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“The antidote,” she spits, trying to look at him. “I have poisoned your sweet Mallory, and if I do not give her the antidote, she will die.”
His eyes widen, head snapping my way.
“Yeah, ignore that,” I say. “I already heard the antidote bullshit. She’s going to say she’ll give it to you if you let her go. She slapped a dosed clothover my mouth. An inhalant, which you can’t cure bydrinkingan antidote. All I needed was a bit of fresh air. The real poison was that so-called antidote, which I dumped.”
She snarls and throws herself at me, but Gray only tightens his grip.
“I’ll be fine,” I say. “It’s time to bring in the police.”
FORTY-EIGHT
Sarah is arrested for the murders. All of them. Isla is free from any charges or suspicion, and Annis and Mrs. Young are released from prison. Fischer survives his self-poisoning, and we discover the real reason she tried to frame him: he knew about her affair with Lord Leslie. He realized Sarah knew about the cemetery scheme, and she was the woman he feared, not Annis. Even in that clumsy lie about seeing a woman arguing with Mr. Ware, he’d intended to set up Sarah.
Sarah doesn’t confess to anything, of course. She just cries, a lot, never breaking character even when she is tried for murder. She is the victim here. The victim of Annis and Fischer, who are clearly in cahoots. In a jury trial, she might have gotten away with it, but we’re lucky enough to have a judge who puts his trust in the evidence.
The most damning evidence comes in the form of a paper trail. Bank records, to be precise. It was Sarah who forged the withdrawals in Annis’s name, allegedly for the cemetery investment, but they’d really gone toward a nest egg of her own that would also give Annis a motive for murder.
The plan was to murder Lord Leslie and frame Annis. Then, Sarah would swoop in to save her lady love with evidence proving Annis was innocent… and putting Annis forever in Sarah’s debt. Sarah would enjoy the lifestyle Annis could provide, which she had sorely missed, her own fortunes having plummeted until dire straits brought her back to Annis.
That was the plan. But Sarah got greedy. It happens. You come up with the so-called perfect crime, and you have to reach just a little farther. She stuck her fingers into the cemetery scheme with those withdrawals that allegedly went to Burns. Burns found out about it… and knew that money didn’t end up in his account. Being partners with Young, he’d shared his suspicions, so they both had to die.
As I’d learned from Fischer’s unsent letters, Fischer had been kicked out of the scheme when Leslie came in. Lord Leslie was a big fish, and if he didn’t like Fischer, he was gone. Of course, the one who really didn’t trust Fischer was Sarah. But then Leslie thought that Mr. Ware had gotten a whiff of the scheme, and Sarah decided the solicitor had to die.
Not only did that clear away all the threats, but it gave Sarah the idea to frame Fischer. Sure, if the police arrested him, Sarah wouldn’t have the same power to hold over Annis, but this was a tidier solution… until things went wrong and it was time to throw Annis—temporarily—to the wolves.
Four people died, and four more were accused of the crimes—the three wives and Fischer. All that so Sarah could get the cushy life she’d envisioned when she first met Annis. That is horrifying on a level I don’t think I’d have understood if I hadn’t met Sarah—the real Sarah, the one who’d seen me “dying” in agony and only turned my face the other way so I wouldn’t reveal her hiding spot.
There are monsters in this world, and now I have met one.
While awaiting the trial, I get a note from Jack finally.
Well, you solved the case. Clever girl! I should have stuck around to catch some of the glory, but I knew you could handle it. Come by Halton House if you have exclusive updates you want to share with my writerly friend. He’ll make it worth your while.
At least the note makes me laugh. Cheeky as hell, considering she’d taken off and left us in the lurch. I’ll excuse it based on the trauma of her kidnapping and, possibly, a desire not to get involved with the police. As for exclusive updates, the only person who’d benefit from those is Jack herself, so I think I’ll ignore the invitation. Oh, she might say they’re for her “writerly friend” but I’m enough of a detective to have realized there is no friend. I’d bet Catriona’s nest egg that the broadsheet writer is Jackherself. I’m sure I’ll meet her again, but I’m not going to rush to give her any exclusives until she can be of help tous.
The day after I get Jack’s note, I slip into the Old Town to check on Mrs. Burns and Mrs. Young. Mrs. Burns’s landlady tells me she is gone. Apparently, Andrew Burns bequeathed them a hundred pounds, out of guilt. The Young family is preparing to move as well. An anonymous citizen—outraged at Mrs. Young’s wrongful arrest—found them better lodgings and paid the first year’s rent.
Burns didn’t leave his first family any money. And that “anonymous citizen” isn’t anonymous to me. While Isla would gladly be their benefactor, she doesn’t have that sort of money. Gray does. He has quietly found ways to get both families what they need to start over.
The wheels of justice turn swiftly in this world, and soon we have a trial and verdict—guilty. With it comes the sentence: Sarah will hang for her crimes.
A day after the sentence is passed, I’m in the town house library, dusting and working through my feelings, knowing I’m partially responsible for sending a woman to the gallows.
“I am going,” Annis announces as she walks in, and I look around. There’s no one in the room except us.
“You’re going to…?” I say slowly.
“The execution.” Her chin lifts. “I could say that I wish to see her hang, but that would be a lie. I do not wish her to die alone, whatever she has done. I am going. You may accompany me.”
“I may… accompany you? To the hanging?”
“Or not,” Annis says with a flutter of her hand. “Suit yourself. I only thought it might interest you, as you were instrumental in solving the crime. It would be too much for Isla. Duncan, too.”
It takes a moment for me to realize the truth. Annis doesn’t want Sarah to be alone when she dies… andshedoesn’t want to be alone when she watches it.
For Annis, I’m still a stranger, and yet I’m a stranger she’s come to know over the last few weeks—between the investigation and her current stay in the guest room. This isn’t something she can ask of a friend or a relative, but she can ask it of me, and sheisasking, however she words it.
“I’ll come,” I say.
