“No!”
Mrs. Frick’s voice, usually birdlike, resonated loudly across the room. “We cannot have that kind of scandal associated with the Frick name. My husband spent his entire life creating this bastion of art and culture, and now, a week after his death, you plan to trot this woman out in public and shame us all? My daughter’s stupidity notwithstanding, I cannot allow that.”
Mr. DeWitt blinked a couple of times and looked over at Mr. Childs for direction.
Mr. Childs nodded. “She has a point. We don’t want our name besmirched. Can it be handled quietly?”
“I don’t see how, sir,” said Mr. DeWitt. “Angelica’s been missing for almost three months now. It will make news, no matter what you do.”
“Then give us a day,” said Mrs. Frick. “We’ll leave town, go up to Eagle Rock for the rest of the month, until it all calms down.”
“What do you want me to do with her in the meantime?” said Mr. DeWitt.
Lillian hated that she was being talked about as if she were a load of laundry. “Please, I didn’t do anything.”
“You lied about your identity,” said Mr. Childs. “You obtained a position on our staff fraudulently. You interfered with the affairs of my sister. You extorted money from our father. There’s a chance you poisoned him and, afterward, stole a cameo brooch and jewel that belonged to our dear, dead sister. Need I go on?”
Lillian dropped her head, staring down at the complicated parquetry floor, a series of interlocking diamonds. “I didn’t do it,” she repeated softly.
But no one was paying attention to her anymore. Her fate had been decided.
“We’ll keep her in her room until tomorrow,” said Mr. Childs. “After we leave, Mr. DeWitt can come and take her to the police station. There will be no mention that you discovered Angelica here. Can you promise me that, Mr. DeWitt?”
“I will do my best to keep the Frick name out of the police report.”
“You will be well compensated for that, as well as for so expeditiously getting to the bottom of our troubles.”
“I didn’t do it!” protested Lillian, louder this time. “For goodness’ sake, everyone in this room had a motive to kill the man.”
The collective outcry threatened to suck all of the air out of the room.
“How dare you!” Mrs. Frick said as Miss Winnie fanned her mistress’s face with her chubby hand. Miss Helen stepped up to Lillian, paused, and then slapped her hard across the face.
Lillian didn’t flinch. She deserved that, from Miss Helen.
Miss Helen turned to the others in the room. “I’ll take her upstairs.”
“Are you sure?” said Mr. DeWitt.
“There are footmen stationed at every door,” said Mr. Childs. “No one is going anywhere. Not until I give the order.”
Mr. Childs called for the housekeeper, and she and Lillian waited, without speaking, in the main hallway until the master key to the house was delivered into Miss Helen’s hand. They took the elevator up to the third floor, and Lillian took advantage of their forced proximity to plead her case again.
“I didn’t come here on purpose. I was on the street outside and Miss Winnie assumed I was an applicant. I was so thirsty, and she offered tea, so I went along with it. It wasn’t done to trick you.”
Miss Helen stayed silent. The elevator doors opened, and they walked down the long hallway toward Lillian’s room, which would soon be her temporary jail cell.
“I was a model, and a very successful one. But it wasn’t sordid in any way. My mother was with me whenever I modeled. I became more and more popular, and then my landlord became infatuated with me, after my mother died, and tried to take advantage. He killed his wife and suddenly my name was linked with his.”
“Much like you linked yourself with Mr. Danforth.”
There was no more to be said. Lillian had been a fool in many ways, but especially to think that she could have had a long-term position by Miss Helen’s side, that they could work together to build a spectacular library of art. That this could be her profession, her life’s work.
Miss Helen opened the door to Lillian’s room and motioned for her to enter. Lillian did; then Miss Helen slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside.
Chapter Nineteen
Miss Helen would like to see you.”
The chambermaid who unlocked Lillian’s door carried a tray with a bowl of tomato soup and a cup of tea. Lillian was hungry, but she took it from the girl and laid it on her dresser, then followed her downstairs. They would grow cold, but that was the least of her worries.