Gustav raced in followed by Evangeline who was clutching a sheet to her bosom.<br/>"What Mother Annalise?" he asked, looking at me with the poker at ready.<br/><br/>I pointed toward the window with the bloody word. He yanked open the door and quickly his face appeared in the window.<br/><br/>"There is no one out here, Mother," he called.<br/><br/>"Go upstairs," I hissed to Evangeline.<br/><br/>Gustav came back in, securing the door.<br/><br/>"The baby roses were trampled but that is all that I can see of someone having been there except for the word, " he told me. "what did it say?"<br/><br/>"Whore," I answered absently.<br/><br/>I called the girls down and counted. With a sigh of relief, I noted that all were present and accounted for. My household was safe for the night. But who had been the victim tonight?