It was only a spider, large and anxious, scurrying down to the floorboards and vanishing through a crack.
Then, for an instant, Catherine sat there—her ghost smiling faintly as she watched it go.
If I were alive,she said,I would be standing on this chair and screaming. Do you recall, Neil? Spiders terrified me, but you would never allow me to crush them. You said it is not fair to kill what we fear.
He swallowed thickly, closing his eyes.
I am trying, Catherine,he thought, trying to steady his reeling thoughts.I am trying to avenge you.
When he looked again, the chair was empty. Ghosts were not real. Catherine was dead, buried beside her husband. Their gravestones were plain—Loving Husband and Father. Loving Wife, Mother, and Sister.The full horror of it all could never fit upon stone.
Simon laid a hand on Neil’s shoulder, making him flinch.
“We’re getting close, Neil,” he murmured, more softly than before.
Neil looked up, wondering if his cousin had forgiven him for his earlier cruelty. He hoped so.
“It does not feel close,” he murmured. “It feels as though we are further away than ever.”
“Bramwell is destined for jail, and almost certainly the noose,” Simon answered, his voice angry and his eyes glimmering. “He will pay for what he did to James. And he’ll payfor what happened to Catherine, too. Until then, we must go on as we are. He’s watching us. This business about Miss Camden–or Miss Winter, if you like–might serve our purpose.”
Neil’s gaze snapped up to his cousin. “What do you mean?”
“If we let it be known she is nearby,” Simon said evenly, “he will come for her. We could set a trap.”
Neil stiffened. “Use Miss Winter as bait?”
“I suppose—”
“No!”
Neil’s shout echoed around the silent study. He blinked, suddenly disoriented, and realised that he had brought his clenched fist down onto the desk with a resoundingbang. The inkwell had been jerked into the air, and there was a growing puddle of ink around it now.
Amazed at himself, he drew a breath.
Simon had gone pale but recovered swiftly. “No, of course not,” he said quietly. “It would be too dangerous. She is almost certainly innocent.”
Neil swallowed his shame. “Forgive me, Simon. But I cannot allow it. And besides,” he hesitated, “she makes Emma happy.”
How would you know?Catherine’s voice whispered in his mind. He saw her as she had been at the end—thin, wasted, her skin translucent.You do not visit her enough, Neil.
He shut his eyes.
When he opened them again, Simon was tactfully turned away. Heaven knew what Neil’s face had shown.
“I know it’s a risk I ought to take,” Neil began, “but—”
“No, cousin. Sometimes the greater duty is to the innocent. I shall continue my investigations. Meanwhile, you might spend time with Miss Winter—find out what she knows.”
Neil sniffed. “I avoid Miss Winter where I can. I intend to continue.”
Simon regarded him for a long, assessing moment, then nodded slowly, as though confirming something to himself.
“As you wish, Neil. As you wish.”
Chapter Nine
One is one and all alone and evermore shall be so.
