Death Takes a Holiday (30 page)

“
Was she the type of woman to leave her children?”

“No,
” Wellington said emphatically. “Absolutely not. She wanted to be a mother more than anything in the world. Ellen wouldn’t have left and she would never have written letters criticizing and demeaning her eldest son. Only Victor would have done that.” Wellington’s hands clinched. The muscle in his jaw began to throb. “That’s how I knew the letters didn’t come from her. She never would have been so cruel to the boy. Never.”

“Were you there when she disappeared?”

He looked back at the window, voice rough with emotion he said, “No. My career was just taking off and I’m afraid I had lost touch with her shortly after her engagement to Victor. I didn’t find out she was missing until many years later.” The natural timbre of his voice, deepened with emotion. “Far too late to save her, unfortunately.”

“If you are so convinced he murdered his wife, why would you continue to take his cases?
”

“
So, I could keep investigating,” he said harshly. “As long as we remained friendly then I was allowed in his inner circle. I had to wait for him to slip up.” Wellington scowled. “He never did. I think he knew that I knew. He liked playing with me. Toying with me. Year after year. I thought I almost had him, too but . . .” Closing his eyes, he took a deep steadying breath in an attempt to reign in his emotions.

“I have just one more question. I
s Lucas your son?”

Wellington
opened his eyes and smiled. “We really need to talk about your future, Kyle.”

*

Sara affectionately pulled Steve’s hand away from the bandage on the back of his head. “Would you stop that?”

“It itches,
” Steve complained with a grin. He looked up as Grace approached their table. “Hi ya, Gracie. Have you met Sara Michaels? We used to work together at the agency.” He lifted a cheese sandwich to his mouth and took a bite.

Grace decided it couldn’t hurt to play along. “Really?” she asked
, sliding into the empty chair next to Sara. She unscrewed the cap to her bottle of water and took a drink.

Steve nodded. “I’m sorry that we couldn’t tell you earlier. She was under cover. I knew all along, though,” he said
, over a mouth full of a cheese sandwich.

“No
, you didn’t,” Sara teased.

“Oh, all right
, I didn’t,” he admitted, “but you look so different from last year.” He looked at Grace again. “What have you been up to?”

She told him about her conversations with Lucas and Tracy.
Specifically how they both denied having an affair with one another.

“They lied to you,” he said quickly.
“I know for a fact that they were together that July before the guest house burned. I found a hotel receipt and a clerk who was able to identify their pictures.”

“Maybe so, but that was in July,” Grace argued. “What makes you think they were in the guest house, Christmas Eve?”

“Because the building didn’t completely burn to the ground,” Steve explained patiently. “I went in there after the fire department left. I don’t care what she says. She wasn’t in there by herself. I found champagne bottles, two glasses, and burnt scraps of her negligée on the floor and tons of candles. Tracy had made a nice little love nest in that guest house. It had to have been Lucas. He was there in that house that night. He’s the one who carried her out.”

“So,” Grace said playing devil’s advocate
, “he saw the fire from his room in the main house and rushed to her rescue. It doesn’t mean they were together. Both Meredith and Parker say they saw Lucas run out of the main house around the time of the fire.”

Steve dropped the rest of his cheese sandwich onto his plate. “
Yeah, he ran out to be with Tracy. It’s just a coincidence that the fire started right then. That wasn’t the first night she had a rendezvous, either. Jack told me that every time Robert went out of town, Tracy would disappear into the guest house. The night of the fire, he got curious. So, he snuck in to see who was in there with her. He was just climbing the stairs when he heard someone in the laundry room. He got scared and ran out. Before he did, he said he heard a man and a woman laughing. It had to have been Lucas and Tracy.”

Grace
shook her head. “What caused the fire?”

“Someone doused some rags in
the laundry room with gasoline,” Sara said.

St
eve opened his mouth to speak, but quickly snapped it shut. His face lit up with an animated grin. “Wait a minute. Meredith told you that she saw Lucas leave?”

Grace nodded.

Steve excitedly turned toward Sara. “See, I knew it. I bet you anything, Meredith followed Lucas to the guest house and set it on fire when she realized he was in there with Tracy.”

Grace and Sara both looked up over Steve’s shoulder at the same time.
“Steve,” they said simultaneously. Meredith had just entered the dining car and was standing behind him in opened mouthed shock.

Steve was too excited to hear the warning in their voices.
“Don’t you see? It fits. She tried to kill them that night and then planted the gasoline in Jack’s room to make it seem like he did it, but she didn’t realize she had an audience. Robert saw her set the fire.”

“Steve!” Grace said a bit louder.

“I knew it,” Meredith hissed. “I knew you would try to blame this on me, you idiot!”

Steve turned around in shock.

“I had nothing to do with the fire or the murders. If you want the real killer, you should go have a chat with Felicity. She tried to kill Victor Kirby Christmas morning, not me!”

“
How do you know that?” Sara asked sharply.

Meredith glared at her. “Lucas
told me that she tried to string a trip wire across the stairs, so that Victor would fall and break his neck.” She looked down at Grace. “You wanted to know why I didn’t stay with Lucas. That’s the reason. He knew she was going to kill his father and he did nothing to stop her.” She turned on her heel and walked back out of the car.

Steve winced. “
How long was she behind me?”

“Oh, long enough,” Sara said. “I better go tell Mr.
Wellington what she said. And here we thought Jack had made that little conversation up.” Giving his arm a gentle squeeze, Sara stood up and walked over to Wellington and Kyle who were apparently practicing on how to look inscrutable. They sat staring at each other, their fingers steepled under their chins.

Slightly bemused,
Grace waved at Kyle. He grinned back.

As soon as
Sara was gone, Grace leaned forward. “What plot was Meredith talking about?”

“Jack told me
before we left Christmas day that he overheard two people on top of the stairs outside his bedroom plotting to kill Victor.”

“So, that’s what Felicity and Robert were arguing about before dinner last night.” She looked at him thoughtfully. “Didn’t Jack know who they were?
”

“
He didn’t see them. He could only hear them whispering outside of his room. He said that he could barely understand them, but he was certain that he heard one of them say something about Victor falling and breaking his neck.”

“Why didn’t
you go to the police?”

“
With what? Mentally . . . Jack’s not all there and during that time he was getting worse. I couldn’t really trust that what he was saying was the truth and not something he dreamed up. I notified Victor just in case and warned him to be careful.” He grimaced. “He didn’t seem too worried.”

Grace replaced the cap to her water bottle and set it to her left.
“What happened the day Victor Kirby died?”

Steve looked up and painfully recounted everything that happened from his report to
Victor that morning to Parker’s accident in the truck. After he was done, he looked down at the table. “You know, growing up, all I ever wanted to be was a detective. I used to watch all those old TV shows, read every mystery I came across. My first book was about Sam Spade.” He looked over her shoulder at Kyle and Wellington. “Then I saw that TV movie about Mr. Wellington . . . I just wanted so much to become just like him.”

Grace
glanced over his shoulder at their table. Sara was standing next to Wellington, probably going over everything that Meredith had just said. She watched in amusement as Wellington and then Kyle tipped their heads back and gazed at the ceiling thoughtfully. “I think he’s giving lessons. You might want to head over there.”

Steve sadly shook his head. “I missed my chance. I think he likes Kyle, which is good.” Steve gave her a small smile. “You know, I never noticed until a few hours ago, how much Kyle reminds me of him. They even have the same mannerisms.”

“Yes, it’s quite the coincidence.”

Steve shook his head. “I’m not a detective. I thought I was once but . . .
. I have no idea what’s going on,” he admitted softly before looking over at Kyle’s table. “They’re the real detectives. I guess I was just fooling myself.”

“Steve,” Grace chided, “It was just one mistake.”

“That’s what Sara said last New Year’s. I still remember her face when I gave my report to Victor. She was horrified. She was really sweet though. She just kept telling me that it could have happened to anyone. I can’t believe I didn’t recognize her. I should have,” he said solemnly.

Grace smiled. Maybe there was hope for Steve after all.

“Although in my defense, she’s much hotter now.”

Maybe not. “That’s not a defense. That’s an indictment.”

Steve looked at her in confusion. “What? What did I say?”

CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR

Grace looked out
the window and shivered. Nothing, but darkness surrounded the train. “So, what did Wellington have to say about Ellen Kirby?”

Kyle
lay down on his bed and filled her in on their conversation.

“I guess Felicity was telling the truth then.
That’s a shock.” Grace picked up Meredith’s suitcase and moved it out of the way. “Did Sara tell you about Meredith and her little outburst?”

Kyle
nodded. “Meredith didn’t hear it herself. Lucas could have lied to her.”

“It may not mean anything. Apparently, Victor Kirby didn’t die from a fall down the stairs.”
Grace sat down next to him. “What did Wellington think about it?”

“He quoted Shakespeare and sent Sara off
to question Meredith some more.” Kyle turned to his side. Trailing his fingers over the back of her hand, he said, “I feel bad for Wellington. I think he loved Ellen very much. It must have been killing him all these years, solving mystery after mystery, but never the one that truly mattered to him.”

“
Hmm. Maybe he got tired of waiting and decided to take Victor Kirby out himself.” She looked at Kyle curiously. “I thought you were convinced he wasn’t a real detective.”

“I
’m still convinced,” he said, lifting her hand off the bed and studying her fingertips. He rubbed his thumb across the back of her hand. “I’m just saying his legend is more myth than reality.” He brought her fingers up to his lips and gently kissed each one.

Grace closed her eyes.

“Guess what?” Kyle asked. “He offered me a job.”

“
What?” she asked, distracted by what he was doing to her fingers.

“A job.”

His words finally registering, Grace reluctantly pulled her hand away from him and looked down. “You’re kidding?”

Kyle sat up and leaned against the headboard. “
I get a base pay, plus a percentage of what business I bring in.”

“When would you start?”

“Immediately.”

“You realize that—not counting Jack—there’s a one in seven chance he’s a murderer, don’t you?”

“Yes, but there’s a seven in one chance that he’s not. You heard Parker. You can’t be too picky in today’s job market.” Noticing the worried expression on her face, he added softly, “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Grace smiled
in relief. “You turned him down?”

“No. I told him that he had to offer you a job, too.”

Grace stood up, turned around and sat down on Steve’s bed. “Oh gee, thanks. What did he say?”

“Well, at first no
, but I finally convinced him to take you on.”

“Good. Now you can try to convince me.”

“It’s three times the amount of money you’re making back home.”

“He could be a cold-blooded murderer.”

“A month’s worth of vacation and sick time.”

“He may have killed
two people in the last twentyfour hours—perhaps more.”

“But he might not have
,” Kyle quickly pointed out. “He has an office in Hawaii,” he said in a cajoling sing-song voice.

“Really?” Grace shook her head. “No. I don’t exactly feel comfortable working for a suspect. How did you convince him to hi
re me, too?”

“I told him how it was really you who figured out who killed Crystal, Lily and the others
. He was really impressed.”

“
Oh, I’m sure he was. When did he make this offer to you?”

Kyle stood up. “About the time I asked him if Lucas was his
son.”

“Lucas?” Grace asked in surprise. “Where did you get that idea?”

“Well, we know Lucas isn’t Victor’s son and that Ellen and Wellington had been in love at one time. They’re the same height. They have the same build. The same coloring.”

“What did
Wellington say when you asked him that?”

“He told me that I’m an excellent interviewer and he would really like it if I would come to work for him.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Grace said sarcastically. “You didn’t actually believe him, did you?”

He looked at her in irritation. “Hey, you’re the one who told me I could learn something from him.”

“That’s when I thought he was legitimate. Did it occur to you that he’s trying to bribe you?”

“Yes, it occurred to me,” he said patiently, “which tells me, he’s not a murderer. If he was, he would have tried to kill me instead. Besides, he’s a professional—”

“Just a few hours ago you were accusing him of being a fraud?”

“B
ut that was before I realized how brilliant the man is.”

“At being a fraud?”

“Yes, which is why I don’t think he’s the killer. It’s too risky. He’s built up this wonderful empire, so I doubt he’s going to murder a former client sitting a few feet away and make himself one of the suspects.” Reaching for her hands, Kyle smiled at her worried face. “Don’t worry, if he’s guilty, I’ll hand him over to the police, but if he’s not . . . .” Kyle pulled her up and twirled her around the cabin. “Why don’t we go to the kitchen and get something to eat? I feel like celebrating.”

She pulled on his hands. “Not yet. I think I may be close to figuring this out.”

Kyle’s brows lifted in surprise. “Yeah?”

Grace nodded. “Let’s talk with Felicity. See what really happened last Christmas.”

*

Felicity shuddered. “What a horrible day. Someone took a shot at poor Parker that morning.” She laid a hand against Parker’s cheek. “He almost died.”

“No
, I didn’t,” Parker said. “It was just a scratch.”

“
You lost a couple pints of blood,” she said crossly before turning back to Grace. “I spent Christmas morning planning his funeral. Red roses. Nothing but red roses. I was going to have his body shipped back home, of course. I couldn’t decide if I should bury him in the family mausoleum at the cemetery or in the backyard with my great-great grandparents.”

Parker’s eyes widened.
“You seem to have put a lot of thought into it.”

Felicity nodded. “Oh, well.” She patted his knee. “All in all, I’d rather have you here.”

“Do you have any idea who shot you Christmas morning?” Kyle asked.

“Haven’t got a clue,” Parker said.

“Of course,” Grace said, nodding her head. “Why am I not surprised? Where were you when you got shot?”

“I was
outside near the guest house,” Parker said.

“Anyone with you?”
Grace asked.

“No, it was early in the morning.
”

Felicity made a face.
“I’m afraid, I was still asleep.”

Grace nodded.
“It must have been quite a shock to you when you woke up and discovered Victor had tried to kill Parker. Then again, maybe it wasn’t. After all, Victor tried to kill you the night before in the fire. Is that when you decided to kill him?”

Parker
’s and Felicity’s eyes grew wide. Felicity shook her head. “Now, wait—”

“We know you tried to kill him that morning,” Kyle said. “For some reason
, you didn’t succeed, so you tried again a week later.”

Parker leaned forward
, hurriedly speaking over Felicity. “Felicity didn’t kill anyone—”

“Oh,
” Grace said quickly, “so you’re the one—”

“No!
” Seemingly shocked by her own outburst, Felicity blinked heavily before taking a deep breath. “Okay, you’re right, I did try to kill Victor,” she admitted reluctantly, “but I didn’t get to him in time. Someone killed him before . . .” She grimaced slightly.

“Before he drank the poison
you had put into his glass?” Grace guessed.

Felicity didn’t answer. She just looked to her feet and shook her head.

Grace turned to Parker. “What about you?”

“I wanted him dead
, but I didn’t kill him, either.”

“No, but you did something to
Victor’s truck, didn’t you?” Grace asked, remembering Steve’s description of how insistent Parker had been on driving that night. “That’s why you refused to let anyone drive.”

“I cut the brakes
,” Parker said, “and jumped out before the truck slammed into the gates.”

Felicity gasped. “That’s why—”

Parker nodded.

“If you knew the man was trying to kill you, why didn’t you go to the police?”
Kyle asked.

“I did!
” Felicity said. “Several times, but we had no proof and Victor Kirby had a lot of friends in very high places. He had convinced them that I was crazy. No one would believe me. I was so scared that I even thought about running away.”

“Why didn’t you?” Grace asked.

“What good would it have done? Ellen tried to run away and Victor told me that she didn’t get very far. I knew that as long as Victor lived, I was a dead woman . . . but I didn’t kill him,” she said softly.

“Then who did?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know,” Felicity said. “I just know that I didn’t and neither did Parker.”

“
Could it have been Lucas?” Grace asked. “We know you two had been plotting to kill Victor together.”

“Lucas?” Felicity asked. “I d
on’t know what you’re talking about.”

Grace glared at the other woman. “He told Meredith what you were doing on the staircase.”

“And we know Jack overheard two people plotting to kill Victor Kirby that morning.”

“
But it wasn’t Lucas! . . . I’m telling you the truth!” Felicity said outraged when it appeared they didn’t believe her. “It wasn’t him.”

“Then how did he know what you were up to?” Grace asked.

“Robert must have told him!”

“Robert?” Kyle asked in surprise.

“
I was stringing a wire across the staircase when Robert caught me,” Felicity admitted grudgingly. “I started crying. I told him everything. All about the threats, the attempts on my life, how Victor had killed his mother, and threatened to do the same to me.”

“How did Robert react when you told him what his father did
to Ellen?” Grace asked.

“
Robert in many ways reminded me of his father. Sometimes he could be so cold and practical. Not hot headed like Lucas. Robert convinced me that I should wait one more day. He was going away on a business trip and didn’t want to be present when Victor died. Not because he cared about Victor, but because he wanted to make sure he had an alibi all set, just in case someone suspected him.”

“But
you didn’t kill him the next day,” Kyle said. “What happened?”

Felicity huffed. “
I’m not naïve. For all I knew, Robert was planning to squeal on me as soon as he returned from his trip.” She smiled in remembrance. “He was a bit cross with me when he returned home a few days later and discovered that Victor was still alive. Robert wanted Victor dead just as much as I did, but expected me to do all the work. I told him that I had changed my mind and if he wanted Victor dead then he would have to do it himself. I’m just not a murderer.” Felicity dabbed at her dry eyes.

“But you ended up trying to poison him a week later,” Grace pointed out.

“But he didn’t drink it,” Felicity said quickly. “You can ask Asa, the glass was full. Victor hadn’t even touched it. I doubt it would have killed him anyway. I was shaking so hard when I put the poison in I spilled most of it in the sink. I then worried that he’d be able to taste it, so I tried watering it down. I don’t know who killed him, but it wasn’t me.” She exhaled dramatically. “Victor Kirby left a trail of pain everywhere he went. Anyone could have killed him.” She nudged Parker with her elbow. “Tell them.”

Parker
leaned forward conspiratorially. “I caught that Sara girl with the book.”

“The book?” Grace asked.

“You know,” Felicity said, “the nursery rhyme book.”

“
When was this?” Kyle asked.

“
About an hour or two ago,” Parker answered. “She tried to cover it up with her coat, but I know it was the book.”

“First
, she commits adultery with my husband and now . . .” Felicity clucked her tongue. “And she seemed like such a sweet girl. A bit homey. Not at all Victor’s type. Although she has improved quite a bit this last year.”

“I almost didn’t recognize her,” Parker said.
“She’s quite stunning now.”

Felicity’s eyes narrowed to slits. “It’s a pity she felt the need to change so dramatically.” She lifted a hand to her face. “Thankfully, I was blessed with good genes.”

“And a good doctor,” Parker said.

Felicity ignored him.
“I’m sure that poor child was just simply humiliated when Victor broke it off with her.”