The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

‘You’re going to stay by my side today,’ she whispers to the terrified maid. ‘I’ll see no harm comes to you.’

They stumble off through the trees, leaving me alone in the forest. Tipping my head to the sky, I suck in cold air, hoping the rain on my face will cool my frustration. I came here to prevent somebody attacking Evelyn, believing I’d unearth a murderer in the process. Instead, I caused the very thing I was trying to stop. I’m chasing my own tail, terrifying an innocent woman in the process. Maybe Daniel was right, maybe the future isn’t a promise we can break.

‘You’re dawdling again,’ says the Plague Doctor from behind me.

He’s standing on the far side of the clearing, little more than a shadow. As always, he seems to have picked the perfect position. Far enough away that I can’t possibly reach him, but close enough that we can talk with relative ease.

‘I thought I was helping,’ I say bitterly, still stung by what happened.

‘You still can,’ he says. ‘Sebastian Bell is lost in the woods.’

Of course. I’m not here for Evelyn, I’m here for Bell. I’m here to make sure the loop begins again. Fate’s leading me around by the nose.

Removing the compass from my pocket, I hold it in the palm of my hand, remembering the uncertainty I felt as I followed its quivering needle that first morning. Without this, Bell will almost certainly remain lost.

I toss it into the mud at the Plague Doctor’s feet.

‘This is how I change things,’ I say, walking away. ‘Fetch him yourself.’

‘You misunderstand my purpose here,’ he says, the sharpness of his tone bringing me up short. ‘If you leave Sebastian Bell to wander that forest alone, he’ll never meet Evelyn Hardcastle, he’ll never form the friendship you prize so highly. Abandon him and you won’t care about saving her.’

‘Are you saying I’ll forget her?’ I ask, alarmed.

‘I’m saying you should be careful which knots you unpick,’ he says. ‘If you abandon Bell, you’ll also be abandoning Evelyn. It will be cruelty without purpose, and nothing I’ve seen of you so far suggests you’re a cruel man.’

Perhaps I imagine it, but for the first time there’s a touch of warmth in his tone. It’s enough to unbalance me, and I turn to face him once more.

‘I need to see this day changed,’ I say, hearing the desperation in my voice. ‘I need to see that it can be done.’

‘Your frustration is understandable, but what use is rearranging the furniture if you burn the house down doing it?’

Bending over, he retrieves the compass from the ground, wiping the mud from its surface with his fingers. The way he groans, and the heaviness of his limbs as he rises, suggests an older man beneath the costume. Satisfied with his work, he tosses the compass to me, the damn thing nearly slipping from my hands, so wet is its surface.

‘Take this, and solve Evelyn’s murder.’

‘She committed suicide, I watched her with my own eyes.’

‘If you think it’s that simple, you’re much further behind than I thought.’

‘And you’re much crueller than I thought,’ I growl. ‘If you know what’s happening here, why not stop it? Why play these games? Hang the murderer before he harms her.’

‘An interesting idea, except I don’t know who the murderer is.’

‘How is that possible?’ I say, incredulously. ‘You know every step I’m going to take before I think to take it. How could you be blind to the most important fact in this house?’

‘Because it’s not my place to know. I watch you, and you watch Evelyn Hardcastle. We both have our roles to play.’

‘Then I could blame anybody for the crime,’ I cry, throwing my hands in the air. ‘Helena Hardcastle did it. There, you see! Free me!’

‘You forget that I need proof. Not merely your good word.’

‘And what if I save her, what then?’

‘I don’t think it’s possible, and I think you’ll hamper your investigation trying, but my offer stands regardless. Evelyn was murdered last night and every night prior. Even if you could save her tonight, it doesn’t change that. Bring me the name of the person who kills, or is planning to kill, Evelyn Hardcastle, and I’ll free you.’

For the second time since arriving in Blackheath, I find myself holding a compass and contemplating the instructions of somebody I can’t trust. To do as the Plague Doctor asks is to give myself to a day determined to kill Evelyn, but there seems no way to change things without making them worse. Assuming he’s telling the truth, I either save my first host, or I abandon Evelyn.

‘You doubt my intentions?’ he says, prickling at my hesitation.

‘Of course I doubt your intentions,’ I say. ‘You wear a mask and you talk in riddles, and I don’t for a minute believe you brought me here just to solve a mystery. You’re hiding something.’