“Good heavens,” she exclaimed. “How clever.”
“And Sharpe was sitting right next to Mrs. Gittings,” Sarah reminded them. “So he really believed you’d contacted his dead wife?”
“Oh, yes, he was very pleased. He said it was not right that I had to sell my talents, though. He thought I should be free to help anyone who came to me.”
“And he offered to set you up in a house of your own,” Sarah recalled.
“What did he want in return?” Malloy asked suspiciously.
“Nothing,” Serafina assured him. “Except…”
Malloy brightened, expecting the worst. “Except what?”
“He wanted me to… to test my powers,” she admitted reluctantly.
“What does that mean?” Sarah asked.
“I am not sure, but Mrs. Gittings would never allow it.”
“There are people who make it their business to show up people who are frauds,” Malloy said. “They go to a seance and expose the tricks.”
“No, that is not what he wanted to do,” Serafina explained quickly. “He wanted to bring in some people who would ask me questions to prove my powers are real.”
“Or that they weren’t,” Malloy offered.
“My powers are real!” Serafina insisted. “Mr. Sharpe said that when they proved me, I would be famous. I was willing, but Mrs. Gittings refused.”
“Why not?” Malloy asked, not bothering to hide his skep ticism. “If you could prove you were real, a lot more people would pay to see you. Wouldn’t Mrs. Gittings like that?”
Serafina turned the full force of her disdain on him. “If I got famous, I could leave her. She knew Mr. Sharpe had already made me an offer. Others would, too.”
Unless they proved she had no powers at all, Sarah thought, which was more likely what Mrs. Gittings feared.
“Did Sharpe ask you to leave Mrs. Gittings?” Malloy asked.
“Not at first,” Serafina said. “He did not know she was my manager, so he offered to be my sponsor. He said he would pay for everything so I would not have to take money for my readings anymore. I did not know what to say, so I told him I could not accept. He would not stop asking, though, so Mrs. Gittings had to tell him the truth.”
“Were you there when she did?” Sarah asked.
“No, but Mr. Sharpe was not pleased. As I said, he is used to getting what he wants, and Mrs. Gittings was not kind to him. I think she was very happy to tell him about her power over me.”
“Did he give up then?” Malloy asked.
Serafina’s lovely face hardened. “No, he did not. He tried to convince me to leave Mrs. Gittings. I told him I could not, but I could not tell him why, not the real reason, so he would not stop asking me.”
“What was the real reason?” Mrs. Decker asked.
Serafina smiled sadly. “I am sure Mr. Sharpe would not allow Nicola to live with me in the house he was paying for.”
“He must have wondered what kind of a hold Mrs. Gittings had over you,” Sarah mused. “And why it was so strong.”
“And maybe he thought if Mrs. Gittings was dead, she’d be free of it,” Malloy added.
“I never thought of that,” Serafina marveled.
“Mr. Sharpe seemed like such a gentleman,” Mrs. Decker observed. “I just can’t see him… Well, I must admit I can’t imagine
Serafina’s fine eyes glowed with suppressed fury. “That is because you did not know her.”
Sarah saw Malloy looking at Serafina in a completely new way.
“Did you want to kill her?” he asked casually.
“Yes, I did,” she admitted guilelessly, “but I was too afraid.” She lifted a hand to her throat. “I do not want to hang.”
“Murderers don’t hang anymore,” Malloy said mildly. “They go to the electric chair.”
All three women gasped. Sarah could have cheerfully smacked him, but he didn’t seem concerned. He was too busy studying Serafina’s reaction.
The blood seemed to have drained from her face. “What does this electric chair do?” she asked in a whisper.
“It kills,” Sarah snapped, silently warning Malloy not to offer any details. “It’s supposed to be more humane than hanging.”
“What does that mean?” Serafina asked in alarm.
Sarah searched for a word. “It’s kinder,” she tried, although she knew she was misleading the poor girl. She had no illusions that the electric chair was any kinder a way to die than hanging.
“But you’re still dead,” Malloy said.
“Which is why,” Mrs. Decker said, jumping in with a reproving glare for Malloy, “you need to tell us everything you can to help us find the real killer, my dear.”
“Yes,” Sarah said quickly. “Who’s left?”
“Mr. Cunningham,” Mrs. Decker said when Serafina seemed still too stunned to respond.
“He was sitting too far away from Mrs. Gittings,” Mrs. Decker said. “He was between me and Serafina, completely on the other side of the table.”
“Did he ever let go of your hand?” Malloy asked her.
“Actually, I was holding his wrist and no, I didn’t… Oh, wait.”
“What is it, Mother?” Sarah asked when her mother hesitated.
“I just remembered, he did… or rather I did, let go, I mean. When Madame Serafina got up to turn out the light. He started coughing. He said excuse me or something, and he withdrew his hand so he could get out a handkerchief.”
“Oh, yes, I remember,” Serafina said. “He coughed into it.”
“Yes, and he was still coughing when you closed the door and the room went dark. I heard you sit down, and he was still coughing, but then he stopped, and he must have put his handkerchief away, and I felt his wrist brush my hand and I took hold of it.”
“Did you have one of your hands free that day?” Malloy asked Serafina.
“No, not that day. I… I was supposed to, but I knew I would be leaving that night, so I was not afraid of what Mrs. Gittings would say if everything did not go the way she wanted.”
“But you said Mr. Cunningham knew the trick of how to keep one hand free,” Sarah remembered.
“Yes, he did.”
“What good would that do him, though?” Mrs. Decker asked. “Even if he had one hand free, he would have had to reach around me and Mr. Sharpe both to stab Mrs. Gittings. He couldn’t possibly have done that.”
“So each of you had hold of his hands-or at least of one of them-when Mrs. Gittings was killed,” Malloy asked Serafina and Mrs. Decker.
“Yes,” they both agreed.
“And since he couldn’t have reached her from where he was sitting, and he couldn’t have gotten up without one of them knowing it, he couldn’t have killed her,” Sarah determined.
“Did he have any reason to want to?” Malloy asked Serafina. “You claimed yesterday that they all did, so what was his reason?”
“He… he wanted me to…” Serafina could not make herself say the words.
“He’s in love with her,” Mrs. Decker said for her. “Couldn’t you see it yesterday?”
“Yes, I could,” Malloy confirmed. “Did he want to marry you, Serafina?”
“No, of course not,” she snapped angrily. “He could not marry a girl like me. He wanted me for his mistress.”
“Did he actually make you that offer?” Mrs. Decker asked in outrage.
“No, but… Mrs. Gittings told me. She said he offered her money to let me go, but it was not enough,” she added bitterly.
