“I can assure you that I do. Our beloved late father squandered our entire fortune.”
The breath that came from Frannie was like a candle being blown out. “What?”
Earnest sighed. “When Mother and Father died, there was almost no money left. I met with Father’s attorney to discuss the state of our affairs only to discover they were in shambles. Our house has been mortgaged and mortgaged again. Unless I did something drastic, we were about to lose it and everything else we had.”
Frannie blanched. “But… what does killing Harriet have to do with any of that?” she whispered.
Grace leaned forward. Theodore’s fingers tensed on her waist.
“I invested everything we had left into the flying competition, and then borrowed more. The aeronautics prize would have been enough to get us back on our feet again. I tried to sabotage everyone else to make sure we would win, but then the bloody machine exploded on me. Perhaps it had been an engineering failure. Perhaps someone had sabotaged me back. I’ll probably never know the truth.”
Frannie was holding her head in her hands as though she were faint, and breathing quickly.
“You borrowed money?” Frannie asked. “From whom?”
“A schoolmate of ours whose family had also fallen on hard times. He understood what it was like, to have to keep up appearances when the family fortune was gone. I told him I could win. We pooled the last of our finances to enter the competition. Think, Frannie—it was more than the prize money. There would have been opportunities to take the plane on the road for paid exhibitions. We were dreaming big.”
“Instead it blew up,” Frannie said. “And now we truly have nothing?”
Earnest raked his hand through his hair. “The truth was going to come out. My co-investor sought out Harriet the night that I crashed. He’d been keeping tabs on me throughout the Fair and had seen us all out together. Sylvestor was desperate that night and he told Harriet that I owed him a lot of money. She was supposed to pass on the threat.”
“Which she did, through me,” Copper said. “She had wanted to talk about money and whether Earnest was in trouble. He’d promised her that he would invest in her failing theater.”
“And she was worried that I was as broke as Sylvestor claimed. But she was too close to our circle—one word from her, and then the whole thing would come crashing down.”
“So you killed her?” Frannie asked coldly.
“I didn’t jump to that plan right away,” Earnest said. “Killing Harriet Forbes wouldn’t do anything to help restore our fortunes, after all. But there was another way. A narrow, delicate way. The only way out.”
“And that way was the Carter family,” Copper said.
Earnest scowled. “Cripes, don’t look at me that way, Frannie. Killing Harriet accomplished the only things that would save us. Saveyou. It kept her mouth shut from spilling that we were frauds and utterly broke. And if Oliver Carter could take the fall for her murder—it was perfect. He would no longer be able to inherit the massive Carter fortune. And because of the scandal, no one would want to marry Lillie.”
“Except for you,” Frannie whispered.
“Except for me. Waiting in the wings to comfort her. To look past the scandal and marry her anyway, bringing together their good money and my good family name. It was the solution that solved everything.”
Frannie was aghast. “But—this isn’t what we do, Earnest,” she said, frantic. “We follow therules. Everyone else bends them but we don’t. They’re there to keep society functioning.” She stumbled backward, landing on the balustrade.
Copper snorted. “That’s sweet, Frances. But a little naive. Everyone twists the rules. Those who don’t get run over and left behind.”
“Do you think I wanted to be put in this situation?” Earnest said sharply. “I never wanted to become the man of the house in my twenties, or to shoulder the immense burden of our parents’ mistakes andruined fortunes. But this was the hand I was dealt. This was the only way I could see to save us.”
Anger surged through Grace like molten gold. She could feel it burning in her veins. Earnest had played all of them for fools. He had come up with a malicious plan to save his family that in turn ruined hers. Her beloved cousins. Destroyed by this man’s pride and greed.
“So Copper got you the strychnine and put it in the glass?” Frannie asked slowly. She turned to Copper. “You were willing to risk being caught for murder for us?”
He shrugged, but there was something in his eyes. He didn’t quite meet her gaze.
Grace saw the moment that the realization hit Frannie. “No, wait… I see. You would never marry me if this didn’t work out. The Carter money was for you, too.” She stumbled a little, as though he had struck her.
“Frannie—” Copper said, but she turned away from him. Angry tears were glittering in her eyes.
“Like I said, Frannie. I never wanted you to know any of this.” Earnest turned softer, pleading. “I wanted this for your happiness, and mine. And now it’s done. As long as I can continue to successfully court Lillie, you can live the life you’re accustomed to. So, on that front”—he laughed bitterly—“you might want to start being a little nicer to her.”
Frannie swallowed hard.
She looked once more toward where Grace and Theodore were standing. Where they had heard everything.
