Page 43 of When You're Forgotten

“What do we do now?”Jenna’s voice, high-pitched with panic.

“We stick to the plan,”Richard answered.“Finn will come for her.When he does, we knock him out again with the chloroform.Same as we did her.I managed to smash his phone.”

Amelia was inside, presumably unconscious.The next line froze Finn’s blood:

“You think the police will buy it that they died of food poisoning?”Jenna asked.

“Evan’s in hospital with the same,”Richard said, tone smug.“They’ll believe we all ate the same meal.We can blame that horrid cook.We’ll keep them sedated long enough for the poison to kill them in the night.We’ll say they died in their sleep.This stuff is hard to pick up in an autopsy.”

Finn’s anger surged, fists clenching at the knowledge that they were about to stage Amelia’s (and presumably his) demise as a tragic outbreak.Food poisoning was their cover.He heard a tiny clink of metal—someone messing with an object.

“Open her mouth,”Jenna said, quieter now.“I’ll put the poison in.”

Finn’s chest pounded.He couldn’t wait any longer.He shoved the door open, flashlight raised.The sight was exactly as he feared: Amelia slumped in a chair, head lolled, her arms drooping.Richard stood behind, leaning to hold her in place.Jenna held a syringe-like implement, presumably loaded with poison.They spun around at Finn’s intrusion, eyes wild with shock.

“You put one finger on her, I’ll kill you both with my bare hands,” Finn roared, stepping forward.His voice trembled with raw fury.The flashlight shone on them, revealing the pale glimmer of fear that crossed their features.

Amelia’s breathing looked shallow.She didn’t stir.He prayed she was only unconscious, not already beyond saving.Richard’s face twisted, as though mentally calculating how to respond.Jenna’s eyes darted toward the door.

Just then, footsteps resounded from outside, and Mrs.Hughes hurried in.She froze mid-step, gasping at the scene: Finn brandishing a flashlight like a weapon, Richard and Jenna mid-poisoning, Amelia limp in the chair.The older woman clapped a hand over her mouth.

“Stop playing innocent,” Finn snapped, fury lancing through him.“You’re part of this, aren’t you?The entire time, you’ve been covering up Wilkie’s death and lying about everything else.No more secrets, Mrs.Hughes.”He glanced about.“Edwin, you might as well join us.I know you’re in on it, too.”

At that, a tall figure materialized in the doorway behind Mrs.Hughes, holding a small-caliber rifle pointed at Finn.Edwin Pierce.The same ex-groundskeeper who had brandished a gun at Finn in the woods.A hush fell, thick with dread.

Edwin’s eyes glinted in the glow of Finn’s flashlight.“I let you go once out of courtesy, but not this time, Mr.Wright,” he said in a low, menacing tone.He stepped fully into the room, pressing the barrel of his gun forward.“We can’t let you and your partner ruin everything.”

Finn’s heart thundered.He stood outnumbered and outgunned.Amelia was unconscious, Richard and Jenna seemed prepared to poison her, Mrs.Hughes in the background, and now Edwin with a firearm.The entire conspiracy was laid bare.He clenched his teeth, raising the flashlight a fraction, not sure if it would help or simply provoke them to shoot.

He flicked a glance at Amelia’s pale face.“Amelia,” he whispered, forcing calm.But she didn’t stir.White-hot rage melded with fear.For a moment, time itself seemed to freeze: Richard pivoting behind Amelia with that lethal tool, Jenna clutching the toxin-laced syringe, Mrs.Hughes wringing her hands in horror, and Edwin aiming the gun.

Finn swallowed, mind racing for a strategy to save them both.The hush deepened, the crackling tension practically throbbing in the air.With the light flickering off the dusty corners of James’s once-proud study, the conspirators stood in silent standoff with Finn, who realized with ice-cold clarity that he had mere seconds before they moved to subdue him.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Finn swallowed, heart thudding.He had no weapon—only the urge to keep Amelia alive.She slumped in the chair, eyes half-lidded, breathing shallow.A faint chemical reek suggested they’d used chloroform or something similar on her already.

“What do you want from us?”Finn forced his voice steady, scanning each conspirator.They all stood in menacing tension, like a savage outline from an old painting.

Richard squared his shoulders.He was disheveled, sweat shining on his brow.“We want you both out of the picture,” he replied, voice quivering with anger.“We can’t let you ruin everything when we’re so close.We had a plan.”

Mrs.Hughes, trembling, finally found her tongue.“W-we never meant for it to end this way… we just… If you had left well enough alone…” She glanced guiltily at Amelia, then away.

The shattered remains of two earlier murders weighed on Finn’s mind—James and Catherine, plus the possibility they’d arranged Wilkie’s death.Fury mixed with a terrible clarity.“So all of you conspired to kill the Penrose siblings,” he said quietly.“James, Catherine—maybe more.And now you want Amelia and me gone to tie up loose ends?”

“We knew you were getting close to the answer,” Mrs Hughes said.“We set you up in the sitting room where we knew we could listen from the next room.”

Jenna’s face twisted.She clutched the syringe, knuckles going white.“We had no choice.James was bleeding the estate dry and the banks were threatening to come in and seize his assets, including half the house.Richard actually didn’t want to keep the house, he only acted like he did, but he and Jennadidwant his fair share of the money from the sale.But that wouldn’t happen with James and Catherine alive.Despite saying she felt Richard was hard done by, Catherine threatened the final sale behind Richard’s back to settle all James’s debts so the family could live more humble lives without financial ruin always over their heads.That would have meant nothing for us, when the family had promised a good pay off when I retired.None of them cared about us.”Her lip trembled, tears battling resentment.“James and Catherine both had to go, otherwise we would have been left with nothing… And...Edwin and I are...in love.We deserve better!All those years we put into serving this family, and Edwin gets fired and I get left with nothing when I retire.We deserve a life together that isn’t one of servitude!”

Edwin’s rifle steadied on Finn’s chest.“Time for talking is done.They’ll find your bodies in the morning, and with the estate in chaos, your partner died at the hands of the killer, and you in the crossfire.”

Finn’s pulse hammered.He needed to stall.Glancing sideways at Amelia’s unconscious form, he tried to keep his voice calm.“If you kill me, the police will suspect you.Inspector Thomas’s men are out on the estate.They’ll know something’s off.”

Edwin’s eyes narrowed, lips curling in a half-snarl.“You’re wrong.We’ll spin a story.The power cut out earlier.We can claim the killer was lurking in here, attacking Inspector Winters.Shots were fired in confusion.You got caught in the crossfire.The end.”

Finn looked around, searching for a wedge in their plan.“But you’d still need someone to blame as the killer.Who did it?Another staff member?This story of yours has more holes than a sieve.”

Edwin shifted the gun’s aim, gaze flicking among them.“You’re right.We’d need a scapegoat.”His eyes landed on Richard.“I suppose we can adapt.”

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