The Empty Grave of the Twins

Chapter 4: The Brother at the Door

Julian Blackwood looked nothing like a kidnapper.

That was what made the sight so unbearable. He stood in the doorway in a dark wool coat, face pale, hair damp from rain, looking more like a grieving uncle than the man behind a nightmare. Edward had let him carry one of the small coffins at the funeral. Clara had leaned on his arm when she could no longer stand.

Now Julian could not meet his eyes.

Edward rose slowly, placing himself between his family and the door.

"Tell me this isn't what it looks like," he said.

Julian's mouth moved, but no words came.

Mr. Voss sighed softly. "Family scenes are always inefficient."

Edward lunged at him, but two men appeared behind Julian and raised pistols. Clara pulled the twins behind her, shielding them with her body. Lily and Samuel shrank into the corner.

Julian finally spoke. "Edward, I didn't know they would take them here."

Edward stared at him. "That's your defense?"

"I was told they would be placed safely. Temporarily."

"Placed?" Clara cried. "They are our children!"

Julian flinched. "You don't understand. Father's debts didn't die with him. The estate was collapsing. Voss came with an arrangement. They needed children with Blackwood blood. I thought…" His voice broke. "I thought they would be returned once the debt was settled."

Edward almost laughed. "You sold my sons to pay a debt?"

"I saved the family."

"You buried my children alive."

Theo began to cry quietly.

Mr. Voss checked his pocket watch. "The buyer's carriage arrives in twenty minutes. This conversation is over."

The Matron appeared behind him. "The girl too."

Lily clutched Clara's skirt.

"No," Clara said, voice shaking but firm.

The Matron smiled. "You have no authority here, Mrs. Blackwood. Officially, your sons are dead. Officially, this girl does not exist. Officially, none of you are here."

That was when Samuel stepped forward.

Small, thin Samuel, who had lived too long in fear, held up a ledger nearly half his size. "Not officially."

The Matron's expression changed.

Samuel's hands trembled, but he did not lower the book. "I took it from your office. Names. Payments. Buyers. Funeral homes. Doctors. All of it."

Voss's calm vanished. "Give me that."

Samuel ran.

Chaos exploded.

Edward shoved a bed into the gunmen. Clara grabbed Lily and the twins, pushing them toward the window. Julian stood frozen until Voss shouted at him, then something in his face changed—not courage exactly, but horror at himself finally becoming visible.

He tackled one of the armed men.

"Go!" he shouted.

Edward did not forgive him.

But he used the chance.

He broke the window with the pipe and helped Clara push the children through onto the sloped roof below. Rain lashed at them as they slid down toward the garden wall. Behind them, alarms began to ring inside Saint Agnes.

Samuel appeared from a side door, still clutching the ledger. Voss followed him with a pistol.

Edward jumped down, pain shooting through his ankle, and ran toward the boy.

A gunshot cracked through the rain.

Samuel fell.

The ledger slid across the mud.

Clara screamed.

Edward reached him first. The boy was alive, bleeding from the shoulder, teeth clenched in pain.

Theo ran from Clara’s arms and grabbed the ledger before Voss could reach it.

"No!" Voss shouted.

Then police whistles sounded beyond the gate.

For one impossible second, everyone froze.

At the cemetery, before leading them here, Lily had stolen Clara’s handkerchief and tied it to the gate where the patrol road passed. She had told no one.

Now mounted officers were forcing the gates open.

Voss turned to run, but Julian grabbed him from behind.

The brothers' eyes met across the rain.

Julian shouted, "Get them out!"

Then Voss's second shot rang out.

Julian fell.

Edward caught Theo and the ledger as officers surged into the grounds.

But before Voss was seized, he looked at Clara and smiled.

"You found two," he said. "But not the third."

Clara went still.

Edward stared at him.

"The third what?"

Voss laughed through blood and rain.

"The third child from the carriage."