Death at Balfefield Abbey

Chapter 11, Cashelroe, 1903

Kate sat prim and upright on the edge of the settee with her hands resting on her lap. An attractive young woman with an abundance of red, curled hair visible beneath a white cap. Her eyes were of a pale blue, her face lightly freckled and she wore a high starched collar and a dark, print gown beneath her apron.

Mrs. Bennett poured tea and offered Keating a choice from a selection of trimmed sandwiches of chicken or tongue before taking a seat beside the younger woman and giving her a smile of reassurance.

"Kate, I would like to begin," said Keating, "by asking you to tell me, in your own words, how you came upon the body of Mrs. Darley. Please take your time. Start at the beginning and be as detailed as you can."

"Well, sir," began Kate, "I was up early that Thursday morning. You see, I'm a poor sleeper. Have been ever since I was little. Once the sun comes up, I'm wide awake and no amount of tossing or turning will get me back asleep again. At this time of year, I like to go for an early morning walk before everybody else is up and about."

"What time did you set out?," asked Keating.

"'Twas about six o'clock. My duties usually start at seven, so I have an hour or so to wander freely."

"Do you normally venture to the lake on these morning walks?"

"Not always, it depends on what mood I'm in. Most times I like to follow one of the trails in the woods and listen to the birds. If I walk softly, I often come across animals like foxes and deer and the like."

"Are you always alone when on these walks?"

Kate looked at Keating seemly surprised by the question and said, as if affronted by some query as to her character, "Always."

"On this particular morning, though, you went straight to the lake, yes?"

"It was a beautiful morning, hardly a cloud in the sky. On that occasion, I took a fancy to go to the boathouse and do a bit of reading."

"Reading of what, exactly?"

"A novel called The Beetle. I was very taken with it at the time and couldn't wait to know what would happen next."

"Carry on," said Keating.

"Along the path to the lake is a small embankment surrounded by trees and bushes. That's where I came upon the body. Mrs. Darley, I mean."

Kate paused for a moment and reached across to the small table between them and picked up her cup of tea. She took a sip and then held the cup in her lap while staring down into it.

Please continue," said Keating.

Mrs. Bennett leaned towards Kate and gently squeezed her right hand.

"You must realize, Inspector," Mrs. Bennett said to Keating, "Merely because Kate has had to talk about these details on several occasions in the past, it doesn't make it any easier for her now,"

"It's alright," Kate said to the housekeeper, "I'm okay to go on."

"It was a truly, horrible sight. I so much wanted to believe that what I was looking at was just a pitiful animal abandoned by poachers who heard someone coming. It wasn't, of course. Poor Mrs. Darley had been so beautiful. Now her skin was blotchy and yellow. Blood everywhere. The wound on her neck was cut wide and deep and her arms and legs were stretched out and bound to wooden poles, as if she were a sow laid out on a butcher's block. When I saw her innards lying in a puddle of blood beside her, I couldn't look anymore. I turned away and ran back to the house.

"The peculiarity of it is, I couldn't have looked at her for more than a second, yet when I close my eyes and think about that awful sight, the details are as vivid as the morning I found her. Mrs. Darley's eyes were still open, and she looked into the morning sun."

"How close did you come to the body?" asked Keating.

"I walked right up to it. You see, the trees and bushes hid it from my view, and I was upon it before I knew it was there."

"Did you touch anything?"

"I don't think so. No, I'm sure I didn't, it was far too grisly a sight to want to touch anything. I was scared. For all I knew, whoever did this was still on the grounds and might jump out to attack me at any moment. All I wanted to do was get back to the house as quickly as possible."

"Do you remember what you were wearing that morning?"

"The same as any other morning in summer. Just my nightgown and a shawl."

"Footwear?"

"I was barefoot."

"There was a lot of blood at the scene. Did you get any on your feet or clothing or the book you carried?"

"No, I'm sure I didn't."

"So, you came back to the house. What happened then?"

"I ran to find Mrs. Bennett and told her what I'd seen."

"Kate was in a state of shock," Mrs. Bennett interceded. "She came running up the servant's stairs to my room in a terrible state, shouting and crying, much of it incoherently. However, I did grasp enough to understand that she had discovered something terrible at the lake. I summoned Albert, the footman whom you met earlier, and we both went down there. It was clearly too late for a doctor, so I ordered Albert to go to the town on his bicycle and alert the constabulary."

"Thank you, Mrs. Bennett," said Keating. "Kate, let's get back to these early morning excursions of yours. You maintain you were always alone?"

"Yes, Inspector. As I've already told you, no one else in the house would be up at that hour."

"Ever meet up with anyone in the woods or down at the boathouse?"

"No, never."

"What about Thomas Quinn?"

Kate flashed him a look of fiery indignation.

"It's a simple question, Kate. I would have your answer."

"It also seems to be a leading question, Inspector," said Mrs. Bennett sharply. Then she delicately cupped Kate's chin and turned the maid's eyes towards her own. "Answer him, Kate. You have nothing to fear from telling the truth."

"Tom took to calling on me of an evening," said Kate. "I never encouraged him. He thought that gave him rights because we hail from the same part of the county and he knows my family. At first, I was grateful to receive news of my mother, but after that, he became a nuisance and I told him to stop."

"In any case, Inspector, we may be in domestic service," said Mrs. Bennett, "but that does not mean we are not free to associate with whomsoever we wish on our own time."

"I understand," said Keating.

"I can assure you," said Kate, "I never spent time with Tom Quinn in the woods or down at the boathouse on that or any other morning."

"You come from Kilmallock originally," asked Keating.

"Yes, what of it?"

"Big family?"

"Not as big as some. There was five of us children. I was the second youngest."

"Tell me about your brother Patrick."