A Forgotten Murder

by Jude Deveraux

“How old are his daughters?”

  “Ten and eleven.”

  “They’re young. It’s been over twenty years, so he waited a long time before he married. Why don’t you go buy his kids some gifts, something electronic, then show up as yourself? Tell the truth about your company. Invite him to tea.”

  “Nadine’s still in there.” Willa sounded defeated.

  “Only you think she’s so beautiful that men fall down in lust for her.”

  “You’re the one who should worry. She’s after Jack.”

  “That’s because he looks like Sean. You left early this morning. Did you happen to have a work emergency?”

  “How did you know that?” Willa sounded angry. “If you’re tapping my phone—”

  “We’re not. What is the emergency?”

  “Some woman in Manchester wrenched her back. She’s in hospital and I better go see her. Maybe I can prevent a lawsuit. I’ll be back before I’m missed.”

  “Not possible,” Kate murmured, then said louder, “Tell me something about the night of the party that no one else knows.”

  “I...” She took a breath. “I think Clive saw everything.”

  “He told you that?”

  “No. I, uh, I kind of followed him when he went outside. There was a fight. Loud voices. I was too drunk to know who it was. Clive was... I think maybe he was hiding from me.”

  “In the stables?”

  “Not sure. I think—” The door to the office opened and Nadine came out. Immediately, Willa turned and hurried down the street, not wanting to be seen.

  “Who was that?” Nadine asked.

  “She was asking for directions. Did you see a lawyer?”

  “Yes, he wrote my father’s will. Everything was left to me and I’m to take care of Teddy.” Nadine gave a look of disgust. “No debts but no money either.”

  “Your father used a lawyer from a small village?”

  “Yes. Edward Terran. I always did like him.”

  “Willa mentioned him.”

  Nadine gave a little laugh. “I forgot about that. They used to walk around the estate together. He was a great history buff and loved to explore. He’s the one who got Bertram to fence off the conservation area.”

  “Before or after Sean and Diana disappeared?” Kate snapped.

  “I don’t remember. No, wait. I was about thirty months pregnant—at least it felt that way—and Dad came to visit my husband and me. He’d been to Oxley and had news. I remember he said Bertram caring about the birds was odd and it must have been for a tax break. I was too miserable with my body to listen much but I do remember that.”

  “What’s the lawyer like?” Kate asked.

  “Not bad. He’s kept himself in shape. Let’s just say that if I didn’t need money, I’d go out with him.”

  “Did he ask you?”

  “No. Not even close. Years ago, I tried, but for some reason, he liked Willa.”

  Who could imagine that? Kate thought. “Why did they break up?”

  Nadine shrugged. “Nicky and Byon didn’t want to lose her adoration—or the food she brought for us. Truffles cost a lot.” She smiled at Kate’s expression. “It was bad of us to break them up, but kids are a bitch, aren’t they? I need to go. See you later.”

  Kate watched her leave. They broke up what might have led to marriage and children, but it was dismissed with “kids are a bitch.”

  “You weren’t kids,” Kate said aloud.

  Across the road she saw Sara and Jack watching her out the pub window.

  If Kate’s mind hadn’t been on all that she’d heard from Willa and Nadine, she would have seen Clive sitting with Jack and Sara, and she probably wouldn’t have entered the pub again. Ever since Kate had heard their remarks about her being an “heiress,” she’d stayed away from him. The idea of someone wanting her for money was a new—and thoroughly despicable—idea. It made her have sympathy for Willa.

  But Clive saw her before she could escape so she went to them. Sara had a big bowl of what looked like bread pudding and another one of thick yellow cream. When Sara saw the look in her niece’s eyes, she ordered a second one.

  Kate and Clive greeted each other, then he said, “Who was the woman you were talking to? I couldn’t see her face but she looked good.”

  “She was asking me where she could buy gifts for her four kids.”

  Sara nearly choked, and Jack gave a cough to cover his laugh.

  “Too bad,” Clive said. “I’m between girlfriends right now.” He looked at Jack. “As I was saying, I’ll just pop down to London for the meeting, and I’ll be back in a jiff. You won’t even know I’ve been gone.”

  Kate rolled her eyes. He was going to return to a place where he was being treated as second-class? Leave his job so he could fill drink orders for Nadine and Byon? Not likely.

  “What’s everyone doing at the house?” Jack asked.

  Clive nodded toward the window. “You saw Nadine. She’s taking care of...you know.”

  “The funeral arrangements.” Sara was licking her spoon after every bite.

  “How are she and Teddy getting along now?” Kate asked.

  Clive gave a little smile. “Nadine wants to borrow the dress her daughter wore to dinner last night, but Teddy won’t part with it.”

  “Couldn’t she substitute paint for the dress?” Kate said.

  Clive laughed. “Nadine is going to London with me. We’ll leave early tomorrow morning. I’ll be back in the afternoon, but Nadine won’t be back until Sunday.” Clive kept his head down as he said this.

  “How’s Byon?” Jack asked.

  “He’s looking for something. I think it’s some music he wrote years ago. He said he left it with Nicky, which means it was probably used as a drinks coaster. But Byon is in the attic dumping boxes out.” Clive leaned forward. “I don’t know that woman, Isabella, but I think when she sees the mess he’s making, she may disembowel him.”

  “And she will use me to do it,” Sara murmured.

  Jack spoke up. “Was Mr. Howland there the night of the party?”

  “Party?” Clive said. “Oh, you mean the night... No, he wasn’t. He didn’t like any of us so he stayed away. I remember that Nicky was giving Nadine hell because she could have gone to Hawaii with her father. When Nadine said she wanted to be with us, Byon and Nicky booed her. They said she had some secret reason for wanting to miss a trip like that.” His eyes widened. “If Thorpe is Teddy’s father, I guess there was a big reason she canceled on her father.”

  “What did you see that night?” Kate said.

  “Nothing much.” Clive kept his eyes on his drink.

  “Weren’t you hiding from Willa?” Kate asked.

  Jack and Sara were watching her, realizing that she had new information.

  Clive looked serious. “I was always hiding from her. She was a true stalker, worse than Puck for sneaking around.” He looked up. “She’s different now. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something not the same about her.”

  “Such as?” Sara asked.

  “I can’t identify it. Or maybe I remember things differently. She used to have a look of ‘Please don’t hurt me.’ That seems to be gone now.”

  “What do you remember about the lawyer Willa liked?” Kate asked.

  “Eddie? Nice man. Very clever. He seemed a bit dull but he had a top-notch brain. One time I asked him why he spent so much time with someone like Willa.”

  “And what did he say?” Sara asked.

  “He said ‘passion.’ That inside her was a lot of passion and he liked that. Personally, I never saw it.” Clive looked at his watch. “I need to go. Tomorrow I have to make a sales pitch to some Asian billionaire about why he should put every penny he has with Coutts. Thanks for the drink. I’ll see you later.” He left quickly.

 
For a while they sat in silence. Kate and Sara finished their bowls of dessert while Jack drank another beer.

  “Whoever believes that any of them will return, raise her hand,” Jack said.

  Sara and Kate gave him looks of “get real.”

  “Let’s go.” Jack left money on the table. “I think we should talk about what we’re going to do.”

  They drove back to Oxley Manor in silence.

  Jack didn’t drive around the house as usual. Instead, he parked out of sight on the far side of the chapel. When they got out, Jack held up a big key.

  “Where did you get that?” Kate asked.

  “Stole it off the rack in the kitchen,” Sara said. “I noticed it was missing. If Mrs. Aiken discovers you took it, she’ll poison your food.”

  “I can take her on,” Jack said. “Maybe.”

  As they entered the chapel, they didn’t need to say that it was the only place they felt truly private. There were too many people wandering around in the house. People who put notes in camera bags and spread lies.

  Sara and Kate sat down while Jack stood.

  “So what are we going to do for these ungrateful bastards?” he asked.

  “If we continue, Bella may send Storm Troopers after us,” Sara said.

  “Doesn’t matter,” Kate said, “since they’re all going to leave. For a few hours, anyway. What a joke!”

  “Maybe your Clive has room in his car for three more,” Jack said. “We’ll ‘pop’ down to London with him.”

  “And never return,” Kate said.

  “Those idiots!” Sara said. “They have no idea how easily their lives could be ruined. Puck is so angry about all this she might tell the police about the skeleton.”

  Kate groaned. “If a skeleton is revealed, the English tabloids would ruin them. Their names will be all over the papers.”

  “As possible murderers,” Sara said.

  “But they’re keeping all the secrets to themselves,” Kate said. “Just doling out tiny bits now and then.”

  Jack gave a malicious little smile. “The tabloids will ask who did it. Was it Clive, who was being forced to marry a woman he couldn’t abide?”

  Sara smiled a bit. “Or Willa, who was fat and dowdy and looked down on? That’s not what the head of Renewal wants written about herself.”

  “Ha!” Kate said. “Willa is so ambitious she’d use it as an advertising campaign.”

  “Byon,” Jack said. “He...”

  Sara’s eyes lit up. “He loved Nicky and was about to lose him to Diana—”

  “Who loved Nadine,” Kate said.

  They couldn’t help laughing.

  “I would help them write it,” Sara said. “How will the Queen’s bank like a suspected murderer for an employee?”

  “Nadine will never get a husband,” Sara said. “And poor Teddy won’t be a lady but the daughter of a murder victim.”

  “Willa’s pristine yoga club tainted forever?” Kate said. “Her siblings will laugh at her.”

  “Which is the thing she most fears in the world,” Sara said. “If the police get involved, public pressure will make them arrest someone. It’s a coin toss as to who. All of them seem to have had motive and opportunity.”

  “If only they knew...” Kate said.

  “If only we didn’t know,” Jack said. “We’d be in Scotland now.” When he looked at Kate, his eyes told of his longing for a time with just the two of them.

  When Kate felt the blood rush to her face, she looked away.

  “That’s it,” Sara said softly. “We will tell them. No, we show them what’s at stake.”

  “You mean the photos?” Kate asked.

  “Yes.”

  They were silent as they thought about what she was saying.

  Jack sat down on a pew, his arms across the back. “They’re a selfish lot. They’ll turn on each other.”

  “Exactly,” Sara said.

  “How do we know who’s telling the truth?” Kate asked. “I could see Nadine saying, ‘I saw Clive shoot Sean. Now may I go see darling Lord Hazeldean?’”

  “Proof,” Jack said. “They have to show us proof of whatever they say.”

  “Like they have that,” Kate said. “They all ran away that night and never looked back.”

  “Which proves that they have secrets,” Sara said. “I bet Bella has a way to show photos on a big screen. Jack, you can set it up in here.”

  “Will your pictures show well blown up that size?”

  Sara looked like her head might explode. “My new Sony has 61 megapixels. I can blow it up for a billboard. It—” She broke off as Kate and Jack were smiling at her. “Brats!” she muttered.

  “What about Bella?” Jack asked. “Do we invite her or not?”

  “Not!” Sara said. “She could close down the place. She could—” She took a breath. “Bella is going to hate me.”

  “It’s not your fault. You didn’t hide a body.” Jack sounded dismissive. “So who’s going to do what? Kate, it’s your turn to deal with Mrs. Aiken. We’ll need food or they won’t show up.”

  “I think it’s Aunt Sara’s turn. That woman terrifies me.”

  “I need to choose photos and Jack is the IT guy. Looks like it’s you,” Sara said.

  Kate groaned. “At least she has the food Willa brought.” She looked at Sara. “If they’re all making preparations to leave, how do we get them to meet us here?”

  “Lie,” Sara said. “Say whatever you have to. Appeal to their giant egos.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Jack said. “Four o’clock this afternoon. Agreed?”

  The women nodded.

  * * *

  It took the rest of the afternoon to arrange everything—and everyone was true to form.

  Jack told Teddy he had some news about her father. That was enough for her. He flirted with Nadine and said he knew a few Florida millionaires. “Only M’s?” It took him a moment to know what she meant. “It’s Florida, not Nantucket. No billionaires available.”

  When Sara told Willa they’d found out something bad about Clive, she happily agreed to be there. “So much for revenge being dead,” Sara muttered.

  For Byon, she suggested they collaborate on something. Share the money. He protested that his schedule was full and he might not have the time. Sara shrugged, said, “Okay,” then turned away.

  “Four, is it?” Byon called after her.

  Sara kept walking. “Whatever.” She was smiling.

  Puck just asked when and where. She didn’t question them about what they were going to do.

  Clive was the most difficult, but that was understandable. He really and truly wanted to get away from all of them. With every minute that passed, the others were reverting to the way it had been when Nicky was alive. Sara had even seen Willa staring at Clive in that fascinated way that stalkers do. Silent, watching, their eyes blank.

  Jack set up the screen in the chapel, then taped cloth he’d found in a storage room over the windows. He didn’t want to chance an outsider seeing what they were about to show.

  “Everything ready?” Kate asked. “Do we tell them that the reasons they need to leave are lies?”

  “No,” Sara said. “We need as much urgency as we can get. Hurry up and do this so you can leave.”

  When Mrs. Aiken delivered the food, she looked at the screen and the blocked windows and said she was going to stay. Jack had to take her arm and lead her out.

  The others arrived after the food did.

  “What’s this about?” Clive asked. “I really do need to leave. My bank called again. If I don’t show up, they’ll get someone else.”

  Sara smiled. “They are threatening you because they know you’re the only one who can do the job. They need a numbers man who is charming. Who else is there?”

&nb
sp; Clive softened under the praise and went into the chapel and sat down.

  Nadine was next. “I do hope this doesn’t take long. I need to condition my hair.”

  “I have a product I bought on St. Helena. You’ve been there, of course?”

  “Certainly,” Nadine said.

  “Then you know what a center of beauty and luxury it is.” Sara had been to the remote island a couple of times. Luxurious, it was not. “I’ll give you a bottle.”

  Smiling, Nadine took a seat.

  When they were all in place, Jack stood before them. It had been agreed that he would lead the presentation—mainly because he’d nearly begged for the right. “Let me have at them. Please.”

  The Pack wasn’t much interested in what he was about to say. Their cups of tea and pretty plates full of sandwiches and cakes interested them more.

  Nadine looked at Sara. “Did you take some nice photos?” Her voice was patronizing and full of the singsong baby talk that people often used on older people. It was a tone that always sent Sara into a rage.

  Jack gave her a look to stay calm, then turned to the others. “Actually, these photos were taken by Kate and me. Sara wanted to go but since it meant rappelling down the sheer side of a hole in the ground, Kate and I said no.” His words were meant to see who reacted, but none of them did. They just looked at him, not much interested. “Please put your teacups down.”

  “Yes, of course,” Byon said. “We must give our attention to the show. Does it have music?”

  “Hope so,” Nadine said.

  Jack nodded to Kate and the first photo came onto the screen. It was of the skeleton.

  “A horror show,” Byon said. “How divine.”

  There were three more photos, then a pause. A picture of the watch with its inscription came on the screen. To Sean Thorpe. First Prize. 1991.

  A teacup crashed to the floor.

  “That was Sean’s,” Nadine cried out.

  The next photo showed a bony hand.

  The room was silent.

  Kate flipped through two more photos, then Puck turned on the light.

  Sara, Jack and Kate were watching the faces of the audience. They were all in a state of shock—but they couldn’t tell if it was from their discovering the death or from the death having been discovered.