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Eugenia swung around, her eyes wide. "I can't believe what you're saying," she mumbled. "Do you mean to say… ?"
"Yes. Clarissa is responsible for the disappearance of the girls that I brought to my house. Girls I wanted to make protegees of mine. Girls I wanted nothing from but to teach them the ways of the opera. Girls I wanted to present to the opera, stating that I had found them, had been responsible for great talent drawn from inside them. That was my reason for bringing you to my house. It is no lie, Fräulein Eugenia."
Eugenia was well aware that she must have paled from these discoveries. "But why would Clarissa do these things?" she said. "And she so emphasized your participation in these evil doings."
Frederick cleared his throat and wiped his brow. "She was jealous of any attention I paid another young lady," he said. "We never had any sexual relationships in a sense that you would guess. She had only helped me with my bath, and while in
the bath, she would… relieve me? So you could say?"
Eugenia turned away from him once again, remembering the giggling and laughter that had come from the bathroom that had adjoined her own while living in The Towers. Clarissa had even then been pleasuring Frederick, but in such an abnormal way? Why hadn't they ever… ?
Frederick continued. "Clarissa had hoped that I would in the end make her my wife. We had been together for so long. But she didn't know that the thought of marrying a mulatto repelled me. But she never stopped hoping."
Eugenia swung her skirt around and sat down on a chair. "But the girls? Did she actually murder them?" she asked.
"I have no actual proof of that. When the girls would disappear, Clarissa would just tell me that they had run away. I had no idea that she had taken them to the tower room to do as she pleased with them. I only went to the tower rooms for one reason. For my opium den. I never once thought to check the other rooms. I never had reason to. I never heard one sound come from them. She must have bound their mouths. It sickens me now to even think about it."
Eugenia looked up into his eyes, studying him, to see if she could tell if he was lying or telling the truth. "But why would she tell you about myself?"
"She didn't. She just told me that you had left. I wouldn't have guessed any of her evil doings if you hadn't told me that Clarissa had locked you in the tower room."
"And Clarissa? Where is she now?"
"As I said, I have no physical proof of her crimes. I couldn't have her arrested. I just made her leave."
"Where do you think she'll go?"
"I gave her train fare. Maybe she'll leave the state. I don't know."
"Frederick, I just have to ask," Eugenia mumbled. "How many girls… ?"
"Two," Frederick said quietly. "Two before you. I would have never suspected foul play. The girls before you were flighty, uncontrollable, unpredictable, even after my hard work with them. You? You were different. Are different. You could have been a protegee I could have been proud of. Only a few more voice lessons and you could have been presented on the stage."
"Did you know that people in this town gossip about you? Say that you hold girls in your house for your own evil purposes?"
"Yes. I know that there are some who say this," Frederick said, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, coughing. "That's why it is so important to me to be successful with my training of you. I wanted to show you off, show these people how wrong they have been about me. You would have been the proof."
"I'm sorry, Frederick," Eugenia said, knowing that she was quite sincere. She did feel sorry for him. He was one to be pitied. With his large twenty-six room house and no one to fill it with laughter or love. Yes, he was one to be pitied.
"It's not too late," Frederick said, going to Eugenia, laying a hand on her shoulder. Again, as usual, she could feel the clammy wetness. She cringed inside and wondered if he noticed. "You could return to my house. You shouldn't waste your life away in such a place as this. Come along home with me. I could give you many jewels, if it took that to make you happy."
"Did Clarissa tell you of my one night with Drew Jamieson in the tower room?" she asked cautiously. She could see his eyes darken, even sink more deeply into his face. Normally they were so bulged…
"Yes. She told me of that man taking advantage of mein haus."
"And knowing this, you'd still want me?"
"The man is gone. And shall never return to Cripple Creek if he knows what's best for him," Frederick slurred. "And, yes. I want you back. Any way I can get you."
Eugenia rose and went back to the window and looked outward. If she did go back with him her life would be much easier, less complicated. A life of leisure and no responsibilities. The door leading into the dining room swung open. Alison burst into the room.
"Eugenia. I've been looking all over for you," she blurted, panting noticeably. "Dawn has been asking for you. I'm afraid… she's dying. Please come."
"Oh, my God," Eugenia said, rushing across the room.
"But, Eugenia?" Frederick said, stopping her with a hand on her wrist.
"I can't go with you, Frederick," she answered quickly. "My life is here now. With my girls. They depend on me." It had taken Alison's timely appearance to awaken Eugenia. She knew that she could never go back to The Towers. She had never truly been happy there. And now, too many memories would get in the way. And… Dawn depended on her.
