliam Darcy. I wish to return to Pemberley where I might nurse my husband to health and where we might finally know the happiness of a family of our own.”

Darcy kissed her tenderly. “We could begin our family tonight,” he suggested.

She peppered his chest with a series of kisses. “Are you well enough?”

Darcy chuckled. “Not well enough to demonstrate my love to my wife? I can assure you, my love, that possibility does not exist.” He kissed Elizabeth again with more passion. “To tonight, Lizzy. To a new beginning.”

She accepted his kiss eagerly. “To a dozen Darcy children.”

Internal Decapitation

A rare medical condition, atlanto-occipital dislocation or internal decapitation, occurs when the skull separates from the spinal column during severe head injury. With nerve damage, severance of the spinal cord, or strangling, the injury is nearly always fatal. Although this situation sounds as if it is a recent discovery, the idea of internal decapitation is the basis behind any hanging, in which a person's neck is broken under his own weight. Although survival of atlanto-occipital dislocation is a long-standing medical mystery, in the past eight years, there have been numerous cases of people surviving severe injuries of this nature. Generally in such cases, neurosurgeons perform an occipital cervical fusion to keep the head from coming off the spine.

Belle Gunness

The character of Mrs. Ridgeway is based on the real-life Belle Gunness, a woman known for the many murders she committed. Belle was the archetypal black widow killer. She attracted multiple husbands and suitors, many of whom she murdered for their money. Using cyanide, Belle would dispatch her “loved ones.” At 280 pounds, she was also ready to rid herself of her latest “lover” by striking the man with a hammer or an ax.

Born Brynhild Paulsdatter Storset on November 11, 1859, in the Norwegian fishing village of Selbu, she emigrated to Chicago in 1881. Among those who lost their lives at Belle's hands were her husbands: Mads Sorenson and Peter Gunness. Belle often advertised in Norwegian-language newspapers for a “relationship.” Those who arrived in La Porte, Indiana, to meet the “comely” widow often did not return home. Farmhands on Belle's farm sometimes went missing, as did her foster daughter Jennie.

In April 1908, a fire at Belle's house left behind the bodies of two of Belle's foster children, as well as an adult female's body. Identifying the body was difficult because it had been decapitated. When investigators searched the site for the missing head, they discovered fourteen other corpses on the farmland. They were able to identify two handymen, Belle's foster daughter Jennie, and five of the Norwegian suitors. Belle Gunness was the U.S.'s first known serial killer.

Cemetery Alarm

When I lived in Columbus, Ohio, I often traveled to Huntington, West Virginia, to visit my mother. In doing so, I would cross Pickaway County and the Circleville area of Ohio. On one of those excursions, I discovered a little-known fact: A man named Thomas Howell had patented (in 1881) an exploding device commonly called a “grave torpedo.” If someone attempted to rob a grave protected by the device, the torpedo would explode, killing the robbers. In the 1800s, many medical schools would rob fresh graves to find cadavers for teaching purposes. The Church objected to the dissections, and only those who died in mental institutions or were put to death for their crimes were readily available to the medical students.

In Ohio, the body of John Scott Harrison, the father of future President Benjamin Harrison, disappeared. His body was later found dangling from a rope in a hidden shaft at a medical college. Attempts were even made to rob the grave of Abraham Lincoln.

History Detectives
episode 703, titled “Cemetery Alarm” from series 7 devotes itself to the story of Howell's invention and of the prevalence of grave robbing during the 1800s. One can view the full episode at
http://video.pbs.org/video/1169415042
.