Page 31 of When You're Forgotten
Marianne turned, eyes brimming with resentment.“James left me half the house upon his death in his will.Catherine had the other half.We were discussing options, that’s all.I wasn’t about to finalize anything without consulting you and the rest.But I can’t ignore the monstrous upkeep costs.This place is a fortress.”
Finn spoke up, trying to maintain calm in the face of Richard’s rising temper.“So Catherine and Marianne jointly owned the estate after James passed.Richard, you inherited nothing from your parents’ wills?”
Richard stood abruptly, voice choked with frustration.“Yes, nothing!They all thought I was irresponsible with money, James included.He and Catherine locked me out.And now—Catherine’s death changes everything.”He paused, glancing at Marianne as though wanting to fight on, but Jenna tugged at his sleeve, urging him to sit.He dropped back into the chair, seething.
Fin tapped a pen against the tabletop.“In a practical sense, who inherits Catherine’s share now?”
Richard paled, color draining from his cheeks.He slumped, shoulders sagging.“She told me once, long ago, that she had changed her will.Should anything happen to her… her share would pass to me.She said she felt guilty that I got nothing from our parents.”
A charged silence filled the kitchen.Finn cast a sidelong glance at Amelia, noting how her lips pressed in a thin line, the same conclusion forming: Richard stood to gain from Catherine’s death.Whether or not he was responsible, it presented a motive as glaring as a searchlight.
Donald, returning from the stove with a tray of steaming mugs, paused awkwardly.He set the cocoa-laden tray on the counter, making no move to pour.“Here we are,” he said.“Sorry.”Then he retreated a few steps, looking discomfited.
Richard swallowed, tears glinting anew.“I would never… She was my sister,” he murmured defensively.“This house or no house, I— I’d never want her gone.”Then, as though the emotional toll broke him, he pressed his palms to his eyes, suppressing sobs.
Jenna wrapped an arm around him.“We know,” she whispered, voice tight.“We know.”
Finn was about to speak when a figure appeared in the doorway—Inspector Thomas Lloyd.He wore the same tweed jacket as before, shoulders tense.“Finn, Amelia.”He gave them a curt nod, then focused on the others in the room.“We’ve taken Catherine’s body away,” he announced gently, though his words resonated with finality.
Richard crumpled, burying his face into Jenna’s shoulder as heartbreak poured out.Marianne turned away, gripping the edge of the counter top for support, eyes shut in despair.Silence fell, broken only by Richard’s muffled sobs.
Amelia rose, guiding Thomas away from the table toward the corridor.Finn followed, glancing back once to see Marianne kneading her brow as she stared at her half-full mug of cocoa with unseeing eyes.For a few moments, the trio—Finn, Amelia, and Lloyd—stood in the hallway, close enough to hear the quiet weeping but giving the Penroses space.
Lloyd sighed, crossing his arms.“This is worse than I feared.First James, now Catherine.The entire family is under siege.But by who?”
Amelia nodded, her brow furrowed.“Are you done with the initial scene examination?”
He gave a sharp bob of his head.“For now, yes.My officers will remain on site, but we can’t do much else until we get more forensic results.I’m recommending the family vacate the premises.It’s not safe here.”
Finn let out a sigh.“I doubt Marianne or Richard will agree to that.They keep insisting Brynmor Hall is their home, that they won’t be driven off.The children, at least, will go away for a bit, but I don’t see Marianne leaving.Not with the ghost rumors, not with the legacy.”
Inspector Lloyd rubbed his temples as if staving off a headache.“Well, it’s their risk, I suppose.I hope they realize caution might save their lives.”Then he lowered his voice.“What about Catherine’s body?The forensics team gave me a few preliminary remarks.”
Amelia’s eyes sharpened.“Anything we should know?”
Lloyd’s expression darkened.“They said there’s no obvious wound, no bruising consistent with strangulation or a blow.She was found with that letter opener clutched in her hand, but there’s no sign of actual stab wounds.It’s eerily reminiscent of James—dying, seemingly, from shock or fear.Another Penrose apparently succumbing to ‘fright’ in the dark corners of this house.”
Finn grimaced, memory flashing to Catherine’s rigid posture, wide-eyed and cold.“So, basically, no direct cause besides a plausible ‘heart stopping’?Another difficult-to-prove homicide if it is one.”
“It’s possible she had the same heart condition as James,” Amelia offered.“If it’s congenital.”
Lloyd shrugged, frustration evident in the tense lines around his mouth.“We’ll keep investigating.But it looks more and more like this could be the same pattern James exhibited—fear-induced cardiac arrest, or something that left no physical trace.”
Amelia tapped the side of her notebook.“Which means we’ve got to figure out who or what is terrifying them to death, if that’s indeed the method.”
Finn let out a slow breath, recalling Hobbs’s stories of Wilkie Penrose’s odd demise in the cellar years back.Another Penrose found with no outward injury, only an expression of frozen horror.If a pattern truly existed, it spanned nearly a decade or more of uncanny tragedies.“We’ll do everything we can, Inspector.”
“Good,” Lloyd replied.“My men are outside, but we’ll keep a perimeter watch.Meanwhile, I strongly advise you to push them to leave or, at least, keep everyone in locked rooms for the night.If a murderer’s prowling, or if some intangible phenomenon is at play, nobody should wander about alone.”
Finn felt a pang of weary determination.“We’ll talk to them.Thank you.The day’s been… quite a shock for all.”He rubbed the tension in his neck, hearing Richard’s muffled sobs from the kitchen behind them.He pictured Marianne’s pale face, Jenna’s tears, and the stoic hush from Mrs Hughes.The entire household quivered under fear and heartbreak.
Amelia mustered a tight nod.“We appreciate your help, Inspector.Let’s keep each other updated, yeah?”
Lloyd inclined his head, the overhead corridor lamp casting sharp lines across his features.“Of course.I’ll be here a while longer, then I’ll leave a couple of uniforms.If anything else happens, you call me immediately.”
And with that, he turned and walked away, footsteps fading toward the foyer.Finn exhaled, shoulders heavy from the day’s emotional toll.The corridor felt eerily silent again, the hush broken only by faint voices from the kitchen and a distant shuffle of movement from the direction of the house’s side wings.
Amelia touched his arm softly.“Two siblings dead, a possible masked intruder, and a swirling rumor about ghosts.I’d say Brynmor Hall’s being unsafe is an understatement,” she said bleakly.
