“You told me they would just make her feel a little tired so she would agree to go away to the clinic.”

“Vivian, stop talking,” Celeste said.

Her voice was no longer warm or sympathetic.

It was a sharp command.

But Vivian was too far gone in her panic.

“She gave them to me!” Vivian cried, pointing at Celeste again.

“She said if I slipped them into Eleanor’s tea, Eleanor would willingly leave the estate.”

“And you did it?” Alexander asked, his voice shaking with a mixture of grief and fury.

“I only did it twice!” Vivian sobbed. “I swear, Alexander! I only put them in her cup twice.”

“But Eleanor kept getting sicker,” I said.

“Because someone else was continuing the doses,” Alexander said, his eyes turning slowly toward Celeste.

Celeste stood perfectly still by the mantelpiece.

She looked at Vivian with utter contempt.

“You always were weak, Vivian,” Celeste said softly.

Then, she looked at Alexander.

“She is a desperate woman trying to drag me down with her,” Celeste said. “You have no proof that I ever handled those substances.”