Page 48 of A Sorceress Comes to Call
“She’d asked me to come. Said something about a brooch to loan me, that she thought would go well with my hair.” Evangeline shook her head.
Imogene nodded, as if this were perfectly understandable. Perhaps if you didn’t know Penelope, it was.
“I thought she was going to stab me next,” said Evangeline. Her eyelids fluttered. “I was so frightened…”
“Yes, of course,” said Samuel gruffly. “Understandable. Anyone would be.”
“It was like she was possessed.” The words began to dissolve into tears at the edges. Hester stared into her teacup and thought uncharitable thoughts.
Even Doom might be upset, having someone brandish a knife at her.
Penelope Green would no more stab someone than she would fly to the moon.
Penelope Green is dead.
It was impossible. She couldn’t believe it. She’d watched her friend go over the railing and she didn’t doubt for a minute that Richard had been right when he said that she died instantly, but still… dead? How was that possible? Surely she would walk through the door in just a moment, scarred and ravishing, and everyone would turn toward her, like flowers toward the sun. Surely that bright, hilarious light had not been snuffed out.
It’s perfectly normal, Hester told herself. Anything so fast and so irrevocable feels impossible. Of course you don’t believe it. It’ll hit soon, and you’d best be tucked up in bed when it does, so that you can cry your eyes out in peace.
She closed her eyes for a moment and pictured a goose. A perfect goose, the sort that she had bred a few times, a tall, plump bird with dove-gray feathers and a deep orange bill. The rump would be white, the chest smooth, without an obvious keel. Like that. Yes. She took a deep breath and felt a fraction calmer.
“Did she say anything?” asked Richard. “Any hint why she might have done something?”
Lady Evangeline bit her lower lip and looked at Samuel. Hester saw without surprise that she could cry without her nose turning red or her eyes going puffy. If I didn’t already loathe the woman, I certainly would now. Nature is so unkind.
“She said… she said…” She put her face in her hands. Imogene looked at Hester and Hester schooled her face to be carefully blank.
“Anything you can tell us may be helpful,” Richard said.
“Yes, go on, pet, it’s all right. Nobody will be angry at you,” said the Squire, patting her shoulder. “I’ve got your hand right here and you just squeeze as tight as you need to.”
Evangeline gave a watery sniffle. “Yes, I just… it’s so…” She swallowed. “She said that once I was out of the way, he’d be all hers again.”
“Eh?” The Squire’s eyes bulged. “The old girl said what? But that was over years ago and she was the one who—”
He cut himself off, rather too late for propriety. Lord Strauss coughed. Richard rubbed his temples.
“She looked so odd,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Like a wind was blowing her over the railing. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Yes,” said Hester, sitting bolt upright. “Like a strong wind.” Trust Richard to put his finger on it, as Hester recalled the dream Penelope had shared with them just that morning. The one with the wind that blew open the balcony doors. “And she was fighting against it.”
“There wasn’t any, though,” said the Squire. “I was right there. So were you, Evermore.”
“No. No, of course not.” Richard shook his head. “Forgive me. It’s been a terrible evening, and I’m getting fanciful. Perhaps—”
Whatever he was going to say next was eclipsed, however, as Evangeline dissolved into tears and flung herself in the Squire’s arms. “There, there,” he said, patting her back and looking at the others as if daring them to say something. “It’s all right, pet, it’s over now.”
“Yes,” said Hester, pushing herself to her feet. Her knee felt as if there was a live coal under the cap. “Yes, it’s been a terrible evening. In the morning, I suppose we’ll have to tell the constables.”
“Already sent Jack out with a note,” said the Squire. “They’ll be around first thing tomorrow.”
Hester nodded. “Then I suggest we all go to bed,” she said wearily. “Everything will be easier in the morning.”
The others murmured assent. Hester left the room before she could see what the Squire did with Evangeline. She knew that Doom had won this round, and she didn’t have the heart to see it play out. And there’s not a damn thing I can say that won’t look like I’m bullying a frightened woman.
Hell, maybe I would be.
Richard followed her, taking her arm and she leaned on him rather more than she wanted to. “Your knee’s bothering you,” he murmured, as they slowly tackled the stairs.
