Member-only story
Flash Fiction
Whispers of Silk
A regency thriller
In the year of our Lord 1813, Miss Agnes Hawthorne of Bainesborough was the life — and, sadly, the death — of the party. Every eligible gentleman coveted her dance card, and though she dutifully bowed and curtsied at Lady Sedgewick’s ball, her eyes continued to meet those of a curious attendee, a dashing stranger whose arrival had fueled rumours whispered behind gloved hands.
After several years abroad, Captain Francis Beauchamp had returned by carriage late in the night to a long-empty estate just four miles from the Sedgewick’s property. It was only proper to have an invitation delivered to the young man and his sister, Honoria, herself of marriageable age. Yet Lady Sedgewick was surprised to see the Beauchamps in attendance just days after their arrival; as always, the party was abuzz with gossip.
When the Captain whisked Miss Agnes out of the arms of future Viscount Reginald Pembroke and into their third dance of the evening, deaf to the objections of Pembroke and several other young men feeling neglected, it was decided, whole-cloth, that Beauchamp had returned to London in search of a wife.
Not an hour later, Agnes Hawthorne was found dead.
A piercing shriek shattered the joyous atmosphere like leaded glass; rushing outside, the…
