CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The house, it appears, is empty save for me and Hazel. I didn't see Veronica leave with Horace, but I assume she's gone to the charity. Oliver, Alistair, and Lucas aren't home. I suppose Alistair has spirited them off to do something fun and irresponsible again. I really do need to get control of Lucas's schooling. I've allowed myself to become distracted. That's reasonable, of course, but if Lucas's work starts to slip, it will make people wonder just what I've been up to.

I decide to take a walk outside on the grounds. I don't admit to myself that I'm hoping to run into a certain someone, but deep down, I know exactly why I'm walking among the tall trees of the south woods.

In any case, Niall isn't really a suspect anymore. The description Dr. Chalmers gave matches Alistair, and even if he's lying, the Carltons have more motive than Niall does to want Minnie dead. I have a photograph showing Niall staring lustfully at her, but all men stare at beautiful women the same way. I can't assume he's a murderer simply because he likes to look at attractive young women.

And I need someone who will talk to me. The people who might have answers for me are either suspects or they're refusing to share what they know. Granted, Niall himself refused to share what he knew beyond a cryptic hint, but I'm growing desperate. I feel like I'm circling around the answer to this problem, but I can't quite reach it.

And I suppose I do take this personally. Aside from the guilt I still feel over losing Annie, it offends me that simply because the Carltons are wealthy they should be immune from prosecution. I should look into the police records of the case. I would love to know how they justified caving to Sebastian's refusal to allow the property to be searched.

It hits me for the first time that Minnie could be anywhere. I could have walked over her grave and not even known it.

I shiver and then curse. It only heightens my resolve to learn what happened. No one should die and then just be left to fade into memory!

Righteous Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

"Shut up, Annie."

"Shouldn't talk to yourself where others can hear you," a familiar voice interjects. "Might give 'em the wrong impression."

I spin around and see Niall a few yards behind me, hands in his pockets, insolent grin on his face. "And you shouldn't sneak up on women unawares," I fire back. "It might make them think you're a murderer."

"You don't think I'm a murderer," he says. "Else you wouldn't be here by yourself. You thought I was the last time, though, didn't you? Looked ready to bolt the moment I said boo."

I hesitate for a second, then admit the truth. "Yes. I considered the possibility."

Niall seems to think that hilarious. He throws his head back and laughs, a rough sound like the cackling of an old crow. When he recovers, he says, "Can't say I blame you. A proper girl like you probably took one look at me and knew I was no good. ‘Probably don't even wash himself proper,' you thought."

"You've made your point," I interrupt. "How foolish everyone is to judge you simply because you're an uncouth, rude, boorish, and unkempt man."

He thinks that is even more hilarious. This time, when he finishes laughing, he says, "And yet here you are coming to talk to me again. Pretty as you are, I can't think it's that you desire my company."

My eyes narrow. "Certainly not in that way."

"'Course not," he says. "Woman like you could have your pick of any number of gentlemen. So if it's not a cuddle you're looking for, I surmise you're hoping to learn something more from me about the missing girl."

"Yes. I know that last time you told me to keep my nose out of it—"

"And here you are with your nose buried deep inside the arse of the Cotswolds anyway."

I turn around and start walking away. He calls after me, "If you think I'm going to chase you and beg your apology, you're wrong."

I want nothing more than to leave him behind, but rude as he is, he could be my last chance to learn what I need. So although it galls me to my core, I turn back.

He grins at me, naked triumph in his face. I understand him now, I think. He is intelligent and successful, yet he will be nothing more than a cockroach to these people, and, since his manners are rough, he won't even receive credit for the intelligence and success he does possess.

And women all look at him with disgust. A perfectly understandable reaction, but one that no doubt hurts him as well. Perhaps I am wrong to dismiss him as a suspect.

I set that aside for now. It's still a very thin reason to suspect him, and I have much stronger reasons to suspect the Carltons.

"I am trying to bring justice to a young girl," I say. "One who whatever her faults hardly deserved to be wiped off the face of the Earth as though she didn't exist."

"Why?"

I blink in surprise. "What do you mean why?"

"It's a simple enough question."

My hackles rise again. "Why? Because it's not fair! She was kidnapped, probably murdered, and probably buried in an unmarked grave. She was a person with a life—loves, interests, dreams, desires—and all of that was tossed aside for… for what? Damn it, I don't even know why!"

"So what?"

"So… Niall, if you're going to be difficult just to be difficult, then I'll leave you right now."

"I think you're threatening yourself with that, not me. I'm perfectly content to live my life knowing that Minerva Montclair was probably kidnapped, murdered, and buried in an unmarked grave. So why aren't you?"

"Because I'm not a horrible person!"

"You're not a saint either. No more than anyone is. So why?"

I start to walk away again, and he says, "You came out here to ask me questions, but you won't answer mine? Tit for tat, Mary. That's how the world works for people that are equals, and that's what you and I are whether you care to admit it or not."

I whirl on him. "Because it offends me that people like the Carltons can kill someone and get away with it for no other reason than that they're wealthy."

"I'm sure it does, but I don't think that's why you've chosen Minnie as your pet crusade. There's plenty of people get offed by the wealthy and are never seen again. I daresay the Carltons have done no more than any other rich family and probably less than most. Do you go to every family you work for and try to dig up their skeletons?"

"I'm two for two so far," I say brittlely.

"Well, then I'd expect a short lifespan if I were you."

"Everyone dies. That's the short version of what you said, isn't it?"

"Lots of people get murdered by rich people who never suffer for it is what I said. But I want to know why you think that you should find out who—"

"Because my sister disappeared twenty-eight years ago, and I gave up on her."

My lower lip starts to tremble, and I lower my head. I don't want him to see me cry, though, so I lift it again and meet his eyes, forcing the tears to dry before they can fall. "Well, you've gotten your gossip," I say bitterly. "Now tell me what I want to know."

If it's any credit to him, Niall does look uncomfortable. I'm not sure what he expected me to say, but the confession about Annie was apparently different from his idea of my motives.

God, I hate that he forced that out of me! That's my business! Mine and no one else's! I'm sick of having people pry into my personal life!

The hypocrisy of that statement isn't lost on me and only serves to sour my mood. "If you've got nothing to say, at least do me the favor of letting me know so I can take my leave of you as fast as I possibly can."

"No, I'll say something," he replies, in a far more subdued voice than before. His hands are in his pockets, and he shuffles from side to side. "Thought you was just jealous."

"You thought I would investigate a murder because I'm jealous?"

"Well, I'm jealous. If my great-great-grandda' had had a smarter head for business, it might be me up in that pretty little house and not Sebastian Carlton."

I stare at him, not bothering to hide my disdain. "And you thought I was just as petty as you."

He lifts a wounded gaze to me and says, "I said I'd help. As much as I can, leastways. I'm sorry about your sister. If I'da known, I wouldn't have teased you."

I sigh and press my fingers to my temples. "Just tell me what you know."

"I know they were fighting. All of them. Before Minnie died, they were all fighting. She was fighting with Eliza and Oliver. Eliza was fighting with Oliver and Veronica. Oliver was fighting with Veronica too. They were all fighting with Rupert."

I lift my gaze to his. "Rupert? Rupert Chalmers? The doctor?"

"Aye, that's right. He came over a few times, and they were fighting with him too. Sebastian was fighting with everyone. I think he was more upset that they had brought scandal than he was about whatever that scandal was."

I think I have an idea . "And you have no idea why they were fighting?"

He shakes his head. "I never paid it mind until after Minnie went missing. To tell the truth, I thought it was another spat about something foolish, like whose dress was prettier or who got a better spot in the dining room at the Chateau Cotswold. I didn't consider it might be more serious until Alistair showed up."

My ears perk up. "Alistair? Why's that?"

"He's a shady one, that's why. He smiles and laughs and flops around like a jester, but he's a cunning one. He's managed to live off of their money for his whole adult life now, but I don't think he's living for free."

"You think the Carltons hired him to kill Minnie?"

"I don't think it was nothing so crude as that. I think they mentioned they had a problem and that they'd be grateful for the problem to go away. I think he saw his chance, flew over here, and took it. Mind you, that's all speculation. All I know for sure is that they were all fighting bad just before she died."

"This is very helpful," I say. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Miss Mary. I would warn you again to leave it alone, but I guess that you'll just ignore me."

"Yes. I'm afraid so."

He nods. Then his face hardens. "Well, then, leave me alone. I gave you what you wanted, and you gave me something I realize now I don't want. I despise the Carltons, but I love me life more, and being around you is unhealthy. So I'll take my leave and bid you good luck. God knows you'll need it."

He walks past me, leaving me to process the new information he's given me. It's not entirely new. I knew about Oliver and Eliza fighting with Minnie already.

But it supports the idea that the whole family had something to do with her disappearance. And while it's clearer now than before that Dr. Chalmers isn't innocent, it seems that he might have been right about Alistair after all.