Chapter 4

I was unconscious for the entire night. When I woke, thick bandages were wound around my forehead. Edmund, Helena, Adrian, and Constable Thomas Merrick were all in the room. Lydia sat at Helena's side, her right hand wrapped in gauze, crying and shaking.

"She tricked me into the records room." Lydia clutched Helena's sleeve. "She hated me for stealing the wedding. She wanted to burn me alive. Mother, look at my hand. It hurts so much..."

Helena's first instinct was to check Lydia's injury. The doctor had already said it was only a minor burn, but her eyes still reddened with distress.

"She started the fire." I braced myself against the bed frame and sat up. "She was never pregnant. The pharmacy receipts and the doctor's receipt were in that room. She knocked over the kerosene lamp to burn the evidence."

"Those herbs were prescribed by my doctor for my health!" Lydia shot back. "She can't even read a prescription, so she makes up lies because she's jealous."

"Then why did you hit me with the candlestick?"

She pursed her lips. "Fine, I picked up the candlestick, but you came at me with the kerosene lamp. I was just trying to block you. How was I supposed to know you'd go down that easily?"

I looked at Helena. Lydia's clothes from the night before were draped over the back of a chair. The cuffs had more than just soot on them: a dark stain where kerosene had soaked through. Helena followed my gaze and clearly noticed.

I thought she was finally going to ask.

But she stood, picked up the garment, and stuffed it straight into the laundry basket the maid was holding. "Lydia has had a terrible fright. Get these dirty clothes out of here."

Edmund also knew that what had burned was more than ordinary letters. He had been to the records room. He had seen the half-charred doctor's receipt. But he told Merrick to investigate it only as a "dispute between sisters."

"Lydia is young. Even if she knocked over a lamp, she didn't mean to kill anyone," he said. "You're leaving for Northsea to be married in a few days. Why throw the whole family into chaos now?"

"She locked the door from the outside."

"She says she locked it to contain the smoke, and she called for help right after."

"She's lying!" There was no reasoning with them. Explanations were useless. Evidence was useless. Nothing worked!

Edmund waved his hand impatiently. "She nearly died in the boiler room saving me when she was a child. Later, when your mother fell from the bridge, Lydia jumped into the frozen river and pulled her out. She may be willful, but she is not capable of arson and murder. You're the older sister. Why do you always assume the worst about her?"

I remembered both of those incidents. I was the one who cut the belt in the boiler room and dragged Edmund to safety. I was the one who jumped into the icy river and held Helena up, who laid my coat underneath her. But the first time, the smoke had wrecked my throat and I could not speak for three days. The second time, I passed out from the cold, and by the time I woke up, Lydia had already claimed the credit.

I had tried to explain once. Edmund said I was jealous of my sister. Helena said a life saved was not something to fight over. I never brought it up again.

Adrian was standing the farthest away. I looked at him. "When you carried her out last night, did you smell the kerosene on her sleeve?"

He said nothing.

Lydia immediately tugged at his sleeve, crying. "I ran in to save her! Of course I'd smell like kerosene. You don't believe me either?"

Adrian closed his eyes. When he opened them, he chose her. "I did smell it, but that doesn't prove anything. Evelyn, you're still hurt. Get some rest."

"Keep giving in? She nearly burned me alive." I stared at him, my voice raw. I had almost died, and they all thought I should yield yet again.

Edmund's tone went cold. "But she didn't kill you, did she? Your sister can be a handful, but she's not a bad person. Things got this out of hand, and you don't bear any responsibility at all?"

I was the one who did not belong. This family did not need me. They were all hoping I would disappear. Hoping I would just die.

Constable Merrick closed his notebook. "The scene contains Miss Evelyn's handkerchief, a kerosene lamp registered to her room, and a threatening letter she wrote to Lydia. The only other witness, Martha, is still unconscious. Until she wakes up, Miss Evelyn is the prime suspect."

Lydia burrowed into Helena's arms, peering over her shoulder at me. The corner of her mouth twitched upward, just barely.