“Or she,” Kate said.
“If someone did see them and did nothing, that means you’re known to them. Knows you’re the type to keep your mouth shut. Are you known for keeping secrets?”
“Yes,” Puck said.
“But who saw the shoes?” Jack asked. “Or did they? I couldn’t see that anyone had been in there.”
“At least not this year,” Sara said. “For all we know, those vines were cut back last year. All we can be sure of is that there was no trampling there in the last six months.”
“We don’t know when he was killed,” Kate said. “Maybe he did run away, but came back years later. I don’t know how long it takes for a body to, uh, become a skeleton. Maybe...” She trailed off. None of them believed that.
“1994,” Sara said. “In May of that year Diana and the groomsman disappeared.” She turned to Puck. “How do you know it’s him in that hole?”
Puck went to a cabinet against the far wall, opened a drawer, removed the watch and handed it to Sara.
She read the inscription, then passed the watch to Jack.
“You found this by the body?” Sara asked.
Puck nodded. “It was on the ground under some leaves.”
“You cleaned it?” Sara asked.
“With a toothbrush.”
“So there’s no hope that fingerprints were left on it.”
“Oh!” Puck said. “I’m sorry.”
“Probably wouldn’t have been any anyway,” Jack said. “I guess we’re all aware that not reporting this to the police is a crime.”
They nodded.
“Do we tell anyone that we found the body?” Kate asked.
“Bella should be told,” Sara said.
“No!” Jack said. “Too many people already know.”
“But the more people who do know, the less we’ll be in danger,” Kate said. “The killer can’t do away with all of us.”
Puck looked at them. “A fire. An explosion. Locked doors.”
They stared at her in silent shock. But Puck was right. Locked doors at night. A fire started. Old Oxley Manor would light up in an instant.
Kate leaned forward. “Who do you think killed him?”
“Clive,” Puck said.
“The banker?” Sara asked, and Puck nodded. “Go on. Plead your case.”
“He’s Nicky’s cousin, but Nicky got all and Clive got nothing. Clive hated Nicky, and it was mutual. But they both knew that Nicky couldn’t run the place without him. Clive said that when Bertram, Nicky’s father, died, he’d get rid of me.”
“Sounds like a nasty piece of work,” Jack said.
Kate was more skeptical. She looked at Puck. “What did you do that caused him to say that?”
“Nothing specific. It’s just that I knew things he didn’t. It made him jealous.”
Kate nodded in understanding. “Why do you believe Clive murdered the groomsman?”
“There was talk of making Sean the estate manager. Clive would have been out of a job.”
“Clive wanted the job enough to murder to keep it?” Sara asked.
“He wanted what he thought might come from it,” Puck said. “If Clive lasted until Bertie died, he would have ruled the whole estate.”
“Nicky was incompetent?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” Puck said. “That’s why he wanted to marry Diana. She could do anything.” There seemed to be stars in her eyes at the mention of the woman.
“Seems like Clive would have killed Diana,” Sara said, then they were all silent. Maybe someone did. She hadn’t been heard from, but a body hadn’t been found.
Kate changed the subject. “What about Sean and the women? I gather he was a gorgeous man and women liked him.”
“Like you.” Puck was looking at Jack.
“I can see that,” Kate said. “Plays around with women’s feelings, never serious about any of them.”
Jack ignored the comment. “What was Diana like?”
“She cared about the horses,” Puck said. “She was a very good rider and she fixed a broken leg on a swan.”
“It still sounds like it was possible that Sean and Diana did run away together,” Sara said. “Nicky and Clive were fighting to rule this place. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Bertram to die.”
“I agree,” Kate said. “Diana and Sean got fed up and left.”
“And when Diana found out that Sean didn’t love her, she murdered him.” Sara looked at Puck. “Was she strong enough to put Sean’s body down that hole?”
Puck didn’t hesitate. “More than strong enough. Sean was slim and lithe while Diana was thick and sturdy.”
“So,” Sara said, “maybe there was a fight, an accident, and in a panic Diana hid Sean’s body. After that, she disappeared.”
“And she’s still hiding,” Jack said.
“She would have to be,” Kate said. “Murder has no expiration date. This is all a mess, isn’t it? Love and hate.”
“Jealousy,” Sara said.
“And death,” Puck said.
“Murder,” Sara said.
“Whether we like it or not,” Jack said, “at some point we have to contact the police. They’re going to be PO’d that we didn’t tell them right away.”
“Why don’t the lot of you go—?” Sara began.
Jack and Kate didn’t let her finish her sentence. Their eyes said no.
“All right,” Sara said. “We’ll keep to our original plan.”
Jack spoke first. “You were bored, with nothing to do. You heard of the mystery and you wanted to research it.”
“I wasn’t exactly bored,” Sara said. “But I—”
“And since you paid for this place, Bella owes you,” Jack said.
“And there’s the singing for Jack,” Kate said. “When you heard that Byon Lizmore was—”
“Mere,” Jack and Sara said in unison.
“Whatever,” Kate said. “When you found out he was here, you saw a bestseller in the making.”
“If you tell him he has a place in my novel, he’ll want part of the royalties,” Sara said. “Any person who thinks they’ve given a writer so much as a single idea wants a cut. A woman at a party said I’d met her before and had used her name in a book so she wanted money. Her name was Beverly. She said I had stolen her name and I had to pay her. If someone begins a sentence with, ‘Why don’t you?’ I walk away. If I write anything like what they suggest, they demand money. One time—” She cut herself off. “Right. Uh. I think we’d better say it’s to be a highly fictionalized account of what happened. No real names used.”