by Mary Birk
Reid’s experience with eagles was limited. He’d agreed to board the golden eagle in exchange for the raptor center’s trainer’s promise she would help him learn how to work with this challenging bird. Unfortunately, he’d had his head up his arse because of Anne’s pregnancy and hadn’t made arrangements for the training, although he’d done a great deal of reading on the subject. But reading and doing were two distinctly different things.
This particular eagle, he remembered, had been trained to hunt but then had been turned over with his mate to the raptor center when their owner was killed in an automobile crash. He wished he knew more about the eagle’s training and personality. Reid was fairly certain the eagle hadn’t been trained to come to a stick. Many eagle trainers disdained the practice, but it would have made what Reid needed to do easier. He thought of the films he’d seen of golden eagles hunting—one in particular in which the eagle ruthlessly took a young mountain goat off a cliff. He took a deep breath. There was nothing for it but to go forward. He could not leave Stone’s body here unprotected.
He went into the workshop and donned a long protective leather glove for his arm. The eagle wouldn’t have been fed yet, Reid knew. That would be helpful, as the bird would be more willing to come to him for his reward. The male eagles were actually smaller and less ferocious than the females, Reid remembered, grateful for small favors. He went to the refrigerator where the meat was kept for the eagle’s meals. He placed the meat in the eyrie and opened the door wide. He raised his arm, and whistled the command he’d used before for his own birds, hoping this eagle had been similarly trained.
A loud whoosh vortexed down and filled the room. Reid braced himself for the impact. He exhaled, steadying himself as the great bird settled on his arm. “Hello, there.”
The eagle glowered at him.
“Fancy some breakfast?”
He slowly put the eagle in its enclosure and signaled it to eat. Reid closed the cage, and almost instantly, the rest of the Falcon House’s inhabitants settled down while the eagle eagerly began pulling apart and devouring his food.
Reid let his attention go back to Jeremy Stone’s collapsed body. Still not the time to mourn. A killer had been here and could still be nearby. Indeed, he could be inside Dunbaryn. A chill went through him with the thought that his family, his wife, his child, could be in danger.
He locked the padlock after shutting the big door and started to cross back over to the house when a police car drove up, crunching through the snow, followed by a body van.
Come to get one body, they would leave with two.
Chapter 50
REID PUT DOWN the receiver. “I’m afraid have to make another trip out later. The local police want to examine the scene before Jeremy Stone’s body is moved.”
John Toole, the medical examiner, sat across from Reid at the desk in the library, drinking a cup of coffee and eating a scone. He’d packed Lady Flora’s body in the van and come back inside to wait while Reid checked with Inverness on how they wanted to proceed. This wasn’t the first time Toole had been at Dunbaryn, but it was the first time it involved his professional calling. The Earl invited the local law enforcement and affiliated professionals up each year for an annual shoot.
“That’s all right. It’s probably best for me to not have two bodies in the van at the same time. Less opportunity for cross contamination. When do they expect to get here?” He gazed idly out of the ice encrusted windows behind Reid.
“Later this afternoon. Apparently they’ve had a busy time down there and weren’t expecting us to come up with another body, this one obviously a murder.”
“I’m guessing you’re thinking now Lady Flora didn’t die of natural causes?”
Reid nodded. “Too much of a coincidence. Besides, I think you’re going to find she had more insulin in her than she could have accidentally dosed herself with.”
“If she did it accidentally.”
“If,” Reid conceded.
“Good job getting the eagle put away before he did any damage to the body. Any idea how it got out?”
“I’d guess it was let out by whoever killed Stone.”
“At least the eagle didn’t come to any harm.” Toole drained his cup, then stood up. “I’d best be going. Please thank Lady Wynstrathe for the coffee and scones.”
“I will. When do you think the autopsy will be?”
“I can get to Lady Flora tomorrow. And to the other one, as well, if we get the body back by tonight, and barring a sudden outbreak of suspicious deaths in Inverness.”
“Can you give me a call after with results?” Reid walked outside with the medical examiner, not bothering to get his coat. “I’ll make sure the local constabulary is on board with you sharing the information with me. I don’t want them to think I’m overstepping my bounds, but I’m worried about the safety of my family and our guests.”
“Rightly so, I’d say. I’ll call. I don’t imagine they’ll have any objection, Lord Reid.” He opened the driver’s door of the van. “Beastly thing to happen at Christmas.”
“Especially for the victims’ families.”
“Indeed. Speaking of families, on a happier note, I heard you have a son. The Earl must be delighted.”
Apparently the locals had been wondering when he was ever going to come up with an heir. “Yes, in the midst of all this, he’s a ray of sunshine.”
*****
“George, let me get you a whiskey.” The library fire was burning steadily; although to Reid the chill in the room came less from the temperature than from the events of the past two days.
The older man didn’t try to hide his grief, but let his face show all the emotion he had in him. He nodded and took a chair.
Reid poured them each a drink. “Did Rafe know about the two of you?”
“I don’t think so. She hadn’t told him, at least not as of Friday night.”
He handed George his glass and sat down with his own. “Had you two discussed her getting divorced?”
“Constantly. I’ve been begging her to make the decision, get it done with, and she finally had. We were planning on remarrying as soon as she thought Lance would be able to accept it. She was going to tell Rafe after Lance went back to university. She told me Stone was bringing the papers for her to sign. It was her Christmas present to me.”
“When was the last time you two talked?”
“The night before she died. She came to my room. Her husband slept in the room next to her, not with her, so she could come to me without him knowing. She would just lock her door so he couldn’t come in and see she was gone.”
“They didn’t . . .”
George shook his head. “Not for a long time, she said. He was never interested in that after she had Lance. She said if they had sex twice a year, it was a big year. And not since us.”
“When was that?”
“Last summer. When we started working on all this estate planning business.”
“All these years, nothing?”
“Nothing. I only saw her when we dealt with the children. But I was in love with her. Mad at her, but in love with her. That was what I was telling you about—warning you about.”
Just two nights ago, thought Reid. A lifetime ago. “That night, did you two meet?”
He nodded. “When I saw you, I was just waiting for it to be the time when she would come to my room. Just reading and waiting for her. It was like when we were young. We couldn’t get enough of each other. I kept her up all night, so she slept late in the mornings.”
“She wasn’t despondent?”
“Absolutely not. She wouldn’t have killed herself when we were so close to being together again, not after all those wasted years. She said she’d always loved me and that she’d gone through with the divorce and married Kensington because I didn’t ask her not to go.”
“How did she think Rafe would take the news of her wanting a divorce?”
“She wasn’t sure. He seemed to think of her as p
art of the accoutrements of his organized life, but she didn’t think he loved her. The money was important to him. We knew she would have to make a settlement on him, but she was willing to do that. Fortunately, I’ve done well, and we wouldn’t even feel the financial effects of her buying him out of the marriage.”
“You never saw any sign he suspected?”
George shook his head. “You saw the argument the other night. He believed our charade about being at odds with each other. We stretched out the negotiations so we could have more excuses to be together. Most of the time we were actually in bed at Greenebrae. That was our home, you know. Her gardens, the ones she was talking to Anne about. She was going to be back there with me.” He put his head in his hands. “We were together every night while we were here. God, I’m so thankful now for that time we had together.”
“What about at the party? Did he seem jealous of you two dancing together so much?”
“No, he was upset, but I don’t think he was jealous. He just wanted his wife to act sedate, not have attention drawn to her. But Flora’s dancing was so good, people did watch her.” He sighed. “A woman like that needs to be loved, needs to have fun. I’ll never forgive myself for having let her go to him.”
“Was Flora diabetic when you were married?”
“Yes, ever since she was about fourteen.”
“Had she ever had any incidents of accidental insulin overdose before?”
“Never. She was careful, and then she switched to using the pump so it would regulate her as she needed it. I can’t imagine why she would also have used injections. She’d been so happy to get rid of that chore. When we were married, I used to do it for her when I could. Perhaps her pump wasn’t working?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she have it on?”
“Yes.” Reid paused. “George, do you think there’s any chance anyone else could have injected extra insulin into her?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean deliberately, and without her knowing it.”
“To kill her?”
Reid nodded. “It wasn’t an accident. It was either suicide or murder. You don’t accidentally inject that much insulin into yourself and leave an insulin pump on too.”
“Who would do that?” George’s face darkened. “Kensington. Stone was bringing the divorce papers for Flora to sign. Kensington must have found out.”
“We don’t know that.”
“She was changing her will as well.”
“How do you know that?”
“She told me.”
“Do you know if she’d actually done it?”
“I don’t know. I know she was close to having everything finished.”
“George, Flora sent me a note before she was killed. She wanted to meet with me after luncheon. Do you know what she wanted to talk to me about?”
“I think so.”
“What was it?”
“Miranda. She wanted to warn you about how fragile she is, and about how upset she is about you and your wife’s reconciliation.”
Reid frowned. “Are you sure that’s all it was?”
“That’s what she told me.”
“Miranda was overheard threatening to kill Flora if she told me something. Do you know what that something was?”
George looked away. “Miranda’s fragile. When you broke things off before, she fell apart. We had to put her into hospital—a private rehabilitation place actually.”
Reid tried to make sense of what he was hearing. “Miranda couldn’t have thought things were that serious between us.”
“Perhaps she’d deceived herself that it was more. As she has this time as well, apparently.”
“George, I don’t understand. Miranda didn’t want Flora to tell me she’d been in hospital? That just doesn’t seem to be something to warrant threatening to kill her mother.”
“Maybe you should ask Miranda. It’s not my secret to tell.”
“Secret?”
“She’s going to have to tell you herself.” George raised himself from the chair. “I’ll try to encourage her to do so, but I’m not making any promises.”
Reid watched as the man left, not sure if he wanted to know Miranda’s secret.
Chapter 51
REID FINALLY reached Harry Ross on his mobile. He could hear street noise on the other end of the call.
“Sorry, I missed your call, guv. I turned my phone to vibrate, then I had to get out of earshot of anyone else so I could call back.”
Reid quickly briefed Harry on what had gone on at Dunbaryn, then gave him an assignment.
“Can you work on this today?”
“Aye.”
“Let me know as soon as you find out anything.”
“Right you are, guv.”
“Anything on Pooley?”
“We got his medical records. He had a drug problem a few years ago. Cocaine. He was hospitalized and seems to have been clean ever since. Maybe he went back to it.”
“He was in rehab?”
“In a private facility, Frost’s. The place where the rich go to get better.”
The name sounded familiar. “It’s expensive, is it?”
“Aye. You’ve seen it mentioned in the news, I’m sure. Celebrities favor that place.” There was a pause. “If I remember correctly, Stirling’s playmate, Felicity, went there a few years back after she collapsed on stage. Wasn’t eating, I think. Staying fashionably thin by starving or something like that.”
Reid wondered if it was a coincidence that Pooley and Felicity ended up living in the same building in Glasgow.
“I’ll look into that.”
“I’ll volunteer for that one, guv.”
“I’ll handle it.”
“No fair. I have to talk to all the common folk and you keep the goddesses for yourself.”
“Life’s not fair.”
“I’m a witness to that. Let me know if you change your mind. I’ll get my best suit pressed just in case you decide to be fair.”
“I promise not to enjoy it.”
“What a waste.”
“Keep me updated on what you find on your end. Sorry to keep coming up with more work over the holiday.”
“Harder for you, I’d guess, to have two deaths in your family’s home. Your holiday gets worse instead of better, it seems.”
“Parts of it, not all.” Reid hesitated, then added, “My wife says to tell you hello. She wants to have you over to the house for tea soon. She says she’ll bake another chocolate cake.”
Harry laughed, and Reid knew he’d understood. “Tell Lady Anne I hope she’s not entertaining a murderer next time.”
“Aye, I’ll tell her.”
*****
Jeremy Stone’s murder put a different light on Flora’s death, making a stronger case for the proposition that her death hadn’t been a suicide. Just too much of a coincidence. Had the man perhaps seen something or known something that got him killed? Stone said he was meeting with Flora about her estate planning. But if what George said was true, Stone had lied about that, or at least not told the whole truth. He’d not mentioned he’d been bringing divorce papers to Flora as well.
Feeling for the key for Stone’s room in his pocket, Reid went down the long corridor to where the room was located. He unlocked the door and turned on the light switch, after first slipping on a pair of disposable gloves. The room was well ordered, its tailored brown and green furnishings almost undisturbed. Jeremy’s suitcase sat open on a luggage stand, his things neatly packed inside. Next to the luggage stand, on the floor, stood a briefcase. Everything pointed to Jeremy being ready to leave as soon as the roads were passable. Presumably he’d not felt his privacy was at risk at Dunbaryn, because the briefcase wasn’t locked.
Reid carefully went through the contents of the briefcase. He found documents relating to his parents’ estate planning and adding provisions for Michael, documents relating to a purchase of the assets of another distillery that appe
ared to have been prepared for his father and Haney’s review, and an appointment book. True to his word, Stone appeared to have burned the annulment documents. Reid felt selfishly thankful. He would have hated to have those private documents end up in a crime scene review. But also missing was anything related to Flora Kensington. Not one single piece of paper.
Maybe she’d still had the documents in her possession when she died. He locked Stone’s room and went down the hall to room Flora had occupied. Things were quiet at this end of the house. As he passed, a young housemaid acknowledged him shyly. He couldn’t remember her name or actually if he even knew it. She was new, maybe since the last time he was here.
“Can I help you, my lord?”
“No, thank you. Have we met?”
“No, my lord. I’m Alice.”
“Guid to meet you, Alice.”
“You’re going to Lady Flora’s room?”
He nodded. “Did you take care of that room?”
“Yes, my lord.” He could tell from her face she wanted to say something else.
“Anything you’d like to tell me?”
She nodded. “Actually, yes, my lord. I didn’t want to bother anyone if it wasn’t important.”
“I’d like to hear it, Alice.”
“Her son was in her room when she was downstairs with the Countess. The afternoon of Christmas.”
“Which son?”
“The young one. I walked in to straighten things for her, as she liked to have done between times she had to get ready to go downstairs.”
Reid knew this wasn’t a service to which the guests were entitled and that the servants who did the extra favors were rewarded by tips from the guests, a practice not opposed by his mother unless it interfered with the staff’s regular duties.
“What was he doing?”
“Going through her desk. He was reading some of her papers when I came in.”