Unwept (14 page)

“It's strange, isn't it?” Ellis mused aloud. “I saw a young woman—with dark hair, as I recall—carrying an easel through the train station just yesterday. So it couldn't have been the victim. I almost felt like I knew her. But I don't really know anybody anymore, do I?”

Her hand found the paint tin in her pocket.

“What a coincidence!” She held out the little compact and showed it to the group. “I found this and an easel and other art supplies scattered about up in the cupola. I assume they're yours, Jenny?”

Jenny took it from Ellis's hand and turned it over to examine it. “No, I don't think so. I never did much painting, except a little one in the workroom. I wonder how long it's been up there?”

“Don't, Jenny.” Alicia stepped forward, grabbing the compact and shoving it back into Ellis's hands. “I suspect the constable needs to hear about this.”

“Constable?” Jenny swallowed and stood very still. “Does Merrick know?”

“I don't know. He should. How could he not know?” Alicia bit the words off roughly.

Ellis stood there, lips apart, her brow furrowed, trying to comprehend their conversation. Finally becoming impatient, she asked, “Why is it so impossible that terrible things could happen here? There's a war raging in France … why should Gamin be exempt?”

“You.” Alicia stepped close and spoke the words inches from Ellis's face. “It's you. You've brought this here.”

Martha groaned.

Coming to Ellis's defense, Jenny took Alicia's arm and pulled her a step back. “Alicia! Don't be ridiculous. Ellis has come here because she's been ill. Just like I was. We should be kind to her.”

“Yes, just like you.” Alicia yanked Jenny's hand off her arm and continued speaking to Ellis. “Where did the art supplies come from? If they aren't Jenny's, whose are they? You know more about all this than you're saying, don't you?”

Ellis's mouth went dry and her cheeks grew warm as the barrage of Alicia's words hit her. She shoved the little tin of paints deep into her pocket.
She can't think I have something to do with this artist's murder?

“I might not remember much,” Ellis's words tumbled out, “but I know that I have no connection whatsoever to the horrible things you're talking about. And as far as the paints and canvasses from the cupola go, everything was a dusty mess up there when I discovered them, as though no one had been there for years. And besides, this woman they found has to have been dead for at least a week.”

“Ellis wasn't here a week ago,” Martha's mild voice cut across Ellis's words.

“That's right!” Jenny turned to Alicia.

Alicia's face fell. She opened her mouth and closed it again. Ellis thought she saw disappointment cross the other girl's face. An apology from Alicia for her crazy insinuations didn't seem forthcoming.

Ellis studied the carpet.
Is she hoping that I'm some sort of monster? I don't understand. Does Alicia know something about me that I don't? The artist died before I arrived. Arrived from where, though? Why am I here? Why can't I just go home?
Her throat constricted as her thoughts spun in the vacuum of her life and she looked up to find three pairs of eyes all silently watching her.

Alicia, however, would not be so easily deterred. “When the constable finds out about those paints and canvasses—”

“I suspect,” came the smooth voice from the rotunda, “he will be as appreciative of Ellis's talents as I am.”

The three women were startled.

“Forgive us for letting ourselves in,” Merrick said with a crooked smile. Two young men stood behind him. “We've come to offer you a diversion.”

12

PLAY

Martha gave a nervous giggle. Alicia turned away, a sudden flush coming to her cheeks. Ellis stood aghast that the men had entered Summersend unbidden and unannounced.

It was Jenny who broke the awkward moment, rushing up to the tall, older man with gushing exuberance. “Oh, Merrick, how very good of you to come! We're in need of some diversion … our conversations have turned entirely too serious.”

“Indeed, have they?” Merrick asked, though his eyes were fixed on Ellis. He brushed past Jenny without a glance. He stood too closely to Ellis, his sad, haunting eyes looking down on her. “And what topic so fascinates our ladies today?”

“Oh, well!” Martha purred. “Ellis had a dream!”

Ellis blushed, trying to catch the other woman's eye.

“A dream?” Merrick spoke to Martha, but he still looked on Ellis with a cool, unblinking gaze. “How extraordinary. What kind of dream?”

Martha saw the pleading look but plunged on anyway. “A nightmare, I believe. She was in her nightdress and a man came into her room during the storm, touching her in a way that—”

“Martha!” Ellis snapped. “Hold your tongue!”

The young woman stopped speaking, a look of hurt and confusion coming over her face.

“It's quite all right, Ellis. Miss Kendrick means well.” Merrick chuckled in his deep voice. He inclined his head toward Alicia. “And what of you, Miss Van der Meer? I trust that now you are also thoroughly apprised of our Ellis's shocking dreams?”

Ellis blinked in disbelief. Did Merrick really mean for them to discuss her intimate dreams in the parlor?

“Yes, Mr. Bacchus,” Alicia said, still not looking the man in the eye. “I believe I am thoroughly acquainted with Miss Harkington's sordid imaginings.”

“We were discussing the young woman's murder,” Ellis interjected. She was mortified and desperate to change the topic of conversation.

“Rather strange business, that,” said the young man with the brown curly hair and the slightly bug-eyed look standing behind Merrick. Ellis recognized him as Ely from the previous day. “I'm sorry that you ladies have to have been troubled about it.”

“You are, of course, acquainted with Mr. Ely Rossini.” Merrick's chin raised slightly, his head nodding slightly in the direction of the young men. “Joining us is Mr. Silenus Tune.”

“Pleasure, ma'am,” Silenus said as he nodded in the direction of Ellis. He was slightly shorter than Ely, with a young, clean-shaven look. Ellis thought he had the kind of face that would look perpetually younger than his years would allow. There was a mischievous one-sided cant to his smile that left Ellis feeling wary.

Ellis nodded slightly toward the young men.

“Miss Van der Meer,” Merrick said, turning toward Alicia. “I should not trouble the constable about Ellis's hobbies. He is far too occupied at the moment with idle gossip. I would much prefer that you visit me later in the day and express what you have observed to me at that time. Permit me to determine whether your thoughts have any merits which warrant troubling our constable.”

“Of course, Mr. Bacchus,” Alicia started. “But I no longer think that is necessary—”

“Of course you must,” Merrick chided. “It is your duty.”

Alicia swallowed. “I really should not take up your time—”

“But I insist,” Merrick said. There was menace in his smile.

“It would be my pleasure,” Alicia said, looking away from Merrick once again.

“That being settled, we have come to invite you all on an outing,” Merrick said, turning his most charming smile back on Ellis. “The storm has driven a ship up on the East Shore not far from here. I propose that we avail ourselves of this novelty today.”

Martha clapped in excited approval.

Alicia, Ely and Silenus all smiled at one another in anticipation.

“Oh, how delightful,” Jenny said, entwining her arm around Merrick's.

“You cannot be serious,” Ellis sputtered.

The other young people looked at her in disbelief.

Merrick inclined his head, his eyes fixed on her. “Why, Ellis, you're spoiling the fun.”

“What of its crew and passengers?” Ellis demanded. “Has anything been done for their safety or their recovery? Who is caring for the injured?”

“You need not concern yourself with the passengers or the crew,” Merrick said in soothing tones, his perfect teeth beaming with his warmest smile. “They are no longer aboard.”

“Then we can hardly go traipsing about someone's property,” Ellis continued. “The owner of the ship—”

“Would be my uncle in Portland,” Merrick interrupted. “He has authorized me to take charge of the vessel, her cargo and the passengers' personal effects. So, you see, it is all quite proper, Ellis.”

She stared back at him. “That sounds rather a bit too convenient, Mr. Bacchus.”

“Quite the contrary,” Merrick replied with a studied and cool, gracious manner. “If I tell you something about Gamin, you of all people may rest assured that it is already, absolutely true.”

 

 

The party left the porch of Summersend and proceeded down the lane on foot. Merrick had offered Ellis his arm and she had taken it perfunctorily and come at once to regret it. He had clapped his left hand over hers, pinning her to his arm like one of Jenny's moths in the bell jar, pulling her with him as he strode down the muddy dirt road.

Jenny followed somewhat sullenly after them as Alicia, Martha, Ely and Silenus chattered around her, excited for the promised diversion to come. All of the women's hems were stained almost at once by the muddy pools of dirty water that remained from the previous night's terrible storm, but the women seemed to take no notice of the state of their clothing, the ruining of the cloth or their mud-caked shoes.

“A wrecked ship!” Martha exclaimed. “We must go and see it! We must!”

“It's just down at the harbor.…”

The voice came unbidden from somewhere deep in Ellis's memory, chilling her so quickly that she shivered in the morning sun. It was a young voice, devoid of any connection in time or context.

“Everyone is going! Hurry!”

Dread flooded through Ellis. She felt her face go pale, a cold perspiration breaking on her brow.

“Please, Mr. Bacchus, I'm n-n-not well,” she stammered. “I must return to the house.”

“It's just your nerves, Ellis. I won't have it.” Merrick pressed his hand down on hers with a strength that made her wince. “Besides, we're already here.”

Olive cloth. Clear glass. Red light.

“Come look! It's just at the harbor's edge. You can see it through the window! Isn't it thrilling?” Her smile was so excited just before she died.…

Ellis cried out.

Merrick ignored her distress and pulled Ellis through the trees above the seawall and onto the beach, the rest of the group rushing out onto the sands after them, chattering with excitement. The crashing of the waves was still carrying some of the force from the storm that had passed, breaking loudly along the shoreline.

The
Mary Celeste
lay high up on the shore, her hull broken on the near side against a rock outcropping that rose up from sands. The sails were torn and shredded, flapping uselessly in the offshore breeze. A rope ladder lay over the near side of the ship, falling down over the rocks on which the hull was leaning.

“Oh, do you suppose the people are still on the ship?” Martha asked in breathless excitement.

“They might be,” Silenus teased. “Maybe they're dead!”

“Really, Sil, you mustn't get her hopes up.” Alicia laughed.

“Oh, how thrilling!” Martha tittered.

“Isn't it thrilling?”
the girls' voices echoed in Ellis's mind. Fuzzy images pressed in against the edges of her inner vision.

“I … I can't,” Ellis balked.

“Oh, of course you can,” Merrick said, pulling her toward the grounded ship. “We all can.”

“No, I beg you to allow me to return to the house.” Ellis's breath was quick and shallow, her words shaking as she spoke them. “I … I don't think the doctor would approve.”

“But he has,” Merrick assured her. He pulled her up onto the rock outcropping. “He and I discussed it just this morning. What are you afraid of, Ellis?”

“This ship … there's something familiar about—”

“Oh, Ellis, must you stand in everyone's way?” Jenny groused.

“Quite so,” Merrick said. He swung his leg up onto the deck, then reached back, gripping Ellis this time not by the hand but firmly around her wrist. With remarkable strength he pulled her up from the rocks and onto the deck of the ship. “But it would be far worse to stand in your own way. This is just the sort of thing you used to love.”

The deck of the ship leaned at strange angles, slanting backward toward where the cabins were located and slightly to one side. Ellis gripped the rail of the ship with white, bloodless hands. Silenus followed her aboard almost at once and began pulling the other women in their party aboard. In moments, Alicia, Jenny and Martha were joined by Ely and Silenus as they ranged back along the broken deck, prattling constantly with one another as they pointed out the most mundane of the broken ship's pieces with the greatest of curiosity.

Ellis drew in a shuddering breath.

“All these terrors you fear are just ghosts of your own imaginings. You shiver in the darkness, you cry out in the night and then the lamps are lit and the sun comes up and all your fears are found to be shadows—dispelled once someone just shines a little light on them.” Merrick left her to explore the back of the ship. “I disagree with the doctor on one point: I do not think you need to remember your past at all. It was a bad dream and better left behind. Come back to us, Ellis, and leave your unpleasant dreams behind.”

Ellis stayed by the railing, thinking about what Merrick had said. The ship had brought memories up from her past, but what if it was a past she really wanted to forget? What if something so terrible had happened to her that her mind refused to let her remember it? Wouldn't it be better to let such memories remain buried?