Free Suspicion by Alexandra Moni Page A

place?”
    Even as I speak the words, I know my theory doesn’t make much sense—but then, how could I be at the center of some vendetta in England, when I haven’t been there since I was ten years old? Another thought occurs to me.
    “Did you ever show this to anyone else? Like Oscar at Rockford Manor? Or the police?”
    “We didn’t share it with anyone from Rockford, but we did make a copy for the Wickersham police,” Keith replies. “They ran a handwriting check but couldn’t find any local matches, and they conducted an investigation, though they dismissed it a little too quickly for our liking.”
    “If it was a legitimate threat, they wouldn’t have dismissed it.” I feel a surge of relief. “I’ll show the letter to Harry Morgan tomorrow and send a copy to Oscar. I know I can trust both of them. If they feel I have something to worry about, then we’ll deal with it, but otherwise … let’s just treat this as a prank. Okay?”
    Carole stares at me, the color draining from her face. I realize then that she must have been certain the letter would change my mind.
    “You’re so determined to do this,” she says shakily. “How can you brush aside the danger you might be in?”
    “Because we don’t know that I’m in danger. The police didn’t seem to think so—and I can’t make major life decisions based on an anonymous letter that could be someone’s idea of a good joke.” I take a deep breath. “I know that the easier and safer move might be to just stay here and let the manor and my inheritance go. But I’ve only done the safe thing since the fire. And every time I took the easy way out, by avoiding my cousin and acting as if the Rockfords didn’t exist … I ended up full of regret. Especially today, when I found out Lucia and my grandfather are gone, and I can never apologize or make things right. So this time, I’m going to be brave. I’m saying yes. And I’m really sorry if it upsets you, but … there’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”
    A heavy silence falls over the table.
    “You’re still a minor,” Keith finally says. “You do need our permission.”
    I wince, unsure how to say what I need to without hurting them further.
    “Um. The estate manager, Harry … he told me my parents’ will states that if I ever became heir to Rockford Manor as a minor, I’d be considered emancipated. Meaning, technically—I don’t need permission. I have the paperwork, if you need to see it.”
    Zoey’s expression is beginning to match her parents.
    “Wait a minute, are you saying you’re moving to England forever ?”
    “I wish I could say no, but yeah. I have to. We’ll visit regularly, though, all four of us. The place is huge, you can have your own wing if you want—” I stop midsentence at the sight of Carole crying silently and I rush over to her chair.
    “Please, tell me what I can do to make this a little better,” I beg. “I don’t want to upset any of you, but I need to do this.”
    “You’ll stay till graduation and my birthday, right?” Zoey asks in a tiny voice.
    “Of course,” I promise. “I won’t leave a day before you turn sixteen.”
    “If there’s nothing we can do to stop you, then—then there is one thing you can do for us,” Keith says quietly. “You’ll go to school at Oxford. Just like Edmund and I did.”
    I stifle a laugh.
    “Keith, you know I hate to disappoint you, but my odds of getting into Oxford are, like, one in a million. It doesn’t matter if I have legacy there. Nowadays you pretty much have to be valedictorian to get in. And we all know I’m not.”
    “It might not be as hard as you think. The third duke made quite the sizable endowment to Oxford in the eighteenth century, and the Rockfords have continued contributing to the school ever since,” Keith divulges. “So long as your grades are respectable, which they are, I see no reason why you wouldn’t get in.”
    “But even if I did get in, how would I keep