TLMS 13

Chapter 13

Since the pond wasn’t directly beneath the building’s window, it didn’t seem likely that Anne would fall straight into it if she dropped from the window. However, if she had fallen from the fourth floor, rolled across the ground, and then reached the pond, it wasn’t impossible.

A human body has considerable weight, so even from a fourth-floor height, it wouldn’t bounce like a ball. But that day, heavy rain had been pouring down, and the ground near the pond sloped slightly. If she had been unlucky, she could have fallen from the window and rolled down into the pond.

There were no bloodstains on the ground beneath the window, but given the torrential rain, any traces would have been washed away. Anne’s body was found at the edge of the pond on the west side, where her room was located. Also, since the cause of death was determined to be drowning, it meant she had still been alive immediately after falling from the window. Perhaps she struggled on the ground before ending up in the water.

Regarding the injuries found on Anne’s body, the police initially considered the possibility that an intruder had entered her room and attacked her.

However, as mentioned earlier, her injuries were consistent with those sustained from falling from a height and rolling. They were not the result of violence inflicted by another person, and there were no signs that Anne had resisted anyone.

Above all, it would have been difficult for an outsider to freely enter either the west or east wing. There were too many watchful eyes among the Flannigan family and their staff.

(Additionally, the autopsy revealed that Anne was not pregnant. It was clear that what she had said the previous day was a lie meant to threaten her family.)

There was also the issue of the key found with Anne’s body.

Her room door had been locked, and unless someone passed through Jane’s room—whose balcony was connected—there was no way to enter Anne’s room. It also seemed unlikely that someone had climbed up the outer wall to the fourth floor in the middle of a stormy night.

If the key had been found outside the door, one might suspect that someone entered, killed Anne, and locked the door upon leaving. However, the key was found neatly inside the pocket of Anne’s nightgown.

Except for the connection to Jane’s room, Anne’s room was essentially a classic “locked room” scenario often seen in mystery novels.

But Jane testified that neither she nor anyone else had opened her window that night. Moreover, she had no reason to kill her sister. The two were close, and they hadn’t even argued recently. After the death of their youngest sister, Aileen, the remaining three sisters had grown even closer.

Even if Jane had tried to kill Anne, it would not have been easy.

Each balcony had railings that reached chest height. Naturally, they were solidly built from iron to prevent people from falling. Even if Anne had been drunk, it would have been difficult for Jane, who was physically weaker, to lift her high enough to push her over the railing.

In fact, the height of the railing made even an accidental fall questionable. It was simply too high for someone to fall over by mistake.

In the end, based on Anne’s heavy intoxication, her conflict with her family over marriage, her depression following Aileen’s death, the locked room with no signs of intrusion, and other factors, the police concluded it was a suicide.

However, the Flannigan family feared that news of a suicide would disgrace their name, so they announced it as an accidental fall. It goes without saying that they strictly silenced the servants during this process.

When chaos erupted throughout the Flannigan mansion following Anne’s death, I too was in a state of confusion, as I was employed there as a maid.

Like everyone else, I gave a statement to the police about where I had been and what I had been doing at the time of Anne’s death.

I told them that I had been asleep in my room, that I hadn’t seen or heard anything suspicious, and that as a newly hired junior maid, I knew nothing about the inner workings of the household. There wasn’t a single lie in my statement.

In truth, the police had already assumed from the beginning that it was either suicide or an accident, so the investigation into the servants’ alibis was merely procedural. The influence of the Flannigan family, who wanted to avoid scandal, likely played a role as well.

As a result, the conclusion of suicide was reached quickly, and the police withdrew. The family began discussing Anne’s funeral arrangements.

Meanwhile, I had been unable to clean the library on the second floor of the east wing due to the commotion inside and outside the mansion. Hardly anyone in the family read books anyway, so the library was rarely used.

Still, I couldn’t neglect my duties entirely, so I took a duster and cloth and went into the library.

“Hm?”

As soon as I opened the door, I saw something lying on the floor. I walked closer.

It was a picture frame. One of the framed paintings of Lady Alice Norma that had been hanging on the wall had fallen and was lying on the floor.

“Looks like the nail came loose.”

Thinking that, I approached the wall where the painting had originally hung. I pulled over a chair, climbed up, and examined the spot.

I expected to see an empty hole where the nail had fallen out, but the nail was still firmly embedded in the wall. When I tugged on it, it didn’t budge.

“Then why did the frame fall?”

I stepped down and picked up the frame. Turning it over, I saw the painting inside.

A young girl approaching a man on horseback as if flirting, and another scene of a girl upside down, submerged in water.

<The lewd Alice who flirted with a man is plunged headfirst into the water.>

The painting itself was undamaged, but the frame had broken from the fall, so I reported it to Mrs. Pierce, the head maid.

She was already on edge because of Anne’s death and snapped at me, blaming me for not cleaning the library properly.

“This is a valuable painting passed down from previous generations. At least the painting itself wasn’t damaged.”

As soon as she left, Amy, who had been eavesdropping nearby, approached me.

“Valuable painting? More like it’d be better if things like that didn’t exist.”

She pouted in the direction Mrs. Pierce had gone.

“Every time I see those paintings, I can’t believe it. They’re all about women being punished for trying to do anything. And they were painted by a woman too. No matter how old-fashioned she was, how could she paint something like that?”

She casually asked which painting had fallen.

“Wait… the one with Alice in the water?”

Amy suddenly turned pale.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well… hearing about water just reminds me of Miss Anne. Ah!”

She suddenly grabbed my arm tightly.

“Ellie, don’t you see?”

“See what?”

“Miss Aileen—the bookshelf where she hanged herself! The painting above it!”

I answered without understanding her fear.

“<The pretentious Alice is struck by books thrown by people.>, that one.”

“Ah!”

Amy gasped and covered her mouth.

“Why are you acting like that?”

“A curse… maybe it really is a curse…!”

“Amy, get a hold of yourself!”

I shook her shoulders.

“What are you talking about?”

“Ellie, don’t you get it?”

She shouted, trembling.

“Miss Anne said she would marry someone her family didn’t approve of—and she died by drowning! That’s exactly like the painting of Alice flirting with a man and ending up in the water! And that painting had fallen!

Miss Aileen went to university against her family’s wishes. When she died, there was a pile of books beneath her! That matches the painting of Alice being hit with books!”

“…Oh.”

Only then did I feel something was strange. But a curse? That was ridiculous.

“Amy, calm down. It’s strange, sure—but it’s just a coincidence. Bad things have been happening, so it just feels that way.”

I tried to reassure her, but Amy couldn’t keep quiet.

Before the afternoon was even over, rumors spread among the servants that “Miss Anne may have died because of a curse.”

Mrs. Pierce warned everyone not to indulge in nonsense, but the rumors only grew.

No one had thought to connect Aileen’s death with the paintings before.

But after Anne’s sudden death, and the discovery of a painting depicting a similar situation lying on the floor, it no longer seemed like a coincidence.

If there was a connection between Anne’s death and the painting, then surely there must also be one between Aileen’s death and another painting.

It might have been entertaining as gossip, but for the Flannigan family, it was a nightmare. They valued reputation above all. If rumors spread that the women of the family had been punished by their ancestor for shameful behavior, it would be unbearable.

But soon, silencing the servants wasn’t enough.

Even Melissa Norma, the matriarch of the family, began loudly proclaiming it.

“It’s the curse of great-grandmother Alice!”

Though she was over seventy, Melissa was still strong and loud enough for her voice to echo down the halls.

“The girls failed to behave properly, so great-grandmother Alice herself appeared and punished them just as shown in the paintings!”

No one could openly silence her, so everyone struggled to calm her down.

But with even the matriarch spreading such claims, the atmosphere among the servants grew even more ominous.

Though both Aileen and Anne appeared to have died by suicide, people began to believe they had actually been cursed.

“And from now on, any woman who brings shame to the family will be cursed the same way! And the painting from the library will fall beside them as a warning!”

Even Amy and Carol, who once dismissed ghosts, now spoke of such things seriously.

But I thought differently.

‘There’s no such thing as ghosts. The paintings are just coincidences.’

Aileen, found hanged in the library.

Anne, found drowned.

When others called Aileen’s death a suicide, I had doubted it.

And now Anne’s death felt just as suspicious.

‘Those two… did they really both take their own lives?’