Miss Pendleton (Update to C.222 END) - Chapter 198

It was the fifth day since Henry, covered in blood, had been brought to Dunville Park.

During this time, Olivia had been closely watching her brother Henry’s bedroom. It was the first time such a dramatic situation had unfolded at Dunville Park since those two fools, Daniel and George, set fire to an abandoned cabin in the Dunville Park woods, turning the nearby forest into a sea of flames.

Physicians and inspectors had been coming and going from the house almost daily. Olivia, who loved dramatic situations more than anyone, couldn’t possibly stay primly in her room like a proper lady when such thrilling events were happening in the house.

Olivia had peeked through the crack in the door, watching as her brother Henry screamed while having his torn forehead stitched and his broken ribs set. She also eavesdropped from behind the door when the inspector and a sketch artist visited, asking Henry to assist with the investigation, only to see him clamp his mouth shut and remain silent.

And so, she began to wonder. Why was her brother Henry not cooperating with the investigation at all?

Thus began the deductions of our Miss Holmes, young Olivia. In between piano lessons and painting classes, she would spread out the newspapers her father had finished reading and left scattered on the sofa, scanning the society pages filled with incidents and accidents. She also secretly listened to the whispers and rumors among the servants.

She didn’t miss the sound of sobbing coming from Henry’s room when he was alone with the nurse.

Based on the information she gathered, she managed to come up with a few plausible theories. And, like any fifteen-year-old girl drawn to the sensational, her mind completely leaned toward the most horrifying deduction of all.

“That’s it!”

She immediately crossed over to her mother’s room. Mrs. Fairfax was wrapped in a fox-fur shawl, warming herself by the fireplace.

“Mother, Mother.”

“What is it, Olivia?”

Mrs. Fairfax responded in a tone that suggested, unless it was something significant, Olivia should just leave.

Lately, she had been noticeably more subdued. She was more lethargic than usual and had developed headaches she never had before. It was only natural, given that her own child had been beaten nearly to death by robbers.

Olivia, fidgeting with her fingers, spoke up.

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