No One Dies by Annie Pearson

Author:Annie Pearson [Pearson, Annie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION / Historical
ISBN: 9781939423979
Publisher: Jugum Press
Published: 2020-04-10T08:00:00+00:00

— NED —

“SEE, NED? THIS IS THE TINCTURE I gave Mrs. Fairchild last night. It’s a small flask, but it should be mostly full, not almost empty.” Winwood ran his hands through his hair, agitated, which Ned had never seen in the uncannily calm doctor. “Camilla should have wakened long before now.”

“Tamsin insists we move her to safety. Mr. Frake shall carry her away.”

“He’ll take her home? I mean, to Revelstone?”

“No, to the rector’s cottage. You know how to find her there? Good. Lift her into my arms.”

“Should we guess who did this to her?”

“Leighton and his witchy mother, I’m sure.” Ned shifted his stance when Camilla was in his arms, though she wasn’t a significant burden. Her pale ivory color and pulsing blue veins gave him a fright. This ghost was the woman who always found more reason to laugh than anyone else in the county. “Winwood, please keep the servants away while I traverse the back stairs. Then sit where you can’t be blamed for this.”

“Mrs. Fairchild said that I should find refreshment in the kitchen when I finish my work.”

“How rude. Does she think you a servant? Still, it’s a good place for you to take cover.”

Ned tread the narrow, steep stairs, the weight of his burden causing him to take heavier steps than he wished. He had no idea what to do if he encountered anyone, but with the help of the blessed angels, he saw no one until he spied Perry in the shadows of the eves out back of the house.

“Odds bodkins!” Perry whispered as he took on Ned’s burden. “Is she alive?”

“Drugged, the doctor thinks. Do you remember the path I showed you that leads to Mr. Gamlingay’s house?”

“Indeed. That’s to be her new hostel?”

“Aye. T–Tom says to give the rector this ring.” Ned slipped the amethyst ring onto Perry’s thumb, though he could only push it to above the first knuckle. “Beg him in Absolom’s name to hide her from everyone. Except Winwood Oakes.”

“Are we performing this rescue because your cousin Tom is in love with her?” Perry shifted her gently, as if she weighed nothing in his arms.

“We’re doing it because she’s been trapped in a vipers’ nest since her father remarried. We should have removed her before today if we followed Absolom’s rules for enlightened people. Go now.”

Perry gazed at the pale, sparse figure in a scarlet shawl. “If I didn’t already know you were a good man, Ned, I’d be on my knees to you. For the goodness you show your friends.” He rubbed the thumb with the ring along Ned’s jaw. “I hope I am one, too.”

“We shall discuss that when there is a world large enough to accommodate our own needs. I must go play my part in Rollo’s gambol.” Ned said three more words before Perry was beyond the range of his whispers. “Afscheid, mijn vriend.”

Perry, strong enough to carry his burden with one hand, held the other up in farewell, then disappeared into a nearby hedge.

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