The Shadow Bride: A Nicole Rayburn Historical Mystery Book 3 (Nicole Rayburn Historical Mysteries) by Irina Shapiro

Author:Irina Shapiro [Shapiro, Irina]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Merlin Press LLC
Published: 2022-05-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 37

Nicole

I set aside the book I’d been reading and turned to Kyle, who’d just shut his laptop with the satisfied look of a man who was done working for the day. He turned to me, a warm smile on his face.

“Find anything useful?” he asked.

I had found the book about smuggling in the eighteenth century among Gillian’s possessions and thought I might bone up on my knowledge of the subject. I had to admit that I was enjoying the illustrations a lot more than the text, since the portrayal of the smugglers and customs officers was quite telling, the artist’s opinion right there in the faces of the men. The smugglers were depicted as a romantic lot, with flowing hair, razor-sharp cheekbones, and lithe limbs, while the officers of the law were squat, evil-looking caricatures with unnaturally large noses and loose jowls. There were several drawings of the vessels, which made it easier for me to envision the Aurora and all its structural features. The captains’ cabins depicted in the book resembled rooms in a luxury hotel, which came as a surprise since I had imagined something considerably more spartan.

“Lots of general information and political analysis, but no mention of Captain Randolph or the Aurora. Do you suppose he owned the ship outright?” I asked.

Kyle shrugged. “Difficult to say. He may have, or it may have been owned by an investor or a group of merchants who’d hired Randolph to captain their vessel.”

“Was that common, do you think?”

“I should think it was a lucrative venture. Someone else takes all the risks, and you, as the investor, sit back and enjoy the profits. And if the vessel sinks, you collect the insurance.”

“Captain Randolph must have left a considerable inheritance when he died. If he had no children to inherit, what happened to it?” I asked.

Kyle laughed. “You’re assuming that Captain Randolph was a pragmatic individual, yet he spent five guineas to purchase a woman he had supposedly just met. A costly and impulsive decision most likely made by a man who was too drunk to think clearly. For all we know, he gambled his money away, or spent it on women and fine clothes.”

“Let’s assume that he didn’t,” I argued. “Let’s pretend that he was a sober, practical man known for his sound judgment.”

“Well, he must have had someone. Most people do,” Kyle replied.

“None that I can find.”

“If he wasn’t married and left no issue, his estate would have passed to the closest male relative.”

“Would Elisheba be considered his wife?” I asked. I hadn’t been able to find anything pertaining to the legal ramifications of wife-selling other than the fact that it had been recognized, permitted, and practiced.

“I don’t know what her legal status would be or what exactly a woman was permitted to inherit in the late eighteenth century, but he could have made provisions. But given what happened to the crew only a few months after the events in Bridlington, chances are he never got the opportunity. And

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