Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

" I t shouldn't be long until Father reaches out to you to find out exactly what's going on," Iris said in the carriage ride back to Eavestone House. "He has to be suspicious."

"But what if he asks me in a letter to tell him what you're conspiring to do?" Anna fretted, pulling at the strings of her bonnet as she spoke.

She was pale from nerves, and truthfully, Iris was nervous as well. As they spoke, Violet was risking possibly her life by spying on their father. And it all might be for naught if Lord Carfield didn't lead her to the key to the safe. But Iris was sure he would. Her claim that the letter had been a fake would surely push her father to check the document, and Iris was sure it was in his safe.

If it wasn't there, well then… things might get harder. But Iris had a feeling that he would keep the letter as close as possible. Especially now. She had changed sides, many of his allies had fallen by the wayside, and she was sure he no longer knew whom to trust. The only person he would truly trust—the only person he'd ever cared about or protected—was himself.

But if her father discovered Violet, or if Violet stole the letter and he suspected her, it could risk her very life. It hadn't been easy to ask her to take such a risk. Iris would have preferred to do it herself. But there was no one else in the house to do it. And she knew that after the failed engagement to Lord Redfield, Violet would want to take action. She wouldn't want to sit passively by and wait for their father to torment her further—she would want to fight back.

"I still don't understand why we couldn't have just explained everything to Miss Violet in a letter," Anna said, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Because," Iris explained for what felt like the hundredth time, "I am sure that Father is watching all of the mail in and out of the house. That must be how he knew what time Mother and I would be gone to meet Violet and Rose. I can't imagine why else he would have allowed them out of the house without chaperones. And it's too perfect, the timing with the thieves. They surely had an approximate time of our departure ahead of time."

Anna looked confused, and Iris shook her head.

"I just hope it worked," she muttered, more to herself than to Anna. "We need you back in the house to pick up the letter from Violet…"

And sure enough, when they arrived at the house, there was a letter waiting for Anna. With trembling fingers, she took it from the butler and broke the seal.

"It's from His Lordship," she whispered, looking up at Iris with a fearful expression on her face. "He wants to see me at once."

"Then you must go," Iris urged as she removed her gloves and handed them to the butler.

"Did he take the bait?" Lady Carfield asked as she came into the hall. She looked about as nervous as Anna.

Iris gave her a reassuring smile. "We think so. He's asked to see Anna."

"That's good." Her mother put a hand to her forehead as if overcome with a dizzy spell. "And Violet? Did she agree to help?"

"She said she would wait in Father's study, see what she could discover."

"I don't like to think of her putting herself at risk like that."

"We all have to do our part," Iris said determinedly, squashing the small jolt of fear in her stomach. "And Violet is brave and smart. She can do this."

"Should I go, then?" Anna asked, looking between them.

"Not yet," Lady Carfield said. "It would be unusual for you to leave Her Grace right after returning to the house. It might arouse Carfield's suspicion if you were to do something so out-of-character. Wait until the afternoon, when Her Grace is supposed to be out calling."

"That's wise," Iris agreed. "After all, he can't suspect that I know anything."

Still, the waiting was interminable. And every minute that Violet was alone in the house with her father was another minute that her safety was at risk. At last, Anna departed for Carfield House, and Iris and her mother sat together in the parlor, trying to talk about anything else.

When they'd run out of small talk, Lady Carfield fidgeted on the sofa, then fixed Iris with a serious expression.

"I have to ask. How did you convince your father that you'd rather trade the letter for his help than let me use it to arrest him?"

Iris bit her lip, then looked away. "I told him you knew having a murderer for a father would ruin your daughters' reputations. That you were trying to protect us. But mostly… I told him I was afraid it would implicate you in the murder. That I was protecting you. "

"And he believed that?"

"I don't know. But…" Iris looked back at her mother, and to her surprise, she realized there were tears in her eyes. "It's true, Mother. I would protect you if that's what you wanted."

Lady Carfield stood up and crossed the room to her daughter, kneeling down in front of her and taking both her hands in her own.

"You don't have to protect me, Iris," she murmured. "In fact, I should have been the one there, protecting you. I know, after everything that's happened these past few days, that forgiving me is the last thing on your mind. But I hope you know that from now on, you don't need to take care of your sisters anymore. I will do that. And you don't need to take care of yourself either."

"You'll take care of me?" Iris asked, a little taken aback.

Her mother smiled. "No, darling. Your husband will."

Iris swallowed past the lump in her throat. "If he ever forgives me," she whispered.

"He will," her mother assured her, and the conviction in her voice gave Iris just an ounce of hope. "Because he loves you."

"Not anymore."

"Yes," Lady Carfield murmured, smoothing back a curl that had fallen loose from Iris's coiffure. "He still does. How could he not? You are brave and kind. Far braver than I ever was. And I have no doubt that he will realize he's made a grave mistake and come begging for your forgiveness."

"Perhaps…"

Iris couldn't let herself get her hopes too high. She had to focus on the task at hand: making sure her sister got them the information that would lead to their father's arrest. Then, and only then, could she consider how it might allow her to win back her husband…

At last, the doorbell rang, and Iris and her mother both stood up so quickly that Iris gave herself a head rush. Moments later, the door to the parlor burst open, and Anna practically fell through it. Her cheeks were red, and her eyes were very bright.

"I've got it!" she cried, before Iris even had a chance to ask her. "Miss Violet got it!"

And then she started babbling. Something about a statue of an eagle, Violet hidden behind the curtain, and a clandestine meeting with Violet in the scullery, where she had handed over the document. Iris didn't follow all of it, but she got the gist: they had succeeded. Violet had discovered where Lord Carfield kept his safe's key, she'd stolen the key, and she'd opened the safe to find the letter inside.

And as Iris took the faded, tattered papers from her lady's maid, her heart soared with more hope than she had dared let herself feel since the moment Phineas had turned on her. Then she realized the paper was thicker than she had thought it would be. Suddenly curious, she opened it.

"Does Lord Carfield suspect anything?" Lady Carfield asked as Iris read over the contents of the papers in her hands.

"He wasn't sure what Her Grace was up to and knew she didn't have the real letter," Anna said, "but I told him I didn't know anything about it. I'm not sure he believed me, but what could he do? He needs me here to keep an eye on you. And Miss Violet said she returned to the key to its original hiding spot, with him none the wiser."

Iris looked up, her heart hammering in her chest. "Violet is brilliant!" she whispered.

Both her mother and Anna turned to look at her.

Iris could barely contain herself, and she grinned at both of them. "She didn't just get the letter and the bill of sale! She also got this—look!"

She thrust the piece of paper at her mother, and Lady Carfield bent to read it.

"What is this?" she asked, her brow furrowed. "A report on the safety of your father's mines?"

"It's proof that it didn't pass the inspections!" Iris said gleefully. "He was lying when he told Phineas and me that it did. And the papers he gave us were forged. Violet didn't just steal the documents, she actually read through them, looking for more evidence! She's… well, she's always been too smart for her own good."

"How will it help you?" her mother asked, still confused. "You'll already have him arrested."

"Yes, but this way we can also make sure the mines are shut down, not sold off to someone worse, while the legal documents go through to ensure the lands are returned to Phineas."

Iris was beaming, and briefly, she felt a deep pang in her heart that Phineas wasn't there. He would have understood her excitement at the prospect of being able to ensure the miners' safety. This document would save lives. Then, eventually, when Phineas got his land back, he could reopen the mines if he wanted to and make them safer. But in the meantime, there would be no more ten-year-old children working in them.

"Well then," Iris said, feeling a rush of pleasure at having hoodwinked her father, "I think it's time we get these to a notary as quickly as possible. I will need sworn statements from both of you saying exactly what you know. That, along with the letter and the bill of sale, should prove once and for all that Father isn't just a thief, but a murderer."

Within an hour, the three of them had arrived at the Duke of Eavestone's solicitor's office. Iris hadn't known where else to take them, as this was the only solicitor's office she had ever been to before, but she assumed it was as good as any. It took Mr. Hargrove several minutes to realize what was happening. Iris suspected that three scared and exuberant women had never burst into his office before demanding that he notarize documents of a sensitive nature.

"This looks legitimate to me," he said after she had shoved the forged bill of sale under his nose. "But you want me to notarize a statement saying it is false?"

"It is false," Lady Carfield insisted, stepping forward. "My husband had me sign it many years ago after telling me that the new Duke of Eavestone had signed it. But even then, I knew something wasn't right. If I was the witness to the sale, why was I not asked to witness the Duke's signature? It's taken me many years to realize that my husband lied to me, that the sale never went through, and that he had forged the young Duke's signature."

"That," Mr. Hargrove said, a shocked look on his face, "is a very serious accusation."

"There's more as well," Lady Carfield added. "As you will hear in my statement."

The solicitor still looked uncertain, but at last, he took out a sheaf of paper and dipped his quill in the inkpot.

"All right, My Lady, what would you like to say?"

Slowly and deliberately, Lady Carfield recited everything she had told Iris and Phineas about the bill of sale. The solicitor wrote everything down diligently. He only paused when she got to the part about finding out that her husband had paid for the Duke and Duchess of Eavestone to be murdered.

And hearing the story again, Iris couldn't blame the man for his shock. It was a chilling tale, and even she felt slightly sick to her stomach. It was unbelievable that someone could do such heinous things, but it had to be believed because it was real.

Anna was a rapt audience member as well. She gasped and cried out at all the right moments, and even Mr. Hargrove, who had surely heard many ghastly tales over the years, looked pale by the end of it.

At last, when Lady Carfield was done, she looked as if a huge weight had lifted from her shoulders. She sighed and smiled—Iris could have sworn she had lost at least five years from her face.

"I-is that everything?" Mr. Hargrove asked, looking up at her with a slightly pained expression on his face.

"That's everything," the Viscountess replied. "And we have the documents to prove it, which we would like notarized."

"Very well." He pushed the piece of parchment across the desk towards her. "The only thing left to do, then, is to sign it."

Lady Carfield picked up the quill and bent over the parchment. She was about to sign it when the solicitor cleared his throat. She looked up at him, and he reddened and fidgeted.

"There is one other thing to consider," he began slowly. "Which is that if you sign an affidavit to the effect that you signed this original bill of sale under false pretenses, then you are also making yourself liable to legal action. I'm not sure I can recommend that a woman of your position put herself in such a vulnerable position… you might be arrested for falsifying a legal document and for assisting in the theft of a serious piece of property."

Lady Carfield's eyes glittered as she stared down at him. "That is a risk I am willing to take."

"Mother—" Iris began, but her mother cut her off.

"No, Iris, this is on me to fix now," Lady Carfield insisted, shaking her head fervently. "I won't let anyone else suffer for the mistakes I made."

"Couldn't she get leniency because she is coming forward now?" Iris asked Mr. Hargrove.

"It's possible, but it will depend on the judge who hears the case."

"Mother…" Iris turned to Lady Carfield and took her hands in her own. "After all these years, I only just got you back. Violet and Rose are finally getting to know you, to spend time with you. I can't let you get arrested and taken from us again. I won't let it!"

"What good will it be to get to know you if your father remains free?" Lady Carfield whispered. She rested her forehead against Iris's. "This is how I protect the three of you, after ten years of letting you down."

"But… the letter proving he had the late Duke murdered should be evidence enough to put him away," Iris argued. "You don't need to risk your own freedom."

"If your father is arrested, his lands will pass to his heir. It will not revert to your husband. If you want to get this land back for Phineas—and prove to him once and for all that you have always been on his side—then this is the only way."

"But Phineas isn't more important to me than y?—"

"But he is," Lady Carfield murmured. She stepped back, and the look on her face was fierce. "As he should be. He has been there for you when I couldn't be. And I want you to choose him over me, Iris. He is the one who hasn't let you down."

She turned toward Mr. Hargrove and nodded. She looked so determined that Iris felt a surge of pride. Her mother, at long last, was protecting her—sacrificing herself for her. She hadn't realized how much she needed it until this moment.

"I'm ready," Lady Carfield stated. "I'm ready to sign an affidavit stating I lied on the original bill of sale."

"That," said a cold, piercing voice from behind them all, "would be a grave mistake."

Iris, Anna, and Lady Carfield all turned on the spot to see Lord Carfield standing in the doorway, a look of pure anger on his face.