Page 108 of The Witch

“You must understand,” he says. “I could not touch you, but Molly is a servant girl. Even worse, she is heavy with my child and expected us to be wed. I could not marry a servant girl! After your death, I planned to find another young maiden more suitable to my standing.”

Archie has lain with another woman. He has slain five women. I accused Jonas of being a fiend, but it is plain that if anyone is the devil cloaked, it is the man before me.

But then Archie raises his eyes and the look on his face is accusing. “What are you doing here, Caroline? You are supposed to be in the jailhouse!”

“I broke free.”

He rises from the bed, a joyous expression on his face. Could it be that he is pleased to see me again, though he left me to hang in the courtroom?

“I did not kill Molly,” he asserts confidently. “You killed Molly. You bewitched me, and that was why I did what I did.”

“Bewitched you?” I utter in disbelief. “How could you say such a thing?”

“But ’tis the truth,” Archie insists. “I knew not what I was doing! I refused to sign your devil’s book, and so you bewitched me to make me slay this poor girl.”

“Nobody will believe those lies!” I glare at him, wondering how I could have ever cared for this man. “The townsfolk may hate witches, but you will never escape this without blame! You would be hanged right next to me.”

Archie considers this for a moment as the light from the lantern flickers, casting his face into moving shadows. Finally, he raises his light blue eyes.

“You are correct,” he says. “They will not believe it.”

My shoulders relax slightly. “I am glad you see reason.”

“In that case,” he says, “I must kill you too.”

What?

I take a step back, wishing I followed through on my first attempt to grab the coins and depart. Why did I run upstairs? I was too late to save Molly, and my moment of weakness will now cost me my own life. “Archie…”

“I am sorry, Caroline.” He takes a step toward me. To his merit, he does sound genuinely contrite. “I never wished to cause you pain. At least, not in such a manner. But this is the only way. I am sure you must see that.”

I take another step back, stumbling over a footstool, and I tumble to the ground. My clumsiness could not have occurred at a worse moment. A smile lights Archie’s face and he pounces on me. His fingers are on my neck in a flash, and although I knew he was strong, I never realized how very strong until this moment.

“Archie…” I manage.

But he is beyond listening. His grip on my throat is ironclad, and while I claw at his face to fight back, he barely seems to notice. His eyes are so intense, and I realize that the accusations are true. The devil was indeed present in our house. But it was in my husband, not me.

His hold on my throat tightens. I open my mouth to let out a scream, but it comes out as a mere squeak. I see spots dancing before my eyes. I feel my lips turning blue, like Leonora’s and those of the other girls and Molly, who is lying dead only a few feet away.

I used to believe I would die young. But after settling in Pemberton with Archie, I dared to dream that there might be more to my life. That I might travel and have babes and that I might someday grow old.

But that won’t happen now.

I will die here, in this bedroom, with the imprint of Archie’s fingers on my throat. And then when he is done, he will move my body far from here, so nobody will find out that he was the one who killed me.

80

PRESENT DAY

JULIA

I am completely frozen.

Celia just shot Mick. He’s lying on the ground, and his leg gives one last twitch and then goes still. I’m pretty sure she shot him in the chest, although it’s hard to see much. I try to aim the beam of the flashlight in his direction, but she steps in front of it.

“Don’t do anything stupid, Julia,” Celia says. “I mean it.”

I open my mouth to scream, but no sound comes out. My voice is gone. Even if I did scream, what good would it do? We’re in the middle of nowhere.