Page 76 of Lucy Undying

The documents fill in the remaining gaps of the case I’ve been building. The entire den floor is papered in proof, arranged by type. Whoever decided to keep everything thought they were building an alibi, but it’s so calculating, so conveniently tidy, it serves as condemnation. Even the shorthand journal tells me exactly what I need to know. Because it isn’t regular shorthand, after all. It’s a code. One that I was taught by my mother, who was taught by her mother, on and on back to none other than Mina Murray Harker Goldaming.

“You cunning little bitch,” I mutter.

“Iris?” Elle sounds panicked as she rushes in. She stops on the room’s threshold; there’s very little space to walk anymore. “The front door was cracked open. I was worried.”

“I forgot to lock it after the solicitor brought these documents.” I wave dismissively. The lock doesn’t matter. I’m not afraid of anyone who can walk in of their own free will.

“What’s all this?” Elle carefully dances through the documents to perch on an armchair.

“I finished Lucy’s journal.”

“Oh? Any good stories? Is Lucy who you hoped she was, or did she disappoint you?” Her face is sad as she picks up the stack of watercolor paintings. I know now they were painted by Lucy. And I know now I should have looked through every single one that first night. It would have saved me so much time.

“They killed her,” I say. “They fucking killed her.”

Elle frowns. “Wait. ‘They’? Who’s ‘they’? Who killed her?”

“Everyone,” I growl. I gesture at the case I’ve laid out. “You were right about the last inhabitants of the house. Father, dead. Mother, dead. Daughter, dead. But in the case of the last two, it was murder. I’m going to walk you through it, step-by-step. Please just trust me and listen to the whole thing.”

“But shouldn’t we—”

“I know this isn’t what I’m supposed to be focused on.” I can’t even pace. I’m literally locked into place by the history around me, which feels so apt I want to laugh. “I know. But I need to tell you, because I finally have the whole story. And once you have it, too, then you’ll understand what you’re getting into if you run away with me. And you have to understand. Every part of it. Otherwise it’s not fair to you.”

“What does a girl’s death over a century ago have to do with it?”

“Everything. Let me start at the beginning.”

I narrate, Elle listens, and the past at last delivers its secrets, newly risen from the grave they tried to bury it in.

66

The Murder of Lucy Westenra

Once upon a time, there was a girl named Lucy.

She grew up in a large, cold house, filling herself with as much love as she could. But she was always pretending, because she had to lie about who she really loved: her governess, Mina.

Mina was the most important person in Lucy’s life, but there were other key figures. Her mother, a controlling, suspicious hypochondriac. Doctor Seward, director of a sanitarium making personal house calls to her mother. Arthur Holmwood, a dashing future lord courting Lucy. Quincey Morris, a bumbling but sweet American cowboy. Doctor Van Helsing, a Dutch acquaintance of Doctor Seward and expert in strange maladies.

And a monster cloaked in darkness and violence who crashed ashore at Whitby, where Lucy was staying with her mother and Mina.

The “truth” presented in Lucy’s journals, the accounts of the men, and all the carefully collected and organized documents saved by Mina, is that Lucy—beloved by all, about to wed Arthur—was tragically killed by that dark figure, despite valiant efforts to save her. When that predator then turned his attentions to Mina, they were able to at last drive him out of London and heroically kill him in the Transylvanian mountains of Romania.

But the story underneath that story, woven through all the documents, clear enough to see if you look for it? It’s still about murder. But there are no heroes.

Allow me to lay it out for you.

Mina was Lucy’s governess, as evidenced by references in Lucy’s journal. Lucy grew up with Mina as her most trusted confidante and companion, and Mina never hesitated to direct Lucy’s thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

In this letter to Lucy, kept among the many documents in the safe, Mina asks about Arthur Holmwood—aka Lord Goldaming—specifically. In Lucy’s journals (both the real and the fake one), Lucy notes that Mina repeatedly asks about Arthur. Mina makes certain Lucy is focused on him over any other suitors or distractions. When Lucy expresses doubts or reservations about getting married, Mina always chides her and redirects her to Arthur.

Though Mina claims not to know Arthur, Lucy witnesses them having a conversation, and later finds a letter in Arthur’s suit jacket pocket in Mina’s handwriting.

We’ll set Mina and Arthur’s connection aside for now.

At exactly the same time Arthur appears in Lucy’s life by introducing himself to her at the opera, Doctor Seward, his close friend and schoolmate, also begins visiting Lucy and her mother. There’s no indication in Lucy’s journals or in the safe documents that her mother sought out Doctor Seward or even paid him. He volunteered all his services, which coincided with a downward turn in Mrs. Westenra’s health.

In fact, as Lucy clearly notes, her mother is always doing better before Doctor Seward visits, at which point she can barely function and takes to her room. Doctor Seward also tries to force laudanum and other drugs on Lucy and is generally a creep, though that’s not evidence.

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