The Twenty-Fifth Reply - Eight Years Prior

Dearest Sonia, of great curiosity, 

At your request, and with the knowledge that this is no longer an active case of mine, and thus, not a breach of confidentiality to share with you, I shall now provide you with my full accounting of the Danverfold Six. As of yet, this remains my highest profile case, and has accidentally thrust my work into localized fame within Bellchester; infamy, perhaps, if you are a relative of the Danverfold Six or have taken their side in the endeavor for some unknowable reason. 

To start, the core facts of the case. One murder - the body of one Helena Asteria, discovered at the scene of the crime, her bedroom at 193rd Carandsyle Lane. This body bore six distinct and deliberate assaults from a knife - which I later discovered was in fact knives plural, but we shall address that in a moment. At the scene of the crime lay Jacob Danverfold, drunk, covered in blood, and carrying a knife. Now, Helena Asteria was a woman of the night, which I possess no amount of judgment for, particularly after the cruelty such a profession exposed her to. Given the nature of her employment, the list of potential culprits was extensive, which was a controversial opinion for me to state, given the presence of Jacob Danverfold at the scene. He seemed, all too easily, the obvious murderer.

No one could have foreseen the actual truth, even as it stared gravely in their faces. It took no small amount of conviction from my testimony to convince the judge, and even then, I suspect he has never fully believed my tale. It was, in his position, easier to accept my theory for the affair once it was clear no other explanation would be presented before him - too scandalized was the courtroom by this case to leave it untried. 

I’ll not leave you in suspense: Miss Asteria was murdered by six people, each leaving a singular stab wound upon her. More incredulously, the six assailants were all related to one another through a complex, interconnected web - the Danverfolds. It is often misunderstood by public recollection that these six men were brothers, the product of an over-enthusiastic set of parents with no desire in the world but to bear forth more young men. Not so. Four of them were brothers. Of the final two, one of them was the husband of Lilia Danverfold, their only sister, and was thus a brother-in-law to the other four. The last was in actuality their uncle, Guy Danverfold. 

Now, it is their motives which further complicate their crime, and I shall recount them in order of their assault on the poor woman. First, she is attacked and rendered unconscious by Elijah Danverfold, the second eldest brother, who then fatally stabs her. Elijah was motivated to such a violent act by the revelation that this prostitute before him who he was in love with was, in fact, a prostitute, and not the innocent working girl he believed her to be. His shame and jealousy drove him to egregious violence. Second, the third brother in line, Camden, a priest of the Emrilian church visiting his family in town, and on leave from his posting in Brimwall. Camden, in a moment of despair, broke his oath of celibacy to lay with this woman, and upon the guilt of his sin, he joined the conspiracy of his brothers to assault her. Third, their uncle, Guy, who was a man who believed deeply that women of the night were scourges upon society - so deeply, that upon learning of her actions within his family, was all too ready to act upon his convictions. Matthew, the eldest brother and fourth culprit, was deeply concerned of the family’s incoming scandal, as Helena had threatened to blackmail them all upon being confronted of her misdeeds by the second eldest brother, and so Matthew was willing to kill to protect his image and inheritance as the eldest. 

The final two require more context. Lilia Danverfold, the only sister and true second-in-line of age, rented the deed to a pharmacy which her husband, Aaron ran. To afford this property, she had leveraged a loan to afford the rent by placing a family heirloom as collateral - a rare gleaming sapphire upon a silver necklace. This loan she took out from an insurance company run by her second eldest brother, Elijah. Miss Astaria, upon revealing to Elijah the nature of her work and expecting payment, discovered he was not willing to pay her for her time, and so, when he had fallen asleep, she scoured his belongings for something valuable and spotted the necklace as collateral, and stole it. When Aaron Thomas, Lilia’s husband, learned of this crime and the threat to his business, he joined in the conspiracy to murder Miss Astaria at the prompting of his wife. 

The final murder is, perhaps, the only innocent party - innocent of this crime, not necessarily innocent of any crime: Jacob Danverfold. Jacob, in being the youngest, felt that he had not received nearly the same love and affection as his elder siblings. In his late adolescence, he turned heavily to drink and to vice, stealing away great sums of the families’ wealth to afford his habits. When the money ran out and his family grew exhausted by his recklessness, they insisted he sell himself into collar service - and then turned about and bought his contract, rendering him butler to his own family. Horrid. Though, he never quit his habits, and remained a frequent alcoholic. 

It was in one of his drunken stupors that the conspiring Danverfolds concocted a nefarious plot - that they would kill Miss Astaria, each with their own blade like Julius Caesar in order to satisfy their own qualms, and then to leave their reckless and ill-favored youngest brother, Jacob, at the scene to take the fall. Elijah Danverfold struck the killing blow, followed by the rest, and then using chemicals from his pharmacy to render Jacob unconscious, Aaron Thomas brought Jacob to the scene and helped set the facade. 

I am often asked how I understood so quickly that Jacob was not guilty of this crime, and I find it rather simple. The bloodstains upon him were inconsistent with my experience of stab wounds. The pattern upon his coat, trousers, and shirt could only be obtained through intervention by a third party, which revealed to me quickly that something was afoot. Likewise, his hand did not possess the residual blood of one who had personally stabbed someone - to demonstrate this at the urging of the judge, who did not initially treat the idea with much seriousness, I did, in fact, have to stab a recently butchered pig in the courtroom with a similar knife and then present my hand for inspection. I learned from Jacob after he was conscious of the convoluted nature of his family dynamic and identified the member most likely to confess, which was the priest, Camden. From there, it all fell into place. 

And so there you have it, the case that brought me to some of my initial fame, and one in which I am growing quickly tired of explaining to those interested passerby who hear my name and know only one association. I trust you will find it more interesting and complex than the common man will, and hope you find me impressive in my employment. 

With professional courtesy and friendly affirmation, 

Cordelia Jones