Page 80 of When We Touch

“It’s not his place. It’s yours.”

“Yes, I’m aware of that.” He sighed. “Ah, Mireau. What a strange turn of events. Here, I worry about my sister. And I worry about myself. And time seems to stretch ahead with no great purpose.”

“Perhaps you should make your first purpose in life a firm stand against Angus.”

“You’re right, my friend, you’re right,” Justin agreed. “For now . . . I’m ready to depart this place of death. When Maggie decides that it is time she can leave, we will come back for her.”

They started to exit the manor house. At the door, Justin turned back. The disappointment he felt was monumental.

Where was the girl? Who was she?

And he wondered if he would ever find her again.

* * *

Arianna paced nervously back and forth in her room, waiting.

A moment later, the door burst open. “Well, what have you found out?” she demanded.

The girl in the black veil pulled it from her head, staring at Arianna in a tempest. “What have I found out! I was nearly caught. The man in the hallway . . . your stepmother’s brother! He lifted the veil on me, and he saw my face!”

Arianna shook her head. “My stepmother’s brother. . .”

“We can’t keep doing this. I will wind up in the streets. Without references! In fact, if your stepmother were to pass along awful things regarding me—that I was a sneak and a cheat, say!—I might never find work!” her stand-in cried worriedly.

Arianna waved a hand in the air. “I’ve never met my stepmother’s brother, so you’re completely in the clear. What do you care what my stepmother says? When I get my story to the right people, she will be an absolute pariah if some honest man out there doesn’t discover a way to get her in jail. You’ll work for me, and you’ll be fine.”

Fiona stared angrily at Arianna. “Arianna, you are a dear lady, and a good friend to me, but you are not the head of the household.”

“I inherit a third of my father’s estate,” Arianna reminded her.

“You haven’t yet reached your majority. We’ve a few months to go—if you recall. And speaking of jail, I could wind up in jail for the things you have me doing.”

“No . . . don’t be ridiculous. Even if we are caught, I will say that I was in such a state that I couldn’t attend the services for my father. I was prone with grief. There is no way that you will suffer for any of this.”

“Hmmf! So far, Lady Maggie has obliged my urging to take laudanum, and thus she has not noticed that I’m not there to serve her when I should be. But what if she decides that it’s time to be fully awake and aware, no matter how painful.”

“I’ll be out of the house completely soon, and you’ll not have to worry,” Arianna assured her. “Now, please, tell me what you’ve found out!”

Fiona sighed, taking a seat at the foot of Maggie’s bed as she undid the hooks on the encompassing black cape she wore. “Very little. Yes, Maggie is known at St. Mary’s, and even at other parish churches. And she’s loved, Arianna. Loved. She’s contributed to the people with not just money, but her time, as well. She’s rolled up her sleeves, as they say, and doled out food. And do you know, if you gave yourself a moment to get to know her—”

“Get to know her? Are you daft? She plotted this all out, and it’s so obvious that I can’t believe the world isn’t screaming for her head! She married my father. The prenuptial contracts gave her brother a tidy sum to clear up his finances. The Graham solicitors were clever, or my father was entirely besotted, because none of that was due back, even if she opted out of the marriage! Now she stands to inherit a fortune as her widow’s portion of my father’s estate. And yet! How bizarrely convenient for her! He up and dies on their wedding night.”

Fiona was silent for a minute, looking at Arianna in a way she didn’t like. “Arianna, has it occurred to you that your father simply had a heart attack?”

“She planned it! I am not a fool, a child, nor so protected from the world as my father would have liked to believe. Maggie is a widow. Widow. Married to a young man she loved. She is surely very worldly. She knew what to do to my father to excite him to such an extreme that he . . . She did it on purpose, I tell you, and that is murder.”

Fiona shook her head. “Arianna, I love you dearly, and I want to help you, but I can’t help thinking that you are wrong, very wrong. I have seen her in the greatest distress!”

“Of course she’s distressed! She may yet be caught—and hanged!”

Fiona sighed. “I must change and get to her.”

She started to rise, but Arianna caught her arm. “You must have heard more, out in the streets.”

“Yes, I did. The East End is in a terrible panic. Women have been horribly butchered. There’s a maniac loose. They’re calling him Leather Apron, and the entire city of London and the outskirts are all in a dither. Naturally! Imagine that! People are concerned about a known murderer who mutilates those he kills.”

“He is killing common prostitutes,” Arianna said.