Darling Belle

Eight

'How... have you figured this out, Cherie?'

Cherie's lips twitched. 'Did I make you feel stupid? Don't worry, I... I don't know if I should tell you.'

'Please.'

'Look, I'm sorry for trying to frame you in the beginning. I was being childish. And I'm sorry that my foolish father has dragged you into all of this.

She took a breath. 'The truth is that he's hiding things from you, I'm sure you could've pieced that together. But I'm sick of this, I'm sick of lying and pretending everything's okay. I don't want to see any of our classmates die again.'

Maisie listened intently, tuning out the horrendous tunes in the background. 'Forgiven, now, just tell me everything you know.'

Cherie took in a deep breath. 'In the early 1940s, the Duval Academy used to be a mental hospital. And as you can imagine, it wasn't a helpful place. It was pure chaos. I mean physical and verbal abuse shared by both the nurses and patients. Failed lobotomies, and other damaging treatments.

There was this lady, her name was Holly and she'd poke out other patients eyes while they were asleep after getting a lobotomy. That's all she was capable of. But that's not even the worse case, it was just overall horrific.

This one particular man, Saul Silverwood, he'd done something unforgivable. He'd started off with a fire...'

'Then a murder,' Maisie finished.

'Murders,' corrected Cherie. 'Six of them.'

Cherie continued. 'It goes decapitation, cannibalism, poison, hangman, crucifixion, then lastly, drowning.'

'But drowning seems...'

'Out of place? Less extreme? It doesn't seem like the grand finale, does it?'

Did he not plan the murders?

'Not at all. So, is Saul back? That's who's behind it all?'

'God, no. Saul's been dead. Even if he was alive, he'd be too ancient to navigate the school grounds so meticulously and to kill undetected. He disappeared before he was convicted. They found his remains weeks later after a letter had showed up from Saul himself, a hand-sketched map, and it was confirmed that he'd been buried alive. No idea who helped him to do it. Or if it even was planned, there were theories that perhaps an angry family member or sick patient knocked him out and buried him alive out of rage. For the sake of revenge. Yet the letter was in Saul's handwriting, so probably not.'

But if Saul was dead, who was behind all of this?

'A fan,' Cherie answered the question she hadn't asked aloud. 'Someone's recreating it. They've probably been planning this for years.'

They'd set the stage and chose their actors to play dead. But for Maisie, not only was she chosen to play the lead role, she was also apart of the audience. Perhaps even a muse. Why was every murder somehow connected to her? She was in this position for a reason, that much she'd surmised. Bram was found dead at the lake she'd almost drowned in, she'd been talking to Jude one moment then he was dead the next. It was insanity, was she a bad omen?

'And your father knows this? Why doesn't he shut down the school for good until it's all figured out?'

She hesitated, before speaking,' 'That won't stop them. And he's greedy.' Which is all she said. There's more to the story, there always is. But clearly, it wasn't relevant to the murder mystery aspect, and for that, Cherie said no more.

Greedy?

Maisie wanted to press her for more concrete and less riddling answers. But the look in Duval's eyes silenced her.