A Body in the Woodpile: Emma Berry Mysteries, #3

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to

the memory of my grandfather

George Bennett

former riverboat captain

and Murray River fisherman

Author’s Note

The Emma Berry mysteries are set in the 1870s on the Murray River, the third longest navigable river in the world, surpassed only by the Amazon and the Nile. Its great navigable length was responsible for the development of the riverboats, the side-wheel paddle steamers that opened up the Australian countryside along the river’s length to settlement and sheep farming, in much the way railways did in the wider countryside.

Indeed, it was the railways that eventually ended the glory days of the paddle steamers, though they continue to ply the waters in the 21st century, carrying tourists and holiday makers. Two generations of my father’s family produced working riverboat captains. But this story is strictly fiction.

A Body in the Woodpile is the third title in a series.

Main Characters

At Wirramilla on the Murray

Emma Berry – widow of Sam Berry

Edward & Rose Haythorne – her parents, pastoralists

Eleanor Haythorne - Edward’s mother, Emma’s grandmother

Lucy Wirra - housekeeper

Janey, Sal & Jacky Wirra - Lucy’s adult children

Nella Brackett, Lucy’s eldest child married to overseer Jeff Brackett, children: Jack, Elly, Billy

At Nettifield on the Murray

George Macdonald - pastoralist

Matty, Beatrice (Bea), Jim – their adult children

Thomas Quilp - overseer, Bea’s betrothed

The paddle steamer Mary B

Daniel Berry - Captain, Emma’s brother-in-law

Crew - Jake Summers, Fred Croaker, Shorty Mason, Blue Higgins, Ah Lo (Charley), Willy Bowman

At Wentworth

Joseph (Joe) Haythorne - Customs Officer, Emma’s brother,

Catherine Haythorne - Joe’s wife

At Zeller’s Woodpile

Zac Zeller - German woodcutter

Hilda Zeller - his wife

Henry, Erich, Gertie – their children

Others

Lieutenant Forrester - Euston police officer

Charles Penton - Euston hotelier & magistrate

Jack Macklin - labourer

Aubrey (The Weasel) Sinclair - Customs Officer

Axel and Rosie Becke - German farmers at Kerang

It is generally believed that a system of petty smuggling has been carried on for some time past, not, indeed, to any great extent, but still sufficient to prove that unless it be checked at once it will soon assume formidable dimensions. It is chiefly indulged in by a class of people who regard the fact of having done the Customs officers in the light of a good joke. The Age, May 1875.

Chapter 1

Emma As Matchmaker

Friday 7 January 1876

Emma fingered the satin ribbons Dotty Keogh placed on the counter and sighed. I must admit to having been quite concerned about him, Miss Keogh, she said. Bea was worried for her brother as well. Dotty glanced down the counter where her mother was unrolling bolts of fabric for Bea Macdonald to inspect. Matty was so upset when my husband died. They were such good friends. Emma crossed the fingers of one hand beneath the counter and hoped she wouldn’t be struck down by an avenging angel. It was all for a good cause and if it appeased the angel at all it wasn’t easy for her to speak of Sam’s death, still fresh after six months. But he was most upset for me, of course. He’s always been like a big brother. Very caring.

Yes? Dotty said, a little breathlessly.

And because I was unhappy, he was unhappy and he, well, he simply felt he couldn’t come and see you and burden you with that.

Oh, but I would have understood, had he told me, Dotty assured her earnestly.

I know, dear, Emma said patting her hand. We women understand these things, but men, they like to be the strong ones, even when their hearts are breaking.

He didn’t say anything about it when he called on me last month.

He came to see you? Emma was certain Matty had and that he had been rebuffed. Bea confided her brother had been like a bear with a sore head lately.

Yes, but... Dotty leaned forward and whispered, Ma sent him off.

Oh?

She, um, told him not to come back. She said he couldn’t be trusted and was just toying with me, filling in time. There was someone else, she told me, and when that woman crooked her little finger, he’d be gone again.

Emma felt as if the breath had been knocked out of her. She glanced down the counter at Mrs. Keogh as if her head were on a string and someone had just tugged it. Mrs. Keogh was looking straight back at her. There was nothing judgmental in the woman’s gaze, but Mrs. Keogh knew, or believed she did.

Emma was suddenly reminded that she wasn’t the only person who made assumptions about others. Had there been speculation about the young woman at Wirramilla and the young man at neighbouring Nettifield who had been friends for many years? She could imagine the drapery store being a hotbed of gossip between its female clientele and its female owner. There was no way Mrs. Keogh could know about the promise Emma and Matty had made on that lovely spring day ten years ago, but even though the arrangement was now null and void the repercussions, unfortunately, were proving ongoing.

He did just stop coming around, Mrs. Berry. Tears glistened in Dotty’s eyes as Emma forced her attention back to the girl. He never wrote or anything. I don’t think Ma is going to change her mind about him any time soon.

Would you change your mind? Emma heard herself ask. If I told you there was no other woman? That you were first in his mind?

I’d give him another chance, Dotty said, touching her eyes with her handkerchief. But he wouldn’t want to do that again.

No. You are quite right. Once is quite enough. And once too many if she couldn’t convince Mrs. Keogh. Dotty might believe her story about Matty’s unhappiness, but she was afraid her mother would see it for the flimflam it was.

The bell on the shop door of Keogh’s Drapery Store tinkled and several other customers came in, ending any chance Emma had of extending her mission at that moment.

<><><>

Why would Mrs. Keogh say there was another woman? Bea asked, taking a sandwich. Matty’s never even looked at anyone else.

Emma sipped her tea, trying not to catch Catherine’s eye across the table as her sister-in-law raised her eyebrows at Bea’s comment. Emma had just finished telling them what Dotty had said but she had never told Bea about the promise she and Matty had made. She had, however, told Catherine.

Emma had only met her sister-in-law ten days before, when she and Daniel collected her and Emma’s brother Joe at Albury to travel the eight-hundred miles down the Murray River. Joe was to take up his new position as Customs Officer at Wentworth and Catherine was expecting their first child. It was for that last fact Emma had insisted on making the Mary B available for them. Coach travel would have been horrendously uncomfortable for Catherine in her current condition, and possibly dangerous.

One night during their journey down river, when the heat and stillness made sleeping difficult, they had sat up late on the upper deck and talked. Emma had told Catherine about the promise she and Matty had made when she was seventeen and he two years older, that they should marry if they were both still single in ten years. And how Matty’s honourable nature prompted him to stop seeing Dotty Keogh in case Emma wanted him to uphold the promise and marry her after Sam died. Emma had managed to convince him that the promise held no sway because she had married, even if she was now a widow.

Unfortunately, if Matty didn’t marry and bring a wife home to manage the Nettifield homestead his sister Bea, currently filling that role, wouldn’t leave her father and brothers untended to marry her own love.

It was too late now to tell Bea about the promise she and Matty had made. She could imagine the hurt Bea would feel at Emma keeping it from her all this time, especially as Nella had known for many years. The only person Matty told as far as she knew was his mother, before her death two years ago.

People make assumptions, Bea, Emma said now. They see me and Matty, next door neighbours, growing up practically together and next thing they are putting two and two together and thinking they make four.

You and Matty? Mrs. Keogh thinks you’re the other woman? Bea laughed. My goodness, she doesn’t know either of you very well, does she.

Not a match made in heaven, then? Catherine said drily. She hadn’t yet met Matty Macdonald.

Hardly. Much as I love my older brother, he and Emma would be at loggerheads in no time if they lived together.

There spoke a wise sister. It’s clear Dotty has feelings for him, but I don’t know how we are going to get Mrs. Keogh to trust Matty again, Emma said.

I still don’t understand why he stopped seeing her in the first place, Bea said, her exasperation clear. What was he thinking?

Perhaps he should just propose, Catherine suggested, saving Emma from having to pretend she didn’t know the answer to that.

Emma imagined Bea was beginning to feel desperate about ever marrying Thomas. His pride wouldn’t allow him to marry the boss’s daughter while he still worked at Nettifield, and he wouldn’t leave and take up land of his own without her. Emma stood and began clearing away their lunch dishes, her mind troubled. She would be leaving today on the Mary B as soon as Daniel was ready and unable to do anything more.

Esther, Catherine’s maid, came into the kitchen with an item she had just unpacked and frowned at Emma.

Catherine laughed. Esther still hasn’t gotten used to us Haythorne women yet, she told Emma. She still believes ladies should sit and be waited on.

You’ve more than enough to be doing right now, Emma said to the girl. And you’ll be glad of any extra help once there’s a new bundle of joy in the house.

Esther sniffed. I suppose so, ma’am, she said, clearly unsure, and went back to her unpacking.

The house Catherine and Joe had taken was already looking comfortable. The Mary B crew had moved everything in the previous afternoon and Bea and Emma had spent the evening making up beds and setting up the kitchen with Esther’s help, while Joe and Daniel hung curtains. Catherine could only sit and direct operations as her ankles were swollen in the heat.

Hello, hello, Joe said coming into the kitchen with Daniel on his heels as if Emma’s thoughts had conjured them up. Joe kissed Catherine on the top of her head.

Emma’s heart gave an odd lurch at seeing Daniel. Her brother-in-law was tall and dark with a neat beard and enough resemblance to his younger brother to give her cause on occasion.

You’re ready to leave then? she asked.

The boys are unloading a wagon of stores and then we’ll be done. Half an hour or so.

Just time for me to have a word with you, Em, Joe told her.

You haven’t had enough time in the last ten days?

Hardly got a word in between the two of you, Joe said his hand on Catherine’s shoulder.

Can I get you something to drink, Daniel? Catherine asked smiling.

Tea would be welcome, thank you.

I’ll get it, Bea said as Catherine struggled to rise. We need a fresh pot. She picked up the teapot and emptied it into the slops bucket as Joe ushered Emma into the drawing room.

What now? Emma asked taking a seat on the sofa while Joe remained on his feet.

Ah, it’s about your collection of duties on Grandmama’s herbals, Em. Or should I say, non-collection?

Emma felt as if her eyebrows must have disappeared into her hairline. This was the thanks they got for delivering Joe and Catherine and their household down the river? With only Joe’s fare paid by the Customs Office and minimal payment for the rest.

Really, Joe? You know what a boon Grandmama’s herbal remedies are for people along the river, isolated as they are.

While the herbal remedies originated at the Haythorne property on the Victorian side of the Murray, many were delivered to customers on the New South Wales side, requiring the payment of custom duties for passing across the colonial border. Duties Emma never bothered about. She didn’t list the herbals as cargo after all.

Isolated my foot with steamers passing their door day and night, Joe replied, his grey eyes surveying her. Emma wondered idly, not for the first time, why she was the only one who had inherited their grandmother’s green eyes. Don’t give me that, Em. It isn’t just the herbals that cross the borders without custom duties being paid, is it?

What do you mean? Which transaction was he referring to now?

Those machine parts you picked up at Lorna Park and delivered across the river to Whitneys for one. But there were others. Did you think I wouldn’t notice?

That was a favour to a neighbour. Lorna Park’s blacksmith had an accident and can’t work right now so we took the pieces across to Whitneys to repair at his smithy. No money changed hands.

No duty changed hands either and it should have. That machinery should have been listed cargo.

Emma wasn’t about to tell Joe they would probably deliver the repaired machinery back to Lorna Park on the way up. Instead, she had a question of her own.

How did you know it wasn’t on the cargo list? She stared at her brother. You checked my books? Joseph Haythorne, of all the underhand things. We give you the run of our boat and you abuse our hospitality by spying on our operation.

Joe had the decency to look embarrassed. It wasn’t like that at all, he muttered. You left the ledger open on the table in the saloon while you went off to see to something.

That’s no excuse. You didn’t have to look at it. And it’s a bit much you coming heavy-handed now. You were the first to ignore these things when you lived at home.

It’s the law, Em, and I’m paid to enforce it now. How do you suppose it looks for me in my position allowing my sister and brother-in-law to openly flout the rules?

Openly? Emma said looking at him, eyes innocently wide. Does that mean we could do it surreptitiously, Mister Customs Officer?

Joe rolled his eyes. Just be careful, Sis, will you please? For my sake if not for your own. I’ve bigger problems here than Grandmama’s herbals and a few pieces of machinery.

Emma knew he did. He had been sent to Wentworth for a reason. Quantities of opium were finding their way along the river without duty being paid at the borders. That duty was ten shillings a pound-weight of opium, or any product that contained it. Not that the colonial governments were concerned about any possible health aspect. Opium was freely available and used in a widespread number of medicines, from nerve tonics to cough mixtures to remedies for constipation.

But thousands of Chinese had come into the country to the gold diggings during the past twenty-five years, and the Chinese were associated in the European mind with opium smoking. It was in the hope of deterring Chinese immigration that the colonial governments of South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales had imposed the hefty tax. Wentworth on the Darling River at its junction with the Murray and the nearest town to the borders of all three colonies, was believed to be at the heart of the problem.

Joe cleared his throat. What now? I would like your help, Sis, he said, giving her an appealing look.

Emma shook her head in wonder. First you tell me off and now you want my help?

Joe raised his eyes to the ceiling. He wasn’t as much fun as he used to be. Perhaps the idea of being a father dampened his spirits.

Just listen. If you could keep your eyes and ears open. The opium is definitely being moved along the river and...

You want me to spy on my fellow river folk?

Spying is a bit strong. Just...

Just nothing. No, absolutely not. Her acceptance in the male dominated world of river trade was tenuous enough.

All I’m asking is that you keep alert for any hint of what is going on.

And report back to you? I can’t do that. I’ve never heard any whispers about opium smuggling in any case. Perhaps everyone was particularly careful around her because they all knew her brother was a customs officer. Besides, how much investigating are you going to be doing with no riverboats working for the next few months?

It was the height of summer and the end of the trade season until the autumn rains replenished the river levels again. As it was, their journey back to Echuca was going to be hazardous with barely enough water to float in.

I don’t just monitor the boat traffic, Em. I have to look over the Cobb & Co coaches too. And some of the bottom-enders will still be running for a while.

Mmm, with nowhere for them to go except here in Wentworth. I suppose they could stockpile the opium somewhere, Emma mused.

The bottom-enders were the riverboats that worked between Wentworth and Goolwa in South Australia. From Goolwa, the Murray River fed into Lake Alexandrina and into the sea. The Mary B was a top-ender whose port was Echuca in Victoria, six hundred miles upriver and two hundred miles inland from Melbourne.

I knew you’d find it interesting, Joe smirked.

I’m sure it must be, Emma said dismissively, for a customs officer. Seems a pretty thankless job to me.

Which is why I would like your help.

If I hear of anything. But I won’t be looking or asking questions. He would have to be satisfied with that.

Chapter 2

Another Promise to Keep

I’ve been thinking, Catherine said, drawing Emma and Bea aside as they were about to leave. Why don’t I see what I can do about talking Mrs. Keogh around. I mean, I’ve nothing much to do for the next few months and I will be needing to make clothes for Joe junior, so I have a reason for going to the drapery store. What do you think?

Well… Emma hesitated. It was tempting to hand the problem to someone else, but she felt a little guilty about doing so.

Could you do that? Bea asked, not in the least hesitant.

I don’t see why not, Catherine said, turning her attention to Bea. And perhaps your brother and his girl could even meet here.

Ooh, yes, and I could come as well, Bea said. I could tell Dotty stories about Matty and Nettifield and talk him up to her.

I don’t think it’s Dotty who needs convincing, Emma warned.

But if she’s really keen Mrs. Keogh might not stand in the way. Dotty has to have some say in the matter, Bea argued.

Perhaps if I could find one or two other ladies in my condition, I could arrange a sewing afternoon and invite Mrs. Keogh to advise us on fabrics and the like. That way I could get to know her better and figure what approach to take and all. What do you think?

I know someone, Bea told her eagerly. Sally Cartwright. She’s expecting her second. Her husband works at Mr. Egge’s store. I’ll write and suggest she call on you. Catherine, this is so very kind of you.

What do you think Emma? Is it a plan?

I think you are a devious person, Emma said, her reluctance largely overcome by Catherine’s enthusiasm and the hope it ignited in Bea, who was looking happier than Emma had seen in some time.

It will be fun playing matchmaker, Catherine said.

Emma was sure Catherine could arrange what she had planned. Her sister-in-law was vivacious and outgoing. Emma just hoped she could also be discreet.

<><><>

What a lovely person Catherine is, Bea enthused