“Severine is not her mother.” Grayson cleared his throat before eyeing each of the others. “Rages could be caused by many things. Too much alcohol. A morphine or opium habit. Deep provocation.”
“Stay out of this, Thorne,” Andre warned.
“Your problem, Charpentier, is that you expect to tell these fellows your facts and they’ll believe you, but as for me, I happen to know that Severine and Mr. Brand were together during luncheon discussing her future and that he stayed with her until I joined them, after which I joined Miss DuNoir in walking her dogs.”
“What now?” Clive asked.
“Miss DuNoir has an alibi for her grandmother,” Grayson said, “given that I saw Mrs. Charpentier and then saw Miss DuNoir. You’ve been misled.”
A tense shock filled the air with worry showing in Clive’s and Erik’s faces.
“Sevie,” Clive said, striving for charm and failing. “Sevie, we were just so worried.”
Severine continued to speak calmly, as though she wasn’t offended to the core by her uncle and cousins turning against her so easily. “Of course you were. Are. Let’s find Grandmère and Mr. Brand”—and Lisette, she added silently, praying the girl was still alive—“and we’ll move from there.”
Andre eyed Grayson with a fierce dislike that promised retribution. Severine, however, eyed her cousins with a forgiving lie of an expression, so they’d be on her side rather than Andre’s. It would be better for them if they knew their allowances were at risk even if she had no intention of stripping income from anyone.
“Sevie, you’re with me,” Andre said, “we’ll search the house again in pairs.”
Severine simply said, “No.”
“She’ll stay with me,” Grayson said.
“I’ll go with you, Andre,” Uncle Alphonse said with an expression that proclaimed suspicion.
“Sevie,” Clive tried, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you; perhaps we could search for your grandmother together?”
Severine wasn’t that kind, nor did she trust Clive. She smiled gently and patted him on the arm. “I think I had better stay with Mr. Thorne. Are the servants still searching?”
“We’re to meet back at the great hall at 5:00 p.m. and ring the dinner gong if we find her,” Uncle Alphonse told them. “The servants are looking. Everything else is on hold until we find her.”
“Of course,” Severine stated. She let Grayson pull her away from the rest. She ordered Anubis to heel and as soon as they were out of sight, Severine said, “Anubis can help. I need something of Lisette’s.” She paused. “Do you think he killed her?”
Grayson looked away. “I don’t know.” He gathered himself. “We also need to find your Mr. Brand and grandmother, and have Oliver keep an eye on Florette.”
Severine nodded.
“Your brother is mad, Severine. I can’t even follow why he thought he could just declare it was you and expect everyone to follow in line.”
“My mother was like that,” Severine said, rubbing her brow in a failed attempt to dissipate her headache. “My mother would just declare something. It could be factually wrong with the proof in front of her face, and she’d still insist upon what she wanted to be true.”
Grayson huffed. “But how did she get away with that?”
“She was terrible if she didn’t get what she wanted,” Severine told him flatly. “The decision always had to be whether you wanted to deal with the aftermath or just ignore her nonsense. I had forgotten until today how Andre would try the same thing. Father never let Andre get away with the same nonsense, but Mother did. Grandmère did too. He probably thinks this will work because it has worked in the past. And he’s spent much more time with my family than I have. If they do see me as my mother’s daughter, especially with the rumors going around, it might have worked.”
Grayson scoffed at the idea, but Severine shook her head. Andre was spoiled and inherently mean. Her father had once told her that Andre didn’t understand that he wasn’t the center of everything and that for some people, he was simply a fellow who didn’t matter to them personally.
“Severine,” Grayson started to say carefully, but before he could finish his thought Anubis growled darkly.
They both spun to see where Anubis was staring and there was nothing there.
Grayson frowned. “He seems better trained than that.”
“Something is amiss,” Severine replied. “Anubis, punkt.”
A moment later her large dog moved towards a wall and snuffed along it before barking at a closed door. Severine opened the door and Anubis rushed across the floor and lifted his paw towards the far corner of the room.
Chapter Seventeen
“What is on the other side of this room?” Grayson asked.
Severine shook her head. This old place was a maze and she could barely find her way to a few of the rooms without backtracking. They rushed out of the small parlor and examined the room next door. Nothing.
They turned a corner and found an old office for the estate manager, but it was simply an empty room covered in sheets.
“The dog’s gone mad,” Grayson muttered.
“No,” Severine defended. “Lisette said that Anubis was the same way in my room last night. He’s smelling something in the walls. Let’s find something from Lisette for Anubis to sniff and try again.”
Grayson hesitated. “I fear we cannot be in accord if we don’t tell Oliver what is happening and ensure he stays with your cousin. I wouldn’t put it past Charpentier to turn to Florette instead.”
Severine wanted to argue but he was right. They needed to unify themselves and protect one another. Severine nodded and took Anubis’s collar, commanding the puppies to heel, though Severine left them on their leads. She could just imagine her brother trying something with her dogs. She would keep them with her every moment until this was over.
“All right, then?” Grayson asked after she declined his offer to take the dog leads.
They tried to find their way back to the main halls and ended up confused once again. Finally, they
