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A single black dahlia bud bloomed, unfurling before her. All she could see were the ones on Juniper’s dead body, and she didn’t want this wicked thing back inside her, so she took her knife, slicing it clean off. She expected pain to come, but it didn’t, only when she tugged on the lingering stem.
Her eyes widened, and she focused, watching as the stem slipped back inside her. She backed away from the fallen dahlia, not wanting to touch it. Clenching the knife, she sat on the bed and hoped to lure the murderer in. Then she would place the dahlia on their bleeding corpse.
A knock came at the door, and Cricket gripped the blade tighter. She hadn’t moved from the bed the entire night, hadn’t done anything but stare at the one entrance into her room and wait. Sliding from the bed, she kept her feet light as she padded toward the door. The adrenaline rushing through her veins took away any exhaustion she carried from not taking rest.
She grasped the coolness of the metal knob when a knock came again. “Cricket, I know you’re here,” a man’s voice said, deep and familiar. Bram.
With a relieved sigh, she cracked open the door, only enough for her to see that it was indeed Bram. He wore his bowler hat and long black coat, his lips set in a tight line. “How did you find me?” she asked.
“It wasn’t difficult when people saw a young woman racing through town as if lightning were on her heels. The man downstairs was happy enough to oblige your whereabouts for a few coins.”
“What a bastard,” Cricket whispered, wondering if maybe the murderer had given him payment and he’d lied about only seeing her.
“You don’t think it’s dangerous staying in this part of the city alone?”
“I do, but the murderer found me, so I might as well lure them in.”
Bram’s brows rose up his forehead. “What? Can you open the door fully and tell me what precisely happened?”
With anyone else, he would’ve already pushed the door wide. “This was waiting for me when I got back from grabbing a bite to eat,” Cricket said as she fished out the letter she’d tucked into her bag. She handed it to him without a word when he entered the room.
Bram frowned as he read over the note. “So you received another letter, and you didn’t contact anyone? You should’ve waited at the carnival instead of running to this side of the city.”
“I couldn’t. I’ve caused too much trouble already. Juniper is dead because of me—because this murderer is taunting me...” she trailed off, tears stinging her eyes.
“What’s this?” Bram asked, furrowing his brow as he picked up the dahlia on the floor that she’d cut from herself. “Was this left for you too?”
“No, it belongs to me.” Cricket sighed. She told him about her curiosity after she’d awoken, how she wasn’t allowed to perform until she’d honed it, and as she’d been trying, dahlias bloomed from her instead of roses. And then, at first, how the dahlias had almost consumed her on several occasions until Zephyr helped her. “It’s been getting better, but last night when one bloomed, all I could think about was Juniper, so I cut it from myself.”
“Anika had mentioned you were having trouble with your curiosity, yet I didn’t know it was like this.” His face softened. “You shouldn’t have to see those after what happened to you.”
“It’s another reason Mistress Eliza wouldn’t want me at the carnival now.”
Bram inspected the room as he spoke to her, seeming to search for any sign the murderer may have possibly been inside. “She didn’t mean for you to leave the carnival. People get angry and say things they shouldn’t when they are in the heat of the moment.”
Cricket couldn’t get the image of Zephyr kneeling before Juniper and peeling the dahlias from her eyes. “There was a right for her to be. For Zephyr to hate me...”
“This isn’t your fault, Cricket. As for Zephyr? He’s distraught and searching the city for you. You ran off right after his sister was murdered. How do you think he’s going to react with no one able to find you and the murderer still on the loose?”
“It’s better he doesn’t see me and then finally realizes that he should’ve been protecting his sister instead.”
Bram sighed. “Listen, you have two options here since it’s quite obvious you aren’t ready to return to the carnival. Come to my home, or I’m going to stay here. And you know if I stay here, Anika will follow, and I don’t think this is the best place for her while pregnant, do you?”
“Stop weighing on my conscience,” she snapped. “If I stay here, the killer will come back, and maybe I can catch them...”
“They knew you were at the carnival the whole time, and they were careful, letting you see only what they wanted you to see. I don’t believe they are going to walk through this door when they know you’re in here waiting for them.”
She hated to admit it, but he was most likely right. If anything, they would send a letter telling her to meet them somewhere or slink up on her from behind the way Clancy had.
“Just come to the manor for now,” he continued. “If you decide you want to go back to the carnival, I’ll take you there. But waiting around to be slaughtered isn’t the best option.”
Perhaps there was something else she could do. “I’ll come with you, but only if you let me really help. Even when the man was murdered, he was still blond and blue-eyed. So why take Juniper’s life? Why the change? Was there a note left on her body?”
Bram shook his head as he studied her. “There was no note found on her. And I’ll allow you to help more if you don’t do anything I tell you not to do.”
“Fine. And don’t tell anyone I’m staying with you, only that I’m safe. No one.” Cricket said, meaning Zephyr more than anything.
“I won’t. But I’ll admit, I think that man at the carnival needs you.”
