“Why secretly?”
“Marcus said medical study was unsuitable.”
Caleb’s mouth hardened.
Beatrice continued.
“My mother encouraged me before she died.”
“How did she die?”
The question landed.
Beatrice’s eyes moved toward the fire.
“Stomach illness.”
Caleb went completely still.
“How long?”
“Six months.”
“Same symptoms?”
Beatrice swallowed.
“I didn’t understand them then.”
Caleb stood.
The chair nearly fell.
“Marcus poisoned your mother.”
“I don’t know.”
“You just—”
“I said the symptoms were similar.”
“Beatrice.”
“Similar is not proof.”
He paced once.
“How long did you know someone was poisoning you?”
“I suspected in April.”
“It’s August.”
“Yes.”
“Why stay?”
“I needed proof.”
“You could have left.”
“To where?”
Caleb stopped.
That silenced him.
Beatrice looked at her hands.
“I had no money Marcus didn’t know about.”
“What about the mine?”
“Not mine to control yet.”
“Friends?”
A sad smile.
“Which friends?”
Caleb immediately regretted the question.
Beatrice continued before he could apologize.
“I started avoiding the soup.”
“What happened?”
“The symptoms improved.”
“Then?”
“Dr. Vale gave me a tonic.”
Caleb’s face hardened again.
“Did you take it?”
“Once.”
“Metallic?”
“Yes.”
“God.”
“I poured the rest behind the smokehouse.”
Caleb gripped the back of his chair.
“And Vale?”
“He asked why I wasn’t finishing the bottle.”
“That’s enough.”
“No.”
“What?”
“That is suspicious.”
“Suspicious?”
Beatrice met his anger with calm.
“Yes.”
“You almost died.”
“Which is why we need facts.”
Caleb stared at her.
“You sound like a lawyer again.”
“Better than sounding dead.”
He almost laughed.
Could not.
“What made you agree to Marcus’s plan?”
“He suggested you in June.”
“Why me?”
“Debt.”
Caleb flinched.
“Isolation.”
Another hit.
“The rumor that you couldn’t have children.”
His jaw tightened.
Beatrice continued carefully.
“He said no one would wonder if you took a wife into the mountains and kept her away from town.”
Caleb understood something terrible.
“And if you died here?”
Beatrice looked at him.
“People would blame you.”
Silence.
Caleb stepped backward.
His face changed.
Not anger now.
Horror.
“He didn’t give you to me.”
“No.”
“He placed you where your death would become my crime.”
“That is what I believe.”
Caleb sat slowly.
The debt note seemed to burn inside his coat.
Beatrice continued.
“I agreed because remaining under Marcus’s roof was becoming more dangerous.”
“You used the marriage to escape.”
“Yes.”
Caleb looked toward her.
“Do you regret it?”
She thought.
“Ask me after more than two days.”
Despite everything, his mouth twitched.
Then he became serious again.
“Why tell me?”