Willa gave up. She raised her head. “Right foot needs to be turned a bit. There. Now you have it.”
Teddy dropped her arms and looked Willa up and down. “WTF?”
Before either of the other two women could speak, the door to the house opened and they heard Byon’s voice. Behind him was everyone else.
“Keep your mouth shut!” Kate ordered Teddy.
“Please,” Willa added.
Teddy was looking at Kate. “Only if you let me in on what’s going on.”
“Not on your life.”
“I’ll flirt so hard with Jack he won’t be able to resist. I have a bikini...” She held out her hand, cupped tightly, meaning the suit would fit into her palm. “And I’ll sneak into his room at night. Naked.”
“I hate you,” Kate said.
With a smile, they turned to greet the oncoming Pack, while Willa stayed back, her head down. But in this case, she was concealing a smile.
* * *
Kate and Jack were with Sara in her bedroom. It was late but they knew they wouldn’t be able to sleep. Sara was looking at photos on the screen of her camera. Kate was stretched out beside her, and Jack was in a chair.
“I’m exhausted,” Kate said. “Too much food.”
“Too many people,” Jack said.
“Too much of everything.” Sara turned her camera off and leaned back on a pillow. “I hated tonight.”
“Me too,” Kate said. “I wanted Willa to tell Byon to get it himself. Whatever he wanted, he expected adoring Willa to get it for him.”
“And she did,” Jack said.
“They handled the news of Nadine having Sean’s child well,” Sara said.
“You mean no one gave a flying crap,” Jack said. “Clive snorted in a nasty way, as though it was all dirty.”
“Sort of is,” Kate said. “Nadine was lying to them all, sneaking around. She hated the horses but loved the rider.”
“I think whatever Sean was doing in the cemetery had something to do with Nadine,” Sara said. “Do we know when she told him about the child?”
“No.” Jack told them what Mr. Howland had said about Sean and Nadine planning to run away together that night. “But Sean never showed up.”
“What a horrible night that was!” Kate said. “They were supposed to be celebrating, but Clive dumped Willa and—”
“And Sean left pregnant Nadine alone.” Sara looked at Jack. “How was Mr. Howland when you took his food up?”
“Great. Watching The Terminator. I wanted to stay with him. He must know a lot about cars.”
Sara and Kate exchanged looks. Jack’s father and grandfather and great-grandfather had been car people. Jack had spent much of his life covered in grease.”
“And that night Nicky was in a very bad mood,” Kate said. “He had to have been to tell Willa off like that.”
“Willa has a temper,” Sara said. “All the toughness she has now has always been there. If Sean laughed at her and told her she was better off without them... She could have smashed him.”
“Or shot him,” Jack said. “We don’t know how he was killed.”
“There’s more hate here than I originally thought,” Sara said.
“But hate’s what drives a murder, isn’t it?” Kate sat up.
“No one seems to know that Sean is dead,” Sara said.
“Think finding out that he didn’t run away will help Nadine and Teddy?” Kate asked.
“I doubt it,” Sara said. “Teddy misses her connection to people she loves. I heard her tell Nadine that she didn’t know if her grandparents would continue to want her.”
“They all probably know more than they think,” Jack said. “Teddy was born six months after the marriage, but they had no more kids. Maybe the viscount was willing to marry a pregnant woman because he couldn’t have kids.”
“Good point,” Sara said.
Kate yawned and scooted off the bed. “So what’s on for tomorrow?”
“A sleep in,” Jack said. “And I hope we meet no one.”
“That means he wants to sing with Byon,” Sara said.
“And watch that child, Teddy, run around in skimpy clothing.”
“You do know,” Jack said, “that she’s just a year younger than you.”
“In numbers perhaps but not in maturity.”
“You wouldn’t be upset to find out your father wasn’t who you believed he was?” Jack asked.
In answer, Kate glared at him. In the last couple of years she’d found out that her saint of a father was far, far from sainthood.
Jack laughed at her expression. “Point made.” He stood up. “Come on, let’s go to bed. Tomorrow we can—”
He broke off at the sound of screaming. “That’s Teddy.” He threw open the door.
When the second scream came, Kate said, “Nadine.”
Sara got off the bed. “Mr. Howland!”
In the hallway, Byon, in a blue silk dressing grown, was heading toward the stairs. Clive was already there and he was tapping his phone.
“What is it?” Jack asked.
“Mr. Howland killed himself,” Clive said. “I’m calling the police.” He gave his attention to his phone.
“No ambulance?” Sara asked. “No attempt at revival?”
Clive shook his head no.
At the end of the hall, was Mr. Howland’s room. The door was open, light flooding the dark hallway.
Bella appeared in her nightgown and robe. “What happened?”
“I’m not sure.” Sara hurried after Jack and Kate.
Byon had his arms around Nadine. As soon as Teddy saw Jack, she flung herself into his arms. She was crying hard.
Sara made her way through the people, Kate behind her, and into the bedroom.
On the bed lay Mr. Howland. His eyes were closed—and a plastic bag was over his head. On the table beside him was an open medicine bottle and an empty glass. There was a roll of duct tape on the bed. It had been used to seal the bag around his neck.
“We loved him no matter what,” Nadine cried. “It didn’t matter that he sometimes forgot things.”
Clive was at the doorway. “The police will be here in a few minutes. They asked that we touch nothing and that we close the door.”