No more talk of darkness/Forget these wide-eyed fears/I'm here, nothing can harm you/My words will warm and calm you/Let me be your freedom/Let daylight dry your tears/I'm here, with you, beside you/To guard you and to guide you
I sit next to my brother in Emmett's office the next morning, surrounded by the Detective's men as Emmett himself reads us the letter that the killer had delivered to us.
"I challenge the brilliant detective mind of Edgar Allan Poe to a game of wits," he reads out," with Emily's life in the balance. You will immortalize, for the exquisite pleasure of your readers, this, your own descent into the maelstrom." I grip one of Edgar's hands tightly, knowing that both of us could use the comfort that the simple gesture provided. "Which shall appear in serial form in the Baltimore Patriot. Know that I will kill again, and on that new corpse I will leave you clues that will lead to Emily. If I do not read a vivid accounting of this convergence of fact and fiction, then dear Emily will die and I will take your sister next." Edgar's grip on my hand tightens. "Your only hope is to imagine a way to save her. I dare you to try to conceive of the painstaking care I have taken to secure her and the elegant means leading inexorably to her end. Are you up to the task, Mister Poe? Are you even capable of imagining the means to save your beloved's life, or shall this tale end as all your stories do? With madness, sin, and horror... The soul of the plot."
"Your men are right, I've killed her," Edgar states, rocking slightly in his chair.
"We must assume Miss Hamilton is still alive."
"Why, because it's more convenient to do so? Why am I to blame? Where were all these officers last night, where were you?! He toldyou he was coming!" Edgar's voice breaks at the end, making it harder on myself to hold back tears. It was my fault that Fields couldn't get to Emily in time, if I would've just stayed by the buffet table he could've made it to my soon-to-be sister instead of worrying about knocking me out of a horse's way.
I stand up, wrapping my arms around me as I look anywhere but at Emmett or my elder brother. "Listen to me," Emmett commands, forcing me to sit again," he will keep her alive for the simple reason of keeping you involved."
"Why should he? You read it yourself, if Emily dies he'll just come after Sarah!" Emmett winces as that, obviously hoping that my brother had missed that part of the letter. I know for sure that if the killer comes for me he's going to get a little surprise he won't walk away from. "It seems no matter what, I will lose someone I care for more than myself."
"I'm sure he just used Sarah's name to motivate you—" Charles Hamilton's booming voice is heard as he comes barging into the office, face a light shade of purple.
"Familiarize yourselves with my face, they'll be seeing it every hour until my daughter is returned to me!" He pushes his way past the officers and straight up to Emmett, not having noticed Edgar or me yet.
"Mister Hamilton, I am very sorry—"
"You should be! My daughter was taken under your watch!" His gaze moves over Emmett's shoulder, growing even more furious when he sees my brother. "Why the hell is he here?!" Before Emmett could stop him, Charles had punched my brother and I was tackling the large man to the ground, hitting him as hard as I could before I was pulled away, still struggling against Emmett's strong hold on me.
"Don't you dareblame my brother for this, you bastard," I snarl," if you would have listened and held off on the ball, then none of this would've happened!" Emmett covers my mouth with his hand, muffling the next round of obscenities that fly from my lips.
"Mister Poe here is our only connection to the man that has yourdaughter," Emmett states and his voice is filled with barely contained anger towards Charles as he continues to hold me back," I suggest you remember that." Charles storms out of the office, shooting one last glare at Edgar and me, his right eye already beginning to swell from where I'd managed to get in one last punch.
I'll do more than blacken his eye if he assaults my brother again!
"Calm down," Emmett whispers," I don't really want to arrest you for beating a man." With one last huff, I nod my head, signaling that he can let me go. "We will reconvene in two hours." He addresses everyone in the room now, though he still had one arm securely around my waist. "Until then, I want every street in Baltimore manned. Is that understood?" The officers all mumble a yes sir before they leave the room, shutting the door behind them.
"Can you promise me that you'll find her," I whisper, turning in his hold to look up at him, finding the anger and sadness in his eyes. "Can you promise that this won't end with her death or mine?"
"I'll never allow any harm to come to you if it's within my power to prevent it."
The lyrics are All I Ask Of You from The Phantom of the Opera