England, March 18th, 1883

The carriage came charging up the main drive, rattling along the cobblestones. It’s occupant was reading in a notebook. She was dressed in a simple dress and had barely been able to put herself together. She looked out the window at Windmoor Manor as they approached. The grounds were enormous and well kept. The night was chilly and looking like it would snow.

As they approached the doors, the footman jumped from the driver’s seat and opened the door.

“Thank you, Elliott,” she said as she got out.

There were two men and women waiting in the foyer as she came through the door. The man was a young rake, handsome and indulgent from the look in his eyes. Well dressed with dark brown hair.

The women were distraught, one of them was a teen and she was waifish and thin. Her hair was dark brown as well. She wore a dark blue dress. Her mother was older with hair going gray, there was much of the mother’s beauty in the daughter.

They looked upon the handsome woman that had come into the house. There were serving people that stood nearby.

“Lady Edgars, it’s good to see you,” the young man said.

“Hello, master Charles. I wish we could have met on better terms,” Lady Edgars said. “Yvette and Josephine, how are you?”

“My father is more important than providing comfort to these women despite how hysterical they may be.”

“Fair enough. Ladies, I will speak to you in a moment. Show me the body.”

Charles led her to the sitting room where his father had passed. He had doubled over out of his chair and died on the carpet. There was blood pooling out of his mouth. Staining the carpet red. He was a large man, it would take many men to drag him out.

She picked up the whiskey and sniffed it.

“Arsenic,” she said.

“My God, who would do such a thing?” Charles said.

“Did your father have any enemies?”

“No, not a one. He was well loved throughout the town.”

“Hm. Did anyone owe him money? Someone that might have access to the grounds?”

“Many people owe us money.”

“Hm.”

“Do you have any theories?”

“Several. I would like to speak with your mother and sister in private.”

“I don’t know if I can allow that.”

“Sir, if you want me to figure this out, I’m going to need unprejudiced statements.”

“They’re weak as all women are. I don’t know if they can take it. Especially in their fragile states.”

“Your mother gave birth to two children. I know from personal experience that is no easy feat.”

“Fair enough.”

“Make sure to drink nothing else unless I smell it first.”

She chose to speak with Josephine, the daughter, in her bedroom. It was well kept as all ladies of means’ bedrooms were. Josephine’s face was damp with tears.

“Thank you for speaking with me, I won’t be long,” she said.

“I’ll let you know everything I know,” Josephine said.

“If it gets to be too much, let me know. Now, where were you at the time of your father’s death?”

“I was up here, preparing for bed.”

“Did you hear or see anything after the maid screamed?”

“No, I just knew that my brother and the help were running to the sitting room. I went running and saw my father on the floor.”

“May I see your fingers?”

Josephine showed her her hands. She watched as Lady Edgars eyes went wide.

“My God,” she said. “I know who killed your father.”

She walked from the room and called out.

“I need everyone to meet me in the sitting room,” she said. “Josephine, follow me.”

Soon, they were gathered. Yvette and Josephine stayed away from the body.

“Now, I didn’t know who it could have been when I got here,” Lady Edgars said.

She opened up a snifter and smelled it. She poured out two drams each into a pair of glasses. She handed one to Charles. He downed it immediately.

“And that took far less convincing than I thought it would,” Lady Edgars said.

“What?” Charles said.

“Waiting for you to drink that whiskey. I thought you would push back on it. I thought that you would have some sense of self preservation. An iota of thought in that stupid head of yours. But alas, not all our enemies can be so deviling, so challenging. Sometimes a fool is simply a fool.”

The pain started in his gut. It traveled throughout his body.

“You and your father are not well loved in the town. You can’t see it because people scrape and bow whenever you come by. They ignore the working women you abuse. They know to not hold you accountable. Your mother and sister wrote to me. Told me of the monsters you and your father are. I had only to look at your sister’s fingers to know that they were true. They never healed properly when you slammed them in the doorway? I told them to wait. New legislation was coming through and it has. This house and everything will go to your mother. Everything you worked for will be for nothing.”

He looked at his mother who looked sad. Despite the hatred she had for him, he was still her son. His sister on the other hand, she was smiling wickedly.

“You won’t get away with this,” he wheezed.

“Yes, we will, I will tell a story so believable. A son jealous of his father. Confronted by the evidence, he drank the poison rather than face justice,” Lady Edgars said.

The world faded away from the son. The ladies toasted their good fortune.