EPILOGUE

“Do you think I’ll be able to ride a bicycle one day?”

Dr. Thornton smiles at Oliver. “You could ride a motorcycle if you wanted to.”

“Let’s start with a bicycle,” Lord Edmund interjects, “and see where things go.”

Oliver’s surgery is a success. They were able to repair the damage to his right lung. His left was too underdeveloped to ever be of use, so they cut it out and left him with the good lung. Oliver will have to work harder than most children to strengthen his body, but he will be able to lead a normal life with the proper care and exercise.

Lord Edmund is, of course, released immediately upon Inspector Hargreaves report that the true murderer has been found. After Theresa’s suicide, he inspects her room and finds more evidence. When I ask what he found, he won’t tell me. He only says that Theresa was the sort who kept trophies. Perhaps it’s better that I don’t know.

So now, Lord Edmund, Sean and I are in Oliver’s hospital room with Dr. Thornton. Already, he looks so much stronger. The color is back in his cheeks, and he doesn't have that horrible cough anymore.

“When your dad comes around about the motorcycle, let me know,” Sean says. “I’ve got an old Triumph Bonneville I’ve been meaning to restore. I’ll let you have a ride on it.”

I look him squarely in the eye. “You never told me you had a motorcycle.”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.” He winks at Oliver, and the boy giggles.

Lord Edmund clears his throat and says, “In point of fact, Mr. O’Connell, Oliver is my nephew, not my son.”

“That’s all right,” Oliver says. “You’re pretty much my dad. I never knew my real dad, and you’ve taken good care of me. Besides, I love you.”

Lord Edmund’s lip trembles, and his eyes are moist. His voice is shockingly tender when he says, “I love you too, Oliver.”

He embraces his nephew—his son, rather—and I have to turn away so they don’t see me crying. Sean puts his arms around me, holding carefully to keep from irritating my bruises. I close my eyes and breathe deeply of his strong, manly scent. God, I really do love him.

When Oliver and Lord Edmund separate, Oliver asks. “Is Aunt Cordelia here? I want to ask her if she’ll be my mum as well.”

The room dims slightly when he says that. Lady Cordelia is still comatose. She’s showing signs of brain activity, but it’ll be some time before they know how much recovery she can expect. Dr. Thornton warned us not to be optimistic.

“She’s resting right now,” Lord Edmund replies. “She had a bad fall. The doctors are taking care of her, but… she’s resting.”

“Oh.” Oliver’s brow furrows in concern. “She’ll be all right, though, won’t she?”

Lord Edmund’s lip trembles, but he quickly controls himself and smiles at Oliver. “Yes. I believe she will.”

I hope fervently that his Lordship is right. This family has suffered altogether too much. They're done for some good luck. Annie might be right, and that might not be how life ordinarily works, but we must hope for the best anyway, mustn't we? Otherwise, we have no choice but to give in to despair. And we can't do that. Not ever. Not even when the odds are stacked impossibly against us.

“Will you be staying, Miss Mary?” Oliver asks.

I look at Sean. He nods, and I reply, “We’ll be staying for a while. I’ll continue to teach you until the castle is sold.”

“Where will you go after that?”

I cross to his bedside and take his hand. “Then I have to go home,” I tell him gently. “I have some things I need to take care of that I’ve been neglecting to take care of.”

“Will you visit me?” he asks hopefully.

“Of course. If your uncle—sorry, your father—allows it.”

“We’ll keep in touch with Miss Mary,” Lord Edmund promises. “She cares deeply for you. I think it’s important that you have people in your life who care deeply for you.”

Oliver nods. "Yes. I think so, too. I'm very lucky, aren't I?"

“You are,” I agree. “Very lucky. And you must always be grateful for that.”

“I will,” he says seriously. “I promise.”

***

I stand in the library and stare through the open doorway into the staircase beyond. The light from the library illuminates the first few steps. Beyond that is darkness.

Lord Edmund remains at the hospital with Oliver and Lady Cordelia. He gives Sean and I permission to stay in the castle until they move. It’s hard to tell whether that will be in a month or in a year. Castles like this are in high demand among the younger wealthy, and the bank will be very motivated to sell it to cover Lord Edmund’s debts.

But the deaths here cast a pallor. So many lives have been lost within these walls. Their ghosts no longer cry out for justice, but who’s to say they don’t linger here, trapped as jibakurei and doomed to wander the place of their death for all of eternity?

The door opens behind me, and I turn to see Sean entering. He gives me a gentle smile. “Thought I’d find you here. Lord Edmund told me if it wasn’t for your fascination with his library, we might never have learned the truth.”

I smile at that, but the smile fades quickly. I look back at the no-longer-hidden staircase and say, “She beat me, Sean. I was wrong this time. I had no idea it was her. Not until it was too late.”

Sean hesitates a second. When he replies, I’m grateful that he tells the truth. “Yes. She did. I told you, Mary. You do this long enough, and eventually, you’ll meet your match. That’s just the way it goes. You win some, but that means you lose some.”

His scolding is painful, mostly because I hear the pain he tries to hide. I can't imagine how terrified he is for me all the time, knowing of my tendency to get myself into this kind of trouble.

“It’s just…” I take a deep breath. “So frustrating. To fight so hard for justice and to lose to someone who’s little more than an animal killing for pleasure. I know it sounds like I’m making this about me, but I’m not. She killed innocent people. Someone had to stop her. And I couldn’t. It was only by chance that you showed up when you did. If you hadn’t…”

My voice trails off. After a moment, he says, “I know. But I did show up. And you’re alive. And the murderer can’t hurt anyone anymore. That’s what matters.”

I cross my arms. Sean is right, but knowing that only frustrates me more. "I had a dream while I was down there. Annie visited me. She told me if I kept my wits about me and fought hard, I would survive."

“Sounds like she was right.”

“She wasn’t, though. I could have panicked uncontrollably, and nothing would have been different. You still would have shown up, and I still would have survived due to a miracle. I could have fought and struggled and raged all I wanted. I could have thought for hours and not thought of a way out of there. I was trapped. Completely. It’s just… What if I’m wrong, Sean? What if I come across one of these mysteries again, and I don’t find the killer? What if the guilty escape and the innocent suffer because I come to the wrong conclusion? And…” I take a deep breath. “And I really do hate that I was trapped. It’s the first time where I realized that I’m not invincible.” I hug my arms over my chest. “But I won’t stop. That’s the part that really frightens me. I will do this until it kills me because I can’t not fight for justice. I’m compelled to.”

He turns me around and looks me squarely in the eye. “Mary. You are not alone. You need to get that thought into your head. It’s not just you fighting for justice. It’s you and me and a lot of police officers wherever we happen to be. And sometimes others will fight with you. There’s a whole world of people who want justice. We’re the majority. People like Theresa are outnumbered.

“Yes. She beat you, Mary. But she lost to us . And people like that will always lose. As long as there are people like you to inspire people like me.”

I nod slowly. His words don’t drive away all of the pain, but they show me the light at the end of the tunnel. That’s enough for now.

I turn to him and say, “I love you, Sean.”

This time, his words do drive the pain away. He smiles and caresses my cheek. “I know.”

He pulls me into his arms, and everything is right with the world again.

Almost everything. There is that business I still need to take care of, the one I tell Oliver about.

When we separate, I take a deep breath. “Sean?”

“Yes?”

“I want to look for Annie again.”

He sighs heavily, but he smiles at the end of it. “All right. I’ll help you. Always.”

And now everything is right. I pull him close and kiss him again, pouring every ounce of love I have into it. We have a long road ahead of us, and my experience here has taught me that road may end in tragedy.

But tonight, we have victory. And we have each other.

Tonight, that’s enough.