Page 58 of When You're Safe

The stormraged on above, the clouds and lightning fighting for ascendancy. Every crackleof thunder seemed to echo their raised words, while every flash of lightningrevealed the desperation in their eyes.

In one ofthose split-second illuminations, Finn watched as Winters spotted a jaggedpiece of stone near her foot. Without breaking her gaze from Falstaff, shesubtly bent down and picked it up.

Finn realizedshe was preparing for something. It was all about timing now. Winters was goingto do everything she could to save Elizabeth from Falstaff.

With the nextroar of thunder, Winters stepped forward, about to make her move, but then shewas stopped in her tracks by Finn’s loud, booming voice.

“I’m tired ofthis,” Finn said. “Just shoot her.”

“What?!”Elizabeth pleaded.

“Yeah, shoot her,”Finn said. “I want to go to my bed and this is way more drama than I needtonight, I mean, I’ve already been shot.”

“Finn, whatare you doing?!” Winters said in a shouted whisper.

Finn grinnedfrom ear to ear and winked at Winters. “He won’t shoot her.” He turned back toFalstaff. “You won’t shoot her.”

“I will!”

“No you won’t,Sam,” Finn said. “Because you love her, and she loves you.”

There was alull in the storm as Finn’s words made their way around the courtyard.

“What?”Winters said.

“I first noticedit,” Finn explained, “when I saw a picture of you, Sam, as a boy here in an oldnewspaper. A girl was sitting next to you. I didn’t quite see the resemblance toyou, Elizabeth, until I saw some family photos here at the castle.”

Elizabethshook her head. She paused for a moment, her eyes telling the tale of herconflict. Was there a way out? Could she escape with a persuasive plea? Allthis Finn could see moving around in her mind like a runaway train, a frantichope for some escape.

But like manybefore her, Elizabeth seemed to finally hit a dead end in her mind. There wasno way out.

Lookingdejected, she seemed intent on persuading Finn that somehow she and Sam hadbeen right to do what they had done.

“Try tounderstand,” she said. “They took everything from us.”

“Yes,” Finnsaid. “They sent away your childhood sweetheart, and you both plotted todestroy them for what they had done. You, Sam, because you felt they stole yourlife. And you, Elizabeth, because they stole your love. It was Sam you weregoing to meet, wasn’t it, the night Nathaniel died? But he didn’t show at thebar in London, did he? You were as surprised as anyone that he chose that nightto kill Nathaniel.”

Elizabeth’s lipbegan to quiver, and Falstaff looked nervously at her at a moment, as if tryingto control her with a gaze.

Finn went onwith his theory: “And then tonight. We agreed that the entire family shouldstay in the dining hall. You volunteered to tell Francis and Lloyd. You saidyou’d get Mr. Lincoln to accompany you, but you didn’t do that. Instead, youknew that if all the family was guarded in that hall, Sam wouldn’t be able toget at any of them. So you left the room. You called him, and he moved off fromhis hiding place. You told him that Francis and Lloyd were upstairs and sittingducks. Did you tell him where Maggie used to jog in the mornings, too?”

Elizabethbegan to cry.

“It doesn’tmatter, though, does it?” Finn said, sarcasm rife in his voice. “After all, youwere only a distant cousin of the others. No doubt, you felt on the peripherysomewhat. Not as much as Sam here, but enough to make you both feel likeoutcasts. Enough to push you together into a bitter love and murder pact.”

“It’s not likethat!” Elizabeth yelled.

“Save me yourtears,” Finn said. “You are as manipulative as they come. I’d even hazard a guessthat you managed to persuade Quentin to change his will back, so that you wouldget at least a cut of his money. After that, it was time to let Sam here do hisdirty work and kill the man. Or was it you who injected Quentin, Elizabeth? Youcertainly could have gotten close enough. Maybe you did it because Sam heredidn’t have the guts after all to kill someone he had once seen as a fatherfigure.”

Falstaff swungthe gun around and pointed it at Finn. “I won’t miss this time!”

“No, but ifyou wait any longer,” Finn said, “the entire power of the British police forcewill be raining down on you. Neither of you will escape. This is your onlychance to run.”

Finn looked atWinters and gave her a knowing glance.

“Here,” Finnsaid, taking keys out of his pocket and throwing them to Elizabeth. “Take mycar. It’s the one next to you.”

“Come on, Sam,”Elizabeth said. “He’s right. I… I have money hidden away. We can run, they’llnever find us. At least we’ll be together.”

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