A circle was forming around Harriet and a woman in a ball gown collapsed onto her knees, crying. Grace watched in terror. She’d never been any good in an emergency. She could feel the panic clouding her thoughts, darkening the corners of her vision.
“What’s happened?” Ethel asked, coming to stand beside Grace. “Who is that?”
Grace couldn’t speak. She could only see the hem of Harriet’s gown from this angle, through the legs of the crowd.
“Someone fetch an ambulance!”
There was an eerie silence, save for the sound of the woman softly sobbing.
“Harriet,” Oliver said. He stroked the end of her hair. “Harriet, it’s all right. I’m right here.”
Lillie stood up. She turned to Oliver, swaying.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice catching. “She’s dead.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
HORROR SPILLED ACROSSthe crowd like a stain. The panic was thick enough to choke on.
The guests in their finery were being ushered downstairs by the St. Louis police to be questioned about what they had seen. There were sparkling pieces of glass scattered like rubies. The decorative punch bowl glinted eerily. The floor was littered with crushed flower petals.
Harriet’s body was splayed on the dark glass floor.
“But I don’t understand. How could this happen?” the woman in front of them asked.
Oliver pulled Grace aside. His eyes were wide with shock, his breathing shallow. His face was white. She felt frightened looking at him.
“Don’t tell them about what you saw in the Tunnels,” he said urgently. He held her arm a little too tightly. Like she was the last life raft, threatening to float away.
“Oliver, I—”
“Please.”
“You aren’t thinking clearly,” she protested. She looked over and saw a policeman watching them. “This… don’t you think this likely could have been an overdose?”
“It will make her look bad. I don’t want her to be remembered that way.” His voice caught. “Please, Grace.”
Grace’s head spun. She felt like she was caught in the middle of a turning kaleidoscope. She couldn’t promise him this time.
“What happens now?” he asked wildly. “She was going to be my whole life.”
He choked on a sob.
The police came to talk to him next.
“I can’t believe she died,” Frannie said. She was smoking a cigarette, her hand shaking. Copper was next to her, looking shell-shocked.
“What did the police ask you?” Copper asked Frannie.
“They asked me about Harriet’s relationships.”
Theodore was standing in the doorframe, a haunted look in his eye.
“I told them the truth,” Frannie continued. She took a drag of her cigarette. “That Harriet was seeing Theodore Parker, but that Oliver seemed jealous of that.”
“Watch your tongue, Frannie,” Grace said sharply. “You do more damage with it than a bayonet.”
She stalked away to find Lillie. Grace was done holding secrets on Oliver’s behalf. Especially ones that only threatened to hurt him.
