Carmen scrambled to her feet and lunged at me, hands outstretched, but a few relatives caught her arms and held her back.
She glared at me, eyes bloodshot. "It was you. I know it was you!"
"We said a few words to you and you held a grudge, so you poisoned the food and killed my son and his wife!"
Alden's voice followed right behind hers, a raw, broken roar. "You vicious woman! This family never wronged you. Why would you do something so evil? You're paying for this with your life today!"
Andrew rushed to my side and reached for my arm. I flinched away before he could touch me.
His face was a mask of worry as he turned to the crowd.
"Everyone, please, calm down. Catherine isn't that kind of person. She was upset and went for a walk, that's all. Why would she poison anyone?"
"If not her, then who?" Chester's mother-in-law shoved through the crowd, tears streaming down her face. "We pushed her too far and she stormed out. She even threw the spatula before she left. That's when she made up her mind to kill them!"
"That's right, it was her!" The Finch relatives echoed in unison. "We all saw it. She threw things and walked out, and when she came back, they were dead. If she didn't poison them, who did?"
More and more people filled the yard, villagers drawn by the commotion. They circled around us, pointing, whispering.
"She looks so proper, a girl from the city. How could she be so heartless?"
"Poisoning people on Memorial Day. That's a whole other level of wicked."
"I heard she ran off earlier and left everyone waiting. She must've been furious."
Andrew put on a pained, conflicted expression and clasped his hands toward the crowd.
"Neighbors, I know everyone's upset. Catherine can be a little blunt sometimes, but she would never do something this horrific."
"She was probably just exhausted today, and Mom and Dad pushed her buttons, so she ran off. Please, just give her a chance to explain."
His words sounded like a plea on my behalf, but every sentence steered the crowd toward the same conclusion: that I'd been scolded, held a grudge, and snapped.
I stared at his face, that tender, concerned mask, and my stomach turned.
In my last life, I'd been fooled by that exact look for an entire lifetime. I didn't learn the truth until the moment I died.