pregnancy.’
‘I know she’s young and the circumstances are hardly ideal, but a child at her age isn’t unheard of and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. Anyway, Christopher clearly cares for her. He would have stood by her if people had been a little more understanding, and he’s got – or at least he had – a solid future.’
‘Christopher?’ Morveth said, surprised. ‘Why should he have to take that on? None of this is his fault, and Jago would never have put up with that.’
‘But you’re surely not suggesting that it was entirely Loveday’s fault? The baby was Christopher’s and he would have faced up to his responsibility once he’d had time to come to terms with it.’
‘No, no – you’ve got that wrong,’ Morveth said. ‘Jago swore there was nothing going on between Christopher and Loveday, and I believe him.’
‘That was wishful thinking, I’m afraid. For some reason, Jago objected very strongly to Loveday, but there’s no question in my mind that the child she lost was Christopher’s.’
So whose baby did Morveth think it was? Josephine wondered. Loveday knew so few people. ‘But Morwenna said… she seemed so sure,’ the older woman whispered, confused, and suddenly Josephine knew exactly what was in her mind.
‘My God,’ she said, horrified, ‘Morwenna thought it was Harry’s baby, didn’t she? She thought it was history repeating itself.’ She turned to Archie, who was staring at her in disbelief. ‘That’s why she felt so betrayed – when Morwenna ended her relationship with Harry, she thought he’d turned to their little sister, either to spite her or – even more unbearable for her – because he had never genuinely loved her.’ As Archie continued to look doubtful, she spoke more forcefully: ‘That’s what she said to me – a bond had been formed behind her back, and now she was on the outside. What else would destroy her so completely? Or make her so resentful of Loveday?’
Archie turned to Morveth. ‘Is this true?’
Slowly, Morveth nodded. ‘She was devastated when she came to me – sick with worry about the effect it would have on Loveday, and hardly able to believe that Harry could do such a thing to her – but she knew the signs. If anyone knew them, Morwenna did.’
‘What signs?’ Archie asked impatiently. This complex web of misplaced certainties and false logic was beginning to irritate him as much as it did Josephine.
‘They were spending lots of time together, disappearing into the woods for hours at a time. And Loveday started being spiteful towards Morwenna, taunting her with the fact that she and Harry had their own secrets now, saying that Harry loved her best.’
‘Surely she had a lot of time to make up for?’ Josephine suggested. ‘Harry and Morwenna had shut her out for so long that you can’t blame her for wanting to get her own back. Do you have brothers and sisters? No? I thought not. Trust me – it’s what siblings do. Nobody takes more triumph from the small victories than a scorned younger sister.’
‘But Loveday was growing up,’ Morveth insisted, determined to justify Morwenna’s reading of the situation. ‘Morwenna couldn’t deny her sexuality any longer.’
‘I suppose it never occurred to anyone to ask Loveday who her baby’s father was?’ Josephine demanded, her sarcasm getting the better of her. ‘If she was so grown up, a straightforward question might have saved a lot of heartache for everyone.’
‘There was no need – Morwenna was so sure,’ Morveth repeated desperately. ‘And when she told me what her suspicions were, it seemed so obvious.’
‘Her suspicions? So she wasn’t sure – not until you’d encouraged her to believe it.’
‘But it seemed so logical – there must be something in it, surely?’ Morveth looked pleadingly at Archie, but Josephine was incensed and in no mood to let the subject drop easily.
‘Why? To salve your conscience? All because you’d rather believe in some kind of genetic sickness than face up to emotions that frightened you and a love you didn’t understand? Because no matter what anyone else thinks about it, that’s what Harry and Morwenna had – a deep, lasting love, the sort that very few of us ever know. I can see why Morwenna was capable of getting it so wrong – she was obsessed with Harry and jealousy distorts everything – but what’s your excuse?’
‘How do you know about Harry and Morwenna?’
‘Morwenna told me,’ Archie said, ‘and she also spoke to Josephine about Harry.’ The latter was a slight exaggeration of the truth, and he was surprised to find a champion for the older Pinchings in Josephine, but he had no intention of relinquishing the moral high ground so early in his conversation with Morveth. ‘Morwenna had the sense to realise that Nathaniel’s murder demands the truth from everyone, no matter how preferable silence may be.’
‘And do you condone it so easily, this love that I don’t understand – whatever its consequences?’
‘I don’t easily condone anything that’s against the law,’ Archie said carefully, ‘but I do consider the consequences of
‘Is that why you were so concerned about my spending time with Loveday?’ Josephine asked. ‘You thought I’d find out that Harry was taking advantage of her?’
‘Among other things. The family’s had enough to worry about without that sort of shame getting out.’
‘Other things?’ Archie repeated, conscious that he was being sidetracked yet again from the murder investigation which he had come here to pursue. ‘Do those other things include anything that Loveday might have let slip about Nathaniel’s death?’
‘No. I just meant Harry and Morwenna – I wasn’t to know you were already aware of what had gone on between them. And as far as I know, Loveday doesn’t know what’s happened to Nathaniel. Morwenna thought that she should be allowed to get better first, and I agreed. They were quite close.’ She turned to Josephine. ‘If you don’t mind my saying, you seem very sure of what you know for someone who’s only met Loveday once or twice.’
‘I’m afraid I can’t lay claim to any great feats of perception,’ Josephine said, refusing to be intimidated. ‘I only listened to her, just as you advised me to. You were right, though – few people
Josephine’s reference to Christopher reminded Archie of his own conversation with the undertaker, when he had referred to Loveday as damaged goods. ‘Did you tell Jago what you suspected about Harry and Loveday?’
‘Yes. He knew what had gone on before – between Harry and Morwenna, I mean. Sam Pinching was his best friend, so he knew what Harry was like.’
‘The sins of the brother, you mean? So easily repeated with the next sister in line?’ Until now, Archie had managed to maintain a professional detachment, but Morveth’s unwitting manipulation of the lives around her – and the willingness of others to be so easily led – suddenly disgusted him. ‘No wonder Jago was so determined to keep Christopher and Loveday apart, and I’m not surprised he denied any relationship between them – he wouldn’t want his son lumbered with the product of an incestuous relationship.’ He thought about his promise to Morwenna to keep her past out of the investigation, and questioned now that he would be able to stay true to his word: how far had the myth of Harry and Loveday actually travelled, he wondered? ‘Do you think that Jago would have gone as far as saying something to Christopher to put him off Loveday?’
‘No – he’d never do anything like that. He knew he had to keep it to himself.’
‘Really?’ Archie said sceptically, wondering how a woman as intelligent as Morveth could be so oblivious to the irony of what she was saying. ‘Did anybody tell Nathaniel?’
‘Absolutely not. He would have done something about it.’
Like give Harry a chance to defend himself, Archie thought, remembering that the curate’s first response to Loveday’s account of the fire had been to ask the accused man for the truth. ‘Did Harry know what you were all so ready to believe him capable of?’
‘Not at first, no. But Morwenna confronted him with it eventually. She couldn’t help herself.’
‘She told me that she’d accused Harry of never really loving her on the night he died – that was about Loveday, wasn’t it?’
‘I suppose it must have been.’
