Page 92 of Infamous

Then a single shot ran out, and Eddie saw Henry fall.

She closed her eyes, but the sound went on and on, a ringing in her ears that wouldn’t let up. She pressed her hands to them, trying to block it out, the ground seeming to undulate beneath her. It was all too much. She wanted it to stop. She wanted to be in possession of her own mind again, but until she could, she wanted to be rid of this hideous ringing .?.?.

It seemed both years and seconds later that she felt an arm on her shoulder, gently shaking her. Eddie dared to crack open an eye.

‘What the hell are you doing curled up in the mud?’ said Kitty, raising her voice to be heard over the wind. ‘You look ridiculous.’

‘Nash,’ Eddie said, his name heavy in her mouth. She realised that she was crying, her face a mess of tears and mud. ‘He shot Henry. Oh, God. Is Henry dead?’

‘Henry?’ said Kitty. ‘Henry left, Eddie. With the rest of the staff. Christ, how large was your dosage?’

‘He’s not here?’ croaked Eddie, heaving herself up into a sitting position and looking about her, finding only the perfectly ordinary lawn, bordered by heavily protesting trees. She let out a little hiccuping sob, trying to make sense of it, willing Kitty to believe her. ‘You didn’t hear a shot? Nobody is hurt?’

Kitty shook her head. ‘It’s the wind. I think another tree might have gone over. Come on, get up .?.?.’ She offered Eddie an arm and managed to haul her to her feet. ‘Have you actually seen Nash? He’s the last unaccounted for.’

‘I don’t know,’ Eddie said truthfully, as they started back towards the house, her tears still falling. ‘To be honest, Kitty .?.?. I don’t know anything at all.’

Chapter Thirty-one

Henry’s mother whispered words of warning to Eddie all night long. Sometimes she became Rose again, telling Eddie that the boat was coming, and that they’d better pack quickly so that they could catch it. At one point she had to place a pillow over her head and beg for quiet; it must have worked, because as dawn approached she fell into a few hours of uneasy sleep.

When morning came, there were no ghosts at her window telling her to run. When she stumbled from her bed and looked out across the grounds, she saw no body collapsed and bleeding over by the treeline. Eddie’s head was pounding; she had grazes on her knees and a long, thin cut on her cheek, but as far as she could tell, she was mostly in one piece.

She changed slowly, every movement deeply taxing, and then heaved herself downstairs to see if anybody might be up and available to answer a myriad of questions. But when she walked into the dining room she was absolutely astounded to find Liza Nicholson sitting there, dressed in her travelling clothes. There was a newspaper, a brown paper package and a pile of correspondence sitting next to her. The fire was lit in the grate behind her, a damp cloak hanging from the back of a chair next to it to dry, and Juno was gazing adoringly up at her mistress, her tail wagging slowly.

‘Ah,’ Liza said. ‘You’re still here.’

‘Er,’ said Eddie, still staring at her, wondering if she had started hallucinating again. ‘Yes? I am. Are you .?.?.? When did you .?.?.?’

‘This morning,’ said Liza, taking off one of her gloves and then clearly thinking better of it and putting it straight back on. ‘I would have been here yesterday, but as you may have noticed, there was a bit of a storm. What happened to your face?’

Eddie touched her cheek, still feeling as if she were dreaming.

‘A tree.’

‘Oh. I see. Good God, this place is absolutely freezing. I could not find Mrs Hall, or anybodyfor that matter—’

‘They’re gone,’ said Eddie, sitting down for lack of any better ideas. ‘Apparently Nash .?.?. er .?.?. Well. There was a disagreement. And the servants left.’

‘All of them?’

‘All of them.’

‘And this disagreement concerned .?.?.?’

‘Henry. It was an argument with Henry.’ Eddie paused, trying to get things right in her mind before she spoke again, everything flooding back full force. ‘God, I had no idea. About his mother, I mean.’

‘Ah. I see,’ said Liza, looking startled and then recovering herself. ‘Terrible business. You must understand .?.?. Nash had no idea what his father had planned to do. He only went to Mr Nicholson for help. He was eighteen and fancied himself in love with her .?.?. practically a child himself, not at all ready to become a father, although he certainly wanted to do the right thing. Mr Nicholson wouldn’t stand for it. Nash feels terrible about it, it has haunted him all his adult life. He was actually standing in the South Parlour when it happened. He saw it all from the window. You can imagine how it has affected him since. And Henry was offered lodgings and employment, for as long as he wants it. I trust we can rely on your .?.?. discretion, Miss Miller.’

‘My discretion?’ Eddie said, trying to catch up, her throat closing up with a slow-creeping horror. ‘Oh, God. He really did push her? Off thecliff? Because she was .?.?. Because she and Nash .?.?.’

Liza looked horrified for a moment, clearly realising that Eddie had known far less than she had assumed.

‘No, no, you misunderstand me, it was .?.?. I shouldn’t have presumed to speak .?.?. I suppose we will never really know what happened. Listen – it is not important now.’

Eddie could not disagree more. She was staring at Liza in utter disbelief, thinking of Henry’s mother and Nash’s father standing on the very cliffs she had walked along herself many times; she had always shuddered slightly when she looked down at the sheer drop below. From the house Nash would have seen two distant figures, indistinct through the glass – and then very suddenly, only one.

Henry hadn’t known, Eddie realised, feeling sick to her stomach. And she had accidentally told him, without even knowing the truth of the matter herself.