“Diana rode away on a horse.”
“Diana is always on a horse.”
“Not at night. She’d be afraid the animal would be hurt. And I heard a sound.”
Clive sighed again, this time louder. “And what was that?”
“An explosion. It...” She looked up at him. “It sounded like a gunshot.”
Clive thought he’d told Sara and Byon that he remembered explaining to Willa that Thorpe had been dealing with rats. He just didn’t remember how the topic came up. He sat down on the far end of the bench and tried to keep to what had been said that night. “Thorpe didn’t tell you that he’s been chasing rats? He seems like the type to shoot at them.”
She turned to him. “I guess you would poison them. Let them die slowly.”
Clive looked shocked. This wasn’t the way their conversation went in the past! She’d said she thought he was right. “No, I meant... What you heard was probably him.” He needed to get this back on track. He’d remembered that she’d asked about their wedding. She was demanding that he set the date. “About when we get married, we—”
She stood up and glared down at him. “Married? Clive, of all the things I want in life, you are at the bottom.” She turned and walked away.
Clive stood up and looked at the camera. “That’s not what happened! I was the one to say that to her. She has no right to—”
“Cut!” Sara yelled.
“That wasn’t the way it was supposed to go,” Clive said. “Back then I was the one who...” He trailed off.
“You were what?” Sara asked. “The person who had the power? You were the one who was wanted? Pursued? And now it’s Willa who is the valuable one?”
“Valuable?” Clive said. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Everyone had their eyes on Willa, who was behind Clive. She was undressing. She unbuttoned her padded dress and let it fall to the ground. Under it, she had on a sleek, black, off-the-shoulder gown.
When Clive turned and saw her, his jaw dropped, his eyes widened.
Willa smiled at him very sweetly.
With a groan, Sara started to speak, but Kate put herself in front of her aunt.
“Meena!” Kate said sternly. “You didn’t tell the information you were supposed to.”
“Meena?” Nadine asked.
“Sorry,” Willa said, but she didn’t sound sorry. “For over twenty years I’ve carried that man’s words with me. At last I released them.”
All the women were nodding in understanding.
“What sound did you hear that night?” Jack blurted.
“I guess I heard the shot Nicky fired, and I saw Diana ride away.”
“Then what?” Kate asked.
Willa shrugged. “Nothing. Clive—” she give him a dark look “—showed up and said that...that horrible thing to me and that was it.”
“I hoped you would remember something new,” Sara said. “Clive isn’t important. What happened in the stables is.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” Willa said. “But after he said that to me, I left. I went back to the house.”
“And cried,” Nadine said. “And you took all the attention of everyone with your tears. Poor Willa. No one cared that I had just lost the father of my child.”
“But you never told anyone of your problem,” Willa said.
“I was to announce that the man I loved had run off with Diana? Really?”
“If you had confided in us, I would have told you that I saw Diana ride away alone. Ask Mrs. Aiken. She was there.”
Everyone went silent.
Willa looked at them. “Oh. Sorry. I forgot that. When I was going back to the house in tears—” she gave another look of hate to Clive “—I heard someone. I hid and—”
“You were always so good at that,” Clive said. “Hiding in bushes and—”
“Shut the hell up!” Sara snapped at him, then looked back at Willa. “You’re sure?”
“Yes, I am. But you knew she was there. In the earlier scene she left Nicky in the kitchen to go ‘fix it.’ Right. I see.” She looked at the silent police inspector. “I guess I’m a witness.”
He nodded, then turned to Sara. “Isn’t there more to your play?”
Sara looked at Kate. “You ready for the last act?”
Kate exchanged looks with Nadine. “Yes, I think I am.”
ACT FIVE
SCENE ONE
THE STABLES AT OXLEY MANOR
Nadine was so nervous she could hardly walk. She couldn’t believe no one had guessed her condition. She’d spent the evening being sick and hadn’t drunk so much as a sip of the champagne Willa had shown up with. But everyone had their own problems. For all Byon’s bravado, they knew he was terrified of moving to big, bad London and trying to make it on his own. Nicky was going to be left with his father—and Diana. Nadine wondered if she’d be able to return for that loveless marriage ceremony. Would they have a cake that was a replica of what they were actually marrying? Of Oxley Manor?
Laughter brought the nausea up and she halted to swallow it down. As she started walking again, she wished she knew where everyone was so she could stay out of sight. If any of them saw her and Sean together this late at night, they’d hurry to tell the others. They’d be gleeful at finding out that Nadine, who her rich father often called his princess, was in love with the low-class groomsman. All the snide, hateful things Byon had said about the man! Nadine had always pretended to laugh, but she did what was necessary to keep her father from finding out the truth.
When she’d told Sean she was pregnant, she’d braced herself for his anger. But he’d been ecstatic. He’d whirled her around as though they were a young married couple and everything was wonderful. When she’d told him her father would probably disown her, he’d hadn’t blinked an eye. He’d assured her that they’d be fine—and she had believed him.
They’d made their plans to run away on the last night and it was all in place.
She clutched at her heavy handbag. It was oversize and packed full. Even the wide straps were stuffed to the point of being lumpy.
She hadn’t dared tell Sean, but for the last month she’d been collecting jewelry. She’d gathered all she had, all that had been her mother’s and all she could coax her father into buying for her. He’d grumbled about the expense but he didn’t really mind. What else was he going to spend his money on but his daughter?