Page 93 of Hawk & Sparrow

“You’re upset,” said Mrs. Oelrich. She nodded as though agreeing with herself. “Perhaps the cold air was too much. We should go back inside.” She turned to head back toward the door, but Vesper grabbed her wrist. Mrs. Oelrich started.

“What on earth—?”

“I know,” Vesper said plainly. “I know about Franklin.”

It was only four words, but the effect of them was enormous. The blood drained from Mrs. Oelrich’s face in an instant. Her mouth opened, then closed several times. “How?”

“I finally found enough pieces of the puzzle to put it all together,” said Vesper. “You said yourself on the night of the exhibition that you oversaw the maze’s restoration. No one knew it better than you, I just wasn’t paying close attention. I’d thought you were planning to give Maximilian the map to the maze and kept forgetting, but of course now we both know that was never going to happen. We have means, and we have opportunity, but I still don’t understand why. Why would you kill your husband’s only son, your own stepson?”

Mrs. Oelrich shook her head. “I always worried someone would notice. They didn’t resemble each other much, but there were similarities.”

Vesper thought back on Mr. Oelrich, the first time she’d met him at the polo match. Perhaps it was because Mrs. Oelrich said it, but she found she now could see a slight resemblance. Francis Gladwell had clearly favored his mother, but there’d been traces of his father in his face too.

“We were eating dinner, the first night he came to our home,” she said. Her expression took on a faraway look. “Our footman told us there was a young man at our door insisting that John was his father and refusing to leave. Well, I didn’t want the neighbors talking, so I had him come inside, thinking we’d quickly get to the truth of it and send him on his way.” Her shoulders slumped. “That’s when I learned the truth. He was John’s son. After years of trying to conceive, he was the one who got to have a child.”

Vesper looked back at Mrs. Oelrich and saw the woman’s face had clouded with old hurt, resentment, and sadness.

“I’m sorry.”

Mrs. Oelrich turned to her, brow raised. “You’re sorry?”

“I’ve never been married,” said Vesper. “And I certainly don’t know what it would feel like, if my husband had had an illegitimate child with someone else. But I imagine it isn’t without great pain.”

“I later learned that he’d wanted to marry Franklin’s mother,” she said quietly. “But his parents wouldn’t hear of it. She was a poor, single mother from Shalescreek, and I…” She gestured to her beautiful dress and chuckled humorlessly. “Well, there were advantages to our marriage. She was already pregnant, but John’s parents didn’t care. Once he found out about Franklin, he wanted to help. I told him he could send the boy money, do what he wanted to care for him, as long as Franklin was discreet.” Her eyes glistened. “Of course, that didn’t last.”

“He wanted more,” said Vesper. “More than you wanted to give.”

“At first, we sent money directly to his mother. But when she died, he came back.” She made a face. “He blackmailed my husband, told him to answer every one of his demands, or Franklin would expose his secret. He asked for more and more each time. Within the last few months, he started asking for upward of ten thousand gild a month to support his ridiculous lifestyle. He was going to bleed us dry.”

“So you killed him on the night of the exhibition,” she said. “To stop him from threatening you.”

“I’m glad he’s dead,” said Mrs. Oelrich. There was a new, hard edge in her voice. “He was nothing but a filthy leech from Shalescreek.”

Vesper shook her head. “And you were going to let Maximilian Kite take the blame.”

“Where’s the journal?” Mrs. Oelrich’s eyes darted left and right. There was a new desperation in her voice. “If you want money for it, I can arrange for my husband to pay you handsomely. Just name your price.”

Vesper paused. It occurred to her that Mrs. Oelrich truly believed at this moment that she could buy the justice she wanted, the ending to the story that she preferred. Vesper crossed her arms.

“There’s no journal,” she said. “I made that up.”

Mrs. Oelrich stiffened. “You what?”

“Frankie Everett’s mother didn’t give him the Oelrich name. We’ll never know why, but I have to imagine she did it to spare both your husband from public scandal, and Franklin from a childhood of humiliation. I would never have figured it out had I not spoken to the man you paid to say he did it. Turns out he knew Francis Gladwell before he was the famous inventor. Once I had his last name, all I had to do was look him up.” She raised a brow. “Did you know that Mr. Oelrich is actually listed as his father in the Book of Vital Records? Anyone looking for a Francis Gladwell would find nothing, but for anyone who knew his true name?” She shrugged. “It’s quite straightforward actually.”

The corners of the woman’s mouth pinched.

“I knew that if I announced tonight that I had something of Franklin Everett’s, only a few people would recognize that name and come to claim his possessions.” Vesper frowned. “I’d actually thought Mr. Oelrich was the one responsible, but you’ve saved me a lot of time by confessing everything. Thanks for that.”

She saw it, the moment Mrs. Oelrich realized that she’d been outmaneuvered, that the game was up and that she hadn’t won it. She turned white as a sheet. Her beautiful face, so distorted by its cosmetic enchantments, reminded Vesper of a doll. “Exactly what do you intend to do with this information?” she asked quietly.

“That depends.” Vesper kept her tone even. “You have the option to go to the police with the truth yourself. Tell them everything.”

“And if I don’t?”

“I have connections with a local newspaper,” said Vesper. “One word from me, and your secrets will be front-page headlines for everyone to see. The reputation you’ve taken years to carefully craft will be destroyed in a single day. You’ll be finished.”

It happened in an instant. In one moment, Mrs. Oelrich was standing a few feet from Vesper; in the next, the woman was charging at her, her teeth bared in fury. Her body slammed into Vesper’s and they both crashed to the floor of the balcony. Vesper tried to scramble away, but just as quickly, Mrs. Oelrich grabbed her and pulled her down. One of her hands clapped around her mouth while the crook of her elbow snaked around her neck and began to squeeze. It occurred to her that Mrs. Oelrich had killed once, and that she was willing to do it again. Slowly, the world around Vesper grew fuzzy, a roaring filled Vesper’s ears.