More Than You Know by Beth Gutcheon

Author:Beth Gutcheon [Gutcheon, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fiction, General, Thrillers, Suspense, Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 9780061910081
Google: TGm1KKZ8xOUC
Amazon: 0060959355
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2005-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

Naturally the crime scene had been thoroughly disturbed by people of

the village being officious and helpful. The rumor was already abroad

that Paul LeBlond had fled at dawn wearing women’s clothing. No one

seemed to be able to find much of anything telling except the disgusting

details which would later be released by Dr. Bliss about the contents of

the victim’s stomach.

2 0 0

M O R E

T H A N

Y O U

K N O W

The women of the household, Mrs. Claris Haskell; her daughter,

Sallie; and the schoolteacher boarder, Mercy Chatto, were waiting quietly

when the men from the sheriff’s office got around to them. By then the

men were pretty excited about the foreigner Paul LeBlond and deep down

the rumor well about Sallie’s rows with her father. The early betting was

that if Paul had done it, with or for Sallie, she too might try to flee. An

ancillary theory was that Paul had gone ahead, and Sallie had killed her

father to keep him from following them.

The women, sitting silent together, had not guessed that that was

what would be said about them. They were all thinking about something

else. They were thinking that if none of them talked about what happened,

all the noisy ones outside would have to go away.

It had been said that the Haskells were arrogant, but had they

stopped believing that anyone outside themselves could judge anything

they did? Apparently. The sheriff’s man was ready to disabuse them.

A reporter from The Citizen described the scene. When the deputy

said he was placing Sallie Haskell under arrest, she started and turned to

her mother. That seemed natural. At such a moment, you would turn for

protection to the one who had always sheltered you before, even knowing

that you had done the unforgivable. Thousands read, the following Thurs-

day, of the terrible and suspenseful event. Later the reporter was made to

describe it again and again during the trials.

Sallie looked to her mother, and the reporter watched the dawning

horror in her eyes as she saw that her mother would or could do nothing

for her. Minutes later, the mother stood at the upstairs window of the

schoolhouse and saw her daughter being helped into a rowboat with her

hands cuffed together in her lap. The daughter stared intently from the

boat up at her mother with an expression that befitted a murderess. The

mother watching from the upstairs window returned the gaze, with a look,

the reporter thought, of one who was watching her whole world drawing

away from her, and quietly going mad.

2 0 1

Edith’s concentration on my crimes and punishments had

been broken, and, with it, the blights of the summer seemed to vanish.

There were no more strange noises in the house, no fuses blown, no

doors latched at night found standing open in the morning. I spent my

days in freedom; I left the library early and came home late for supper,

and Edith didn’t seem to notice.

Mysteries that had been beyond my reach now started offering

their secrets, like jammed knots in a high wind that suddenly free

themselves, allowing the mariner to ease sail and avoid disaster. Mrs.

Allen asked me to take her

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.