Page 136 of All I Want for Christmas

‘Emme?’ He frowned. ‘Not that I’ve ever heard.’

‘Is there a family history of it?’

‘No.’

‘Okay,’ she murmured, trying to appear unaffected by his replies.

‘Why?’

‘Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing,’ she demurred, wishing he had answered in the affirmative. A small silence bloomed between them. In spite of their best efforts to keep things personal, they were back to business again.

‘Evidently it’s not nothing, or you wouldn’t have asked.’ He came and stood in front of her. ‘I’ve answered your questions; it’s only fair you answer mine.’

She looked back at him. Was she talking to her lover, Lilja’s descendant, now – or to her professional adversary? The boundary kept shifting.

‘Lilja’s son, her first child, had severe epilepsy. The family doctor prescribed regular dosages of bromide until his death at seven months.’

‘Okay.’ His eyes narrowed, waiting for the next part. ‘So...?’

‘So, a household ledger shows some more was bought again a few weeks before Lilja died. That coincides with just after Emme’s birth, so I wondered if it was for her...But you say she didn’t have epilepsy, so...’

She felt the gears shift in her brain. Facts levering into position.

‘...It must have been for someone else?’ he shrugged.

She nodded, but turned away, her mind already beginning to race again. For need of something to do, she crouched down at the side of the portrait; tiny, hair-thin wires had been inserted between the back of theHer Childrencanvas and the portrait, keeping them fractionally apart where extrication had been achieved. But she didn’t see them. Her thoughts were caught on the bill for the bromide, and something Aksel had told her.

In the context of what she now suspected about the Madsen marriage, there was another possible application for the bromide: had Lilja drugged her husband’s tea when he went to stay at Hornbaek? It was one way she could have kept him away from her, even if – for appearance’s sake – they had shared a bed. She wouldn’t have been able to fend off a full-grown man – Lilja had been slight and certainly weakened after the birth – but if he was rendered impotent...? Threat neutralized.

Had it worked? One time? Every time? If they hadn’t been intimate – quite possibly ever since the attack at the party: his relocation to London and her severe depression must have thwarted numerous opportunities – then they alone would have known the baby wasn’t his.

Casper would have known he had been cuckolded. Had he also discovered what she was doing to him?

One marriage. Two births. Three deaths...What had happened at Solvtraeer that the two of them should have ended up dead within days of one another? Because everything told her it wasn’t a broken heart Casper had died from.

‘Darcy?’

She realized he had been talking to her; said something she had missed. ‘What?’

‘You’re very distracted.’

‘Sorry.’ She blinked, running a hand through her hair, feeling her heart pound.

He watched her closely. ‘What’s going on? Talk to me.’

‘No, I...I shouldn’t say...at least until I’ve spoken to Otto.’ She reached for his hand. ‘I’m still working through theories, that’s all.’

He made a small groan. ‘Fine. I’m not keen for a repeat of the other night.’

‘No,’ she agreed. Neither one of them wanted to go back there. It had been a catastrophic end to what had been a perfect weekend and she hated that it sat like an inkblot on their fresh, clean sheet together.

But...The other night. Darcy frowned at the words, falling very still as she realized she had overlooked something conspicuous in the car the other night, in the dark.

She looked at him, her conscience urging her to speak, her heart telling her to stay quiet...

His eyes narrowed, seeing the conflict running over her face. ‘Darcy— What?’

‘...Why were you so challenged in the car, when I suggested Lilja’s death might not have been suicide?’

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