The Thorn in My Shed-Chapter 29: The Old Evans Estate

"General," Briggs saluted as he entered Marix’s office, "We tracked down one of the former maids of the Evans Estate. She is here, ready to speak with you."

Marix nodded and put down the documents he was going over, "Bring her in."

Briggs opened the door further and extended his arm into the room to escort her inside. Marix stood immediately after seeing her.

The woman was small and extremely old. She was barely able to walk, and her hair was practically snow white. Despite being a maid she was dressed very well.

Briggs helped her ease into the chair before taking his place next to Marix.

"Hello ma’am. Thank you for meeting with us. Please tell us about your time at the Evans Estate." Marix said as he took his seat again.

She smiled as she reminisced.

"That estate was my home for so many years. I was originally hired as a young girl by the former Lord Evans. He was a kind man, very down to Earth. He was quite frugal with his money, our uniforms weren’t in the best condition but he felt they didn’t need to be."

Her eyes twinkled as she recalled those days of the distant past.

"They were meant to get dirty and be roughed up. As long as they weren’t falling off of us, they were still good. Many servants had issue with it, but I found it refreshing for a noble to have this mindset. Now, I don’t think the current Lord Evans or even his new staff realize but we were paid the most of all the servants at that time. We received double the wages!"

She gently brushed her fingertips over her very expensive looking necklace.

"He thought of people where it counts. Because of him my late husband and I were able to live comfortably even after I quit and spoil ourselves a little bit from time to time. Now, the current Lord Evans."

The old woman raised her wrinkled, liver spotted hand and shook her index finger as she tutted.

"Always a feisty boy, but his ambitions grew too large. As he grew older he became starved with greed. If you were to ask me, I would say I don’t think the former Lord Evans passed from natural causes. I understand his frustrations with his father, many of the other servants had them too. No one ever appreciated that soul of that man, but I can understand."

She nodded her head firmly, "It was when that adorable baby girl arrived that I realize the true nature of his cruelty."

Marix and Briggs exchanged a concerned glance.

"What do you mean?" Marix prompted.

The old woman stared up at the ceiling with a smile on her face and let out a soft, dreamy sigh.

"That baby girl was the cutest thing. Tufts of brown hair on the top of her head, puckered little lips and those big, big eyes."

She held her hands up to her eyes in the shapes of C’s as she told the story.

"Oh but that man hated her. You’d think she’d been accused of murder! Absolutely despised her! But, she loved her daddy. It was heartbreaking how much she tried to go to him. It was one night when she a little tiny thing she crawled into his bed so frightened from the night. He shoved her off. Poor thing cried so hard."

Tears filled the old woman’s eyes as a look of guilt came over her face.

"He banished her to the garden shed. She wasn’t allowed in the estate any longer. We’d allow her to come into the servants quarters since Lord Evans never came in there. I’d do her hair and braid it, had to teach her how to brush it, poor thing. Oh I wanted to take that little girl home so bad."

Marix pursed his lips as rubbed his forehead.

"After she was cast out to that lonesome place, I just knew I couldn’t work for that evil man. I had to leave. I’ve carried that guilt that I didn’t take that little girl with me but who knows what would’ve happened if I had. One maid disappeared for sticking up for her and I had my own babies to come home to at the end of the day."

Marix opened the top drawer of his desk and tossed one of the coins in front of the old woman.

"Do you recognize this at all?"

With a shaky hand, she reached out and grabbed the coin off the desk. She held it closely to her eyes, squinting as she examined yet.

"Oh my. I haven’t seen this in years. It doesn’t look like it once did, but yes. This was sent with Eilownia."

Marix then slid the coin from the fisherman to her. "And what about this one?"

Her eyes widened as she picked it up.

"Oh yes, oh yes. This is what it looked like back then, but this one doesn’t have the leaf. Odd."

Marix leaned back in his seat and cocked his head to the right, "Is the wording the same?"

She squinted again as she looked, "Hmmm I’m unsure about the date but I believe it originally said something like this yes, ’Norain.’ That sounds about right. It’s been so long."

"Tell me more about these coins."

The woman placed them both back onto the desk and nodded.

"Two large carriages arrived with her full of gold, silks, jewels, jewelry and these coins. Filled to the brim! It took us hours to unload it all."

"So she has more of these?" Briggs asked, suddenly looking intrigued.

The maid wiggled her mouth and scrunched her noise.

"A few more? It was clear Lord Evans wasn’t going to give her any of these things. He dressed her in plain clothes, gave her a bedroom so small it could be a closet but I knew those were things that were for her. They were sent with her, they were from her mother, those things belonged to that little girl."

The woman nodded firmly, a look of determination came over her face.

"Amongst the items was a beautiful little jewelry box. I took it and I stuffed it with as many things as I could and I hid it away for her. After she got tossed into that shed, I hid them away underneath the floorboard and I told the maid that I knew was the most trustworthy to make sure it stayed hidden."

Marix and Briggs nodded as they listened to the maid’s recollections.

"To send so many things, her mother must have been some sort of noble as well. Do you know what her name was? Was she from Norain?" Briggs asked, placing his hands on Marix’s desk as he leaned closer to the maid, eager to hear more.

The woman shrugged and shot them an apologetic look.

"It’s been so long. She was never anyone that I’d met or that I knew."

She thought for a moment, bobbing her head up and down a bit, "There was a note that day that Eilownia was brought to the Evans Estate. It was from.....I think the mother’s family. It said she’d died. I don’t know how I don’t think that was detailed in the letter, but her name....it was...."

She tapped her chin as she looked around the room, as if searching for the answer there.

"Kara? Clara? Laura? Something like that. I think someone else had pointed out he was engaged to someone with the same name. He didn’t seem to like that."

Marix raised an eyebrow.

Briggs seemed to have the exact same question as Marix did.

"You worked for his father, knew him from when he was a boy but you didn’t know who he was seeing or who he was engaged to? Why didn’t you know that information?"

The old woman let out a soft laugh, "I was his father’s maid. I really just stuck around for the security of employment and for Eilownia after his passing. What the current Lord Evans was doing or who he was seeing was information I didn’t quite care to know. I was just there to do my job at that point."

"And do you happen to know where she was from?" Marix added.

She shook her head, "I don’t."

Briggs closed her eyes and cocked his head to the side, as he let out a frustrated exhale.

Marix nodded slowly as he ran his tongue over his teeth.

"And what about the rest of the things that were brought with Eilownia? You said there were two carriages worth but you only filled a small jewelry box? What happened to everything else?"

The old woman gave him an apologetic look and ducked her head a bit as she shrugged.

"I don’t know. A few days after Eilownia arrived, the items all disappeared. Every single one. I never saw them again."

"Alright. Thank you."

Marix and Briggs led the old woman out and watched as she departed down the street in the carriage Marix had sent for her.

"So we still think he has them?" Briggs whispered under his breath.

"Oh yeah." Marix responded.