“Do you think she’s lying?”
“I do.” The groomsman scrubbed his unshaven chin. “She did take the carriage that night, and indeed she went into the hospital, but she never once mentioned why she was there. Notonly that, but when I saw her come out of the hospital, the police had already been summoned to the commotion happening down the street. I do not think she saw any stabbing at all because the killer would have already taken off by that time.”
“Very interesting, indeed.” The stable hand nodded.
Louisa thought the same thing.Interesting…So what was Eliza up to this time? Whose life was she trying to destroy? Of course Louisa still wanted to know why her childhood friend ruined her life when they had been such good friends.
“Well, I had better take the carriage around to the front now and wait for her to come out.” The taller man adjusted his hat before buttoning his overcoat.
As the groomsman drove the carriage out, Louisa snuck out of the stall and quickly ducked in the next one. She listened close for any noise that she’d been discovered. After a moment of silence, she hurried to the next stall, and continued the pattern until she reached the doors. Thankfully Eliza’s family didn’t have many servants, because it made sneaking easier than Louisa had planned.
The carriage was now stopped in front of the house. Nobody stood around waiting, except for the groomsman and he sat atop in the driver’s seat, his attention turned the other way. On quiet feet, Louisa crept to the carriage, opened the door, and as gently as she could, climbed inside.
Just as she closed the door, the vehicle moved as the groomsman jumped down. Panicked, her heart stalled. He must have felt her climbing in.
“Good morning, Miss Eliza,” the man called out.
Louisa expelled a relieved breath and huddled on the seat in the corner. The curtains were pulled down, giving the box very little light. Although, when the door opened, she would certainly be noticed.
“Please take me to the police headquarters. They are expecting me.”
“As you wish, Miss Eliza.”
Louisa held her breath. The door opened and Eliza climbed in, her head down as she focused on stepping inside without tangling her gown and cloak—a habit most ladies did when entering a vehicle.
Before Eliza was completely in her seat, the door closed.
Blinking—probably adjusting her eyes to the semi-darkness—Eliza scanned the inside the box until she spotted the unknown person in the carriage. “Oh!” Eliza shrieked.
Immediately, Louisa jumped next to the other woman on the seat and covered her mouth. “Say one more word and I swear I shall snap your neck in two with my bare hands. Do not think I won’t, either.” Louisa hated to sound so threatening, when she would never follow through with the promise. Hopefully, Eliza didn’t realize this.
The other woman calmed quickly as she narrowed her gaze. “L-L-Louisa?”
Louisa slowly released her hold. “Strange how you would think that, considering I am supposed to be dead. Something—I might add—you have known about since your uncle kidnapped me.”
Even through the shadows, Louisa could tell when the other woman’s face lost color. Betrayal crushed Louisa, and she wanted to cry in fury, but she’d give her so-called friend time to explain before lashing out her own anger.
“I—I thought you were dead,” Eliza muttered.
“Indeed? When did this happen? We exchanged letters for two months before your uncle sold me to a man who was Satan’s own child. Yet my family had heard I had drowned at the girl’s school—the very school we had attended together until the day your uncle came.”
Eliza shook her head. “Honestly, Louisa. I didn’t know.”
“You lie!” Louisa grasped the other woman’s shoulders and shook her hard. “Tell me the truth for once in your miserable life.”
“Beg pardon,” Eliza snapped as she pushed Louisa away. “If you are assuming that I do not speak the truth, then you are sadly mistaken.”
“No, you are the sad person in this situation, Eliza. Because you convinced yourself that your lies are in fact the truth, and in doing so, you ruin people’s lives.”
Eliza huffed. “I don’t have to take this abuse from you. Leave my carriage this instant.”
“Not until I get some answers.” Anger pumped through Louisa stronger than it had ever done before. She wanted to cause physical harm to this woman, when she’d never experienced such fierce anger before. The newfound feeling frightened her.
“Well, I don’t know what you want me to say, especially if you will not believe a word of it.”
Shaking her head, Louisa sat back in the seat and folded her arms. “Why do you hate me so? What did you think to gain from sending me to hell and telling my family I had died?”
Eliza stared at Louisa in silence. Only the clip-clop of the horse’s hooves and the rattle of the carriage were heard. Malice darkened Eliza’s expression and slowly she bunched her hands into fists on her lap.
