“Good idea,” Jack said.
Puck was staring at Sara with wide eyes, but Jack and Kate were used to her impromptu tirades.
“Monday,” Kate said. “This is Thursday. I vote that we give ourselves until Monday at...at teatime to solve this. We find out all we can by then and on Monday at 4:00 p.m. we go to the police and tell them where the body is hidden.”
“And we pretend it’s all for a book?” Puck asked.
“Yes,” Sara said. “I used to spend months researching my historicals.”
“Think these people will tell us anything?”
“For sure, one of them will want to know what we’ve found out,” Sara said.
Kate drew in her breath. “We may have awakened a killer.”
“It won’t be the first time,” Jack said.
Sara looked thoughtful. “Did someone kill Sean and hide the body? Or were there two people involved?”
They were silent until Jack spoke up. “I hope Byon wasn’t the murderer. I really like his plays.”
Sara said, “Although...prison is possibly a writer’s paradise. I’ve often wondered about that.”
“Because you thought about murdering someone and the possible consequences?” Jack asked.
“Oh yes. Many times.” Sara looked at them. “We need to make some decisions here. This weekend the place is going to be filled with people, one or more of whom could possibly be a killer.” She paused. “Or we could go home. We could just pack up and leave. As you said, we could call the police from the US. We could say we found the body when we were exploring. That would leave Puck out of it. She’d probably be safe.”
“Probably,” Kate whispered. “In this context, that’s a frightening word.”
“And we’d be leaving it to the police to find out who committed a long-ago murder,” Sara said.
Jack raised his hand. “I vote with Kate. We search until Monday at 4:00 p.m.”
“I agree,” Sara said, then they looked at Puck. No one had to say that it was her neck on the line. “Maybe you’d like to visit Florida. I’ll buy you a plane ticket to there or to anywhere in the world. You could—”
“No!” Puck said. “Sean was my friend. Besides, I’ve had a lifetime of watching. As the people here love to tell, I can be invisible. I could be useful to you.”
Sara smiled. “I think you would be a valuable asset.” She held her right hand straight out.
Jack put his hand over hers, then Kate, with Puck’s hand on top.
It was a pact.
When they broke apart, Sara said, “I want to know as much as possible about these people before they arrive.”
“Clive is tall,” Puck said. “He is cold and always angry. He—”
“No, no,” Sara said. “I want to know them. Like in a really good novel where they tell all about the characters. Show, don’t tell.”
Puck looked blank.
“Tell us something that happened,” Kate said. “I think these people came here often, so tell us about one of their get-togethers. Take us through one of their weekends.”
“I want to know about you with them,” Sara said.
“During the week the house was quiet,” Puck said. “Bertie lived here but he was gone most of the time. He liked to talk to people about his beautiful horses.” There was fondness in her voice. “Too bad none of the animals he bought could run very fast. Sean said—” Puck waved her hand. “Anyway, Clive was here too but he stayed in his office.” Her voice hardened. “Everyone kept away from him because he was so bad-tempered.”
“And Sean was in the stables,” Sara said.
“He had so much work to do,” Puck said. “He had to look after six horses by himself. Diana helped on weekends, but she was at university during the week. She—”
“Wait!” Kate said. “Wasn’t Clive about the same age as the others? Why wasn’t he in school?”
“He was for a while, but Bertie pulled him out after two years,” Puck said. “Clive was an orphan. His grandmother was related to Bertie’s. Clive’s whole family had died by the time he was fifteen or so, and Bertie took him in.”
“So Clive grew up in Oxley Manor?” Sara asked. “He was part of the family?”
“I guess,” Puck said. “He probably had a room somewhere but I don’t know where. At the top, maybe.”
“And Bertie pulled him out of university after just two years and he had to run this place?” Sara asked.
“How he must have hated seeing the others return on the weekends,” Kate said.
Puck shrugged. “I don’t know.” She looked up. “Back then I saw everything through the eyes of a child. All I knew was that Clive was a horrible man. I had to keep secrets from him, lie to him, trick him, sneak and spy, and—”
They were staring at her.
“I think you should tell us everything,” Sara said. “And in context.”
Puck took a moment to think. “What I remember is that the others would arrive on Friday and—” she smiled in memory “—things would begin to happen. But there was one weekend...” She stopped.
“Tell us about it,” Sara said.
“It was when I saw Sean in the cemetery. And that was the day when I saw inside this house for the first time. Afterward, it became my own secret hideout. Or I thought it was.”
“Nicky must have known you liked it because he willed the place to you,” Jack said.
“He did. I thought no one knew where I hid from them all. But maybe it was only my mother who didn’t know.” Puck smiled. “But then, she knew very little about anything.” She leaned back in her chair. “It was about... Yes, a year before they disappeared.”
Seven
OXLEY MANOR
AUTUMN 1993
Puck sat in the big Oxley Manor kitchen with her mother. At fourteen, she was tall and thin and did her best not to call attention to herself.
“Really,” Mrs. Aiken said in the tone of dissatisfaction she always used with her daughter. “Couldn’t you at least sit up straight? You are so much like your father! I keep telling you that you need to make yourself useful around here. If you only knew what was actually going on! I worry that I may not have a job for long. And what about you? You have no real purpose here. You’ll be the first one thrown out.” She sighed at the futility of what she was saying. “Do something.”