The River of Souls (12 page)

“All I want to know is,” Magnus said, with an air of desperation, “
how
did this happen? Why would a slave kill Miss Sarah?” 

“Why would
anybody
kill Miss Sarah?” Granny Pegg came forward from her pew to stand before them. “Not meanin’ no disrespect to either of you fine gen’lmen…but things you hear said…ain’t always how things are.” 

“I’m listening,” said Matthew. 

“But I cain’t tell, suh, ’cause what I might say would be agin’ the law…and you bein’ the law…well suh, I cain’t speak it.” 

Matthew was confounded by this, but he realized what Granny Pegg was telling him. Something had happened here in accordance with Sarah Kincannon’s murder that was also a violation of the law, and therefore the elderly woman believed herself to be walking on dangerous ground by going any further. Still…she had something important to convey, and he had to find a way to allow it. 

“Do you know why Abram murdered Sarah?” he asked. 

“Don’t know that Abram
did
murder Miss Sarah,” was the reply. “Know Cap’n Gunn say he saw Abram standin’ over Miss Sarah holdin’ a knife, out back of the barn, and her lyin’ still on the ground.” 

“Who is this Captain Gunn?” Matthew asked. 

“Joel Gunn, the second overseer,” Magnus supplied. 

“Two overseers here? Joel Gunn and Griffin Royce?” 

Granny Pegg nodded. “Peas in a pod,” she said. 

“This happened when? A little more than an hour ago, I’m guessing?” 

“Happened after dark, yes’suh. Happened after the time we’s forbid to leave our houses, down in the quarter. Ain’t supposed to be no slaves nowhere near that barn or so close to the big house after that time.” 

“Yet Abram
was
there? Why?” 

Granny Pegg simply stared impassively at him, and Matthew thought she knew why but could not tell. 

At last she seemed to reconsider her silence, and she drew a long breath before she spoke. “Mars is my grandson. Abram and Tobey my
great
-grandsons. My son and daughter…long sold off, to another plantation in Virginia. They’s old now…like their momma. Well, I wish I could die but I just keep on livin’. They tease me…say when I die they gonna roll me up like a piece of parchment, I’ll be so thin. But I keep on livin’.” She offered the faintest and most tormented of smiles. Her eyes gleamed in the candlelight. “If I can ask…what is your name?” 

“Matthew Corbett.” 

“Oh yes, I remember Miss Sarah sayin’ so. Matt’ew,” she pronounced it. She came forward two steps more, now only a few feet away from him and Magnus. “If I told you that Abram did
not
kill Miss Sarah, would you believe me?” 

“I don’t know,” Matthew said truthfully. 

“Fair enough, suh,” she answered, with a lifting of her sharp little chin. “If I told you them men the bell called are gonna go out there and hunt and kill three innocent slaves…and let the real killer hide behind more killin’…what would you say back to me?” 

“I’d say…I need proof of that.” 

“Ain’t no proof to be got. That’s the trick of it. That’s what he’s hidin’ behind.” 

“Who?” Magnus was confused and far beyond his depth. “The slave?” 

“The killer,” said Granny Pegg, still staring into Matthew’s eyes. “Not my Abram.” 

Matthew asked, “And then, in your opinion, who
did
kill Sarah?” 

“Somebody jealous as fury. Somebody wantin’ her all for hisself, when she wanted nothin’ to do with him. Somebody who misstook what Miss Sarah and Abram were doin’, there in that barn, over many nights.” 

“You have an opinion as to who this
somebody
might be?” 

“Cain’t prove it. That’s the trick.” 

Before Matthew could respond to this, the chapel’s door opened and a man and woman entered. The woman came in first, was obviously startled by the presence of others than Granny Pegg in the room, and she drew herself up short. “Mr. Muldoon?” she said, and then with a wary look at Matthew through swollen and red-rimmed eyes, “And who are
you
, sir?” 

Matthew introduced himself. The woman would have been very lovely if not for the suffering in her face. She was perhaps in her mid-thirties and had the same dimpled cheeks and light blond hair as her daughter, for this was surely Madam Kincannon. Her eyes had been tortured by tears and were as black as a tropical storm. She wore a dark blue gown with a ruffle of white lace at the throat, and she was trying very hard to comport herself with dignity and stand tall in this blood-scented chamber, yet her shoulders kept wanting to bend forward under the heavy weight of tragedy. 

“I met your daughter today,” Matthew explained. “I was passing by on my way to see Mr. Muldoon. I also met your husband, in Jubilee. May I ask what his condition is?” 

“He is abed,” the woman answered. “He lies still with his eyes open and is unable to speak. A rider has gone to fetch Dr. Stevenson. May I ask what you’re doing in this chapel? This is private property.” 

“My apologies, but I wished to see the body.” 

“
Private property
,” Madam Kincannon repeated. “Pegg, why did you let them in here? I told you…no one was to enter. I had my doubts about asking you to watch over her…since it was your blood who did this. But I thought you could be trusted as a good friend to Sarah!” 

“I’se sorry, ma’am,” the slave answered with her head lowered. “I think they was just leavin’.” 

“Get out, the both of you!” growled the man, who was maybe forty or so, was thick-waisted and corpulent and sported the red flush of anger in his heavy jowls. He had curly blond hair receding from a broad forehead and a small blond beard designed to hide the roll of fleshy dough beneath his chin. His eyes were dark blue and dangerous below wild blond brows that aimed sprouts of hair in every direction, and he carried at his side an equally dangerous-looking musket. He wore a plain white shirt, tan trousers, white stockings and brown boots. 

“This is Joel Gunn,” said Magnus casually, as if Matthew hadn’t already guessed. 

“
Get out!
” Gunn repeated, harsher still. He took a step forward and made a motion as if to raise the musket to a firing position. “
This minute!
” 

“Surely,” Matthew said to Madam Kincannon, “you wouldn’t have Mr. Gunn defile this chapel and your time of sorrow with another killing, would you?” He kept his voice calm and his expression tranquil. “I did enjoy meeting your daughter today. She seemed a delightful young woman. It is a terrible shock to see her lying like this. But do you mind if I ask a few questions…if just to salve my own curiosity?” 

“What are these questions?” Now some red was creeping into the woman’s cheeks. “How
dare
you come in here and invade our time of mourning!” 

“I will tell you that I am from New York, that I am an associate of a company called the Herrald Agency, based in London, and I am a…” Matthew paused for a few seconds, and then he went on. “I have experience in investigating crimes, madam. Including the crime of murder. I am possibly the closest representative of the law that you’re going to find tonight. If you’ll allow me, I’ll offer my help to you in whatever way I can.” 

“We need no help!” Gunn said, with another step forward. “And you ain’t the law! Are you a constable, or ain’t you?” 

“Not a constable, sir, but—” 

“Then you ain’t the law! Mrs. Kincannon wants you out of here! Now
move
!” This time the musket did come up, aimed between Matthew and Magnus. 

Matthew did not move. His heart was pounding, but he levelled a cool gaze at Joel Gunn and stood his ground. “Sir,” he said, “did Abram have the knife in his right hand or his left?” 

“
What?
” 

“I understand you saw the slave standing over Sarah’s body, holding the knife. Was it in his left hand or his right?” 

“His right hand! He’s right-handed, I know that for sure!” 

“And—pardon me for asking this, madam, but…how was Sarah lying on the ground? On her back or on her stomach?” 

“Her stomach. She’d tried to run away from him and he’d stabbed her in the back a half-dozen times. But maybe she was on her side, I don’t know. When I ran to get Griff and we came back, she was lyin’ on her stomach.” 

“
Please
,” said Madam Kincannon, who held up a trembling hand and had to lower herself onto a pew. 

Matthew doggedly went on, though he knew the pain Sarah’s mother was feeling; he was going by instinct and by what Granny Pegg had said. “So…you had a lantern with you? You could positively tell this was Abram standing over Miss Sarah?” 

“I had a lantern. I shone it right at him when I came around the side of the barn, he wasn’t standin’ ten feet away. Took him by surprise. He looked at me, flung the knife aside and took off runnin’ down to the quarter. I hollered at him and tried to give chase, but he’s a fast one. Then I knelt down beside Miss Sarah, but she was…I’m sorry for stirrin’ this up, Mrs. Kincannon…she was already dead, or near enough she couldn’t speak, and…the blood was everywhere. I figured I needed to tell somebody quick, so I ran to Griff’s house.” The man glowered at Matthew. “What’s the use of these questions? Abram stabbed Miss Sarah to death, and that’s what happened.” He glanced with disdain at Granny Pegg. “We’re goin’ up that river to get ’em, father and brother too. If they won’t come back easy, it’ll be all the worse for ’em.” 

Matthew wasn’t done, and he didn’t intend for Joel Gunn to push him aside. “How was Abram holding the knife, sir? By the blade? By the handle?” 

“By the handle, of course!” 

“So you assume he’d just finished his work a few seconds before you arrived?” 

“Sir!
Please!
” The lady had pressed a hand against her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut. “Dear Lord…please spare us these questions!” 

“I saw what I saw,” said Gunn, with defiance in his fleshy face. “Abram killed Miss Sarah. He was standin’ there with the bloody knife in his hand. Then he ran, and now he’s out on the river with his kin tryin’ to escape judgment. What more is there to know?” 

“Well,” said Matthew, turning his attention to the woman, “what was your daughter doing out there, after dark? Did she leave the house alone? Was she meeting someone? And what would’ve been the
reason
Abram killed your daughter? Do you have any idea?” 

Suddenly Joel Gunn was in his face, and Gunn had sweat on his cheeks and showed the brown stubs of his teeth when he seethed, “They’re
animals
, mister! If you don’t have slaves, you don’t know, but they’ve got to be watched during the day and kept away from the big house at night! They’re the beasts of the field, and every man of them could be a killer if it lit his fancy! The women too! You can’t turn your back on any of ’em, or you’ll get what Miss Sarah got!” 

“Settle down,” Magnus advised, towering over Joel Gunn and Matthew as well. “And watch where you’re aimin’ that shooter!” 

“Leave this place at
once
!” Mrs. Kincannon had regained her strength, if not her composure, and stood up. Even so, she wavered on her feet. “Get out before I shoot you myself!” 

“As you wish,” Matthew answered calmly. “But as I’ve said, I have experience in situations like this.” He glanced quickly at Granny Pegg and then back to Mrs. Kincannon. “I have one request, and it’s very important.” He paused for a few seconds, to let that sink in if it would. “I know this is a difficult and terrible time. I know I’ve come in here—blundered in here, might be more accurate—in what seems to you to be the end of the world. I do have some…skills in this area—” 

“What do we need
you
for?” Gunn growled. “Abram did it, pure and simple! When Griff ran up to the big house to tell ’em, I went down to the quarters and found out Abram and the others were gone. Then I got to the wharf and saw they’d broken into the boathouse! I seen ’em in their boat paddlin’ up the Solstice! They had a torch lit, I could see ’em all! So you just step aside—and you too, Muldoon—and let justice be done!” 

There was a moment of silence, in which Matthew thought he had lost the cause. 

But then the quiet but determined voice said, “Thass why we does need this man, Cap’n Gunn. So justice
will
be done.” 

Gunn looked as if he’d been struck across the face. So too did Mrs. Kincannon. Matthew figured it was unheard-of for a slave—even a woman as elderly as Granny Pegg—to contradict a white man, and especially an overseer. He realized she had decided that it was time to speak up, if ever she was going to, no matter what the consequences might be. 

“Say my great-grandson stabbed Miss Sarah to death?” she went on, both commanding the floor and tempting fate. “Say you saw him with a knife in his hand? But you didn’t see him
use
that knife, did you? Couldn’t he have just found it, and picked it up? And for the why of Abram bein’ there, and Miss Sarah too…I’ll tell you that it was agin’ the law, as set down by Massa Kincannon.” Granny Pegg stared fixedly at Matthew. “For some time…a month or more…Miss Sarah and my great-grandson been meetin’ in that barn at night, after the forbidden hour. He say she always kind to him, and he say she always brought two things with her: a lantern and a book. She was teachin’ Abram how to
read
. So why under the eyes of God would he kill her?” 

“Because he’s an animal like all the rest of ’em!” Joel Gunn sounded nearly choked with rage. “Because he wanted Miss Sarah for himself and couldn’t have her! Who knows why? I just know she’s dead and he killed her! And teachin’ a slave to
read
? That’s a damned lie!” He trembled, and for a moment Matthew thought the musket was going to come up to finish Granny Pegg’s last day on earth. “Mrs. Kincannon’s told you to get out! Now
get
!” 

The lady of the plantation had been staring at the floor, supporting herself with both hands gripping the back of the pew before her. She spoke, in a ragged voice. “It’s not a lie. Sarah
was
teaching Abram to read. She told me, two weeks ago. I said I didn’t approve of it…that if her father found out, he would punish the entire quarter. Donovant does not like the whip, but he would’ve had a man from every house lashed for that crime. And punished Sarah too, in some way. At first I forbade it…but Sarah was going to do it anyway. I know her.” She looked, anguished and red-eyed, at her daughter’s corpse. “Sarah had talked to Abram before. Said she thought he was very smart, and could learn to read. She so loved her books…she wanted to share them. I didn’t wish anyone to be lashed or Sarah to be punished…so I helped her sneak in and out of the house after dark without breaking her neck climbing out an upstairs window. I gave her one hour, from leaving to return. I told her to be very careful that she wasn’t seen by anyone. That would cause problems. Tonight…when she didn’t come back…I knew….I
knew
something terrible had happened.” Dazedly, she shook her head from side to side. “I’m to blame for this. And for what’s happened to Donovant too. Yes. I’m to blame.” A sob came up from her throat, and she clenched a hand around her mouth as if to catch it before it was born ugly upon the world. “But
why
?” she gasped. “Why would he have killed her?”