The Only One Left

On her first day, Kit confesses to Miss Hope that they share a stigma: Both are assumed to be guilty of matricide. When Kathleen McDeere was diagnosed, Kit’s parents hired their daughter to be Kathleen’s caregiver. After Kathleen’s death, Detective Vick, an acquaintance of her father’s, pursued Kit as a suspect, convinced that Kit intentionally precipitated her mother’s overdose. When Patrick distances himself from Kit, Kit believes that her father must agree with Vick.

In Interlude 3, the typist recalls visiting her mother’s bedroom. Evangeline Hope, once a great beauty, was now hollowed and weakened by her dependence on laudanum. Evangeline was from one of the most pedigreed families in New England; Winston Hope, who came from new money, had pursued Evangeline despite rumors that she had been involved with a servant. Evangeline’s health deteriorated amidst her husband’s relentless womanizing. For her birthday, Evangeline gave the typist a snow globe of Paris, asking her daughter to promise not to remain trapped at Hope’s End forever.

In the present, Jessie takes Kit on a tour of the murders: The trail of bloodstains in the carpet on the grand staircase is presumed to be that of Evangeline Hope; the billiard room is where Winston Hope’s throat was cut; in the library, three urns on the mantle contain the remains of Winston, Evangeline, and Virginia; in the ballroom is the chandelier from which Virginia Hope’s body was found hanging.