For a moment, Susanna could only stare. Then: “Miss Fanny?” she gasped.The most horrible thing about the scene, Susanna thought, was that Miss Fanny looked precisely as she always did. Just as fluttering, just as dowdy. She stood outlined against the black of the window behind her, the picture of harmless spinsterhood.Then Miss Fanny smiled slowly, and a cold chill prickled across Susanna’s skin.“Ah, Miss Ward. Do, please, come in and join me.”Major Haliday was still alive; Susanna could hear the labored rasp of his breath, counterpoint to the sickening beats of her own heart. Susanna started to shake her head. Then she saw that Miss Fanny had taken something from her reticule and was aiming it at Susanna. A small, ivory-handled pistol with a double barrel. Susanna felt the blood in her veins turn to ice, but she stepped across the threshold, trying to clamp the fear inside her down. Fear and panic would do nothing, now, to keep Major Haliday—or for that matter herself—alive.Miss Fanny nodded approvingly.“Good.
