CHAPTER FOUR

Allowing the children to play near the pond turns out to be a mistake. Samuel develops a cough that evening. I make him some chamomile tea with honey and lemon, and with help from Elijah—who returns just in time for the pizza—we coax him into drinking the tea.

Unfortunately, he wakes up with a fever and a respiratory infection. When I search for medicine, I find that there is absolutely none in the house. I can't understand how it's possible to have children in the house without even a basic stock of medicine, but when I ask Cecilia, she confirms it's true. "Johnathan was the one who handled all of that. He had a good relationship with the local pharmacist. The children haven't been sick in a while, so I suppose I never thought about it."

"Well, I'll pick up some medicine after breakfast. That is, if it's all right with you, ma'am."

She nods and smiles distractedly. "Sure. Whatever you think is best."

I see to breakfast and then ask Elijah to watch the others while I'm gone. He frowns and says, "When will you be back?"

I shouldn't snap at him, but I'm frustrated: at myself for not keeping Samuel inside from the cold, at Isabella for involving me in this mystery and then closing off from all my attempts to talk to her again, and at Elijah for disappearing for hours for no warning.

So, I say, "When I have medicine for your brother. And when I return, we'll discuss your absence yesterday.

His frown deepens, and he says defensively, "All right. I was just asking."

Samuel moans, "Mary, my head hurts."

"I know, Samuel. I'm fetching medicine for you. In the meantime, Elijah, please brew him some chamomile tea with a teaspoon of honey and the juice of half a lemon. Isabella, you may put a movie on for him and bundle him warmly in his room."

"Isn't that your job?" she says snarkily.

"Right now, it's your job," I reply firmly.

She glares defiantly at me, and when she sees I won't budge, she rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"It's okay, Miss Mary," Samuel says. "I can bundle myself up."

Isabella quickly goes to him. "No, it's okay, buddy. I'm sorry. I'll take care of you."

That softens my anger toward her. She still isn't sure of me, but she cares for her brother.

Then again, if she isn't sure of me, why did she hand me the note? Why did she interrupt her mother's conversation with Elena? What is she afraid of?

These questions linger as Javier drives me to town. I debate whether I should ask him anything, then decide I must hope for at least one ally here.

"Javier? What is Elena's relationship with the family?"

"Elena Serrano? She was Johnathan's business partner."

"I see. She mentioned something about Elena's vote and the future of the company yesterday."

Javier gives me a fishy look, and I quickly backpedal. "But it's none of my business. I was simply curious."

Javier nods, and we drive in silence for a minute. Then he says, "I'm not supposed to know this, and frankly, you aren't either, but Elena was trying to take the company from Johnathan. They were at odds with how it should be run, and Elena attempted to have the board remove him. I only know this because I used to drive Johnathan, and I'd hear him on the phone. From what I understand, he threatened to sue her if she tried anything like that again."

"Oh goodness."

"Yeah. But like you said, it's none of our business. You want my advice, Miss Wilcox? Just do your job and keep your eyes and ears to yourself. I'm not trying to be rude, but that's the safest thing for you to do."

"The safest? What danger am I in?"

"Losing your job," he says immediately. "Cecilia seems to have warmed up to you, but make no mistake: you are a servant. We are all servants. Everyone in that house whose last name isn't Ashford is a servant. I know you're new to this career, and that's why I'm being a little harsh. It's easier to learn the lesson this way then when you're handed a check out of nowhere and told you're no longer welcome on the property."

I frown. "Does that happen often?"

"It happens."

It's clear that Javier intends for the conversation to be over, so I let things remain that way. But I don't know that I can sit by idly the way he asks me to. Isabella gave me that note for a reason. She may still fight with me, but she trusts me, or at least hopes she can. She clearly at least wonders if her father could have been murdered. I intend to find out.

The moment the thought crosses my mind, I gasp. Javier looks at me with a frown, and I smile apologetically. "Hiccup. Sorry."

Do I really intend to do this? Do I really plan to snoop into Johnathan's past and see if his death might not have been an accident?

I see Isabella's tears when she tells me of the pain she and her siblings feel, and my resolve is strengthened. I don't know what I can do or if what I can do will be enough, but I'll do what I can.

This time, I won't stop looking.

Javier pulls in front of a medium-sized market with a sign out front that says, HAPPY HEALTHCARE PHARMACY AND RX.

"That's the only drugstore in town," he says. "A lot of folks just drive the extra hour to Buffalo, or should I say, tell their servants to drive the extra hour, but the family has a good relationship with Simon Trent. He's the owner."

"As long as he sells cold and fever medicine for children, I'm fine with this."

Javier chuckles. "Yes, it'll have everything you need."

"Good. Thank you. I won't be a moment."

I walk inside and find the business refreshingly clean and well-organized. There are few shoppers. Perhaps Samuel is unlucky and is one of the first to catch a cold this season.

I find the medicine I need and take it to the checkout counter. The person standing behind the counter is a short, bespectacled man of perhaps fifty. He smiles at me, and I see his nametag.

"Simon. Simon Trent."

He blinks. "Yes. How do you know my name? Have we met before?"

I smile and extend my hand. "Mary Wilcox. I'm the new governess at the Ashford estate."

He pales and stammers a moment before saying, "Ah. Yes, well. Here."

He snatches the medicines from my hand, rather rudely, and quickly scans them. "That will be seventeen-ninety-nine."

My eyes narrow a little. Something in his manner strikes me as odd. He's afraid. Why?

"I heard that you and the Ashfords have a great relationship. I'm sure you were devastated to hear of Johnathan's passing."

He chuckles nervously. "Yeah, it's tragic. Life's a bitch sometimes. Seventeen-ninety-nine."

"Those poor children," I say. "How devastating to lose their father—"

"Yes!" He catches himself and lowers his voice. "Yes, it is. Seventeen-ninety-nine. Please. "

I glance around. There are six other customers in the store and none of them near the checkout counter. Still, it's not as though I can interrogate him in public. I return my gaze to him and say, "Shall I pass the family your condolences?"

"I… ah… sure. Listen, I have a lot to do, so—"

"Of course! Of course. Here you are."

I hand him my card, and he scans it rapidly. "All right. You're good to go."

"The receipt? I'll need to expense—"

"Yes, fine, here you go, bye!"

He rushes past me and accosts another customer, asking almost desperately if she needs help finding anything.

I watch him for a moment longer, then return to Javier. On the way home, I mention Simon's jumpiness, and Javier frowns. "Hmm. I guess he was having a bad day. Honestly, I don't know him very well. He might just be like that. I knew a guy at a gas station in Albany who used to swear at people when they asked him how his day was going. No reason. Just hated talking to people."

Javier continues to regale me with tales of rude people he's met in the past. I pay enough attention to nod politely and comment where expected, but my mind remains on the nervous pharmacist I talked to a moment ago.

Why would he get so upset at the mere mention of the family? What was his relationship with Johnathan? He certainly didn't seem displeased about his death. Displeased to have me talking to him about it for sure, but that was all. Perhaps I should do some more research on Johnathan. Few people seem to miss him outside of his family.

I arrive home and give Samuel the medicine. Elijah tries to flee Samuel's room when I arrive, but I hold my hand up to stop him. He frowns and says, "I'm just going outside to get some fresh air."

"No, you're not. You are to remain on the grounds today."

He blinks. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You are to remain on the grounds. You may walk through the garden or by the pond, but you are not to cross the fence onto the deep grounds."

For the first time, he reacts in anger. "You can't tell me what to do."

"That is exactly what I've been hired to do." I lower my voice and add, "Think of the example you're setting for your brother and sister."

"I'm not their dad," he spits back. "I'm not supposed to set an example."

"Of course you are. You're the oldest. They'll follow your lead whether you like it or not."

"Yeah? Well, that's their problem."

He pushes past me and ignores me when I call after him.

"I could have told you that would happen," Isabella says smugly. "He never listens. He only ever listened to Dad."

"Isabella, may I talk with you a moment?"

"You can do whatever you want."

Samuel sneezes loudly, and Isabella quickly hands him a tissue. She looks at me and says, "Can it wait, actually? I want to be here for Samuel."

"It'll only take a moment."

She rolls her eyes. "Okay, then no."

"I'm only trying to help, Isabella."

"Well, I didn't ask you to. Maybe you thought that's what I did, but it isn't."

She doesn't explicitly mention the note, but I know that's what she's referring to.

"Isabella?" Samuel asks, "Why are you so mean to Mary?"

"Watch your movie, kid," she says.

I can see I won't convince her to talk to me yet. I fear I may have taken on more responsibility than I can shoulder.

I sigh and say, "I'll be back to check on you two in a moment."

"Bye, Miss Mary!"

"Goodbye, Samuel."

Isabella remains silent.

"Isabella?" I ask. "Where do you usually keep medicine?"

"Closet. When we have it."

"Which closet?"

"The one on the wall next to the room."

"Which room?"

She rolls her eyes and gets to her feet. She leads me to a closet fifteen feet from Samuel's room and opens it, then gestures dramatically at a shelf. There are several half-empty bottles of prescription pills on the shelf, along with bandages and antibiotic ointment. At least they aren't utterly out of supplies.

The pills, though. I wonder who those are?

I thank Isabella and wait for her to stomp off before I look at the prescription bottles. They're fairly straightforward: an antidepressant, a painkiller, something for blood pressure and something for heartburn.

One thing is peculiar. Each bottle has Dr. Simon Trent as the prescribing physician.

I wonder. Could Simon have been anxious because he knows he poisoned Johnathan? The cause of death reported in the news was a heart attack, but perhaps the heart attack was a result of an adverse reaction to a medicine Simon prescribed.

It's too soon to tell. I need to look deeper.

But it's clear that something was festering in this house long before Johnathan's death.