“What, dear?” my uncle asked.
She pointed at the picture of Ellis. “You’re wrong.”
“About what?” I asked.
“The girl.” The maid pulled her blanket tighter over her shoulders. She visibly shivered, although the night was hot and sticky. She was shivering at the memory of what she witnessed . . . at the killers.
The killers, who I knew personally.
The maid cleared her throat. “The girl is not innocent.” My breath became trapped in my lungs. Her blue eyes met mine. “She was the one who led them.” Her face drained of color. “The things she did . . .” She tapped her head. “She is insane. They both are. He is dark.” She choked on a sob. “He wanted to kill me. She spared me . . .” She shook her head, eyes closed. When they reopened, she said, “He does not control her. She is as much to blame for these murders as he is. More, in fact.”
“Ellis wouldn’t do this,” I argued, imploring my uncle to understand. “It will be Heathan. He will have brainwashed her, somehow.”
“Those weren’t their names,” the maid cut in. I stared at her. “They were called Dolly and Rabbit. I heard that loud and clear.” She pointed at the twin men on the floor. Men I had also known when growing up. “They called them Tweedledum and Tweedledee. You know, the characters from—”
“Alice in Wonderland,” I finished and closed my eyes, inhaling deeply through my nose. When I opened them again, my uncle was watching me. He wore a questioning expression on his face. “When we were kids . . . Ellis loved that book. She . . .” I imagined her blue dress. Glancing down at the drawing, I saw she wore one similar to the one she’d had as a child. But this one was more provocative. Much more revealing. I breathed deeply. “She used to pretend she lived in Wonderland.” A memory from our youth came back to me. “She christened Heathan James ‘Rabbit.’ She claimed he was the White Rabbit from Wonderland, come to take her on an adventure.”
“And?” my uncle said.
I fixed my Stetson. “She said I wasn’t one of them. That I was too clean-cut. Not ‘insane enough.’ That was when I lost her to him.”
I could still remember every part of that day . . .
“You can’t be the Mad Hatter, Eddie. It just doesn’t suit. You don’t belong in Wonderland . . .”
I looked over at the table. “A tea party.” I shook my head. “Ellis always loved tea parties.” I realized everyone was looking at me strangely. I hit the sketch. “This is all Heathan. He’ll be the mastermind behind this. He always was too smart for his own good. Manipulative. A true Machiavellian. Ellis was bewitched from the minute she met him. He had the ability to bend her to his every whim. She hung on his every word.” I clenched my jaw. “This is him. He came to get her, to rope her into this murder spree.”
“Son. I know you’ve always had a soft spot for this girl, but maybe you didn’t know her so well after all.”
“I did!” I argued. “She isn’t capable of this—”
“She’s evil,” the maid asserted, interrupting me. Her face was stone. “That girl is evil. Pretty, disgusting, a demon.” She shuddered. “She laughed as she killed. She welcomed their blood on her flesh.” The maid sat down, overcome by the memory. “That girl is made by the devil . . . they both are.”
My uncle pulled me away. “What do we know about this Heathan James?”
“All I know is that his mama dropped him off to live with his papa at the Earnshaw estate when he was nine.” I cupped the nape of my neck. I was getting a headache. “She said he scared her. She couldn’t be tracked down after that. When his papa died in an accident on the estate, Ellis’s papa took him in.”
My uncle’s face was impassive. “Then maybe we need to find Mrs. James and ask her a few questions.”
I nodded. Just as my uncle went to move away, I said, “There are two more left.” I picked up the playing card that had been put in an evidence bag. “There’s her ‘Uncle John’ and her papa.” I blew out a breath. “And we have no idea where either of them are. But they have to be going for them next. They are systematically eliminating anyone who lived on the estate.” I added a fact I didn’t want to face. “And the kills are getting more gruesome. Emotion is playing a part. And by the way their killing is escalating in its intensity, the worst is yet to come.”
“We have everyone we can muster tracking them down. But one thing intrigues me,” my uncle said. “Why would such formidable businessmen seemingly go into hiding?” He stepped closer and lowered his voice. “Right about the time they were accused of abusing a child.” His eyebrow rose. “We must not rule out any possibility.”