The Fourth Mistress

Louise sat on the couch with a shocked expression on her face. She couldn't believe what Lady Viola just said to her. Her hands had turned cold, and her face pale. The way Reed's family had killed Emily was a cold-blooded murder. 

"You could have handed her to the officers," Louise stared at the older woman. "They would have dealt with her in a much more proper way."

"And make more news about our family in a bad light?" questioned Lady Viola, her eyes holding the same serious look that she had before. "Emily was the reason and cause for so many misfortunes. We never did anything to her or her family. You weren't there when Nancy and Johanna or Lisa died. The way people speculated things about our family, it felt as if Emily was trying to frame us for the crimes while keeping her hands clean. Not for a single moment she thought about those three women she killed nor us. All she wanted was to be Graham's wife."

"That doesn't justify your actions, Lady Viola," said Louise, her eyebrows deeply furrowed. "You took the law in your hand. You got someone killed, and that makes you no less guilty than a murderer."

Lady Viola let out an exasperated sigh, "At that time, we did what we thought was right. We were shocked and angry. Maybe in your eyes, we are murderers, but if you aren't aware Emily was a liar, a murderer and a person who was ready to manipulate others. The tears that spilt from her eyes that day were because Graham didn't return her feelings and not because she was guilty for killing them."

Hearing the story from Lady Viola's perspective was something Louise hadn't expected. Both of them had killed coldly. One wrong on another didn't make it right, but it continued to remain as a wrong. 

"This is why Elias was buried under the ground," Louise whispered, and she looked at her mother-in-law. "He was the one to put her in there and execute the murder. Emily did the same thing he did to her, and she buried him alive," it finally made sense. 

When Louise stood up from the couch, Lady Viola asked, "You are angry at our actions."

Louise pursed her lips before she shook her head, "No, I am not angry. I am disappointed with what happened in the past. For doing things the same way Emily did." But the worst part was that she had never imagined Graham to be involved in someone's murder. 

"Do you think she would have stopped from not harming others?" Lady Viola's eyes narrowed. "I remember a saying. Beware of the quiet ones, because most of the time they are the ones you need to fear."

Louise walked towards the fireplace and then walked towards the window. She saw the branches of the trees moving because of the high wind. She had always stood for truth, believing things to be either right or wrong. But what now? Knowing the family, she had married into were the culprits of murder, including the man she had been falling in love with.

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"Until now, I didn't remember the things that had been erased from our memories, and now that I do, I believe history would have repeated itself if Emily would have turned to be your personal maid, but you broke the cycle," said Lady Viola. 

It was true, thought Louise to herself. 

Even though Emily was around the place whenever something strange happened, Louise had never doubted her, even for a second. She remembered when the chandelier had fallen from the ceiling in the hall and the way the maid had shrieked in fear and acted as if she was hurt. 

Louise didn't understand if Emily had made a move to mislead her or hurt Gilbert because he had been digging and pushing the mud in the forest's ground. 

"I have studied cases, plenty of them that were related to people murdering another person. But the things you people did, it doesn't fix anything. It makes things worse," Louise continued to stare outside the window and watch the dark sky. "You people wanted to silence her, but now she is silencing every one of you, one by one for what you did to her."

"It isn't like we didn't worry or think about it. I do agree that we all acted in haste, in hate, anger, pain and so much more pain," the older woman frowned as if remembering that day. "It wasn't just about reputation." 

"How did Graham agree to it? To comply with the idea of killing Emily? To turn into a murderer with the rest of you," questioned Louise. Somewhere in her stomach, she felt sick while she tried to keep her mind calm. 

Lady Viola replied, "I don't think he realized it, until a few hours had passed."

"What do you mean by that?" 

"I believe after he came to know the truth about his deceased wives, he was in a state of shock. None of us stayed behind for the pit to fill itself with mud, and we left to go return to the manor," explained Lady Viola. "It took a lot of convincing for Robert to stop Graham, when guilt started to pile up in his chest. None of us are born to be a murderer, Louise. We only do things to protect our own. Sometimes it can be your feelings, your things, or people."

Lady Viola made her dress proper, her hand removing the wrinkle on her dress. She then said, "Nancy and Johanna were my selection for my son to be his wives. You can somewhere tell that I pushed him into it. Graham is a person whom I brought up with righteousness. A good son, a good grandson, a good brother, and a good husband. Nancy and Johanna weren't too far apart when it came to their nature. While Nancy was subtle with her remarks, Johanna was slightly loose with her character."

"I thought you knew the women you chose for Graham," remarked Louise. 

The older woman's jaw clenched at Louise's remark as if her mistake was being pointed at. 

"Yes, I came to realize that people are not who they seem to be. My decision and judgement of selecting brides for my son was wrong," Louise could see that Lady Viola was finding it hard to accept the mistakes she had committed because she took quite some time to bring those words out of her mouth. "As the first two marriages were the ones where I forced him, I guess he wasn't able to build an attachment with them, not to mention, initially their deaths were thought to be natural death. But it wasn't the same for Lisa."

"I saw the newspaper that had the picture of her in the attic," replied Louise, but Lady Viola shook her head. 

"The picture that has been captured in the newspaper doesn't do justice to the horror that we all witnessed that day when Lisa died. There was too much blood," said Lady Viola. "Emily had made everyone believe that Lisa had turned crazy, while she behaved to be Lisa's friend. Sometimes, it is the betrayal of a person whom you trusted more, that hurts the most. None of us ever imagined that Emily was the one to kill her. I have seen my son breakdown during that time, while the maid continued to behave as if the death's had nothing to do with her."

The room turned quiet, and Louise looked away from Lady Viola. 

After hearing this, Louise questioned Graham's grief, wondering if she would ever be able to do something like that for someone? Would she kill someone for taking away her loved one? As much as she liked to say no, Louise also knew that only when the situation arose would the truth of yes or no matter. 

Lisa had been deceived and killed by the person whom she thought to be her friend. A person couldn't die that easily with such a small fall, and Emily, who was nearby, must have made sure to kill Lisa. Louise's hands clenched together, wondering how painful it must have been for Graham to learn that his beloved wife had been killed without any mercy, and hearing about it must have clouded his judgement.

"And the fourth casket, what was that about? You must remember everything now, right?" asked Louise, wanting to know every single detail.

"I do," replied Lady Viola. She looked down at her wrinkled hand that was on her lap. 

"When we returned to the manor, the servants were fast asleep in their quarters. None of us could sleep. Alison and Henry were away from the manor that time," explained Lady Viola, a sigh escaping from her lips. "Before dawn broke, Graham wanted to get back to the forest to get Emily's body out and inform the officers about it."

"But none of you went to jail," commented Louise, her gaze fixed on the woman, and Lady Viola nodded her head. 

"We aren't. We had to stop him and we had a lot of discussions. And then, though I did not like the idea, Graham proposed that we bury her in the casket. So we decided that we would dig her out of the garden when the night would fall again and put her in the coffin," Lady Viola said this while having a distant look as if she was trying to remember that day. "A few days before this incident took place, we had received the letter from the authority, seeking permission to shift the casket for the deceased family members from Warlington's cemetery. They had sent the names to be added, so along with the three signatures for the previous three daughter-in-laws, I signed another sheet for Emily. This way when the fourth casket would be sent, it would be ready to be buried."

"I don't think I remember the cemetery having a fourth family member. The caretaker there never mentioned anything about it," said Louise. 

"That is because we never got the opportunity to dig out the body from the forest ground," a grim expression appeared on Lady Viola's face. 

It took Louise a few seconds to realize what Lady Viola meant. She said, "You forgot about her… about what you did." The phenomenon must have taken effect right away before morning or noon, thought Louise in her mind.