“I put it out,” she assured them. “I went to check on…”
“A fire in the basement?” Father exclaimed. “What on earth is going on here?” He sounded as he had years ago, when they were children and he scolded them over one of their wild schemes.
“We have to tell him.” Anne said.
“There was a crime—” Charlotte pressed her fingertips to her temples. If only they had turned Branwell over to the police, then this could have been avoided. “A murder next door and Joe Leland is dead. Branwell is a suspect and we hid him in the basement.”
Father let out a small yelp, as though he had been hit.
“He fell asleep smoking,” Emily added. “There must have been cigarettes and a lighter hidden somewhere down there.”
“Take me to him! Now!” Father ordered.
Even though he was blind and near seventy, his de
