Dangerous Destiny by Chris Longmuir

Author:Chris Longmuir [Longmuir, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Barker & Jansen
Published: 2020-03-20T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Tuesday, 30th June 1908

Kirsty tapped the top of her boiled egg and peeled the shell away. Her thoughts were on the events of yesterday. She’d never been involved with anything of this nature before and, though it sent shivers up her spine, it was strangely exciting. Murder! Up to the present, it had been a word with which she was unfamiliar but now, within the space of a few days, the bodies of three women had been found in circumstances that indicated they had been murdered.

On top of that, there was Ethel’s problem with her father. Kirsty couldn’t imagine a father inflicting violence on his daughter, but Ethel came from a background very different from her own.

‘You are up bright and early.’ Aunt Bea bustled into the room. ‘Have you something planned for today?’

‘I’m seeing my friends, Martha and Ethel. We thought we might partake of tea at a hotel.’

Kirsty concentrated on her egg rather than meet her aunt’s eyes. She didn’t think her aunt would approve of a meeting at the WFL headquarters, nor its purpose.

Aunt Bea pulled the bell-cord hanging at the side of the fireplace and crossed to sit at the table.

‘I’ll have scrambled egg and toast,’ she said when the maid entered the room, ‘and bring fresh tea.’

‘I haven’t had the pleasure of being introduced to your new friends. In her last letter, your mother was wondering how you were spending your time.’

‘She still doesn’t trust me.’ Kirsty’s voice shook with the effort of disguising her resentment.

‘It is natural for a mother to be concerned about her child.’

‘But I’m not a child any more. I’m eighteen. I’ll be nineteen in August.’

‘That might be so, but you are under the age of consent, so your parents have a responsibility for you.’

‘Would that be in the same way they have a responsibility for Ailsa?’ Kirsty couldn’t disguise the bitterness in her voice. ‘Did they mention Ailsa?’

‘I’m afraid not. Perhaps they think it better not to remind you.’

Kirsty stared at her aunt in dismay. Aunt Bea was usually understanding, but all of a sudden, she appeared to be siding with Kirsty’s parents. The sense of suffocation she thought she’d thrown off reappeared and Kirsty had trouble breathing. She rose from the table and crossed to the window to hide her distress. Would she ever escape the expectations of her family?

Outside, the town was coming to life. A carter struggled to calm his horse after a tram car clanked past. A convoy of hansom cabs making for the cab rank in the Nethergate bowled along the street in single file. Two young women, their faces obscured by hats, passed below the window. The feathers in their bonnets danced in the breeze as a man doffed his cap to them. Kirsty imagined them giggling as they continued on their way, and she envied their freedom.

Several deep breaths later, once her composure returned, Kirsty came back to the table. Her aunt raised her eyebrows, questioning silently.

‘I’m sorry if I’ve disappointed you, but I don’t want to be dependent on my parents for the rest of my life.

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