Page 68 of Hoodoo House
“They already do. I had to tell them,” Sinclair snapped. “There comes a time when all secrets come out.”
“How long have you known?” Declan asked Henry.
Henry pushed back from the table and stood up. “I saw what Mr Tull was writing and told Gramma Carol. She said we had to keep it a secret. We were never supposed to talk about this to anyone but ourselves. She explained that, to the rest of the world, everything was written by Marjorie Ellis. We have to protect her legacy! And now it’s all ruined because everyone’s going to know.”
Henry started to cry.
“Henry, Declan and I had to be let in on the secret,” Charlie said. “It was important for us to know everything so we could find the lastHeart’s Shadowmanuscript. And we’ve promised not to tell anyone.”
“But Mr Yamada should have told me you knew!”
Sinclair raised his hands in the air. “Like I said, none of it matters anymore. Look around you. Tull is dead. A psychopath attacked the house, which put you and Mrs Cameron in danger. And there will be no more newHeart’s Shadowbooks. All good things must come to an end.”
Mrs Cameron stood up from the table. “They can’t do this. They promised to keep the series alive as long as the sales were decent. And it’s about more than money, Mr Sinclair. What about the readers? What about those poor people who look toThe Heart’s Shadowbooks as their escape from their humdrum lives? Surely the buyers will want to continue the series?” Mrs Cameron shook with anger. “And if the foundation gets rid of Hoodoo House, where will the boy stay? Where will I be left? This isyourfault. If it wasn’t for you, Tull would still be alive. I overheard your argument with Malcolm on the night that he died. It was a barn-burner. I’ve wondered since that day if it was you who somehow managed to get rid of him. I didn’t hear clearly, but I did hear the wordblackmail.”
Sinclair’s face hardened into a mask of fury. “If we’re pointing fingers here, Mrs Cameron, according to what the police told me, Malcolm Tull likely died of an overdose of primidone, which was found in his glass ofkumis. Isn’t that something thatyoualways prepared for him? I know that you had no love for Malcolm Tull. Maybe you should have thought about the consequences of your actions before you spiked his drink.”
Mrs Cameron marched up to Sinclair and leaned in close to his face. “He had no respect for Marjorie Ellis. He was destroying her creation, unlike Thomas Pritchard who carried forward the original tone of her work. It was one thing to have to abide the disdain he had for the thing that kept a roof over his head—it was another thing to have to tolerate the company of the shady men he…associated with.”
“So you did kill him?” Sinclair demanded.
“No, but a small part of me wishes I’d had the courage to do it.”
“Now why would you say that?” Declan asked.
Suddenly it all made sense to Charlie. He turned to Mrs Cameron and said, “Perhaps because youareMarjorie Ellis.”
The room went very still.
Then Henry cried out, “I knew it! Gramma Carol—you are, aren’t you?”
Mrs Cameron looked directly at Henry and said, “No. That’s not true.”
“It is true. I can prove it,” Henry said, then ran from the room.
“Henry!” she cried out. Mrs Cameron shook her head. “I don’t know what’s gotten into that boy.”
They heard the sound of Henry’s footsteps running up the main stairs, then back down again. He appeared at the door to the kitchen. In his hand he held a picture of three women. Charlie remembered that he’d seen the photo on his tour of the house. It had been taped to Henry’s dresser mirror. Henry brought the picture to the table.
“What’s this all about?” Mrs Cameron asked.
“You gave this to me. And there’s three people in the picture.” He pointed at it. “That’s Gramma Rachael, that’s your sister Florry and then there’s you. It is you, isn’t it? The third person?”
“Of course, Henry, you know that’s me.”
“And here,” Henry continued, “see how it’s labelled?”
He indicated the words written on the back—‘RACHAEL, FLORRY, & ME’.
“It’s like a puzzle, isn’t it?” Henry said. “ME are the initials for Marjorie Ellis. I never said anything, because I figured you wanted it to be kept a secret, but I always knew. You’re not only Gramma Carol, you’re really Marjorie Ellis.”
Henry hugged Mrs Cameron.
She reached down and touched him gently on the shoulder. “No, boy, you’re so very clever, but here you’ve got it wrong. Itisa picture of Gramma Rachael, Florry, and me. But it’s simply the wordme.”
Declan asked, “So you aren’t Marjorie Ellis?”
Mrs Cameron nodded her head. “Too many secrets. It’s time to tell the truth. I’m not Marjorie Ellis…but my sister is.”
