A distracted Lizzy rushed to meet Georgiana and Kitty as they reached the house.

"Good God girls, where have you been? We have been beside ourselves. You cannot just rush off in the midst of all of this. There could be a murderer wandering the grounds!" She took hold of Kitty, who was nearest to her, and shook her shoulders with some violence, before bending her head in despair and whispering softly, "I cannot understand what is happening to us. Who could wish poor Alice ill? I cannot believe it."

Kitty wrapped her arms around her elder sister and held her while she collected herself. Lizzy finally lifted her head and aimed a travesty of a smile at the two young women beside her, "Stay indoors and stay together. We are all to remain confined within until the search of the grounds has been completed." Regaining some of her usual poise, she motioned for them to follow her and spoke to them over her shoulder,

"Lydia is still not fully awake, although she regained consciousness for a time when we first brought her inside, she seems to be slipping in and out of rational thought for the moment. The physician should be here soon. I think that it must be a good sign that she has spoken, at least…"

Lizzy's progress tailed off and she stopped abruptly before them. "Someone will have to send for Mama, and our father. And Jane too. Jane should be here. And we can expect the magistrate tonight, I would think…will he bring others with him? I do not know how these matters usually proceed…"

Georgiana touched her arm lightly, "I will tell Mrs Reynolds. She will arrange everything Lizzy, please do not fret. Go to Lydia with Kitty." With a backward glance at Kitty, Georgiana slipped form the room and left the two sisters to speed their way to their youngest sibling's bedside.

Lydia was indeed in a pitiful state. She had been positioned carefully on her bed so as not to put pressure on the large and growing swelling that was visible towards the base of her skull. She also looked to have injured her arm as she fell and Lizzy's quick assessment was that it was likely broken and would be causing some pain in any moments of consciousness. Occasionally Lydia would mumble odd words and phrases, but there was little that made any sense, and Lizzy and Kitty could do little other than to gently bathe her poor swollen head with cool water and wait for what seemed like an interminable period (although it was likely less than half of an hour) until the physician arrived.

A sensible man, he took in the faces of the two attending females and dismissed any thought of commenting on how often he called to Pemberley these days. He made a brief but professional assessment of his patient and asked for their help whilst he reset Lydia's arm. "Better done now than when she wakes. Easier for her and for me this way." he pronounced. Kitty held her sister's shoulders steady and looked the other way, but could not avoid hearing the sounds as the bone was manipulated. Thankfully the experience was brief and, although Lydia did cry out in her sleep, she did not awaken fully during the procedure. Feeling somewhat nauseous, Kitty was glad when Georgina quietly entered the room and sat close beside her, leaning gently against her shoulder and offering her own strength to Kitty whilst asking the doctor how his patient fared.

"She will do," he said, firmly, "if the blow had fallen much higher then I do not fancy that I would be so complacent, but there seems little danger. She was struck, or she fell upon, something that knocked her quite senseless, but she is now only lightly unconscious and I expect that she will awaken fully in short order. The rest will help her to heal. She will be in pain, and I will speak with the housekeeper about what to prepare for her, but there is little else to do."

He looked to the ladies with a questioning gaze, "Can you take me now to my other patient?"

They returned his stare blankly, and Lizzy glanced at the other two before replying quietly, "Lydia is your only patient."

He looked at her in confusion, "but the messenger informed me that two young ladies were injured – your young sister and the factor's daughter."

Georgiana choked back a sob. Kitty felt a tear well up and escape from the confines of her eye. Lizzy was the only one of the three who was able to say the words, "Alice is beyond your help doctor. She is dead."

Mr Fitzwilliam's former military training stood him in good stead over the coming hours as he directed affairs in a household that was largely paralysed by the events of the previous four and twenty hours. He managed the searchers, spoke with staff and tenants, sent out messengers, consulted with Mr Darcy, and saw to it that Mr Wickham's room at the Inn and the scene at the Summer House were left largely undisturbed and were properly guarded.

"It is only until the magistrate or one of the constables arrive," he told his wife, when he took a few moments late in the evening to rest in his own parlour. "Once they are here, I can hand everything on. But we must try to disturb things as little as possible." His face, usually so placid and easy in expression, darkened ominously. "We must catch whoever perpetrated this horrible crime…these crimes, I should say. However I may feel about the first victim, we must remember that he was murdered too."

Charlotte Fitzwilliam rose from her seat and crossed the room, stooping to wrap her arms around her husband where he sat. "You are undoubtedly the best qualified man to direct these endeavours, my dearest, but pray do not take too much upon yourself. I for one cannot wait for the officials to arrive, not least so that we can take time to mourn for Alice ourselves, and offer some support to her poor family."

Charlotte's sentiments were, unknown to her, being dashed in the Library at Pemberley. Here a flustered Lizzy was attempting to calm her agitated husband whose temper, having been pushed to its limits by the events of the day, now threatened to explode dramatically.

"I knew that Sir F- was an imbecile and a shirker, but I did not think that he would so obviously and brazenly neglect to do his sworn duty," he railed, angrily, "and to have appointed two such utter incompetents to the role of constable is unforgivable. Who can sleep easily in the county knowing that this is the standard of man on whom we are supposed to depend!"

Lizzy soothed and rationalised with him about the futility of his rage, but was herself more than a little shaken by the news that the local magistrate, when advised of the events, had expressed himself unwilling to attend as he was about to leave for a fortnight's shooting in the north country. The situation was made worse by the fact that, of the two local constables, one had been eventually found in a hostelry, utterly insensible due to the effects of drink, and the other had apparently fled the county some weeks previously after being accused of theft. It seemed evident that there would be no one coming to investigate the deaths of Alice and Mr Wickham.

"Could not we send to a neighbouring county?" Lizzy suggested, but was rebuffed quickly.

"We may eventually find someone willing to come, but God alone knows how long that would take. The murderer will be long gone by then…if he has not fled already."

Her husband made a conciliatory gesture towards her, "I am sorry Elizabeth, I mean not to take out my frustrations upon you, but you must see that it seems likely that there is little that will be done here lest we do it ourselves. And that likely means that Mr Fitzwilliam and myself will have to undertake some sort of investigation. An investigation which is by no means assured of having any success, which will likely involve prying into all sorts of affairs that no gentleman would wish to enter into discussion of, and which may indeed do more harm than good overall."

Having outlined his worries, he threw himself heavily into a nearby chair, saying half mockingly, "allow me my five minutes alone to rage and rail against the situation, dearest Elizabeth, and then I shall set my temper to one side and endeavour to act in a manner appropriate to my station."

Lizzy allowed herself a rather grim half smile and dropped a quick kiss on to the top of his head before leaving the room. As she closed the door gently, she was certain she heard the sound of a heavy book connecting with some force against one of the walls. She hurriedly vacated the scene.

It was the following morning before the Pemberley household experienced the first stages of the investigation which Mr Darcy and Mr Fitzwilliam seemed to have agreed to conduct jointly. After being sequestered together in the Library for much of the night, the two men assembled the family and the staff in Pemberley's entrance hall to outline their plans. Mr Fitzwilliam took the lead in asking for assistance.

"Anyone who has any information, no matter how insignificant, which may have any bearing on the recent tragic events, is to make themselves known to myself or Mr Darcy. We are looking for anyone who may have seen or heard anything relating to the death of Alice Peterson, or to the death of a man staying at the Inn in the village who was of the name of Mr Wickham."

It proved to be a very long morning.

Mr Darcy's patience was stretched to the limit by a number of 'witnesses' from among his own staff who had evidently seen nothing, but who wanted to attempt to make themselves useful or important. Eventually, he handed over the role of witness interrogator to Mr Fitzwilliam, who seemed more able to separate the wheat from the chaff with an easier temper. By the time that luncheon was served, Mr Fitzwilliam had managed to establish that there were a small number of people holding pertinent information, and he arranged for these people to repeat their tales to Mr Darcy.

Kitty was the first to appear. She explained, haltingly, how she had seen and spoken with Alice in the Summer House.

"I left her there, and am sure she was quite alone. It was sometime in the early hours of the afternoon. I know not really what time it was, but I think that she likely planned to stay there for some time judging by the amount of flowers that she had gathered to arrange."

Here Kitty tailed off, lost in her memories, "It was the strangest thing. When I first saw her on approaching the Summer House, I thought that she was Georgiana…she was wearing one of Georgie's dresses, you see." The two men exchanged glances and Mr Darcy made a quick note on the papers before him.

"Other than this, I do not know what to say. I returned to the house and spent some time with Georgie and with Lydia, although I was very angry with her because she had upset Alice at some point."

Here again, the men looked up with interest and Kitty explained her youngest sister's uncharitable comments about Alice's forthcoming wedding arrangements.

"Then I persuaded poor Lydia to go outdoors. I knew nothing more until I went out to find her possibly an hour or so later – just before tea. I…well, you know well what I found."

"And you saw no one close to the Summer House – you were alone in the gardens as far as you could tell?" asked Mr Fitzwilliam.

"I know not…I am sorry. I was simply concentrating upon looking for Lydia and was not really paying much attention to anyone else. I think that some of the outdoor staff were working in more distant parts of the garden, but I paid them little heed. I cannot even be sure if I saw them then or on my earlier visit outside," she hung her head miserably, "I am sorry…I am a terrible witness…I just saw that the table had fallen over in the Summer House and I didn't look away from it until I reached the building…there could have been a person nearby, but I would not have seen them…I am sorry," she repeated.

Mr Darcy and Mr Fitzwilliam thanked her and sent her away.

"Some suggestive comments there perhaps, Darcy?"

"Perhaps…but she is not certain of anything…particularly the times," sighed Darcy. "Who have we next?"

The following statements came mostly from ground staff who had seen Alice alone in the Summer House at various points in the afternoon. The most interesting account came from one of the under-gardeners who had a different tale to tell.

"Well sirs, I was working on the shrubbery not far off from that there Summer House for most of the afternoon. I did see the young Miss Catherine Bennett go in and the two lasses did chatter and laugh away for a while. Then one of the housemaids went in with some string or something, and came away without it."

"Yes, that was Edith," said Mr Darcy, consulting his notes, "we have spoken with her."

"Well, then there was a man went in too," their informant continued, "I never saw him, but I heard his voice – much louder than her voice. Not so much angry like, but he was…strident…yes, that's the word."

"And what was being said, Jack?" Mr Fitzwilliam, asked, urgently.

"Oh well sirs, that I cannot tell you. I could hear the sounds of voices, but I am not one to listen where it is not my place to hear, and I moved off away when I first heard them talk. He did call her by her given name though, so he must have been familiar to her. That I will say."

"Very commendable discretion I am sure," said Mr Darcy. "Well, we thank you for your information."

"Well, but sirs, if you do not mind my going on, there is one more thing. You see, someone else went in after the man must have left, and what a to-do there was then. I was quite far off by then, almost up by the fountain, but both ladies were shouting – I suppose at each other – in a most worrying fashion. Then out comes the other one in a dreadful rush, looking all to pieces. I didn't know who she was, but she hurried off across the lawn and then stamped about for a bit. I went off to the stables to collect some more manure for the flowerbeds near the kitchen, and when I came back I was still in sight of the Summer House."

Here Mr Fitzwilliam interrupted, "How long were you gone for, do you think?"

"Well sir, I do not know that I can be certain. See it takes maybe ten minutes to walk round to the stables. Then I spoke with young Andrews for a moment or two, and I loaded the barrow, and then I came back…a bit slower maybe – it was heavy, you see."

Mr Darcy nodded, "perhaps half of an hour then?"

"No more than that, I would reckon. And when I came back, the young lady was coming around the other way, from the opposite corner of the house – looking for all the world like she had been on a walk all around it while I had been away. She looked to make a decision and then she did set out for the Summer House again. Resolute looking, she was. She went in, and I confess I did watch for a moment or two to see if she would get sent out by Miss Alice or if there would be another row. But I saw and heard nothing. And almost right away I got called into the kitchen as cook wanted another pair of hands to move some sacks. Next I knew, not ten minutes later, there was all the rumpus when the terrible thing was discovered."

Mr Darcy and Mr Fitzwilliam were both furiously writing notes. The latter muttered a commentary as he wrote,

"So, according to your tale, Alice Peterson was still alive some three quarters of an hour before her body was found. She had an argument with an unknown woman then, and this woman came back perhaps half an hour later. Did she kill Alice? Did Lydia stumble upon them and get attacked for her troubles? Or was Alice still alive and well when this unknown woman came back? Or did she stumble upon the aftermath of the horrible scene and run off? And in any of these cases, who is she? You hadn't seen her before, you say?"

This last was directed back to the witness who was looking somewhat confused.

"Well sirs, no. To be strict truthful about it I had not seen the lady ever before so I did not know who she was then. But I did see her afterwards. When you were carrying her back to the house. See it was the young sister of the master's wife that I saw, the lady that I am told is called Mrs Wickham. She is the one that I saw going into the Summer House, arguing with Miss Alice, and then going back in later."

Mr Darcy had stopped writing and was looking with some apprehension at his fellow interrogator. Mr Fitzwilliam thanked their witness and dismissed him before turning a grim face to his cousin.

"Well Darcy, if this man is to be believed then we have limited possibilities here. There is that half hour or thereby when our man was away from the Summer House, but I must say that it is looking like the key to this is held by your poor sister-by-law. She either saw and was attacked by whoever did this or…"

"Yes, and it is the 'or' that is concerning me deeply here Fitzwilliam. Firstly her inconvenient wastrel of a husband is found violently stabbed to death, and then she has a row with a young woman who is found shortly afterwards, violently stabbed to death."

Mr Darcy looked his cousin directly in the eye. "I have never thought myself a coward, you know, but I must own that I do not look forward to having to tell my wife that I am entertaining the thought that her sister is involved in multiple murders."