English Trifle (14 page)

“So, to give Mrs. Land—the only person in the kitchen—an extra day off means that her not being here must be more important than her being here. Which must mean she knows something that would help us.”

“Or hurt someone else,” Breanna offered. Sadie looked to the side, smiling at her daughter. That was a good point. Perhaps the injustice of having Mrs. Land sent away had made an impact on Breanna—maybe she was catching the spirit. But the concerned look on her daughter’s face didn’t seem to reflect that at all. Rather, Breanna just looked worried. Sadie let out a breath, accepting that she might be in this alone after all.

They came out from the staff entrance and were coming around the Christmas tree when the sound of voices slowed their steps. They shared a look while Sadie stepped forward carefully, as close to the branches as possible without disturbing the needles of the tree. She crouched down enough to look through a space in the tree and could make out the profile of one of the chambermaids—Charlotte—standing to the side of the staircase, looking up into the face of someone Sadie couldn’t see. However, she recognized the voice.

“What time was this?” Austin asked. Sadie was surprised by the fact that his voice was not hard and cynical as it usually was; rather, he seemed quite calm—the kind of tone that would invite someone’s trust. Tricky.

“Around one-thirty,” Charlotte answered. “I had taken Master Liam his lunch around noon and was going back to pick up the tray. It wasn’t in the hall as I expected, and I was about to knock when I heard them through the door. Master Liam was very angry and told John Henry to leave.”

Sadie lifted her eyebrows. Liam certainly hadn’t said anything about that.

~ ~ ~

How did the argument end?” Austin asked.

“John Henry came storming out of the room,” Charlotte said. “I knew he’d be angry if he knew that I’d heard the argument, so I stepped into a doorway. Then Master Liam slammed the door. I waited another half an hour before I went and picked up the tray.”

“Did you tell any of this to the investigator?” Austin asked after a moment.

Charlotte shook her head. “I felt that it would be best to tell you, and proceed as you saw fit. I only told him what I told everyone else—that I took the tray at noon and picked it up at two.”

“I appreciate that, Charlotte,” Austin said. “Have you told anyone else?”

“No, sir,” Charlotte said. “Also, no one has seen Lacy—not since those ladies ran into the kitchen and Mrs. Land went upstairs.”

The ensuing pause lasted a few seconds, causing Sadie to strain toward whatever he might say next.

“I’ll look into it,” Austin told Charlotte. “It’s nearly time for dinner so you better go.”

Sadie took a step back. She had little doubt that as soon as Austin dismissed Charlotte she would head for the staff entrance. Sadie grabbed Breanna’s arm and pulled her around to the other side of the tree—the side pushed up against the staircase. Breanna didn’t resist—thank goodness—and they both crouched down, pressing into the branches as much as they dared. Sadie was glad that the tree also cast most of the corner in shadow, but she held her breath anyway, willing the maid not to see them. Moments later Charlotte appeared, and any fears Sadie had of being seen were extinguished by the fact that Charlotte was intent only on the door, a troubled look on her face. She moved quickly, making Sadie wonder if she’d been on her way downstairs when she’d run into Austin and took the opportunity to tell him the truth. It seemed a very dangerous protocol to approve of staff lying to the police in favor of their employers. Sadie and Breanna listened to Austin’s steps on the stairs above them, shrinking down so that he couldn’t see them through the highly-polished mahogany railing.

Charlotte pushed through the staff door; Sadie and Breanna waited a few seconds before standing up and moving around the tree, proceeding into the foyer carefully as they anticipated running into someone at any moment.

Once assured they were alone, Sadie turned to look at Breanna, fully expecting to discuss this new discovery. However, the guilty look on her face showed everything for once, causing the words to fizzle out on Sadie’s tongue.

“Liam and John Henry had an argument,” Breanna said.

Sadie glared at her. “Oh, really?” she asked sarcastically.

“I was going to tell you,” Breanna added.

“No, you weren’t,” Sadie replied. “If you were going to tell me, you’d have told me already.”

Breanna clenched her jaw slightly and when she spoke, her words had a bit of an edge to them. “Okay, maybe what I meant was that if I’d thought you wouldn’t totally freak out about it and suppose all kinds of horrible things about Liam, I’d have told you.”

“That’s not fair,” Sadie said, narrowing her eyes at her daughter. “I have a very open mind about things, but I can’t make the proper determinations without all the information. I can’t believe you would keep this from me. I’ve told you everything I’ve discovered. It never crossed my mind that you wouldn’t do the same.”

Breanna let out a breath, giving up the fight under the weight of Sadie’s guilt trip. “I’m sorry,” she said, the sharpness no longer in her tone. “It wasn’t that big a deal—he and John Henry just disagreed with something in regard to the earl’s care.”

Sadie wasn’t buying it. “Then why didn’t you want to tell me?”

“Like I said, I worried you’d freak out.”

“Did Liam tell the inspector about the argument?” Sadie asked.

Breanna shrugged and met her mother’s eyes. “I don’t know.” She glanced up the stairs. “I need to tell Liam he was overheard by the staff, though—he thought it had been between him and John Henry.”

“And then John Henry ended up dead,” Sadie continued.

Breanna nodded. “Right, so you can see why he didn’t want to make the argument public knowledge.”

“What was the argument about?”

“The earl’s care,” Breanna said, her words slow and careful. “Liam has some concerns.”

“So, then why was John Henry in the sitting room?”

Breanna shook her head. “I have no idea, and neither does Liam.” She glanced up the stairs again. “I really need to talk to him.” She looked back at her mother. “I know it makes him look bad, Mom, but will you please keep it to yourself for now?”

Sadie’s hesitation must have shown on her face.

“You believe Liam’s a good man, right?” Breanna asked imploringly. She waited expectantly for an answer.

“Yes,” Sadie said. “Except that he—”

“And you know he’s dealing with a lot right now, right?”

In spite of herself, Sadie reviewed everything that was sitting so heavy on Liam’s shoulders right now: his father was sick, likely dying, his girlfriend had dumped him, he was facing a drastic change in circumstance and lifestyle whether he liked it or not, and the man he’d argued with that morning had wound up dead. “Yes, he is dealing with a lot, but—”

Breanna cut her off, looking relieved that Sadie was agreeing with her. “I promise you that he will tell the inspectors everything tomorrow, okay? But give him tonight to make some sense of everything and get up to date with his dad’s care. The fact that someone killed John Henry has Liam terrified for his father—please help me give him the time he needs to come to terms with all of this.”

“You’re not telling me everything,” Sadie said, narrowing her eyes slightly. “I can feel it.”

Breanna let out a breath. “I’m telling you what I know, okay? Liam kind of downloaded on me earlier—and not all of it made sense, but I promised him I’d wait until tomorrow to tell the inspectors.” She paused a moment before continuing. “That means you have one more night to figure out what you want to figure out too. I did give you permission, remember.”

That’s right, Sadie realized. It was wrong not to tell the inspectors everything, and yet security was in place, there was no body to convince anyone they were telling the truth, and Sadie still had far more questions than answers. She knew she was being manipulated, but if it helped her get what she wanted, maybe it was worthwhile.

Finally, she nodded under the pleading look of her daughter. Breanna noticeably relaxed. “Thank you, Mom,” she said, smiling slightly. She put one foot on the stairs and glanced back at Sadie one last time. “I’ll see you at dinner, okay?”

Sadie nodded again, and watched Breanna climb the stairs. Dinner was in twenty minutes, but that meant she had twenty minutes to get herself lost wherever she felt she had the best chance of getting more information. The question was where to start.

She was in the process of scanning the foyer, considering her options, when she heard a voice coming from the east hallway. Before even considering the reasons why she did it, she ducked behind the east Christmas tree—on the opposite side of the stairs that hid the door to the kitchen. She crouched down and held very still as the voice got closer.

“Yes, Charlotte took care of it, but I feel it would be better if you came down here—Liam kicked him out of the earl’s room. . . . I had managed to stay out of their way until today. . . . He’s been with the earl nearly every minute since then.” She was pretty sure she recognized the voice, but moved so she could see through a gap in the branches. It was Austin, talking on the phone—currently listening to whoever was on the other end of the line. “No, things are not going to be okay,” he said sharply as he reached the stairs and started taking them two at a time. “Liam agreed they should head to London tomorrow . . . around nine I think, but that’s not going to solve this . . .” His voice tapered off as he walked out of range and she pursed her lips at the missed opportunity to eavesdrop a little longer. Who was he talking to? Then she remembered that his father was the earl’s doctor. Maybe Austin was talking to him. If it was Dr. Melcalfe, he didn’t seem like he wanted to come to Southgate even though the earl’s nurse was missing. Maybe he had plans for the holiday. She made a mental note to write it all down when she got back to her room.

After a few seconds, when no one else came by for her to overhear, she casually stepped out from behind the tree, looking around to make sure no one was watching her even while making up the excuse of a lost earring in case anyone asked what she was doing behind the tree. She took one of the small, silver snowflake earrings out and put it in her pocket to lend credence to her story just in case. She glanced toward the hallway Austin had come out of—the one leading to the library as well as the smoking room, the trophy room, and the billiard room. She wondered why Southgate didn’t have a TV room and a talk-on-the-phone room and a gift-wrapping room—those seemed a lot more practical, but who was Sadie to judge?

The first room she came to was the library, on the left side. The light was on and the door slightly open. Was this where Austin had been? Sadie pushed open the library door, looking carefully to see if anyone was inside. She continued her vigilance as she took a few steps into the room. If Austin hadn’t been in this room before he received his phone call, someone else might be here and she’d had enough surprises for one day.

“Hello?” she asked quietly, though it sounded very loud in the cavernous room.

No one answered back, which helped her relax a little bit and move forward with a bit more courage. When she reached the middle of the room, she stopped and looked, overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available. She found herself heading toward the nearest bookshelf and just scanning the titles of the books there. It only took a few minutes to realize they were categorized—with shelves and shelves of poetry, and other shelves full of several different editions of the Encyclopedia Britannica—just in case you wanted to see if the Spanish Inquisition changed between 1954 and 2008. Sadie browsed through history books, novels, philosophy, even a section dedicated to world religions, before turning to see that a rather large book had been opened on the desk—a book she hadn’t seen there when they’d met with the staff a couple hours earlier. A tremor of excitement rushed through her as she considered that Austin could have been looking through that book before his phone call. Surely if the book had been here very long, a staff member would have reshelved it. She glanced at the door to make sure she’d closed it behind her, then fairly ran to the book.

~ ~ ~

The first thing Sadie did was put one hand on the open page and turn the cover over in order to read the title: Martin Book of Heraldry.

What on earth did heraldry mean?

She ran her fingers over the gold-embossed leather cover. The book measured about ten by sixteen inches and wasn’t traditionally bound, but rather had a removable spine that looked as though it allowed pages to be added to it—like a scrapbook or a Book of Remembrance. Was heraldry a fancy name for remembrance or heritage or something?

She flipped the book back open and scanned the page it had been opened to. It was a pedigree chart and, after fanning the pages, she realized it spanned almost four hundred years—longer than the earldom had even existed. Wow. Sadie’s friend Gayle was big into genealogy, spending hours on it every week, and had managed to trace her family back to the 1700s. Sadie, on the other hand, had yet to develop much of a desire to study up on dead people. Living people were far more interesting—with the exception of the dead man pinned to the wall with a poker.

Flipping through the pages revealed that the book had three distinct sections—the pedigree charts, a section that included written histories, and a section that had copies of actual documents belonging to those people included on the pedigrees. Gayle would lose her mind! There were copies of parish records three hundred years old, with an arrow to indicate which of the chicken-scratch names were being referenced, as well as birth, marriage, and death certificates for more recent members of the Martin clan. Even a non-genealogical mind such as Sadie’s could appreciate the priceless nature of the book. She turned back to the page that had been open when she came in.

The pedigree chart followed the family line of the second Earl of Garnett, who had a whopping seven children, resulting in numerous other family lines laid out over the next fifteen pages. She tried to follow them, but gave up after a couple minutes when
she found herself horribly lost. Instead she decided to look for Liam. She paged through the pedigrees—it hurt her brain trying to track where one generation ended and then picked up on the next page. Finally she just flipped to the very last page of the pedigree—which is where she assumed she’d find Liam’s name. However, though his father, William, was listed as one of two children born to the eighth earl, and though there should have been a new page for William’s own pedigree—like there had been for the other men in the Martin line—there wasn’t. She found it ironic that the current heir apparent wasn’t included, but perhaps the book simply hadn’t been updated recently enough to include Liam or his mother. Maybe they didn’t add the new generation until the current generation had passed away. It was smart to compile information in a format that could be added to as needed.