Eryn called on Boen early in the morning. Her mother had sent her across the village to fetch empty bottles, and on the way she called in on the Waeshenbach household. The house was close to the shore as the family was one of two responsible for catching seafood for the community. She stepped through a decaying gate and passed two small boats stored beneath a camouflaged shelter, over which grew vines and trailing moss. The boats bobbed quietly, touching one another with a rhythmic grind as the tide lapped at them placidly.
Boen’s mother answered the door and smiled anxiously at Eryn. She welcomed her in, eager for news. Though their families had their differences, Eryn had always secretly admired Samantha, who, for a woman who primarily spent her day to her elbows gutting fish, always smelt of fresh lavender.
‘So who are those women?’ Samantha said, dragging Eryn into the kitchen and thrusting her into a seat. ‘Have you spoken to them?’
‘No, I… Pa wouldn’t talk about them when they returned from the cells, and this morning he and Baron went back at first light to question them. Ma and me have been sent around the village to tell everyone not to worry though, and that we should get on with things as normal. There’s a council at midday. I think everyone’s going to that.’
Samantha stared into the middle-distance for a moment, as though she were actively pushing back the fears that had kept her awake all night. ‘That’s something, at least.’ She said, distantly, before brightening.
Did you hear Dawn gave birth to a boy?’
‘Yes, that was the other thing. I’ve been sent to pass the news around the village, but it seems everybody knows already.’
‘Oh! It’s such good news! Especially after what she’s been through. She deserves a little boy.’
‘They’ve named him William.’
‘After Reighn’s grandfather? How sweet!’ She poured a tankard of water and leant forward surreptitiously. ‘Who’d you think they are then, these women?’
‘I don’t know…’ Eryn said slowly, and it was true, though she couldn’t help but think that with Kelly being killed by an outsider, the women’s appearance couldn’t be a good omen.
Samantha heard the uncertainty in her tone. ‘Do you fancy a tea, love? It’s not very warm, mind.’
‘Thank you, but no, I really came to see…’
‘You will, won’t you? I boiled some water before dawn. I couldn’t sleep, what with…’ She stood and fetched a thermos. ‘Doesn’t hold the heat like it used to,’ she explained, ‘Kelly was supposed to bring a new one back from Ireland before he... well…’ Eryn followed and looked up the staircase in the hope of seeing Boen. She didn’t, and turned back to Samantha, tilting her head with a façade of sympathy. Only a week had passed and the community were mourning the loss of promised goods more than Kelly.
‘I was speaking to Guliven last night.’ Samantha continued, ‘We supposed they might be travellers who’ve gotten lost. What do you think?’
Eryn shrugged. ‘I don’t know… I wouldn’t have thought so. They’d never have got passed the border.’
Samantha sighed, but nodded as she unscrewed the silver cap. ‘Guliven said he’d fetch me some sugar when he goes to Ballycotton.’ she said, as though sharing a confidence.
Eryn looked up, impressed. They hadn’t seen sugar for some months. She supposed the Waeshenbach household would soon become a storehouse of luxury now her husband had been assigned the post of runner.
‘So, your pa didn’t say anything about them?’ Samantha probed.
‘Sorry.’
‘You know, it’s got everyone unnatural worried. Ted asked Guliven if he could bring a rifle back with him.’
‘You know what I think is sad?’ Eryn said as she watched tea being poured into her squat mug. ‘How suddenly Kelly’s death doesn’t matter anymore. He was alive a week ago, being pestered by everyone to bring particulars back for them, and now people have moved on to Guliven without a second thought.
Samantha was a little affronted by the mildly veiled insinuation, but shook her head and placed the thermos between them. ‘People haven’t forgotten about Kelly, darling… it’s just… Last week we hadn’t been discovered. I’m not surprised that everyone’s more concerned about these women than they are about a corpse.’ She hesitated, knowing before the words had left her mouth that she had chosen them poorly.
‘He’s not a corpse!’ Eryn said hotly. ‘He’s Richard Kelly, and no matter how long he’s dead he’ll always be Richard Kelly to me. Corpse, indeed!’
The two of them were silent for a moment, and then Samantha sipped her tea and spoke. ‘I know, I didn’t mean…’
Eryn snorted and turned to the window, her eyes glazed. She breathed deeply and lay her hand on Samantha’s wrist. ‘I’m sorry… I just miss him. Every time the door squeaks in the pub I think it’s him. I don’t think my brain realises he’s gone for good.’
The floorboards above creaked, drawing Eryn from her thoughts. She said, ‘Is that Boen?’
‘Most likely, I think Arabella’s already out.’
‘Do you mind if I go and see him?’
Samantha looked a little confused. ‘You want to see Boen? What are you two up to?’
Defensively, Eryn frowned. ‘Nothing, we…’ the words remained as though they were the best explanation on offer. She coloured slightly and, raising her brow, Samantha shrugged and said, ‘It’s fine with me.’
‘Thanks,’ Eryn replied, and took her mug with her.
She lifted her skirts whilst climbing the steep staircase and knocked three times before waiting for a reply.
‘Yeah?’
‘It’s me.’
‘Wha… Oh! What are you doing here? What do you wa…’
Before he could finish his sentence, she was in the room. An intake of breath followed, and she turned sharply, covering her eyes. ‘Put some clothes on, will you?’
He was way ahead of her, fumbling around with a pair of corduroy trousers and scrabbling with the string at his waist. ‘Well what d’you bleedin’ expect – bursting into peoples bedrooms like that, you rotten pervert!’
‘I didn’t know you were in the nip!’ She snapped, her fingers still pressing against her eyes. ‘Is it safe yet?’
‘Yeah…’
Eryn turned and saw that he was straightening his jumper, his face flushed with embarrassment. She caught sight of several scars on his back, and a long bruise across his hip. She’d received a similar bruise from her father some years previously, but never had he left her body scarred.
‘Well what do you want?’ He said moodily. ‘Do you know who those women are?’
She was distracted by the sight of his wounds. For the first time she considered Boen was the way he was as a result of them.
‘Well?’
‘No… No I don’t, I wish people would stop asking me. I did try, but pa shouted at me to get to bed.’
‘Well why are you here?’
‘I just wondered what you thought about it… I mean, it’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? Three strangers coming to the village in the space of a week? I’ve hardly had a wink of sleep all night.’
‘You think it’s connected?’
‘I don’t know,’
‘Well…’ He sat on his bed and gathered some dirty socks from the floor. ‘Why would one stranger murder and run away, and the other two come directly to the Smuggler’s?’
‘I think we should go to Lundy.’ She said directly.
‘How would we do that?’
Eryn picked at the grain of the doorframe innocently, ‘One of your pa’s boats?’
Boen left one sock dangling from his foot and stared up at her. ‘You’ve got to be joking! If pa caught me stealing one of his boats he’d gut me!’
‘Yeah? What d’you think my pa would do? Congratulate me? We’ve got to go; you said yourself that they wear galoshes on Lundy. If what you’ve told me so far is true then someone on that Island had a reason to murder Kelly and I want to know what that reason was.’
He stared at her for a moment, and noticed her grey eyes catching the light. They sparkled like the morning surf and he supposed she was making them do it on purpose to dazzle him. How was it possible for grey eyes to sparkle with flecks of yellow and pink?
He looked away darkly, and let out a deep sigh.
‘Is that a ‘yes’?’ She said apprehensively.
‘Not yet it isn’t.’
‘Oh come on, Boen… You want to get to the bottom of this don’t you? Just think of the esteem you’ll be held in.’
‘I don’t know that I care as much about esteem as I do about not being gutted!’
‘If the murderer knows what you look like…’
‘That’s the main reason I don’t want to go. If I take the boat I’ll run the risk of being murdered there and here!’
She rolled her eyes and waited in silence for a while before tilting her head seductively. ‘So what do you say?’
‘Can you just go away… Please?’
She felt his earnestness, and wasn’t quite certain how to react. She knew Guliven wouldn’t literally gut him, of course he wouldn’t, but the thought of his wounded back made her realise she shouldn’t pursue the matter any further. She nodded without saying a word, and turned to go.
‘You working tonight?’ He said, his back hunched as he looked at the floor between his legs.
‘I don’t know, what with these women… If the pubs open then yeah.’
‘Then if the pubs open tonight I’ll come and give you my answer.’
She turned to leave again.
‘Eryn?’
‘Hmm?’
‘Why are you even asking me?’
She didn’t say anything.
‘I mean I’ve never seen you back away from doing something just because someone said ‘no’ to you. If you wanted one of the boats you’d get George to steal one and go with you.’
Eryn was taken aback by the question. She hadn’t realised that her persuading others to do her bidding was so blatant. She’d always considered herself to be rather subtle. She ran her fingers through her hair and twisted her mouth. ‘I just thought we could do this… you know, together.’
He didn’t say anything to this, and after a few seconds of silence, she turned and made her way from the house.