Abiding Peace by Susan Page Davis

Author:Susan Page Davis [Davis, Susan Page]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9781602602564
Google: Afk3ATwD__MC
Amazon: 1602602565
Barnesnoble: 1602602565
Goodreads: 16475957
Publisher: Barbour
Published: 2008-12-12T13:00:00+00:00

nine

“Ben, you stay here.” Samuel turned around and found Christine close behind him, her eyes red rimmed from weeping. “You heard?”

“Aye. Let me go with you, if Ben will stay with Tabitha and the children. Goody Baldwin will need help to prepare the body.”

Samuel nodded. “Son, do they know what happened to her?”

Ben shook his head. “I heard only that she was found and they were carrying her home in a cart. Mr. Heard told me to run and find you.”

Samuel and Christine walked the mile to Roger Ackley’s farm in silence. People had gathered as the word spread, and a score of men and women milled about the yard. Captain Baldwin’s wife came forward to meet them.

“My husband be out back, with the constable and Brother Ackley. I be waiting for the word to tend the body, poor woman. They told me to send you around there and no other, sir.”

Samuel nodded grimly. “Miss Hardin came to help, if you need assistance when the time comes.”

Goody Baldwin nodded at Christine. “I can use a levelheaded woman in times such as this. I expect Mrs. Dudley will be here soon, too.”

Samuel left the ladies and walked around to the back of the house. James Dudley stood by his oxen, with one hand on the near ox’s shoulder. Behind the team was his cart, and Baldwin, Paine, and Ackley all stared down over the sideboard, into the bed of the cart.

As Samuel approached them, Captain Baldwin looked up. “Ah, Pastor. Good. You’re the man we need. Take a look, sir.”

Samuel joined him beside the cart and looked down at its grisly burden. “It appears to me this work was not done by savages.”

“Aye, sir,” said Baldwin. “My first thought. See the wound on her temple? An Indian would have brained her with a tomahawk and scalped her.”

“This looks more like a blow from a club or some such thing,” Samuel agreed. “And do you see the mark around her neck?”

The men crowded in closer.

“Aye,” said Paine.

“I am not a surgeon,” Samuel said, “but I should think something was tight about her neck that is not there now.”

“You think she were strangled?” the constable asked.

Samuel reached out and gently probed the discoloration beneath Goody Ackley’s chin. “It seems likely.”

Roger Ackley turned away from the sight and put his clenched fists to his eyes as though to rub away the terrible sight. “Ah, my poor, poor wife! I should have gone with her this morning.”

Baldwin laid a brawny hand on his shoulder. “Easy there, Brother Roger. You cannot blame yourself.”

“Can I not? She wished me to go with her to the trading post, but I told her I was too busy. If she wanted me to finish getting the hay in, she could go alone. That is what I told her. And she went.”

Joseph Paine straightened, a faraway look in his eyes. “She was there when I opened this morn. She came in with a big basket, the one she often brings.”

“Aye,” Ackley said.

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