Emelie sang softly to Percy as she adjusted his blankets and smoothed back his hair. Though the song was lighthearted, Emelie was anything but cheerful. Another week had almost passed. Officer Desmond had not relented. He was a determined bobby, that was for sure. What was worse, if no murders took place while the officer was staking out Mr. Godwin's home, his hypothesis that Emelie was the murderer would only be strengthened.

The walls were closing in, and a sense of doom settled into her heart. She was trapped. There was no way out of this.

The laboratory door opened and closed, and Emelie could hear footsteps as someone descended the stairs. It was late. Well past midnight. Where had Mr. Godwin been?

"Mr. Godwin?"

Panic paralyzed her as she saw a large figure enter the laboratory. But then she caught a glimpse of his face and realized it was indeed the doctor. Shedding his coat and hat, he revealed that beneath his outerwear were pillows tied to his body. He removed these without a word and headed to the sink. Turning the faucet, he began to vigorously scrub his hands. Emelie approached him and gasped when she saw a stream of red circling the drain. Her gaze moved from his hands—coated in thick blood—to his face. His kind eyes were dark and clouded. They would not meet her own.

Her stomach turned. "Mr. Godwin, you didn't. Officer Des—"

"No, not him. Although I was tempted. It would be too suspicious if the Organ Harvester just happened to go after the Officer who was supposedly on their trail. No, this was a random stranger on the street. I removed his heart and several other organs, just as you always do."

Emelie winced. "Why would you put yourself through that?"

"For you, Emelie. And for Percy. If there isn't a murder while we're trapped in here, that officer will be convinced that he's right. I had to get him off our scent."

"But why didn't you just let me—"

"I'm not letting you risk your life and freedom."

"We don't have much freedom as it is."

"I was very careful. I snuck out through the back. I wore oversized clothes and padding, the wrong size shoes, doused myself in gin. No one will know it was me. So when Officer Desmond is informed that the Organ Harvester has struck again while we were all sound asleep in our beds, he'll have no choice but to move on."

He turned the faucet and the rush of water ceased. Emelie watched as he leaned against the sink and stared down at the drain. His gaze was distant and disconnected. Emelie knew exactly what was going through his head. The sound of the man's screams. The sickening crunch of bone as he cut him open. The feel of the organs as he ripped them from his victim's body. The thick scent of iron wafting up from his bloodstained hands. No amount of bathing would ever make him feel clean.

"Did you get the heart?" she asked, swallowing down her tears and the memories of her own victims.

He shook his head slowly. "I'm in no condition to perform the procedure. Besides, it would take too long to ready Percy. The heart would be useless."

Emelie nodded. "Would you like me to make you tea? Or get you some gin, perhaps?"

Mr. Godwin smiled wryly. "It's going to take more than tea or gin to wipe that experience from my mind." He looked up at her. "How do you do it? All these months, you've killed people in just the same manner. How have you kept your sanity?"

"Perhaps it's because you're a good person, Mr. Godwin, whereas I am not."

"Emelie, you're—"

She held up her hand. "No. I'm really not. If you knew the truth, you would agree."

His shoulders slumped and his eyes softened. "Nothing you could say would make me love you less."

Her stomach clenched and her throat tightened. If only he knew. If only he knew.

He could never know.

~

Three days passed and Officer Desmond's suspicions had not waned. If anything, they had increased. He had actually taken his investigation a step further and knocked on their door. He wanted to speak with Mr. Godwin about some suspicious activity he had seen around his property. A shadowy figure skulking about on the very same night that the Organ Harvester struck after a long spell of inactivity.

Mr. Godwin was his amiable self, answering all of the officer's questions with a smile. Emelie was thankful she was nothing more than a maid, able to go unnoticed in the background. Even so, she was certain her pounding heart would be heard by the prying officer.

Despite Mr. Godwin's superb acting, Officer Desmond was clearly not convinced. He said as much when he left, reassuring them that he would keep an eye on their home for any suspicious activity.

It was the end. There was no way of getting out of this. They were trapped.

"Mr. Godwin, he's not leaving," Emelie said, pacing the laboratory. "We have to do something or we'll lose Percy."

"I'm not letting you go out there," Mr. Godwin said as he sat at his writing desk, a medical book opened before him.

"But he needs a—"

"No!"

Mr. Godwin rose to his feet and turned to Emelie. She fell back several steps. His sad eyes were wild and desperate. He was out of ideas. He didn't know where to go. He was at the end of his rope.

And it terrified her.

He regained his composure, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt and avoiding her eyes. "I don't know that it would even matter if you found another heart," he said softly.

"What do you mean?"

Mr. Godwin shrugged and turned back to his writing desk. "I don't know. I'm beginning to wonder if the reason Percy's body rejects the hearts is that they're too foreign."

"Foreign?"

"Perhaps he needs a heart closer to his flesh and blood."

Emelie had to think for a moment before she realized what he was suggesting. "You mean he needs a heart from a relative?"

Mr. Godwin collapsed into the chair by the desk. "I don't know. It's just a thought. I have no proof to back it up. And I have no way of testing my theory. His mother has been dead for far too long, and if I were to give him my own heart, who would perform the surgery? He has no brothers or sisters. Even if he did, who would have the heart to sacrifice one child for another?" He scoffed. "Excuse the pun."

Emelie's hands shook. She clutched her skirt to still them, but to no avail. Her pulse pounded in her ears, her stomach churned. The walls were closing in again, and she knew there was only one way out. It would solve everything. It would give Percy a heart and allow her to keep the truth from Mr. Godwin.

"You never had any intention of letting me continue as the Organ Harvester, did you?" she whispered.

He glanced at her. "Not once Officer Desmond caught on to us."

Taking a deep breath, Emelie made up her mind. "Then use my heart."

There was a long pause. Mr. Godwin closed the book in front of him and turned to face her. "What did you say?"

"Use my heart. Give it to Percy."

He shook his head unbelievingly. "Did you not just hear what I—"

"You said it was only a theory. You don't know that it's true."

"I don't know that it's not, either. And if it is true, that would mean you will have died for nothing."

"I'll die either way."

"What are you talking about?"

Closing her eyes, Emelie tried to hold back the tears. "If you do not allow me to do this, I will turn myself in," she said.

Mr. Godwin paled.

"I will turn myself in as the Organ Harvester, and I will be hanged for my crimes."

"You wouldn't," he said, his voice barely more than a whisper.

She opened her eyes. "I will."

"Why?"

"Because there's no other choice. We are trapped. Percy is trapped. You are trapped. I am trapped. Without a heart, we cannot move forward. And we cannot get a heart because of Officer Desmond."

Swallowing hard, Mr. Godwin took a step towards her. "Emelie, we are not trapped. It doesn't have to end like this."

"If Percy is to have a fighting chance, it does."

"I love my son. I want him to live again and be happy. I truly do. But, Emelie, what if I do this and it doesn't work? What if his body rejects the heart? Losing him will be the greatest pain I've ever known. But to lose him and not have you by my side to comfort me? I won't live through that."

The tears in Emelie's eyes stung as she tried to hold them back. "You can't have me, Mr. Godwin. Not in the way you want me."

She could see his heart breaking. It was like a light went out in his eyes, leaving nothing but shadow and sorrow. The ache in her throat grew, and she was afraid she would not be able to hold back the sob building in her chest. But she did. Somehow she found the strength to stand her ground.

Looking away, Mr. Godwin focused his attention on Percy. "You're certain there's no way I can change your mind?"

Emelie shook her head slowly. "Either take my heart or watch me hang, Mr. Godwin. Whatever your choice, I'm ready to meet my fate."

He released a long sigh and ran his hands through his hair. "God have mercy on me," he mumbled.

~

She was afraid. She would not deny that. While she knew there was no other choice, the idea of dying was still terrifying. Even more terrifying was the uncertainty of where she would go once dead. She was a whore's daughter, a liar, a murderer. The afterlife surely did not treat sinners like herself kindly.

As she laid on the operating table Mr. Godwin had set up beside Percy, she thought about her past. Her childhood in the slums. Her teenage years amongst the riffraff in the streets. Even her short stay with Mr. Godwin in a home more beautiful than she could have ever dreamed of.

But her thoughts were mostly filled with memories of her mother.

"Tell me again."

"Do you never tire of this story?"

"Never," Emelie said as she snuggled up beside her mother in the tiny bed they shared.

"Very well," her mother said as she tucked the blanket around them both. "I was sixteen when I met him. He was very handsome. Tall, dark hair, and the kindest smile I had ever seen. All the girls made eyes at him, but somehow, it was I who caught his attention.

"He romanced me all summer long. Beautiful flowers, delectable chocolates, sweet whispers in my ear. It was like a dream. We didn't think about the future. We didn't think about the consequences. We were in love. Completely and madly in love.

"When summer ended, so did our romance. He left to begin his studies in medicine. I did not know then about the miracle growing inside of me. Neither did he."

The memory disappeared as Emelie heard Mr. Godwin laying out his tools. She refused to look, afraid that her determination would escape her. Instead, she kept her mind on her mother. Her poor mother who was cast out by her family when it was discovered she was with child. Her poor mother who refused to divulge the identity of the man who had impregnated her. Her poor mother who had to resort to prostitution to keep her daughter fed and warm. Her poor mother who had to watch her love return with a beautiful young bride by his side.

Mr. Godwin's face appeared above her. The pain in his eyes was more than Emelie could bear, but she knew she had no choice. This was the only way out of the web of sin in which she had entangled herself.

"Are you absolutely sure, Emelie?" he asked again, his eyes pleading with her to change her mind.

But Emelie nodded firmly. "It has to end, Mr. Godwin."

She watched as he swallowed hard. Pulling out a ceramic container, he doused a rag with its contents and brought it near her face.

"What is that?" she asked as she sat up.

"Ether. I refuse to operate on you while you're conscious. This will put you under, so you won't feel the pain."

"I'm not afraid of the pain."

"It's more for my benefit than yours, Emelie. I can't bear to look into your eyes as I tear your heart from your body."

"Will it affect the chances of success?"

"No, not at all."

Emelie nodded and laid back down. Mr. Godwin covered her mouth and nose with the rag, and a sweet scent flooded her senses. She breathed in steadily, her heart racing. Mr. Godwin gazed down at her, his eyes shimmering with tears. Her eyes became heavy, her head foggy. The walls were finally disappearing. The fear of being trapped and crushed faded away. It was going to be all right. Whatever waited for her on the other side of death—Hell or oblivion—it didn't matter.

Mr. Godwin leaned down and laid a kiss on her forehead. Though her mind was drifting away, Emelie felt his warmth, his tears, his trembling hand as he gently stroked her hair.

"Would he have liked me, Mama?"

"He would have loved you, my dove."

"I love you, Emelie," Mr. Godwin whispered.

Those words. They were what she had wanted to hear since the very first time her mother had told her the story of her whirlwind love affair with an aspiring doctor named Victor Godwin. How she had dreamed of the moment they would meet. She imagined the warmth of his smile, the feeling of his strong embrace, the affection in his voice as he spoke those three words she so longed to hear.

It was all wrong. Nothing had turned out as she had imagined. Her lies had confused everything. But the truth would cause even more harm than her deceit had. Which was why it had to end like this.

At least she had met him. After all the dreaming, after all the loneliness, she had met him. Not only him but her brother, too. Sweet, little Percy. What a pleasant surprise to find out that he existed. It wasn't the family she had imagined. It was not ideal. And it certainly wasn't honest. But it was a family nonetheless. And as selfish and sinful as it was, she would not have traded a single day spent with them.

Her eyelids were like lead, and she could not lift them to take one last glimpse of her beloved Mr. Godwin. She felt his hand trembling as it held the rag, and wet splotches fell onto her cheeks. She wanted to comfort him. To reassure him. But the words would not form. So she willed her message to reach him, somehow, some way, before she fell into darkness:

Take heart, Mr. Godwin. Take heart.