Soul

Klaus caught her reflection in the window opposite—a wisp of an outline, but clear enough. He swung around.

‘Don’t move!’ Julia said, her voice furious and urgent sounded out as violent as Klaus’s surprised expression.

He turned back, his hands frozen to the table.

‘Julia—’

‘I want you to hear what you did to the three of us—you, me and our son—’

‘Julia, you’re not being rational—’

‘This isn’t about rationality! It’s about betrayal.’

Klaus’s mobile phone started ringing in his jacket pocket.

‘Don’t answer it!’

Somewhere in the room, a fly began to buzz. Then there came a sudden banging on the front door. The noise almost shocked Julia into pulling the trigger.

Gabriel stood at the front door smashing his fists against the wood. Nobody answered, yet the lights were burning inside. He climbed the fence and ran around to the back of the house, to the bathroom window. To his relief it was ajar. He slipped his fingers under the frame, hoisted it up and climbed inside.

The sound of a gun being fired and glass shattering rang through the house.

‘Julia!’ Gabriel screamed, and scrambled over the bathtub towards the door.

76

Old Bailey, 1861

‘THE PROSECUTION CALLS DOLLY COPPER to the stand!’

The maid, dressed in a pretty bonnet as if for church, smiled at the assembly as she climbed the short staircase to the witness box. In a defiant and confident voice, she swore her oath on the Bible.

Erasmus turned to Lavinia, who had paled. ‘Mr Abby has us caught on a back foot with a surprise witness. Who is she, Mrs Huntington? Will she be the source of some aggravation?’

‘I am afraid, sir, that she will.’

The defence lawyer turned back to the witness stand, his demeanour grave as he examined the extreme youth of the woman. Her feminine frailty and the open honesty of her face would no doubt appeal to the jury.

Mr Abby stood.

‘You have been in the employment of the Huntington household for three years, is this correct?’

‘Yes, sir, and I have been very happy there.’

‘Tell the court what you witnessed on the evening of September fifteenth.’

Dolly Copper glanced quickly at Lavinia then averted her eyes.

‘I was in the library after the men had been there. I was just tidying up and doing my usual dusting—Mrs Beetle likes to inspect the house last thing at night and everything must be in its proper order—’

‘Get to the nub of the matter, Miss Copper. We adjourn for lunch in half an hour and brevity is essential,’ the judge interjected, stifling a yawn.

‘Yes, sir. Well, it was like this, the mistress came in and dismissed me, telling me she would replace the master’s cognac as he was particular about it. I remember thinking at the time that it was an odd thing to say, as it were always Mr Poole’s job to look after the wine and such. Knowing that it would be my head on the chopping block if the room wasn’t proper, I hung around the door—’

Eramus leapt to his feet. ‘In other words, you were spying!’

‘I was not!’