The Fourth Mistress

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Louise sat on the bench that was placed near the reception for the visitors. After a few minutes, a man with grey hair appeared in her vision and walked towards her. 

"Mrs. Reed?" the man asked her to confirm she was the person who had come to meet him. Louise nodded her head, standing up and offered a bow, which the man returned. 

"Good afternoon, officer Copper. I am sorry for showing up here without any prior notice," she apologized, not knowing if he was busy with some other important work. 

"That's fine. I heard that you wanted to speak to me," stated the man and Louise nodded her head. 

"Yes. This is the request letter signed and sent by Mr. Winkle to get the permission to ask you some questions regarding one of the past cases," said Louise and handed the official letter that had her employer's signature. 

The man turned the pages, reading what was in there while Louise looked around the place to see people busy and some who looked at her, wondering what a woman was doing in the building. 

"Is this for another case study? Mr. Winkle has the habit of  collecting files of unusual death cases and I wonder what he does with it. Please follow me," he said so that they could move to another room where she could ask her questions. They started to walk away from the front, taking the long hall. The officer then opened the door of one of the rooms and stepped inside while holding it out for her to get in.

"Please take it," said the man. Louise sat at the table that was at the centre, and the officer sat opposite to her. 

"But I thought Mr. Winkle already had a copy of it," said Mr. Cooper. 

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"He does, but some details in there seem to be missing. I think while typing, the typist missed some things," Louise smiled politely, making her dress proper. 

"What is it that you would like to ask, milady?" questioned the officer, interlocking both his hands while letting it rest on the surface of the table. 

"I heard you were the one who was in charge of the Saltonstall's case and thought I would get the insight on what happened and what you saw the day the family died. I would be very grateful if you could try to recollect it," said Louise. Her eyes fixed on the man, who had a few lines on his forehead, which must have been marked over the years of his stressful work in the investigation department. 

Adams Cooper nodded his head. He then said, 

"As you must already be aware, it is one of the mysterious cases that took place in the five towns. When we found the body of the woman, who had killed herself, we doubted if the man had a hand in it because there was a lot of gossip swirling about him abusing his wife. At least that is what I found out from the neighbours, but then on further investigation I found that Mr. Saltonstall was right."

"That she was having many affairs outside her marriage?" questioned Louise, and the man gave her a nod. 

"Yes, but there's more to it," said Mr. Cooper, his mouth turning upside down in a frown. "I don't know how far it is true, because we found the lead only through a few people. But not concentrate as the men involved didn't want their name being brought up. I found a picture of her."

He left the room to return with a black file that had its ends curled because of the time passed. He passed the picture of Marlow Saltonstall to her. 

Looking at it, Louise felt as if she had seen this woman before. But that was not possible, she said to herself. This person was already dead for many years, and there was no way she would have ever come across the woman. 

"She's beautiful," commented Louise. 

"From the information that I collected from the neighbours, Mr. Saltonstall was a fairly good man but because of the behaviour of his wife, things took a turn," explained the officer to her. He pursed his lips as if remembering something. "I found a disturbing fact. One of the people I was inquiring about Marlow mentioned that she was trying to turn her daughters just like her…"

"Just like her?" repeated Louise. 

Mr. Cooper took the picture back from her and said, "A lot of people had nothing but good things to say about her. And I think that is because she was good at hiding her actions. It is possible that Mr. Saltonstall found out about what she had been doing behind his back, with the affairs, along with teaching her daughters to be in the good graces of men, if you know what I mean… "

"You mean trying to entice the men? But they were only five and seven years old," commented Louise, a frown came to form on her forehead. Children of that age were innocent and didn't know things like that, she thought in her mind. 

"Which is why it was a disturbing detail that I discovered. Like many other things, there are no hard proofs, but sometimes by seeing and talking with the others, you can figure it out, Mrs. Reed," stated Mr. Cooper, and he sighed.

It was possible that Mr. Saltonstall had found out the truth and had decided to kill his daughters as well as himself to save his face. 

As Mr. Cooper said, the information about Marlow or her husband must have been withheld so that the names of aristocratic men who were involved with Marlow wouldn't be exposed to the public.

Louise then asked, "Do you know where her body is buried?" 

"Let me see," said Mr. Cooper. He wore his glasses so that he could take a better look at the file. "She is buried in Midville's cemetery. Here it is," he turned the page and showed it to Louise so that she could take a look at it.

"And what about one of her daughters? How did the bodies of her husband and daughter even disappear?" This was something that no one had an answer to—not the newspaper, nor the officers, or the documents that she had found in Mr. Winkle's office that had recorded the details of the murder. 

"Saltonstall's younger daughter has been buried in the same cemetery as her mother," replied Mr. Cooper, his eyes looked up from the file to meet Louise's questioning eyes. "At night, the man killed his daughters and himself. It was the neighbour who came to inform me at my house, the time when I used to live there. I didn't live too far from their vicinity. When I received the news, I went to check. There was too much blood splattered on the ground and on the three bodies. I found the bodies of the younger daughter in the bed and the father and the older daughter's bodies in the hall. They laid there on the ground, dead. It was a very messy sight to look at, after all the man did shoot himself in his mouth."

"So you saw the bodies," confirmed Louise, and the officer nodded his head. 

"I left the place to inform my colleagues who were working the night shift to get their help so that the bodies could be examined-"

"Mr. Cooper," Louise interrupted the man. Her eyes fixed on him, and her heartbeat quickened as fast as her thoughts raced in her mind. "Did you check the pulse of the bodies before leaving the house?" 

The officer had a deep frown, and he said, "I must have checked it." 

"But are you sure?" questioned Louise. 

"Of course. We always follow the procedures," said Mr. Cooper. But Louise noticed the hint of doubt appear on his face. "Everyone was cold and dead with blood."

"How long were you away from the house when you went to get help?" asked Louise. 

"Almost thirty to forty minutes, because we were arranging the carriages for the bodies. When I returned the two bodies were gone, Mr. Saltonstall and his elder daughter. For many days, we looked all around the place, searching if they were alive but we found nothing," he explained to her. 

Louise sat back in her seat, letting a soft sigh escape from her lips. 

"I have heard much about you," said Mr. Cooper, and the room turned silent for some time. Going back to the subject, Mr. Cooper said, "After a few weeks, the case of Saltonstall was closed along with the search and placed under the category of unsolved cases."

"Not to remind of the gory night, but if I may ask you, Mr. Cooper. Can you describe what you saw in their house? The bodies I mean," requested Louise.

He responded to her, "When I entered that house, my eyes fell on the elder daughter and then on the man's body. His face had blown up because he had used the gun in his mouth and it had left his face disfigured. The girl, there was blood maring her face and she laid on her front. Then I followed the trail of blood on the ground to find the younger girl lying in a blood soaked bed."

The tension in her head rose, and Louise tried to wrap her mind around what she had heard. Remembering why she had come here in the first place, she asked him,

"Do you have the names of the daughter's names?" she asked. 

The officer turned pages, and he then said, "It looks like I don't. How strange, I thought I did," and he rubbed his temples. "Are you taking up the exam for the legal counsellor that is nearby?" he inquired. 

Louise nodded her head, "I am."

"I see. It isn't very common to find women working to be a part of the legal system. If you ever change your mind to switch careers, do let me know. I am sure we could use someone like you in here," said the officer. 

Thanking the officer, Louise left the place and returned to the manor. She entered the room where she had placed the board which she had brought from Mr. Winkle's office, staring at it. 

She stared at the question mark that was on the unknown name, which no one remembered.

Picking up the thread, Louise winded it on the unknown name's pin before moving to the section of the Reed's family members and connecting it to the girl, who once was a friend of Graham when he was small.