Episode 21 Finale - Manslaughter
“It wasn’t Madam Beham,” Cammie stated, brows drawn together. “She was with me all night!”
“And I was in master’s bedroom all night,” Sebastian stated.
They all gave him a questionable glance.
He just arched his brows, seeming too calm right now. “She was having a nightmare. I calmed her.”
“Did you leave the room at all last night?” Madam Beth said, eyes narrowing.
“I did once,” Sebastian stated honestly, “at about midnight. But her body is fresh, she was murdered within the last two hours. And I made it back to master’s bedroom at twelve thirty last night. I was in the rest of the time.”
“Why did you leave?” Madam Savage demanded.
He gazed over at her. “Master said to get some more information on the murder, so I was looking around for it.”
“Did you find anything?” Savage wondered then.
His lashes lowered, and he bowed his head in defeat.
He found nothing, or at least he was portraying it.
I watched him carefully, wondering why he was still so calm right now.
I mean… he always was. But when his master was in danger, he was on alert.
He had been, though. Ever since that guy showed up, the one he refused to tell me about. He looked about as alert as he was then. Maybe this was him trying to mask his fear.
“How do we know if you’re telling the truth?!” Madam Beth said then.
“He is!” Maddox butted in. “I saw him! He went into Master’s room at twelve thirty and hadn’t left since!”
“You were out all night?” Beth retorted.
“Yeah,” Sir Jeffery said then, “he, Carter, Claudia, and I were walking around and drinking. Having some boring conversations, I’m telling ya. We didn’t realize it was seven in the morning by the time we were done.”
I just pinched my brows together. “How much alcohol did you consume to lose track of time like that?”
“Lots,” Carter said then, setting his head against the wall, “living on pain killers right now with this hangover. All of us are.”
All of them nodded at once.
“And Madam Beham was with me all night,” Cammie said. “She didn’t move once!”
“I can atone to that,” Savage said then, gazing over at us. “I slept on the floor of their room to make sure Beham wouldn’t leave.”
“Deneise, Matilda, and I were together in the same room!” Cousin Kate said then, throwing her arms frantically. “Matilda and I always sleep together when we have nightmares, and Deneise heard us awake so she came in because she couldn’t sleep either!”
I just sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, breathing uneasily before gazing up. “You know who that leaves?”
I pointed straight over to two women standing at the end of the room. “Madam Beth and Lady Jamison.”
Both of their faces paled.
“I would never!” Beth stated frantically.
“Why would I kill a lowly servant?” Jamison retorted.
Sebastian just looked over at her in warning.
She shrank behind her mother then, whimpering.
“Surely you can’t think it’s us!” Beth said, shaking her head. “What use would I have for doing such a thing?”
“Everyone has motives deep inside,” I stated then, lashes lowering. “The question is if others can sense it, or if you’re very good at hiding it.”
Manipulation is a very good tactic, something that us Phantomhives have great power with.
“It wasn’t me!” Jamison said then, shaking her head. “I would never do such a thing!”
Straight out of her mother’s mouth. Wow.
Like mother, like daughter, I guess.
I sighed in annoyance.
“Here’s an idea,” Savage said then, raising a finger. “Why don’t we check the video surveillance.”
“I apologize, madam, but there is none,” Sebastian said, tone dark. “We just bought this ship two days ago and sailed out a day later. We didn’t have time to add surveillance systems.”
“How dumb are you?” Aunt Beth yelled.
I just gazed over at her. “Well, I didn’t think there would be a murder happening on my vacation. It doesn’t seem like a common occurrence among average people.”
I am not average, but still.
“So… let me get this straight,” Sir Jeffery said, putting his hands out. “Both murders were relatively similar. Both were stabbings. But everyone on this ship had an alibi for the first, except for Madam Beham, and everyone had one for the second except for Lady Jamison and Madam Beth. Ruling Madam Beham out for the second one, but also ruling Madam Beth and Madam Jamison for the first.”
“This all isn’t adding up,” Madam Savage said then, shaking her head, “what other possibilities could be out there?”
“Two separate murderers?” Sir Jeffery suggested. “It’s the only explanation.”
“Well, both murders were similar,” Deneise said then. “Stabbings! Why would a second murder copy off the first?”
“Because they work together?” Jeffery said weakly.
“Well, it would make sense, but what would they get out of it?” she continued. “It’s incredibly hard to copy the first person’s act. They had the same weapon, a knife of a certain length, and they knew to aim directly toward the middle of the heart. Why go through the trouble of replicating someone?”
“Maybe they wanted to frame someone!” Lady Jamison stated.
“But, if that was the case, then they would’ve framed the same person, not someone different. That would overcomplicate things rather than keeping it simple,” Deneise said.
“They wouldn’t be working together,” Sir Jeffery finished. “Because they would be rivals in this situation.”
“Exactly!” Deneise said then. “And what do you mean it’s the only option? The other thing we can argue is that there’s someone else on this ship. Someone that’s not us.”
Sebastian and I immediately glanced at each other before looking away.
“You could be very correct, Madam Deneise,” Sebastian said then, smiling gently. “That would make complete sense. He could be trying to frame someone and overcomplicate things. Playing with us.”
“Well… where else could he be?” Sir Jeffery said then.
“Hiding in the shadows,” Cousin Kate said, “duh.”
“What can we do?” Deneise said then, voice dark. “If he’s that good at hiding, then where would we find him?”
“We can look around for clues,” Kate stated. “Then we could find him.”
“That won’t do good,” I said then, closing my eyes.
Everyone looked over at me in question.
I just gazed up, eyes dark. “I counted each and every single person on this ship. There was only one other figure that I haven’t seen yet, but the number of people on this ship add up to when I counted.”
Their brows drew together.
“The only other people on this yacht are everyone in this room,” I said, “the deceased, and the captain as well as his assistant who are running the ship.”
“Can’t we just go to land?!” Jamison cried. “Surely the police can do something about it! Someone told the captain last night, right? To go back to shore?”
“I did. We are very far from land, I’m afraid,” Sebastian said then, voice thin. “Very far, indeed. It will take about three days to get to the nearest port.”
“Really…?” Deneise said then, brows arching. “We’ve only been gone for forty hours, and we’re three days out from land itself?”
“The murder happened last night!” Kate said then. “And another this morning! What are we going to do?”
“What if they kill the captain?” Matilda said, shaking her head. “Are we going to be stranded at sea forever?”
“That would be stupid on the murderer’s part,” I said then, sighing. “Killing their only way of escaping.”
“Master has a point,” Cammie said then. “After Sebastian looked over everyone’s credentials with master—so she could understand conversations better—no one here has experience with driving a boat. That would be a bad plan for the murderer. It’s perfect to assume the captain is safe.”
Everyone sighed in relief.
I gazed over at Sebastian then before flickering my eyes to the crowd. “We all must stay together, alright? Not one person shall be alone. Is that clear?”
All of them nodded at once.
“Beham, Jamison, Beth,” I said, looking over at them. “All of you are suspects and shall be in the same room together with Cammie. She is talented with martial arts and… other self-defense mechanisms. Maddox will be with her, too, so she is not targeted.”
“Of course, master,” he and Cammie said together.
I then looked back at the crowd. “We all must keep safe, understand?”
They all nodded at once.
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