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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
  206. •   •   •

Kind, yes. Unlikely to go on a killing spree, certainly. But simple in his motives and actions.

And, I believe, quite innocent of murder.

•   •   •

Doctor Seabury came by to attend to Emma, as has become his custom. On this particular visit, she hovered excitedly, trying to urge us to talk—but her fluttering made nothing easier, since both he and I knew that she’d spoken to him, and that we were now intended to have a difficult conversation.

The whole thing was exquisitely awkward at the outset.

Finally, when Emma had exhausted all her heavy-handed tactics, she excused herself. Any fool could’ve seen that it was a ruse, and I’m certain that Nance wondered what was going on when my sister asked for her assistance, rather than mine. She couched it in the guise of Nance’s height and strength, and hinted that I had some private matter to discuss with the physician.

It was true, but it made the whole thing sound dirty and weird, and I’ve put off explaining myself to my houseguest thus far . . . but my protestations won’t work for much longer. I’ll need a good story by this evening, or I’m afraid that Nance might become dramatic.

When the doctor and I were finally alone, we hemmed and hawed around the discomfort of our topic, until he surprised me by blurting out, “I saw the Hamiltons’ bodies.”

I wouldn’t have been more stunned if he’d taken of his shirt and done a little dance.

“You . . . you did?”

The explanation tumbled out. He’d been keeping it bottled up tight, and once the seal was broken, there was no stopping him. “An investigator was sent from Boston, and he requested that I accompany him on his rounds. A fine man, name of ‘Wolf,’ if you can imagine anything more fitting . . . and he’d asked specifically to see the bodies.”

He leaned forward in a conspiratorial manner, so I could scarcely stop myself from doing the same. “Given that the case is now a criminal one, or at least a suspicious one, I was pleased to have been included . . . I’ll admit I was frankly curious and also . . . also, frankly frightened. Matthew had been unwell, you see, and I had worried for his . . .” He hesitated.

“For his safety?” I asked, somewhat boldly, in my own opinion. But the doctor seemed to require a prompt. While he considered how much to share, I added, “I should tell you, I’ve heard rumors. Gossip says he’d been tied to the bed.”

Seabury’s eyes met mine, and they were filled with turmoil. “For his own safety, yes. And his godparents’ safety as well. He’d become restless, yet unresponsive. Something was wrong,” he concluded with great conviction. “Wrong in a sense greater than any mere malady might explain. And it reminded me of nothing so much as your stepmother, Abigail.”