Grayson stepped up behind Severine. “Enough of that Andre. We know what you’ve been doing.”
“I?” His laugh was mocking. “What could I have done? Why would I do away with Grandmère?”
“Do away with?” Severine stared at him, aghast. “What do you mean?”
When Andre only tutted, Severine snapped, “Clive!”
“She’s missing, Sevie.” Her cousin’s gaze was moving over her face and she could almost hear him debating whether she could have or would have hurt Grandmère. “We’ve been searching the house for her, and we can’t find her.”
Grayson stepped in front of Severine, but she side-stepped.
“And you’ve decided I did something. That for some reason, I decided to…what?” She let her gaze move from each of the men, lingering long on Clive, who flushed red.
“Your grandmother is missing,” he said, as if that were proof of her guilt.
“And you’re a lemming,” she muttered too low for anyone but Grayson to hear.
“You weren’t at lunch,” Andre said accusingly, but with a smile that said he knew she had been in his room. Poor flower, she mocked in her mind, knowing he didn’t realize she hadn’t been alone.
“You weren’t either,” Severine countered, shuddering at the memory of what she’d found in her room. “I’ve heard it twice now. Grandmère, however, was at luncheon, so why does it matter where I was?”
“She left luncheon early,” Uncle Alphonse answered, shushing his two sons, “to find you as one of the servants said you were unwell again.”
The emphasis meant something to him, Severine knew. What tales had Andre been telling? What crimes had they convicted her of while she had been doing her own detective work?
Severine had to hold back a sudden gasp. What had Grandmère found when Severine had been moving her things to her old bedroom? Had her brother returned to the bedroom, thinking to find an upset Severine and finding a horrified Grandmère instead?
If so, he must have given himself away. He’d done something to turn Grandmère’s suspicion toward him. Or more horribly, he had just seen another opportunity to trap Severine with whatever he did to Grandmère.
“This is quite a large house.” Severine kept her voice even in an illusion of calm. “Are we so sure she isn’t in a distant room or has fainted somewhere?”
“The servants checked every room, every closet.”
Severine’s gaze met her brother’s, and his smile was deliberately antagonizing. He wanted her to accuse him of what he’d done to her room. Did he think that she hadn’t been back and seen that he’d cleaned it? He must have had reason to believe that she was elsewhere.
No, she realized, he’d been ridding himself of Grandmère, hoping that in the meantime, she was elsewhere. Perhaps pouring her woes out on her guardian’s shoulder. Except…oh, oh no.
“Where is Mr. Brand?”
“Mr. Brand has an unhealthy willingness to believe you are your father reincarnate.” Andre was so certain that he was right, and that he’d caught her finally. “We don’t need him.”
“He’s her guardian,” Grayson said. “Whatever has happened, Mr. Brand is—in fact—quite necessary.”
“Keep out of this,” Andre hissed. “This is a family matter.”
Grayson started to reply, but Severine cleared her throat, and he stopped. He shot her a look which she ignored.
Severine asked Andre, “What is your goal here, Andre?”
“To find Grandmère and get you the help you need.” He tried to sound as though he cared.
“What have you done with Mr. Brand?” And Lisette would have been with him. Severine’s stomach dropped. Andre would see no reason to keep Lisette alive, but accusing him of murder outright would surely backfire.
Andre shook his head and countered, “What have you done with Grandmère, Sevie? Maybe she upset you like your father used to upset Mama. You can tell us, Sevie. We want to help. Maybe you had a fit like Mama used to have. Do you remember those, Sevie? Remember how Mama would rage? She’d fly at your father and he’d have to confine her to her room? It’s not your fault if you struggle as Mama struggled.”
Severine blinked only once as she processed her brother’s intentions. He was far more like her mother than Severine ever had been. Andre, like their mother, believed what he wanted to believe. Severine had once watched her father get his mother’s compliance by asking her to do the opposite.
“Have you dreamed up a world where I get put into an asylum and you get control of the money?” She laughed lightly, a pretty lie of a noise that surprised even herself, since she was inwardly sinking in despair. “Do you think Mr. Brand hasn’t known you were intending something? Do you think he doesn’t have a plan in place? He told me just today that you were pursuing becoming my guardian.”
“I should be your guardian,” Andre shouted. “I should have always been your guardian. Some poor nobody to take care of my sister? It has always been unacceptable.”
Her laugh was mean, just the way Father's was when Andre asked for something or bragged about a feat that Father thought was worthless. Andre heard her father in her voice, as she’d intended, and he flushed in fury. His hands clenched into claws, and Grayson put his hand on her shoulder in warning.
Andre slowly sheathed his fury at Grayson’s move, and Severine wanted to snap at the man. Chivalry had no place here when she was trying to drive her brother past his control to madness. She needed him to reveal himself.
“Why don’t we find Mr. Brand, locate Mrs. Charpentier, and move from there,” Grayson suggested calmly. Severine noticed he’d left out Lisette. Was it intentional or had he simply forgotten about her? “It’s madness to assume that because Miss DuNoir wasn’t at lunch that she attacked a woman who isn’t present.”
“But we can’t find her,” Erik said stupidly.
“That only means that we can’t find her,” Grayson said calmly. “There’s absolutely no evidence that Miss DuNoir did anything to her grandmother.”
“They were fighting,” Andre said, furiously.
“Her mother was known to have
