Page 121 of Death at a Highland Wedding
She stops and looks out over the lake, and Isla eases closer, her arm tentatively going around the younger woman. Lenore doesn’t lean into it, but she does relax.
After a moment, Lenore says, “I confronted Ezra. I told him that I saw him watching. He pretended I was mistaken, in shock, and he apologized for blaming me. He said Müller was a monstrous man who would never come near me again. He did not say, however, that he would see him sacked. I asked for that, testing him, and he blustered that he did not have that authority, and to even attempt it, he would need to tell Mr. Cranston what Mr. Müller had done to me, and I did not want that, did I?”
“Monster,” Isla mutters.
Lenore nods. “Ezra gave me money. He said it was because he blamed himself for not protecting me. I knew it was to keep my silence. I took it, and I tried to stay in my position, but I could not. Even when he had left the house, everything reminded me of him. The corners where he would pull me aside for a kiss. The spots in the garden where he would tell me he loved me. That old cottage where we…” Lenore shivers. “It was too much.”
Isla and Lenore sit in silence as I pace along the edge of the lake, trying to look as if I am calm and reflective… and not already leaping ahead to more questions. Normally, I’m the one sitting with the victim, comforting them, and this puts me at an odd remove, where all I can do is hold my tongue and give Lenore the time she needs.
Finally, I say, “Someone knew what happened. We received a note, in our coach, saying that Ezra deserved it for what he did to you.”
She tenses. “I know. I heard of the note and that you mistook the name for Nora, and I was not about to say otherwise. The note came from a dear friend. She is a few years younger than me, and suffers from palsy. I used to care for her as a child, and we came together over our shared infirmities. I told her what happened. I had to tell someone, and she would never share my secret. But when Ezra died, her anger got the better of her. She heard Dr. Gray was a famous detective and so she had a village boy put that note in your coach.” Her lips twitch. “I believe she was trying to tell you not to bother finding the killer, as Ezra deserved his death. She can be very young and very innocent sometimes. Had she ever thought her actions could lead to my secret being revealed, she would not have done it.”
“We may need to speak to her,” I say. “But for now, that is enough. I do need to ask about the night Ezra died. We found the stag. We know you were there. Probably Gavin, too, but definitely you, given the use of a bow and the marks of your walking stick.”
Her shoulders sag. “I know. We no longer hid the evidence of our poaching. After what Müller did to me, it felt good. I know that is petty, but I couldn’t help it.”
“You thwarted and humiliated him,” I say. “Which he well deserved.”
“I am only glad he did not catch you himself,” Isla murmurs.
“I was careful. I was always with Gavin, and I was always listening for Mr. Müller. That night, I heard something and went for a look while Gavin saw to the butchering. I saw Ezra, and my mind spun into a tizzy. If he found us, my reaction would tell Gavin something had happened. So I said it was Mr. Cranston himself, coming our way. We grabbed what meat we could carry and left.”
“You only saw Ezra,” I say.
She nods. “No one else. I know you will ask that, but Ezra was alone. He seemed to be heading for the road right up there.” She pointed. “He was walking most determinedly, which made me wonder whether he had heard us. All the more reason to move quickly.”
“You grabbed the deer haunches and left.”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear anything? See anything?”
She shakes her head. “My mind was in too much of a muddle to notice anything amiss, but later, when we heard Ezra had died, Gavin said heheard and saw nothing. He remembered me saying I’d seen Mr. Cranston but that was easy to explain because of the coat.”
“That Ezra was wearing Mr. Cranston’s coat.”
“Yes. But someone was still dead, and we had been out there and had not bothered to disguise that we were the ones who killed the deer. Butchered it a few hundred paces from where Ezra was killed. I was trying to decide what to do when I discovered that my friend had left that note… and realized that if you learned it was about me, I would be the obvious suspect.”
“So you left.”
“I told Gavin that we would be blamed once they realized who killed the stag. We decided to go visit our gran until the matter was sorted. Then I got my mother’s letter and knew I had to come back. It is one thing to quietly leave, but another to refuse to return.”
“It is.”
She looks at me. “I returned because I did not kill Ezra. There were times when I wished I had, and I am not sorry he is dead, but I did not do it.”
THIRTY-NINE
Isla and I stay with Lenore until she’s ready to return to the house. We’ve been honest that we need to tell McCreadie and Gray, because it’s part of the investigation. And if it turns out that what happened to Lenore was the motive for Sinclair’s death, then that also needs to come out. But we’re not going to be running to Ross with this new information. No one needs to know unless it becomes critical to catching—and convicting—a killer. Isla does urge Lenore to tell her mother, but only to have someone to help her through the trauma.
We arrive at the house to find Simon outside with McCreadie. Mrs. Hall is nearby, talking to Gavin after his interview. Lenore goes to join them, and Isla heads inside while I stop to speak to McCreadie.
I arrive just as Simon is leaving, tipping his hat to me as he goes.
McCreadie sighs deeply as I join him. “That boy is the height of incompetence.”
I blink and stare after Simon.
