The Maidens

Mariana is present when the police arrest Morris, and she sees him look up at Edward, who is watching through a window. Edward’s small smile reinforces Mariana’s belief in his guilt. Later, she gathers for drinks with Clarissa and Zoe, revealing that she has no intention of returning to London. Zoe worries that Edward knows they are onto him and believes she might know where the murder weapon is. When Mariana confronts her about being in the Maidens, Zoe admits she went to one meeting and was too ashamed to admit it. “I suppose […] it begins with Demeter—and Persephone,” Zoe says (318).

Zoe tells the story of her aborted initiation: Edward was fond of the Eleusinian rites in honor of Persephone, which took participants “on a journey from life to death and back again” (319). She was instructed to meet the group at midnight near the river, where she was given kykeon, a barley water drink spiked with GHB, which Edward bought from Morris. Edward put a knife to her throat but did not cut her; instead, he hid the knife between two rocks. The other women danced naked and swam in the river, but Zoe did not want to undress.