“Lady Marjorie’s journal stated that Alys would be getting married after Christmastide, so several weeks after the license was issued. That suggests that the couple was in no rush to be wed.”
“So, what you’re saying is she wasn’t pregnant.”
“Exactly. Had she been, they would have married as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, that makes sense,” I agreed.
“So, we now know for certain that her son James was the issue of her husband, Peter Warren.”
“But why did everyone refer to her as Alys Bailey if she was indeed Mistress Warren?” I asked. “Surely everyone knew she was married. And why did they question the paternity of her child?”
“I did wonder about that, and here’s my theory. Alys was a local girl, while this Peter was probably from Chesterfield, hence the marriage license made out for the parish of Chesterfield. He wouldn’t have been well known to the villagers. Perhaps he was someone she’d met at the manor when his master came to visit the Lockwoods. The villagers simply referred to her by the name they were used to, out of habit. As for the child, perhaps they thought she had been unfaithful to her husband. We’ll never know, of course, but this is very interesting. Very interesting indeed,” Jonah reiterated.
“We still don’t know if she was a witch,” I said, rather sulkily. “And, if her husband was from Chesterfield, why did she not go live with him? She remained in the village and was hanged at Ashcombe Manor. That doesn’t tie in with what we now know.”
“Perhaps her husband traveled a lot as part of his duties and they decided to settle in the village, where Alys would be close to her family and the people she’d known her whole life. We also know that she was thought to be a witch, which was as close to being a witch as one could get during that time. Anything from herbal cures to the family cat could be used as proof of witchcraft if someone was determined to make the accusation stick. This is probably as close to the truth as we’re going to get. But now that we know she was married, we can assume that the child was most likely taken by her husband. He must have spirited him away to keep him safe.”
“Yes, you’re probably right there,” I agreed. “I do hope that’s the case. I would hate to think the child was murdered along with the mother.”
“Incidentally, have you seen any evidence of haunting?” Jonah asked.
I paused to consider his question. Lockwood Hall was a creepy old house, especially at night, but what I had seen and heard were the normal sounds of a house settling, the moaning of the wind in the rafters, and possibly the tolling of a bell that had been silent for decades. It was possible that the wind had been strong enough to shift the bell and force the clapper to strike the side hard enough for the sound to reverberate across the open water. Nothing sinister in that. Did I feel Alys’s presence? The honest answer was no.
“No, I can’t say that I have,” I admitted.
“I see,” Jonah said, sounding disappointed. Maybe he had hoped he would be called in to perform a ritual that would send Alys on her way. “Do you have enough material for your book?”
“I think so. The evidence is actually fairly straightforward if you consider it without becoming emotionally involved or searching for hidden motives. Alys Bailey grew up in Ashcombe, worked at the manor for a time, then met and married Peter Warren. The two had a child. She did something to arouse Lady Marjorie’s suspicion and was accused and found guilty of witchcraft, and sentenced to hang. Unable to help his wife, Peter Warren fled with the child.”
“Yes, that does sound disappointingly straightforward. I always hoped there was more to the story, but it seems she was just another victim of the witch hunt that gripped the nation during the reign of James I, a young woman who died because she’d rubbed someone the wrong way.”
“All we can do is give her back her voice by telling her story,” I said.
“Much good it will do her,” Jonah said sadly. “Well, I’d best be going. Tanya is expecting me home for lunch.”
“Thank you for your help, Jonah,” I said.
“You’re very welcome. And if you have any desire to mention my name in the acknowledgements, I won’t be too upset,” he added. I could hear him smiling over the phone.
“I will absolutely mention your name. Without you, I wouldn’t have a story.”
“Happy to help,” he said again. “Do stop into the vicarage before you leave for London.”
“I will,” I promised, and rang off. I glanced at my watch. I could break for lunch or keep working. As eager as I was to tell Kyle of Jonah’s findings, I decided to skip lunch and ask Lisa for a sandwich later. Now that I had started, I needed to keep working. Kyle and I would go out to dinner later, and I’d fill him in and run my outline past him. I looked forward to his input.
Chapter 63
Jeremy
Rain lashed at the windows, the sullen morning leaching all light from the normally bright study. A pool of candlelight settled on the open pages of the ledger, but Jeremy’s attention wasn’t on the figures. He was thinking about Alys, wondering whether she might be with child again. She’d been pale and tired these past few weeks, a faraway look in her eyes. Jeremy supposed it was too soon to tell, since she had yet to get her courses after Jamie’s birth, but it was certainly possible. The prospect of another child neither pleased nor displeased him. Children were a natural consequence of love, and he loved her often, and
