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As they strode in the direction of Thorndale Manor, the twitter of birds rang out from the canopies of the trees, which were flinging gold and orange leaves onto the breeze.

Athena felt Mr. Vernon’s eyes on her and when she glanced his way, he smiled, and she sensed he’d been studying her.

His expression was so unexpectedly warm and softly appraising that it caused a fluttering in her stomach.

What , she wondered, is going on with me?

She searched for something to say. “Did I hear you correctly yesterday?” Athena asked, picking up the thread of their conversation. “Did you say Mrs. Hillman suffered a stroke?”

“She did. Last year. She was treated by a doctor in York. She has suffered no lasting ill effects, thank goodness, but the doctor and I are worried about her. When she starts in about my sister, she works herself up into such a frenzy.”

“I’m so sorry about what happened to your sister.”

“As am I.” His features tensed again, and he shoved his hands into his pockets, staring at the ground as they walked.

“I take it you agree with Mrs. Hillman. That your sister was innocent?”

“I do.”

“Mrs. Lloyd said the same thing.”

“Anyone who knew my sister would have agreed.” He heaved a soft sigh. “To harm another human being, it simply wasn’t in Caroline’s nature.”

“And yet she was convicted of such a terrible crime. How?”

“The law does not always seek the truth in such matters, Miss Taylor. It just wants someone to pay.”

Athena considered what little she knew about the crime. “Mrs. Hillman said the whole neighborhood was at the garden party where Harold Sinclair died?”

“So I heard.”

“And you think someone else poisoned his drink?”

“They must have. But the evidence was stacked against my sister. Caroline was in love with another man. She was desperate to end her forced engagement to Harold Sinclair. She argued with him at that party, in view and earshot of everyone. Most damning of all, a box of the same poison that killed him was found in Caroline’s bedchamber. ”

Athena frowned. “It does sound very grim.”

“Her trial at the assizes only lasted an hour. To make things even more unfair, the victim’s brother had just become our parish constable.

She didn’t stand a chance.” He frowned. “The events that ended my poor sister’s life were also the ruin of mine, not to mention my father’s.

Our reputations were destroyed. We were shunned by society.

My father slowly drank himself to death, while gambling away our every penny.

But what happened… happened, and there’s nothing I can do about it now. ”

Athena bit her lip. “Perhaps there is.”

He looked at her. “I beg your pardon?”

“If you’re right… if your sister didn’t kill Harold Sinclair… perhaps it could be proven. And if so—”

“Do you think I didn’t try?” He cut her off, his voice heavy with frustration.

“From the moment Caroline was arrested, I did everything I could to discover the true perpetrator. My father threatened to disinherit me for looking into it—he believed Caroline had killed his friend and he couldn’t forgive her.

I investigated, anyway. I spent months questioning every member of the staff at Woodcroft House, and every villager, miner, mill worker, and farmer in the neighborhood.

Did they see or hear anything suspicious at that party, or afterwards?

Did they see anyone handle Sinclair’s drink?

Could they think of anyone who might have wished to harm Harold Sinclair? ”

“And what did you learn?”

“ Nothing . Nobody had much liked the man. Some people had wild notions about who else might have wanted him gone, but they were all nonsense that led to dead ends.” He gave a bitter laugh. “ Dead ends . An appropriate metaphor. Considering Caroline’s fate.”

Athena thought of that young woman being hanged and shuddered. “I’m so sorry,” she said again. “I’m sorry for Miss Vernon and I can’t imagine how difficult all this must have been for you. But… Mr. Vernon, I have been thinking about this and would like to share a new perspective on the matter.”

He arched a brow. “What new perspective?”

“I believe the murder of Harold Sinclair may be connected to the death of Sally Osborn.”

“Sally Osborn?” He glanced at her askance. “How on Earth did you come up with that?”

Athena told him about the inconsistencies in that young woman’s demise—Sally’s choice of shoes, her unslept-in bed, her behavior the evening before she’d died—and the fact that Sally had been working at Woodcroft House when Harold Sinclair had died.

“According to her sister, Sally was forever after a changed person. I wonder if Sally knew who really poisoned Mr. Sinclair but kept quiet all this time. Now her sister is ill. Sally may have decided to blackmail the killer and was murdered for it. If we do a little digging, we can find the truth and solve both crimes.”

They had reached the manor house by now, and they stopped by one of the back doors. He shook his head, frowning. “That is quite a theory, Miss Taylor. But I’m afraid I don’t believe a word of it.”

“Sir—”

“Sally Osborn’s death was an unfortunate accident. It has nothing to do with my sister, who paid for her ‘crime’ long ago. And I’ll thank you not to pry into it.”

“But, Mr. Vernon,” Athena tried again. “If what happened to your sister was a miscarriage of justice—”

“It was.”

“Then if we find Harold Sinclair’s true killer, it will clear your sister’s name.”

“‘We’?” He fixed Athena with his stern gaze.

“ We? ” All the good will that had begun their conversation had evaporated, leaving his voice suffused with anger.

“Miss Taylor. You are talking nonsense, and I want no part of it. It has taken me nine long years to forge a new business and attempt to rebuild my reputation. I am only just now getting my head above water. The last thing I want is to dig up that old story. I imagine that doing so would not be good for your school, either. You have far better things to do with your time. Please stay out of things that don’t concern you and give up this foolish notion. ”

With that, he headed back in the direction from which they had come.

Athena’s heart felt leaden as she entered the house. If Mr. Vernon, who had dearly loved his sister, didn’t believe Athena and didn’t want to pursue this, what hope did she have of convincing anyone else?

*

Over the next two days, whenever Athena wasn’t occupied by teaching or lesson planning, she found her mind returning to the admonitions Mr. Vernon had made.

“You are talking nonsense… The last thing I want is to dig up that old story. And I imagine that doing so would not be good for your school, either.”

Her own sister had accused Athena of “getting carried away.”

“You don’t need to solve a mystery yourself to be Diana’s equal.”

Athena didn’t feel the need to solve a mystery. This was not a competition with her older sister. She was merely reacting to things she had seen and heard, things that didn’t feel right to her. But were her ideas truly nonsense?

The question invaded her thoughts by day and caused fitful sleep at night.

Athena rose on Monday morning with a new conviction. “You have far better things to do with your time,” Mr. Vernon had said. He was right.

Although she still questioned everything that had been bothering her, she had a school to run.

She had students who depended on her to set an educational course that could perhaps affect their whole lives.

She ought to devote all her time and attention to that endeavor and stop worrying about things that, as Mr. Vernon had insisted, did not “concern her.”

This conclusion, however, was completely turned on its head later that day with the arrival of the afternoon post, when she received a letter from her sister Diana.