As Harriet walked over to the door, she said, “I am done with this interrogation. I am leaving.”
“By all means, but you will be arrested once you step outside of that door,” Greydon shared. He hoped that Harriet didn’t call his bluff because no one was outside to stop her from leaving.
Harriet stopped and turned around to face him. “You have no proof. Furthermore, Lady Eugenie was found over Phineas’ body and she confessed to his murder. It is over.”
“Is it?” Greydon asked. “If I was able to piece this together, don’t you think Sir David will as well?”
“Sir David only cares that he caught the killer,” Harriet responded.
“Not when I tell him my suspicions. I am confident that he will open the case again.”
Lady Charlotte reached into the reticle that was around her wrist and pulled out a muff pistol. “You think you are so smart,” she said as she pointed the pistol at him. “But if you die, no one else will discover the truth.”
Harriet turned towards Lady Charlotte. “What are you doing?” she asked. “He has no proof. He is just making this up as he goes along.”
“No, he knows too much,” Lady Charlotte protested. “We can’t let him leave.”
“If you shoot me, people will hear the pistol discharging and they will come to investigate,” Greydon said.
“We will hide in the wall, just as I did when Harriet arrived unexpectedly.” Lady Charlotte walked over to a cabinet along the far wall and pulled it open, revealing a hidden compartment. “After I killed Phineas, I waited in here until everyone cleared out.”
“That is why no one saw you leave that day,” Greydon mused.
“It was,” Lady Charlotte confirmed.
With a flick of her wrist, Harriet said, “Just shoot him so we can be done with this.”
Greydon put his hands up. “I wouldn’t kill me just yet.”
“And why is that?” Lady Charlotte asked in an uninterested tone.
“Because I am not alone,” Greydon replied.
Lady Charlotte’s eyes scanned the apartment. “I see no one else.”
“They are hiding.”
Harriet stepped closer to Lady Charlotte and seethed, “He is clearly lying. Shoot him.”
Lady Charlotte took aim at him, her eyes showing no sign of hesitation. “I’m sorry it had to be this way, but you couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“Before you shoot me,” Greydon started, “why did you kill Phineas?”
“After everything I did for him, all that I gave up for him, he just cast me aside after I lost the baby. He used me and I refused to let him get away with it,” Lady Charlotte said. “When Harriet approached me about getting my revenge, I knew I had no choice. Phineas deserved to die. Just as you do.”
Greydon still had a question that remained unanswered. “Where did you get the dirk dagger?” he asked.
“It was my father’s,” Lady Charlotte replied.
Greydon held her gaze, unflinchingly. It all made sense now. “Eugenie must have recognized the dagger and knew you killed Phineas,” he said. “Are you truly that cruel to let your sister hang for your crime?”
Lady Charlotte’s eyes sparked with anger. “She should have minded her own business,” she grumbled. “It was her own fault that she arrived when she did.”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“No, she was trying to control me,” Lady Charlotte declared. “But I know my mind.”
“Do you?” Greydon questioned. “Lady Rushcliffe used you, and you have failed to see it.”
