wasn’t rain.
Edgar lay in a growing spread of blood, his body broken and smashed on the cobblestones. His spectacles lay feet away, one of the lenses cracked. Fisher knelt next to him with his ear pressed to Edgar’s chest, searching for signs of life. After a long moment, he looked up at the crowd and sadly shook his head.
A woman fainted, falling into a deep swoon and causing a flurried commotion as her companions tried to catch her.
“What happened?”
“He was at the second-story window and just…fell,” a man near us said, pointing up at the storefront.
Cassius tried shielding me from the chaos, turning me away from the sight of the body, but I squirmed free.
“He jumped?”
The man shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“I heard his sweetheart died recently,” a woman near us mentioned, overhearing our conversation. “It was all too much for the poor man.” She made a tsk of sadness before returning to her business.
This didn’t make any sense. I’d just spoken with him. We had a plan to meet next week. He wanted to find out what happened to Eulalie. To find out who had…
Who had killed her.
I looked up to the sharp pitch of the shop’s roof and the open window, remembering the creaking floorboard. Someone had been up there with him. Edgar hadn’t been alone.
Whoever pushed Eulalie from the cliffs had been with Edgar before he fell. I was certain of it. Breaking free from Cassius, I rushed toward the shop, ignoring his protests. If I didn’t get up to the second floor right now, I would miss the killer.
I skirted around where Edgar lay and smashed into Fisher’s chest.
“Annaleigh, what are you doing?” he asked, grabbing at my wrists to stop me.
“I need to go in there. To go upstairs. Fisher, you have to help me!”
“Help you what?”
“Find the killer! They’re inside!”
“Killer?” he repeated, fumbling to keep hold of me as I writhed from his grasp. “Annaleigh, there’s no killer. I saw it happen. He jumped.”
“He was pushed!”
“No, he wasn’t.”
“Let go of me!” I screeched, stomping at his feet.
Fisher’s arms surrounded me, holding in my flailing arms. “Calm down, Annaleigh. You’re making a scene.”
He pulled me against his chest, and I caught sight of my sisters, their eyes wide with horror. Cassius’s eyebrows were furrowed with concern. Dozens of onlookers surrounding Edgar’s body watched my fit. I let out a shaky breath, feeling myself deflate.
I turned away, unable to stand their gazes upon me. I looked up to meet Fisher’s eyes, beseeching. “Fisher, I know you’re mad at me, but please? Please come with me and look? I was visiting Edgar earlier. We heard a floorboard creak upstairs. Someone was there. Someone was listening to us! I have to know who.”
“I’m not mad at you, Annaleigh. I—I’ve been embarrassed about what happened, but not mad. I could never be mad at you.”
“Then help me, please? We need to find them before they get away.”
He raked his fingers through his hair with a loud sigh. “I’ll go look. But I promise, there was no one at the window but Edgar. Stay here.”
“Be careful!” I called after him.
Now alone on the steps of the shop, I didn’t know what to do. A group of men covered Edgar’s body with a sheet and pushed the crowds back onto the sidewalk. I wanted to join my sisters and Cassius, but suddenly I was terrified of getting too close to the body. The white sheet was quickly turning red. I turned away, studying the display of pocket watches in the window as tears sprang to my eyes.
He hadn’t jumped. He couldn’t have.
Fisher returned moments later, his eyes dark as he shook his head. “I’m sorry, Annaleigh. No one was there.”
“Someone was there!” I repeated hours later, nearly shouting in frustration, as Camille sat at her vanity, playing with a new color of blush. She swirled the brush over her cheeks, turning them a creamy shade of peach. “You can’t possibly be going dancing tonight.”
“Why? Because Edgar killed himself? I never thought of him in life; I should hardly be expected to grieve him in death.”
“You were crying this afternoon. I saw you!”
“It was upsetting. It’s not as though people hurl to their deaths every time I make a trip to the market.”
I took the pot of color from her. “Please don’t go. Stay home with me.”
She arched her eyebrow. “I will not. And you shouldn’t either. Come with us and forget about everything.” She smirked, applying a generous swish of