Page 91 of Infamous

Now she remembered. Rose was in trouble. Rose woulddie, if nobody saved her. She was out there right now, and she was drowning. This time, Eddie wouldn’t just stand there, useless. This time she would do it right.

The cold didn’t really hit her until the water was up to her thighs, the wind whipping at her hair; she stopped, recalibrating, looking for the body in the water .?.?.

But no, she had got it wrong again. Rose hadn’t drowned. Rose was alive. The body in the water .?.?. it was themaid. The one from the story. A pale apron. A frilly cap. Eddie couldseeher, as clear as anything.

‘Miss Miller?’ Henry was back, somehow. He was holding a cloak, looking uncertain. ‘Miss Miller, you should get out of the water.’

‘A woman drowned,’ Eddie said, pointing. Henry looked startled. ‘A maid. She worked here, at the house .?.?. it was something to do with Nash’s father. Can’t you see her?’

Henry waded out to her, and then took her very gently by the elbow.

‘It’s the moon, Miss Miller. On the lake. It’s just the moon.’

Eddie couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t believe her, but when she glanced back out over the water, whatever she had seen had vanished. She let herself be steered back onto dry land and draped in his cloak. He sat down heavily on the beach next to her.

‘The woman who drowned,’ he said slowly. ‘You said .?.?. What did Mr Nicholson have to do with it?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Eddie, trying very hard to focus her thoughts. She was feeling the cold now; her legs seemed completely iced over. ‘Only that .?.?. there was an argument? He must have hurt her. They found her washed up on the beach. Right here. Nash’s father did it, Valentine seemed quite sure .?.?.’

Henry rubbed at his forehead, looking unexpectedly troubled, and then glanced up at Eddie. If she hadn’t known better, she would have said that there were tears shining in his eyes.

‘Wait here a moment, Miss Miller, I just .?.?.’

But Eddie didn’t want to wait anywhere, or to be left alone, so when he got up, she followed him. He didn’t seem to notice; he forged on ahead, up the path towards the house, Eddie struggling to keep him in view as they tramped through the trees and then approached the open lawn. The wind had picked up, the trees thrashing furiously. She was falling behind. She was falling, full stop.

‘Thereyou are.’

Nash stepped out from the woods. In Eddie’s mind, he had become monstrous and terrible, but in reality, he looked just the same as he always did. A little scuffed around the edges, perhaps, and deeply intoxicated, but still just Nash. He was even smiling lopsidedly at her.

‘God, but you can run. Come on, I have found the others. They’re back up at the house. Valentine has a sprained ankle somehow, Kitty is trying to tend to it .?.?.Now.?.?.’ His voice changed very suddenly, from warmth to ungodly chill. ‘What on earth are you doing with that?’

He was talking to Henry, who had turned and come back for Eddie. He was furious and shaking. He was also holding a gun.

One of these facts was not quite like the others.

‘Leave her alone,’ Henry said, his voice trembling slightly, the gun perfectly level.

‘Henry,’ Nash said, laughing, as if this was the most ridiculous thing he had ever seen. The wind was picking at the hem of his long fur, making it flap like great, dark wings. ‘Put that thing down before you hurt yourself. What in God’s name are you even doing here?’

‘He killed her,’ Henry said. ‘Didn’t he?’

‘What?’

‘Don’t pretend you don’t know!’ Henry shouted, the gun wavering. ‘You know. You’ve known all this time, haven’t you?’

‘Henry,’ Nash said, stepping closer and putting up his hands when Henry lifted his weapon to meet him. ‘You seem very upset. Come up to the house, and we can—’

‘Stoptalking. It’s always so muchtalkingwith you, you think you can say whatever you like and make anybody believe anything.Tell me what he did to my mother.’

Nash looked pitying. ‘Oh, Henry. I know it must be so very hard. But of all people,Iunderstand. This house takes everything. But it’s like I’ve been trying to tell you – we are bound by tragedy, you and I.’

‘Shutup!’

The world seemed to slide away. In reality, Eddie had sunk down to her knees on the grass. She couldn’t stop staring at the gun. It looked soreal.

‘You’re still wearing her locket,’ Henry said suddenly, his voice perilously quiet. ‘Damn you, why thehellare you still wearing herlocket—’

In the blink of an eye, Nash had leapt for the gun; Henry, understandably reluctant to relinquish it, was trying to claw it back. There was a brief scuffle, during which time seemed to stand still.