That’s all.”
For a moment, I could not breathe.
My own brother had confessed before realizing what he was saying.
I stared at him.
“You did this?”
He shook his head frantically.
“I didn’t know it would hurt him so badly.”
My father seized the jar.
“Put that filthy thing away!”
I snatched it back.
“Who told you to do it?”
Merrick swallowed.
“Rosie, listen—”
“Who?”
He lowered his eyes.
“Harlan Vane.”
My father slammed his palm against the table.
“Shut your mouth, boy!”
But Merrick had already begun talking.
Vane had promised to erase part of his gambling debt.
Dr.
Pryce supplied the leeches and the sleeping medicine.
Merrick knew Gideon could not hear him approaching.
He had entered the cabin through a loose pantry latch while Gideon slept beside the hearth.
The first attempt had failed.
The second had not.
He had returned on the eighth night to check whether his work had produced the expected results.
I felt the room sway.
Eight days earlier, Merrick had laughed while our father handed me over to Gideon.
Now I understood why he had been so cheerful.
“You stood at my wedding,” I whispered.
My brother began crying.
It was a sound I had heard before, usually after he lost money or embarrassed himself in a saloon.
But this time I felt no impulse to comfort him.
“You knew what they were planning.”
“Not everything!”
“Then tell me everything you know.”
He opened his mouth.
Silas struck him across the face.
The blow was sudden and sharp.
Merrick stumbled against the stove.
I stepped between them.
“Don’t touch him again.”
My father stared at me as though I were a stranger.
Then he said something I would remember for the rest of my life.
“I didn’t sell you to Rook because he wanted you, girl.
