Chapter Seven: The Open Trunk
Mrs. Vale entered Catherine’s room shortly before noon with Oliver Pike carrying the inventory book.
Gideon followed them, irritated that a missing brooch could delay the sale of an entire estate’s furnishings.
Catherine sat beside the window, her gloves lying untouched in her lap.
Ruth stood just inside the doorway holding fresh pillowcases.
She had chosen that ordinary errand so she could remain without drawing attention.
Mrs. Vale began with a walnut chest and continued to the two trunks Daniel had carried upstairs.
Catherine rose as the older woman touched the smaller lid.
“There is nothing of interest inside.”
“Then this will take only a moment,” Mrs. Vale replied.
Gideon gestured impatiently.
“Open it, Catherine.”
Catherine lifted the lid and exposed folded winter gowns.
Mrs.
Vale examined the fabric and the stitching, then asked to see the lining beneath the dresses.
“You need not tear apart my possessions,” Catherine snapped.
“I have no intention of tearing anything.”
Mrs. Vale ran her fingers along a seam near the hinge.
The velvet bulged in a place where a flat lining ought to have rested against wood.
She asked Oliver for his penknife, but Catherine caught her wrist.
“I forbid you to touch that.”
Gideon stepped forward.
“What is this nonsense?”
Catherine released the appraiser.
“I am asking for ordinary respect.”
“You have already cost me two days of preparation.”
His voice carried through the open door.
Ruth could hear someone moving in the corridor, where Hester had stationed Betsy with a basket of sheets.
Mrs. Vale used the blunt end of her pencil to lift the loose strip.
A narrow sparkle appeared beneath the lining.
She drew out a gold bracelet and placed it on the bedspread.
The room went perfectly still.
A second bracelet followed, then a diamond brooch wrapped in tissue.
Gideon looked from the jewelry to his wife.
“Explain this.”
Catherine’s mouth opened, but no words came.
She reached toward the brooch as though she could make it disappear by taking it back.
Mrs. Vale moved the jewelry beyond her reach and called Oliver to record where it had been found.
“The items are present,” the appraiser said.
“The apparent loss should be struck from the list.”
Gideon’s face reddened.
“Catherine claimed Carter stole them.”
Catherine recovered herself with startling speed.
“Then he must have put them there after I discovered they were gone.”
Ruth felt the old temptation to remain silent.
She imagined Ellen being taken down the road in Shaw’s carriage.
She imagined Daniel being sold anyway, despite the discovery.
But she also saw Catherine constructing a fresh accusation in the space left by an exposed lie.
“Mrs. Whitcomb placed them there herself,” Ruth said.
Every face turned toward her.
Catherine looked almost pleased to have a new target.
“What did you say?”
Ruth kept both hands around the folded pillowcases.
“I passed the room yesterday after Daniel came downstairs.”
“You were spying on me,” Catherine said.
“I was carrying linens.”
“And now you invent a story to protect a thief.”
Ruth could feel her heart knocking against her ribs.
“I saw you holding the jewelry and lifting the lining.”
Gideon stared at Ruth as though a chair had begun speaking.
“You understand the seriousness of accusing my wife?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you had better be certain.”
“I am certain of what I saw.”
Catherine turned toward him with wet eyes.
“She is lying because she fears punishment for helping him.”
Mrs. Vale remained by the bed, watching the mistress rather than Ruth.
“I have examined many trunks,” she said.
“The lining here has been disturbed recently, and the jewelry was wrapped against dust.”
Catherine snapped at her.
“You know nothing of my household.”
“I know what my hands and eyes found today.”
Oliver wrote another line in the inventory.
Gideon finally asked Catherine to leave the room.
She did not move.
“You are taking their side against me?”
“I am asking you to leave while I decide what has occurred.”
Catherine walked past Ruth so closely that their sleeves brushed.
“You will regret this,” she whispered.
Ruth remained standing until the door closed.
Then her knees began to tremble.
Mrs. Vale placed the jewelry in a shallow tray and asked Oliver to stay with it.
Gideon turned to Ruth.
“Why did you not tell me yesterday?”
The question contained more accusation than curiosity.
“Mrs. Whitcomb threatened my daughter.”
Gideon looked offended by the answer.
“My wife does not determine who is sold.”
“She told me Ellen was in demand.”
The room changed around Gideon’s silence.
He had insisted that sales were his decisions, but Catherine had been using those decisions as weapons while he watched.
He told Ruth to wait in the hallway.
Mrs. Vale remained inside, and Ruth heard the low voices of an argument behind the door.
She went toward the back stairs, where Hester stood waiting.
“They found everything,” Ruth whispered.
Hester held her arm until the trembling passed.
“And Daniel?”
“Not yet.”
“Then we have another door to open.”
