An Unsuitable Job for a Woman

Cordelia travels to London and tracks down a copy of Mark’s grandfather’s will. She discovers that there could be no financial motive for murder as “no one stood to gain by Mark’s death except a long list of highly respectable charities” (177). After a quick visit to the office, which seems “even more sordid than when she had left it” (178), Cordelia returns to the cottage, where she is attacked just as she is putting the key in the door.

Her assailant covers her head with a blanket and drags her to an abandoned well on the property. He has removed the locked cover and now drops her in and replaces the heavy cap, leaving Cordelia treading water deep under the earth, in darkness.

Cordelia calms herself and realizes the well is narrow, just three feet in diameter. She devises a plan to brace her back against one side and her feet against the other to shimmy herself up. What follows is an agonizing struggle to make this climb. Eventually Cordelia gets to the top of the well and uses the strap she’d been wearing as a belt to harness herself in place. She cannot get the leverage needed to move the cover off the well and resolves to wait until someone passes by and she can yell for help.