“But what about the lady’s curse and the threat?” Miss Eagle asked, interrupting. “You all went to the attic at midnight, where the lady killed herself.”
“Yes. But not all of us were there.” Mrs. Hemlock said, looking at her.
“I was resting in my room asleep.” Miss Eagle said. “And I don’t like your tone.”
Mrs. Hemlock simpered. “Funny, since we had Mr. Ludlow and Miss Thorn look for you to check on you and they said your room was empty.”
“It wasn’t. I was there.” Miss Eagle turned red. “He might not’ve seen me, as I was…” She mumbled.
“What was that?”
“I was using the chamber pot behind the screen in my room. I don’t like it when people talk to me whilst I’m occupied in that way,” she said, her face redder.
The men, having some delicacy, politely looked away, whilst Mrs. Hemlock smiled.
Violet rested her hand on the arm of the sofa. “But when we’d gone inside the attic and found my uncle, he had just been attacked. There was no one else there.”
“You see, it was the ghost,” Miss Eagle said.
“No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t until Mr. Fairbanks and I found a secret passage that we realized whoever was behind this musthave known about them too. We all knew they existed, thanks to my uncle’s trick earlier this evening, but not everyone in our party knows where the passages are. But one of the guests here tonight used it to sneak away and attack my uncle.”
“Who?” Mrs. Hemlock asked.
“Yes, tell us,” Mr. Ludlow said.
“Was it a person who needed money?” Violet asked. “My uncle teased you when we first met, Mr. Ludlow, for coming from the bookmaker’s, and noting your pocket watch was missing. You’ve been asking about the prize money since the start of the evening. We all know you require funds.”
Mrs. Hemlock sniffed, a smile on her face.
Mr. Ludlow frowned. “Maybe it was you, Mrs. Hemlock. We all know you’ve been throwing yourself at all the men here. You’ve been making yourself out to be some kind of seductress. How do we know you didn’t make some sort of proposal to old Mr. Griffin and he refused you?”
Mrs. Hemlock’s eyes blazed. “And yet I didn’t throw myself at you, Mr. Ludlow. Jealous?”
They faced one another.
“What about Mr. Fairbanks?” Miss Eagle asked. “He’s been here quiet the whole time. I suspected him from the start. No one could be that charming. I’m sure he’s hiding something.”
He shook his head. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“He didn’t do it,” Violet said. “The person who did knew the house. They knew there was a secret passageway because they had come to know the place as a child. It was easy for them to slip away and use the passage connected to their room, go up the stairs, and attack my uncle.
“All they needed to do was slip back down and enter the main stairwell, as if they were going up to see what the commotion was. In the confusion, we wouldn’t have noticed, especially whenwe needed to get my uncle help. You did it. You attacked my uncle.”
“That’s a lie!” Miss Eagle sat up in her chair. “I liked him.”
“Why did you want to retire early if you were so scared of ghosts? Even I could tell your little faint was fake. You give fainting women a bad name.” Mrs. Hemlock tutted.
Mr. Fairbanks and Mr. Ludlow looked at her. Miss Eagle shook her head, her blonde ringlets swinging around her head prettily. Miss Hawkins gaped as Miss Eagle said, “You all just don’t understand.”
“My uncle isn’t really dead,” said Violet. “You hurt him, but he’s resting now. I have no doubt that when he wakes, he will point the finger at you as an attempted murderess.”
Miss Eagle’s face contorted as she sputtered, “You’re wrong. You’re all wrong. This was just a little game, but he’s playing games. He’s making light of her death.” She fingered the locket around her neck. She stood and trailed her fingers along the bookcases. “I always liked this place. Even when it had its sad times. It was a wonderful place to run and hide, and pretend there were ghosts.”
“So you attacked him. But why?” Mrs. Hemlock asked. “What did Mr. Griffin ever do to you?”
“You’re wrong. It wasn’t me, it was the ghost.” She pointed at something over Violet’s shoulder and screamed.
Everyone turned to look, but there was no one there. Their heads whipped back around to see her, but she had disappeared, with part of the wall closing.
