Ruark spread his hands. “I only know that I was taken from my cell, placed in another with other men, then later transferred to a ship which sailed to Los Camellos.” He nodded over the major’s shoulder. “Perhaps Mister Ralston there can better explain. ‘Twas he who arranged the whole of it.”
“What?” Trahern sat up in his chair and twisted around to stare at Ralston. “You bought him from Newgate?”
“Bought is hardly the term for it, papa,” Shanna replied for the man. “The gaol keeper, Mister Hicks, had fine regard for shiny coin as I can well attest.” She regarded Ralston closely. “What did Mister Hicks charge for his trouble? One hundred, two hundred pounds?”
Ralston spluttered and could not meet the major’s eyes. Then he looked at Shanna, as if a new thought dawned. “You have threatened me and accused me on several occasions, madam, but how is it that you wed one Ruark Beauchamp when that same man was lodged in the cellar of Newgate?”
Trahern turned slowly in his chair to face Shanna with a questioning brow arched. “Hmmm,” he nodded. “That would be most interesting to hear, Shanna, child.” He waited.
Shanna closely examined the brooch she wore, scuffed at the carpet with a daintily slippered toe, smiled ruefully at Ruark, then drew a deep breath, and met her father’s gaze directly. “It was there I went to seek out a name to please you and fulfill the terms of your wishes. I found one that could not be questioned and whose bearer, I thought, would not burden me overlong. We struck a bargain, we two.” She smiled over her shoulder at Ruark and reached out a hand to him. He took it and stood beside her, slipping an arm protectively about her waist. She spoke again to her father. “The lie was bitter as I gave it, and it turned against me, for when I found out that I was not in truth a widow, I could not admit it.” She leaned comfortably against Ruark. “I am sorry for the deceit, papa, but if I could be certain that the end would be the same, I would do it all again.”
Trahern laughed merrily to himself and was still chuckling when he looked up at her again. “I was wondering how long you would take that ultimatum. For a while I was sure you had yielded, but now I see you have more than an even share of Trahern blood.”
Shanna eyed the major hesitantly. “Another man was buried in the coffin I thought was Ruark’s. Perhaps an unnamed corpse bound for potter’s field. Beyond that, I have no knowledge.”
Pitney stepped forward and took up the tale. “I received the coffin from Mister Hicks at Newgate. In it was an old man, withered and dried, dead of hunger or disease, I could not tell. Whoever the fellow was, he lies well beneath fine stone with a high name upon it. There is little else to tell, only that I found a man who claims to be the husband of the murdered wench in London.” And as the major opened his mouth to speak, Pitney held up a hand to give him pause. “I know now that the man is suspect. At this moment he is in Richmond. The man was well in his cups in London and only told me then that Ruark could not have done it.”
Pitney saw Shanna’s accusing stare and hastened to add, “When I found that Ruark had escaped the hangman, I saw no reason to make a further stir over it. ‘Twas only in Richmond that the girl’s husband said he’d soon be able to prove Ruark innocent, so I left him to do what he was intending. It might have been a ruse to see himself clear.” Pitney shrugged. “I trusted the man.”
“There was a girl murdered on our island,” Trahern mused aloud. “And she traced an ‘R’ in the sand.”
Pitney turned his gaze to Ralston and rested it there until that one began to chafe beneath the weight of it.
“You accuse me?” Ralston barked. “I abhorred the little twit, but I had no reason to kill her. She was nothing to me.”
Shanna frowned at him. “Milly was with child, and you gave her coins. Ruark and I both saw you with her in the hall at the manor house.”
Ralston waved his narrow hand. “She was to bring me fish. ‘Twas all.”
“Why did you follow Ruark about the island?” Pitney questioned. “I saw you on many occasions doing so.”
The thin man’s jaw flexed angrily. “You would like to accuse me of trying to murder him, wouldn’t you? You and she”—he gestured to Shanna—“connived in London behind my back to arrange the marriage,” Ralston sneered. “Well, I didn’t know he was wed to her when I saw them together near the mill. Mister Ruark was free enough with his hands to make me realize there was something between them. As I was responsible for him being on the island, I knew if he were accused of tampering with the squire’s daughter, questions would be aroused, and I would have to answer more than a few of them myself. I only learned that they were married on the sea voyage here, and as soon as we landed I sent a letter to the authorities. I understood Mister Ruark a murderer, don’t you understand? Mister Hicks said as much.”