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Back Maplecroft
Chapters (206)
  1. Praise for Maplecroft
  2. Title page
  3. Copyright page
  4. Contents
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. THESE ARE THE THINGS AN EARTHQUAKE BRINGS
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  12. A DOCTOR, A LAWYER, A MERCHANT, A CHIEF
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  20. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
  21. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  26. BE SURE YOUR SINS WILL FIND YOU OUT
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  29. I CROSS THE MAGPIE, THE MAGPIE CROSSES ME
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  31. Nance O’Neil
  32. THIS KNOT I KNIT, THIS KNOT I TIE
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  37. AND IF YOU HAVE A HORSE WITH ONE WHITE LEG . . .
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  43. THE WORST IS TO BE JUDGED WITHOUT HOPE
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  46. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  53. BUT NETTLE SHANT HAVE NOTHING
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  55. CUT THEM ON FRIDAY, YOU CUT THEM FOR SORROW
  56. Phillip Zollicoffer, Professor of Biology, Miskatonic University
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  62. HAPPY IS THE CORPSE THAT THE RAIN SHINES ON
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  67. A DWELLING PLACE OF JACKALS, THE DESOLATION FOREVER
  68. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  71. Nance O’Neil
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  84. Emma L. Borden
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  88. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  91. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  93. RIGHT CHEEK, LEFT CHEEK—WHY DO YOU BURN?
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  101. Aaron B. Stewart, Fire Chief, Farthington, Mass.
  102. Emma L. Borden
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  104. Gerald Macintyre, Telegraph Clerk, Western Union
  105. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  107. Physalia, Z. University I Was Not Now
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  109. DEPART, ALL ANIMALS WITHOUT BONES
  110. Emma L. Borden
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  115. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  119. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  130. Owen Seabury, M.D.
  131. Phillip Zollicoffer. Physalia Zollicoffris.
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  137. Christoff Dane, M.D., Ph.D., University of Rhode Island, Kingston
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  139. Emma L. Borden
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  144. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  150. Emma L. Borden
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  153. FAMILY SLAIN IN MAYFIELD
  154. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  165. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  176. Emma L. Borden
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  186. Owen Seabury, M.D.
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  197. Lizzie Andrew Borden
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  205. Inspector Simon Wolf
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Without so much as a pause, she said, “The other night we had a storm, and a pair of the old windows broke—and the frames with them. We’ve sent for a man to repair them, but he can’t arrive until next month. So we’ve covered the holes as best we can, but rodents and birds have a knack for finding their way inside. The door is an extra measure, that’s all.”

I would’ve bet my soul she wasn’t telling the truth. “And the attic stairs?”

“One of the chimneys needs work. We’ve been expressly told to leave it alone, until the mason arrives, along with the window man. Loose bricks. Bats and the like, you know. Squirrels.”

“And that is the most ridiculous answer yet!” I struggled to keep from yelling at her, or crying at her, or generally being the dramatic idiot her sister imagines me. But of all the little oppressions I hate the most, being lied to is right at the top of the list. It’s disrespectful. It suggests I can’t be trusted with the truth, whether to bear it, understand it, or keep it to myself.

Lizbeth stepped close to me then, so very near that I could see her pupils contract when I looked down into her eyes. She’s almost half a head shorter than I am, but slender and tough where I’m made of rounder curves. I put my arms around her and embraced her, pulling her lean shape against my softer one.

She leaned up to speak into my ear, and I felt her lips against my hair. “You know how I adore you, but I don’t think you know the lengths to which . . .” She stopped herself, and placed her head on my shoulder—so that when she spoke again, her mouth brushed the nook where my throat and collarbone meet. “You are mine and I love you. And I’m sorry if you feel I’m being dishonest.”

Her hand slipped to the small of my back, and we stood there together like a man and woman dancing slowly, to thoughtful music.

Somewhat mollified, I put my chin atop her head. “But I feel you’re being . . . not wholly truthful. Something is bothering you, and you’re keeping it from me.”

“Many things are bothering me. It comes with the territory of being . . . me.”

“That isn’t what I mean. And if I thought that’s all it was, I would leap with you into the nearest carriage and we could ride back to Boston or New York—and you could forget about this place, for as long as you wanted.”