Lord Stanley seized his sister firmly by the elbow and guided her into the nearest chair.
‘You are going to tell me everything,’ he said, pain and fury sharpening every word. ‘No more lies. There is no escape for you now.’
Charlotte sat opposite them beside Lord Stanley.
‘How long have you been involved with the Odd Fellows?’
Mrs Wilberforce said nothing, though shock lingered visibly across her face.
As Lord Stanley continued to question her without success, Charlotte spoke instead.
‘The day we interviewed the suspects, you were spying upon us. I saw you enter the morning room with Lady Susan and the spinsters. You wished to listen to the interrogations, so you put sleeping draughts in their tea. Lady Susan, upon feeling the effects, returned to her chamber and collapsed there. The spinsters never had the opportunity. They fell asleep where they sat. Did they not?’
Mrs Wilberforce smirked faintly.
Charlotte followed the thread of her deductions.
‘You possess the key to the passages, do you not?’
Her eyes fell immediately upon Mrs Wilberforce’s sewing basket resting beside her chair.
Without hesitation, Charlotte searched through it and triumphantly withdrew a ring of household keys—ones she recognised at once from the day Mrs Wilberforce had given her the thimble. Amongst them hung the unmistakable wrought-iron one.
‘This gave you access to the secret passages.’
Lord Stanley stared at it in disbelief. The key had been beneath their very noses the entire time.
‘You followed Bainbridge after he discovered the letters,’ he said slowly, his voice barely above a whisper. ‘You took them from him—and then pushed him down the stairs.’
Charlotte continued steadily.
‘Then you used one of these keys to enter Lady Susan’s room and burnt the letters. You knew she would be insensible. Afterwards, you returned quietly to the morning room whilst the unconscious spinsters noticed nothing.’
Mrs Wilberforce eyes narrowed sharply.
‘How did you know?’
‘Because I misunderstood what I saw at the time,’ Charlotte replied. ‘Lady Susan appeared strangely calm after Bainbridge’s death, but in truth she was dazed. Then, before leaving, the spinsters complained of megrims. I recognised the same lingering effects after waking in the cage.’
‘I did what was necessary,’ Mrs Wilberforce snapped.
Lord Stanley attempted a gentler approach.
‘You shall face imprisonment, Minerva. But if you cooperate, I will ensure Tom is properly cared for—and that you may see him, should he wish it.’
For one fleeting instant, something flickered across her face.
Pain. Or guilt.
Then it vanished.
She sighed heavily.
‘I was introduced to the Odd Fellows through Frederick Bainbridge during one of his house parties. It was there I met the Captain. We fell in love.’
‘What about Wilberforce?’ Lord Stanley asked quietly. ‘Your marriage?’
She laughed bitterly.
