Chapter Seven #3
“That’s the first time anyone’s said that to me,” Copper said with a sly grin. He tightened his grip on her waist. “Yet I have to agree with her. I wish he would leave.”
“So you saw the things he published about Earnest and the accident?” Grace ventured.
“Except he claimed it wasn’t one, didn’t he?
” Copper rolled his eyes as they whirled around the room.
There were glassmakers next to the bar, dipping crystal into ruby-red glass to form a thin layer on top, then scraping it off in delicate designs.
Guests were lining up to request personalized images and initials.
The enormous, brilliant cut-glass punch bowl at the room’s center refracted light in endless crystal patterns.
“Do you think it was… sabotage?” Grace asked. “Did someone really want to hurt Earnest?”
Copper’s expression darkened. “People are never more driven than when the future’s at stake.”
Grace eyed the crystal staining red, like blood. “The fair will bring out the best and the worst in people, then.”
“Earnest will be all right,” Copper said firmly.
“His ego and dreams were bruised more than his body, and he won’t stop.
I know, because I’ve been in the trenches with him.
At school. In the crew boat. On his flying machine.
” He shook his head. “No, Earnest will be just fine. This was just a setback.”
“His tenacity is admirable,” she said.
She turned and startled at the sight of the woman Theo had followed on to the Ferris wheel. She was very good at blending in. Her dress was plain, but she must have means if she was there that night. She was standing innocuously beside Frannie, who was sulking in the corner.
Heart pumping, Grace searched for Theo in the crowd. He was speaking to a man in tails, sipping his drink. When he looked up, she subtly nodded toward the mysterious woman.
His eyes widened.
“Thank you for the dance,” Grace said to Copper abruptly.
Copper understood the dismissal. “It was my pleasure. Enjoy the night, Miss Covington.”
She caught Theodore’s eye again and gestured toward the bar. He extricated himself from his conversation and sauntered toward her.
“Trouble in paradise?” he drawled. They looked to the dance floor, where Oliver and Harriet were dancing, and Harriet’s face was flushed, her striking eyebrows drawn together in a frown.
They appeared to be arguing, and quite publicly, at that.
“They seem to enjoy dancing as much as I do,” he added, and she smelled the cinnamon and woodsmoke.
“He was planning to propose,” Grace said. It felt like a relief, to share the burden of that secret. She fought a sudden desire to take his arm.
“Hopefully he didn’t,” Theo said. “Or else we’re witnessing an unpleasant aftermath.”
Grace didn’t want to admit that she was the cause of their argument. Instead, she lowered her voice. “Why is that strange woman here? Is she following us? It can’t be a coincidence.”
Theo sipped his drink. “No,” he agreed. “Certainly not.”
“Perhaps you should ask her to dance?”
He shot her a dirty look.
“She won’t be able to resist your legendary charm.”
“I think you’re more like your cousin Oliver than you realize,” Theodore retorted. “Somehow I’ve been relegated to do both of your bidding.”
“Don’t be silly. I’m much handsomer than my cousin Oliver,” she said.
“At last, we’ve found something to agree on,” he said in a low voice. He took a slow sip of his drink, his eyes glittering.
Her blood heated.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” she said quickly, “I have an appointment,” and disappeared into the ladies’ room.
She entered the sitting area, which had been decorated with sprays of white orchids and wallpaper patterned with birds.
“Lillie!” Grace exclaimed. Earnest had done his part to pass on the message.
Lillie stood to embrace her. “My mother told me you’d gone home early! I was devastated when I thought you’d left. And now part of me wants to throttle you and Oliver,” she said, her cheeks flushing. “You knew about Harriet. How could you have kept it a secret from me?”
“I’m sorry, Lillie,” Grace said, her frustration surging. “But you aren’t telling Oliver important things either. You’ve both put me in the middle. And frankly, I’ve grown tired of it.”
Lillie looked exasperated. “But I thought you’d choose me. Even over him. I thought we told each other everything.” She gritted her teeth, her earrings dangling. “At least I did.”
“I do tell you everything,” Grace said. “This wasn’t my secret to tell.”
“Still. I’d do anything for either one of you. It hurts that you both kept it from me.”
“I begged him to tell you.”
Lillie opened the door and Grace followed her back out to the party.
Oliver was standing at the bar, holding one of the glasses that had been flashed ruby red. He gave it to Harriet.
Her face was still drawn, but she offered him a pinched smile, and they toasted.
Then Harriet knocked back the entire drink in one go. She grimaced.
“Is this your Dubonnet?” she asked. “It tastes more awful than usual.”
“She’s going to have to work on that if she wants to be a Carter,” Lillie said darkly.
“Oliver looks miserable,” Grace said. “This whole thing could be over just as quickly as it began.”
“Well, good! You and I have looked forward to this week for so long and Oliver’s made a right mess of everything.
I came home last night and you were gone.
It felt so awful, to see your room empty.
And Mother is watching me like a hawk now.
I think she’s catching on about the Dispensary, and I’m going to have to be doubly careful—”
There was a loud noise behind them, an unnatural sound. Grace jumped. It had been glass, shattering. The orchestra stopped playing.
And then someone screamed.
They turned and saw Harriet fall to the floor.
She was frothing at the mouth.
“Help!” Oliver yelled. He bent over, and when he looked up again, his face was gray. “Help!”
Lillie gathered her dress in her hand and sprinted toward them.
Harriet was seizing on the floor, and Grace’s head started to cloud with panic. The red glass was in shrapnel across the dance floor, glittering like rubies.
“What’s happening?” Earnest asked, appearing at Grace’s side. He looked horrified.
“Someone do something!” Frannie cried.
“Is there a doctor here?” Copper asked.
“I can help,” a gentleman said. He swiftly parted the crowd and knelt beside Lillie. Lillie checked for a pulse in Harriet’s wrist and neck, and the gentleman began to move Harriet from lying face up to her side, then back again, putting pressure on her thorax to resuscitate her.
A circle was forming around Harriet and a woman in a ball gown collapsed onto her knees, crying. Grace watched in terror. She’d never been any good in an emergency. She could feel the panic clouding her thoughts, darkening the corners of her vision.
“What’s happened?” Ethel asked, coming to stand beside Grace. “Who is that?”
Grace couldn’t speak. She could only see the hem of Harriet’s gown from this angle, through the legs of the crowd.
“Someone fetch an ambulance!”
There was an eerie silence, save for the sound of the woman softly sobbing.
“Harriet,” Oliver said. He stroked the end of her hair. “Harriet, it’s all right. I’m right here.”
Lillie stood up. She turned to Oliver, swaying.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, her voice catching. “She’s dead.”