With the militia befriending him, Ackroyd became very important, and took Cragg to the alleged site of the attack, where a hammer and an axe were found. Both had the initials F.A. embossed on them.
Felix Alderman eventually confessed to the murder of Mary Shire, and was subsequently charged to a public execution.
Although this local history was gruesome, more shocking to Charley was finding out that Felix had, unbeknown to him, fathered a child to his maid Mary, a boy called Adam. After Mary’s mother, who had continued to look after Adam after her daughter’s death, lost her husband to tuberculosis, it was reported that she went to see Catherine Alderman, Felix’s unmarried sister, who agreed to take Adam into the Alderman home and raise him. Adam was reported to be a sickly child, yet he went on to live until he was at least 92 years old, according to the census that Charley checked against. That made Adam Alderman the last known family member, and resident, of Crownest. There were no known living relatives on his death.
‘You really couldn’t make this up!’ gasped Charley, as she leaned forward to click into another thread on Google which told Charley that, after Felix’s death, Seth and Catherine remained at Crownest, with the little boy. The family, although still wealthy, had become somewhat reclusive. According to local midwife Agnes Pritchard, incest was reported amongst brother and sister. She, it was noted, had been paid handsomely for her silence about helping to deliver a stillborn to Catherine who later went on to emigrate to Australia. However, before Agnes Pritchard went to meet her maker, she fully confessed her sins in order to cleanse her soul, and admitted to the burning of the body.
Charley was riveted by the knowledge she had gleaned, some of it confirmation of what she had already heard from her granny and local rumour. She paused from her research to stand and she went to look out at the window on to the darkened night sky, with numerous questions swimming around in her head. ‘Why would Catherine not take Adam with her to Australia, rather than leave him, a little boy she had sworn to look after, with her brother Seth?
Down on the ground, from her office window, Charley saw the thickness of the snowfall. How long she had been reading she did not know, but her stomach was rumbling, and it was apparent to her that she would be better off staying where she was for the rest of the night rather than attempting to cross the seven miles of open country roads, and moorland to get home. Compelled to read on, but alone in the office, she made herself a coffee, and after searching her handbag, she retrieved a packet of peanuts in a crumpled packet.
On researching further, she discovered that Seth had married a Lucinda, the daughter of the sexton at the nearby church of St Anne’s. However, as much as she tried, Charley could not find any more information about the life and times of Lucinda Alderman. She knew from local tales that Seth had blamed Catherine for coming between him and Lucinda, but reading between the lines, Charley surmised that Seth’s growing dependency on opiates and alcohol were the problem, not his sister.
After Catherine’s exile shortly after, Seth was reported to develop depression, or the ‘black dog’. A report from his doctor brought home to Charley his depths of despair: ‘He didn’t sleep, he rarely ate, and became a veritable recluse, drinking himself into a stupor most days. Huge mounds of dirt were found in piles in the back yard, and on the odd occasion he was seen, he would have a shovel in his hand. There was talk at that time that Seth Alderman had lost his mind.’
Not twelve months from Catherine’s departure, he was found dead.
The Alderman’s family history consumed her thoughts, night and day. Three days later, as Charley sat at her desk waiting for her team’s morning briefing, she came across the document that had been placed on her desk. Full report into the most recent fire at Crownest. For the attention of Detective Inspector Charley Mann. Charley, eager to read more, picked up the papers.
The information provided suggested that the recent fire at Crownest had been started deliberately and had been reported to the police by Joe Greenwood, the owner of Nevermore Demolition. The only evidence to support this claim was extremely limited and based on the fact that a piece of timber used for boarding up a lower floor window had been forced off, giving access to the lower floor of the unoccupied house. Further to that, the fire officers in attendance had suggested that there was the possibility of accelerants being involved, due to the fire’s ferocity, and two seats of fire had been found. The building itself was said to be structurally unsound, the danger of which Charley had witnessed herself, hence the decision to demolish it now as soon as possible.
Following the disappearance of the Dixons, JT Developments, the original local developer who had shown interest in the property, until the council had refused its original plans, was now back on the scene with approval gained for five detached dwellings on the land. They were eager to move things forward swiftly due to their financial investment, but could shed no further light as to who might want to damage the property or why. After all, the only people to gain from its speedy demolition would be them, wouldn’t it, and the fire had in fact caused a delay. It made no sense for them to be involved.
The report reinforced that an investigation was a non-starter, reasons being:
Isolated location.
No CCTV.
No witnesses.
No positive lines of enquiry to pursue.
This was
