Chapter 5: What the Cousin Recorded
Agatha turned slowly.
“Lydia, put that phone away.”
Lydia came into the aisle, her cheeks bright red.
“I started recording because you were insulting Eliza,” she said.
“I thought I could send it to my friends and make them laugh.”
My name sounded strange in that room.
It was the first time anyone in Arthur’s family had spoken it without contempt.
Lydia faced me.
“I am ashamed of that.”
“Play the recording,” Arthur said.
Martin moved toward her.
“Anything recorded inside a private home may be inadmissible.”
“This is not a courtroom,” Lydia replied.
“Remember?”
She touched the screen.
Agatha’s recorded voice filled the church.
*Arthur will take the blue box because I shall tell him it is costume glass.
When Rose’s daughter wears it, I will demand it back.
If she refuses, everyone will see exactly what kind of woman she is.*
A man’s voice answered.
It was Martin.
*And if Dermot recognizes it?*
*He will keep quiet if he values our business.*
Dermot stared at Martin.
“You knew.”
Martin lifted both hands.
“That conversation has been edited.”
Lydia raised the volume.
*After the wedding is stopped, burn the blue ledger.
Rose must never learn what Edmund’s shares became.*
The recording ended.
My mother gripped the pew.
“The blue ledger still exists?”
Agatha crossed the aisle faster than anyone expected and reached for Lydia’s phone.
Lydia pulled it against her chest.
“Give it to me!”
“No.”
“You ungrateful child.”
Lydia flinched, but she did not move.
“You taught me to laugh at people who had less than us.
I did it today, and I saw what it made me.”
She turned to me.
“I am sorry about the party-store remark.
It was cruel.”
I could not answer immediately.
My throat had closed.
Lydia unlocked her phone and handed it to Deputy Harris.
“I sent the recording to myself, Arthur, and three friends before the ceremony.”
Martin stepped back.
“Agatha, I was not aware you intended to make a false allegation.”
“Do not pretend innocence now,” Rose said.
“Your voice is on that recording.”
Agatha pointed at Lydia.
“She will lose every penny of her trust.”
“I would rather lose the money than become you.”
Arthur put his arm around his cousin.
Agatha’s eyes moved between them.
“This family will collapse without me,” she said.
Dermot gave a humorless laugh.
“That is what Edmund said you believed.”
I looked at Arthur.
“Did you know there was a ledger?”
“No.”
“Did you know she had investigated me?”
His arm dropped.
“Arthur?”
He looked toward the altar.
“I knew she had asked someone about your job and your mother.”
“How long?”
“Six months.”
My fingers found my wedding ring.
“You said her remarks were harmless.”
“I thought if I ignored her, she would stop.”
“You watched me walk into this church knowing she had been searching through my life.”
“I did not know about the tiara.”
“But you knew enough to warn me they would be ugly.”
He reached for me.
I stepped back.
My mother said my name softly.
“Eliza.”
“No, Mom.
I spent two years believing I was too sensitive.
He knew I wasn’t imagining it.”
Arthur’s face crumpled.
“I was afraid that confronting her would split the family.”
“And letting her humiliate me was easier?”
“No.
It was cowardly.”
Agatha’s voice came from behind him.
“At last, one honest sentence.”
I pulled the ring from my finger and placed it in Arthur’s palm.
His hand closed around it.
“Please don’t decide today.”
“You let her make decisions for both of us for six months.”
My mother touched my shoulder, and that kindness nearly broke what was left of me.
I leaned against her and sobbed into the dress she had helped me mend.
Lydia stepped beside us.
“My car is outside.
I will take you wherever you want to go.”
Agatha turned toward the doors.
Deputy Harris blocked her path.
“Mrs.
Thorne, where is the blue ledger?”
“I have no idea.”
Her phone rang inside her handbag.
Harris looked down as the screen lit up.
“It says Thorne House Security.”
Agatha reached for it, but he was closer.
He answered and put the call on speaker.
A frightened man’s voice filled the church.
May you like
“Mrs.
Thorne, someone has entered your study—and the blue ledger is gone.”
