The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

Aiden follows the compass until he comes upon a large and isolated manor house. Aiden knocks on the door, urgently asking for someone to telephone the police. A man with burns on his face opens the door. Another man named Daniel Coleridge recognizes Aiden and refers to him as Sebastian Bell. Daniel leads Aiden upstairs, trying to calm him, and listens to Aiden’s story about Anna being murdered in the woods. Aiden admits that he can’t remember anything about Anna or his relationship to her, and that he also never saw the killer. Given the disoriented story, Daniel seems to think that Aiden is ill or confused. He points out that the compass has the initials SB: “That’s your name, Sebastian. These are your initials. This is your compass” (11). Daniel promises to ask around the house to find out if anyone knows of a woman named Anna and encourages Aiden to rest.

Left alone, Aiden begins to search the bedroom in hopes of finding something that will help him regain his memory. He finds an invitation addressed to Dr. Sebastian Bell, inviting him to attend a masquerade ball hosted by Lord and Lady Hardcastle in honor of their daughter, Evelyn. Based on the invitation, Aiden surmises that he must be a physician, and he is now at Blackheath House, the residence of the Hardcastle family.

Dr. Richard “Dickie” Acker arrives, as Daniel has asked him to check on Aiden. Dickie finds a bump on Aiden’s head and suggests that he likely hit it at some point, explaining his disorientation and memory loss. Dickie also notices that Aiden has knife wounds on his arm and suggests that Aiden leave the house as soon as possible, since “whoever did this was trying to cause you significant harm” (18).

Aiden goes downstairs and observes the various wealthy guests who have arrived at the party, noting that “they don’t like the accommodations, the food, the indolence of the help” (21). A man named Ted Stanwin seems to inspire fear in many of the guests when he bullies a young maid, but Daniel stands up to Stanwin. Daniel also introduces Aiden to Michael Hardcastle, the heir to Blackheath. Michael reveals that at dinner the previous night, Aiden received a note, and then left very hurriedly. Michael doesn’t know what the note said or where Aiden went.

Michael also reveals some dark details of the Hardcastle family history: 19 years before, his seven-year-old brother Thomas was murdered near the lake on the estate. Charlie Carver, an employee of the estate, murdered Thomas with the help of a second unknown man. Ted Stanwin interrupted the killers and tried to save the child. As a result, Stanwin, who was formerly a servant, was given money and an estate. Carver was executed, but the second killer was never found. Michael also explains that none of the guests or servants know anyone named Anna and that no one is missing from the house. Nonetheless, since Michael and some of the guests are about to go out hunting, they will keep an eye out for anything suspicious in the woods.

Aiden encounters a strange man dressed in the costume of a medieval plague doctor. The Plague Doctor seems to know something about Anna and warns Aiden about the Footman. Aiden has a reaction to the name: “the name means nothing but the feeling it evokes is unmistakable. For some reason, I’m terrified of this person” (30). Aiden walks out to the stables. He finds a note signed from Anna, asking him to meet her in the graveyard later that night and implying that she might be watching him. Since he is convinced that he witnessed Anna’s murder in the woods, Aiden thinks someone is tricking him, but he decides to go to the meeting anyway.

Back at Blackheath, Aiden tries to track down the maid who delivered the note to him on the previous night and goes to ask Evelyn Hardcastle. Evelyn is with Lord Ravencourt, an older and somewhat grotesque man. Evelyn explains to Aiden that Mr. Collins, the butler, would be the best person to know which maid brought the note to Aiden. However, Mr. Collins was attacked earlier in the morning by another guest, Gregory Gold, and is currently recovering in the gatehouse. Evelyn offers to walk over with Aiden.

On the walk, Evelyn explains that she has taken a liking to Aiden: “You strike me as a man who’d much rather be somewhere else, a feeling I can wholeheartedly sympathize with” (39). Evelyn has only recently returned to Blackheath after living in Paris ever since the death of her brother Thomas. In the gatehouse, Aiden recognizes Collins as the man with the burned face who opened the door for him when he first arrived at Blackheath. Aiden also learns that Madeline, Evelyn’s personal maid, was the one to bring him the note at dinner.

Evelyn and Aiden walk back to the house, and Aiden realizes that he feels happy and at ease in her company, reflecting that “This last hour in Evelyn’s company is the first time since waking that I’ve felt myself a whole person, rather than the remnants of one” (44). Aiden notices Evelyn discreetly pick up a note hidden on a stone in a clearing.

Evelyn also reveals that, on the day that Thomas was killed, she was supposed to have been looking after him. Her parents blamed her, so they sent her away to Paris. Now, they have abruptly forced her to come back, and Evelyn suspects they plan to publicly punish or shame her in some way. Evelyn also reveals that Sebastian Bell is a well-known drug dealer who abuses his medical privileges to provide drugs to wealthy customer. Aiden feels disgust at learning this detail about his identity. He rushes back to the house and breaks into a locked trunk in his room, desperate to understand more about his past. The only item inside the trunk is a chess piece carved with Anna’s name. More confused than ever, Aiden tells Evelyn about his impending meeting in the graveyard.

Later that night, Michael Hardcastle mentions that Daniel has announced that there was no murder and called off the search. Aiden is confused as to how Daniel came to this conclusion, since he has told no one about the indications that Anna might still be alive. As Aiden heads out to the graveyard, he encounters Evelyn, who insists on going with him. Evelyn has a small black pistol with her. Evelyn also reveals that she asked Madeline about the note, since Aiden was too distracted to do so. Madeline did indeed peek at the note, but “the message was very brief; it asked you to come immediately to the usual spot” (57). Evelyn and Aiden wait in the graveyard, but no one comes. As they leave, Aiden finds bloodstains and the compass, now broken and bloody. Evelyn urges Aiden to leave Blackheath, since the situation is becoming too dangerous. Aiden agrees; back in his room, he finds the body of a dead rabbit, with a note saying that the grotesque gift is from the Footman. Aiden faints.