Suspicion

by Alexandra Monir

  “Mrs. Mulgrave was the witness,” I realize, flushed with anger. “She called the police on Sebastian.”

  Lucia nods.

  “I think she’s the one who found the polo stick, too. I watched Sebastian and Theo throw it in the lake that night, but it must have washed ashore—and whoever found it clearly planted it at Stanhope Abbey. It seems obvious who that was. Mrs. Mulgrave.”

  “Did she set the fire in my room the other night too?”

  Lucia shifts uncomfortably.

  “I saw her afterward with a matchbox. I didn’t know what she was doing with it until I heard about the fire the next day. I’m sorry.…”

  “And when you were being Maisie, how could you act like you were Lucia’s biggest fan? You clearly hated her, and for good reason.”

  Lucia smiles sadly.

  “I spoke about her as if she were me—as if I were the one studying at Oxford and dating Sebastian Stanhope and doing everything I dreamed of but she got to do instead.”

  I stare at my cousin. When we were little I always knew she was complicated, but I never could have imagined how so. I thought she was glamorous and dramatic, when in reality she was struggling with her embattled mind, a sickness that brought her to this point. And then after the fire, when I assumed she’d forgotten me, she was being held hostage by the Mulgraves all along.

  I reach across the space between us, and take Lucia’s hand. I might never be able to forgive all that she’s done … but in this moment, I choose to forgive her.

  A knock sounds at the door, and Lucia quickly turns away to wipe her eyes while I answer it. Carole stands in the doorway, her expression uneasy. For a moment I’m shocked to see her. I’ve been so immersed in my discoveries, I nearly forgot she and Keith are here.

  “Hi. How are you guys liking your room?” I grin, but she doesn’t smile back.

  “Sweetie, have you seen Zoey?”

  Something in her tone gives me pause.

  “No. I came back from my—my walk and she wasn’t here. I thought she might have been with you guys.”

  Carole wrings her hands.

  “One of the maids saw her leaving a little while ago with the housekeeper, Mrs. Mulgrave. I’m sure she was just showing Zoey around, but the trouble is, they were supposed to be back by now for dinner.”

  A cold wave of fear washes over me. But I can’t let Carole see.

  “Mrs. Mulgrave was probably just—just giving Zoey a tour of the gardens. I’ll go find them.” I force a smile onto my face. “Don’t worry.”

  I’m growing hysterical with worry as Lucia and I race outside; I curse myself for leaving Zoey alone. What was I thinking?

  Nightfall makes the Rockford grounds look even vaster and more impenetrable, and I swear loudly in frustration and fear. How am I supposed to know if she’s by the lake or the park, in one of the gardens or on the riding trail?

  The water-stone. In all my panic, I nearly forgot that I am wearing my greatest ally on my ring finger. Drawing a sharp breath, I bend down, touching the diamond icicle to the earth beneath my feet.

  “Where’s Zoey?” I whisper to the land around me.

  I feel the ground heat up beneath me, and Lucia shrieks as a path lights up in front of us. Just like in the Maze.

  “So it’s true?” Lucia cries. “You really are an Elemental?”

  Ignoring Lucia’s questions, I grab her arm and break into a run, following the lit path that leads into the gardens. Lucia and I sprint alongside each other, and for a while the only sound is our panting breaths and our shoes pounding against the dirt and gravel, until the path stops near the Shadow Garden. We turn to stare at each other, and in her eyes I see my own uncertainty reflected.

  “I—I can’t go in there,” she stammers.

  “We have to.”

  I pull her along with me, and suddenly I smell … smoke. Lucia looks at me in horror.

  Please, I pray silently. Let me have a chance to fix it this time. I can’t lose her.

  The gate is ajar. Lucia and I step inside—and I hear us both scream.

  The Shadow Garden, now a wilderness of climbing, writhing weeds, is starting to burn once again. A gasoline can lies carelessly on the ground, while a growing flame licks the fallen leaves and inches toward the two figures huddled at the other end of the garden.

  “We can go together,” I hear Mrs. Mulgrave say to Zoey, who is wearing a dress I recognize—the very dress from Lucia’s State Room portrait. “It will be so easy. We’ll be rid of them all, and with our Charles again.”

  Zoey screams as the flame multiplies in two, and I dart forward. Holding my palms above the flames, I try to concentrate, to make water with my hands even though I’m crying and sweating too hard to think—

  The water shoots from my fingers. From the corner of my eye, I can see Zoey’s body quake with shock as she watches me. Relief fills my lungs as the fire goes out—but I’m not done yet.

  Mrs. Mulgrave lunges toward me, but before she can catch me I pull two gnarled vines from the dirt and aim them in her direction. The first vine ties her arms around her back; the second ties her feet together until she can no longer move. Zoey is free from her clutches. She runs sobbing into my arms, while Mrs. Mulgrave and Lucia both gape at me in astonishment.

  “What are you?” Mrs. Mulgrave hisses.

  I ignore her question and ask my own.

  “What were you doing with my sister?”

  “That’s not—she isn’t—that’s Lucia. Those are her clothes, her necklace—” Mrs. Mulgrave blinks and her face contorts in dismay, as if she is awakening from a dream and seeing Zoey for the first time.

  “I went exploring after you left,” Zoey says through her tears. “And I found this room with a closet full of beautiful clothes—I didn’t realize—”

  “It’s okay, Zoey,” I try to assure her. “Everything’s going to be okay.”

  I squeeze her hand a little tighter, and with a deep breath, I turn back to Mrs. Mulgrave.

  “I know the truth. This whole time, you haven’t been mourning my cousin at all. It’s your own daughter, Maisie, who died. They switched places. And you helped them do it.”

  Mrs. Mulgrave recoils against the vines that bind her, staring at me in shock. Her mouth opens and closes, but no sound comes out.

  “It’s over,” Lucia calls to Mrs. Mulgrave. “She knows, and soon everyone is going to know.”

  Mrs. Mulgrave lets out a sound like a howl as she lunges toward Lucia, but the vines hold her captive. As I watch her, I see a woman whose grief turned her insane, whose distorted reality has finally caught up to her. It is a harrowing sight.

  “I’m getting Zoey out of here,” I say shakily. “I’ll deal with you later.”

  With that, I shepherd Zoey and Lucia through the gate and out of the garden.

  “Are you okay?” I ask Zoey frantically as soon as we’re breathing clean air.

  “I think so.” She clutches my shirt. “You saved my life, Imogen. How did you do that, with the water and the vines? When did you become one of the X-Men?”

  And even at a moment like this, Zoey manages to make me laugh.

  “I’ll tell you later. It’s … it’s quite a story.”

  The three of us barrel into the Marble Hall, where Oscar stands looking at us in bewilderment.

  “Zoey, there you are. Maisie, we’ve been looking for your mother. Where has she—”

  “Oscar, call the police and get security over to the Shadow Garden now,” I interrupt him.

  “The Shadow Garden?” he echoes, uncomprehendingly. “Police?”

  “Mrs. Mulgrave went crazy,” I pant. “She took Zoey to the garden and tried to set fire to the place.”

  Oscar lets out an anguished cry.

  “I’ve got to take care of Zoey. Can you get security to the Shadow Garden now?” I urge him. “And, Lu—Maisie has something she needs to say to the police too. Make sure to keep her with you until they get here.” Even though I can tell Lucia
is ready to get the burden of truth off her chest, I can’t take the chance of her disappearing before she clears Sebastian’s name.

  Oscar springs into action, pressing the security button on the Marble Hall intercom while simultaneously dialing 999 on his cell. I usher Zoey upstairs to Carole and Keith’s suite, the two of us doing our best to downplay the episode and keep her parents from a heart attack. Thankfully they seem more concerned with making sure Zoey is okay than asking questions, but I know the questions will come soon.

  In the bathroom, Carole and I help Zoey out of her scorched clothes and I breathe a huge sigh of relief when I see that she escaped the fire unscathed. Once I’m convinced she’s safe and in good hands with the Marinos, I race back down the stairs. I find Oscar and Lucia still in the Marble Hall, but they are now surrounded by two police officers. Lucia is sweating bullets, while Oscar’s Adam’s apple bobs up and down nervously.

  “Mrs. Mulgrave isn’t there,” Oscar blurts out as soon as he sees me.

  “What?” I cry.

  The shorter of the two policemen steps forward.

  “We only found residue from the fire and a can of gasoline, Your Grace, but no bodies.”

  “She got away,” I murmur. “I don’t believe it.” Did the vines come loose once I left the garden?

  Oscar turns to Lucia.

  “Maisie, I know this is a difficult position you’re in. But please, is there anything you can tell us about what happened tonight?”

  Lucia glances at me, and then at the two police officers. I give her an entreating look. Do it, Lucia. Tell the truth. Be brave. She takes a shaky breath and steps forward.

  “Yes. I do have something to say.”

  EPILOGUE

  TWO WEEKS LATER

  I lean against Sebastian, relishing the feel of his arm around mine as the nine of us sit around the fire in the State Room. The room’s been made friendlier now that Fake-Lucia’s portrait has been removed, replaced with an oil painting of Lady Beatrice that Sebastian helped me bring down from the attic.

  We’ve been in hiding ever since the story of the Real Lucia exploded across the media, unable to set foot outside the confines of Rockford grounds without a paparazzi chase or a barrage of questions from tabloid reporters: “How did you find out Lucia was really alive? How did she and the Mulgraves keep up the charade for so long? What was Sebastian Stanhope’s reaction to the news that he was dating the wrong girl? How do you FEEL about all these shocking revelations?”

  My answer to that question would probably surprise everyone, but the truth is, I feel a strange sense of relief. For the first time in seven years, my life is no longer a question; I finally know the truth. And now that we are free from the lie that permeated these past seven years, we can begin again. Even Lucia has the chance for a new start. After a DNA test proved that she is who she claimed to be and that the dead girl in the Rockford Cemetery is the blackmailing daughter of the housekeeper, the police changed their tack. The murder of Maisie Mulgrave was ruled self-defense, with Lucia charged only for the crime of cover-up. She’s been sentenced to ten years’ probation, and she is currently serving the first week of a yearlong, court-ordered mental rehab stay. I have faith that she’ll return a healthier version of herself; that this is far from the end of her story.

  The other reason I’m smiling, despite the fact that my family’s dirty laundry is splashed on the cover of every magazine in Britain? It’s the people who surround me now, my closest loved ones, all in one place as we weather the media storm together in Rockford Manor—which has never felt quite this cozy. Not knowing when I’ll be free to leave the house gave me an added excuse to send Lauren a plane ticket to come visit, and having her here now, with the Marinos and the Stanhopes, makes it feel a lot more like a vacation than a hideout.

  Lauren catches my eye now, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at me and Sebastian. I giggle into the crook of his arm. It came as a definite shock to everyone when they discovered that I have a boyfriend, and the shock was all the greater when they learned that (a) he was the original suspect in the Lucia Rockford case, and (b) he’s too handsome to be legal. But it didn’t take long for Lauren and the Marinos to see who Sebastian really is: the good guy.

  I’m not the only one giddy with relief. Lord and Lady Stanhope can’t stop thanking me over and over for uncovering the truth and proving Sebastian’s innocence, while Sebastian keeps smiling at his brother—a smile that touches my heart, because I know how much it means to him to know that Theo is innocent too. Even Carole and Keith—whom Zoey thankfully decided to spare the details of my “X-Men tendencies,” instead telling them that my “serious jujitsu skills” saved her from Mrs. Mulgrave—seem pleasantly surprised by how I’ve adjusted to my new life at Rockford Manor and how well it fits me.

  And it’s true. Despite everything that’s happened here, this is where I belong. I wouldn’t hesitate to throw away the title, the fortune, or the notoriety—after seeing what the allure of high society did to the Mulgraves, I don’t want that anymore. I’m not sure I ever wanted it. But it’s the land that I belong to, the very earth that was here long before the manor was built. I feel my connection to it every time I step into the gardens and see them thrive at my touch; I hear it in the wind as it calls my name. Rockford is my home.

  The only wrinkle now is that we still haven’t found Mrs. Mulgrave. I can’t help worrying that she’ll show up one day, unannounced and out for blood. But if she does, I’ll be ready for her. Sebastian and I are learning more about my gifts as an Elemental, and one thing is for sure: I no longer see myself as a freak, or this gift as a curse.

  It’s just like Dad once wrote, I think as Sebastian pulls me closer. There’s a big difference between perception and misconception.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Suspicion was born out of my love for the gothic suspense novels of Daphne du Maurier and the psychological-thriller films of Alfred Hitchcock. The two collaborated on a few projects, but the one that forever impacted me was Rebecca, both Du Maurier’s novel and Hitchcock’s film adaptation. I remember reading Rebecca when I was thirteen (maybe a bit too young!) and being utterly transfixed by everything from the world inside a British manor house to the chilling plot and slow burn of the mystery. Hitchcock’s film version brought the story to life in a whole new way, and from the moment I was first introduced to Rebecca, I knew I wanted to pay homage someday.

  Meanwhile, like millions of other TV viewers around the world, in the past few years I became hooked on Downton Abbey. Just like with Rebecca, I fell in love with the upstairs-downstairs world of a British estate, and I found myself intrigued by the British peerage, which Julian Fellowes so compellingly portrays in both Downton and his film Gosford Park. I found myself wondering what the status of all these earls and countesses, dukes and duchesses is today—did the titles even still exist?—so I did a little research and discovered that the British peerage is very much alive and well. In fact, pick up any issue of the popular UK magazine Tatler and you’ll notice that lords and ladies are treated with the same wide-eyed admiration and scrutiny we bestow upon our movie stars here in the United States. Reading Tatler is like entering a new world, with its entertaining cover stories like “How to Bag a Lord” and “So You Want to Be a Duchess?” as well as its expansive coverage of the lifestyles of the British peers, from the schools they attend and the sports they play to their country houses, parties, romances, and scandals. I knew this was something I had to explore: the modern-day world of young British peers. This, coupled with my idea for a suspense novel in the style of Rebecca, is what led to Suspicion.

  While studying the Vanderbilt family for my previous novels, Timeless and Timekeeper, I was fascinated by Consuelo Vanderbilt’s experience going from American heiress in New York City to becoming the Duchess of Marlborough at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. So when it came time to write Suspicion and create the fictional Rockford Manor, I knew I wanted to base the house on Blenheim. I traveled to England w
ith my mom as travel companion and photographer, and we had the most amazing time exploring Blenheim and its grounds (which include a maze!), as well as the surrounding land of Oxfordshire. If any of you reading this are planning a trip to England, my number-one recommendation is to take a day trip to Oxfordshire and visit Blenheim Palace, which is like something out of a fairy tale. Plus, you’ll get to see the basis for Rockford Manor! If England is too far, I highly recommend the book Blenheim and the Churchill Family. Written by Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, the daughter of the 11th Duke of Marlborough, the book is filled with personal anecdotes about growing up and living in the palace, as well as gorgeous photographs.

  For the best coverage on the British peerage during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, I recommend one of my favorite books ever: To Marry an English Lord by Gail MacColl and Carol McD. Wallace. This incredibly entertaining and informative book will transport you to another time and place, and you’ll have a hard time putting it down! For up-to-the-minute coverage on the current crop of British aristocrats and peers, definitely pick up Tatler. It’s been invaluable to me in learning about the life of modern-day lords and ladies for Suspicion, and I haven’t stopped reading it since finishing the book. Tatler is pure fun, and gives you entrée to a glamorous world across the pond.

  I hope you’ve enjoyed reading Suspicion as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it! This book has truly been a labor of love, a way for me to combine my passions and interests into one project, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to share it with all of you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  This book has been a joy to write and publish, and I have so many people to thank, starting with the two amazing women who have championed my career: Krista Vitola and Beverly Horowitz. I’m still pinching myself with excitement that I get to work with the two of you, and I’m beyond grateful for your continued belief in me and my work. Beverly, thank you so much for taking me under your wing and guiding me through this industry. It’s truly an honor to be one of your authors. Krista, thank you for sharing my vision for this book, and for your invaluable notes and feedback. I couldn’t ask for a better editor!