Chương 6
“Who was in the study when you arrived?”
“Mrs. Vale. I saw Owen leaving the corridor as I came up the stairs. He had the music box.”
“Did he seem upset?”
“Confused. Not crying yet.”
“What did you see through the door?”
Nora carefully lifted Owen’s head and slid a cushion beneath it before standing. She kept one hand resting on his shoulder.
“Mrs. Vale was at the desk. The box was open beside her. She folded the sealed document once, put it beneath the tray, and pressed the tray down.”
“Was she alone?”
“Yes.”
“What happened when you entered?”
“She closed the box. I set the tea on the side table. She asked why I had not taken Owen to the winter garden. I said he had wanted the library. She told me to fetch his shawl.”
“You left her there?”
“Yes.”
“And later?”
“I found them in the library.”
Julian handed her the sensor log. “The door opened twice before you arrived.”
She read it.
Celeste could have entered during the first period. Owen could have entered during the second. At 2:11, Celeste might have returned and remained until Nora arrived. The sequence supported the child’s account without proving it.
“Did you see the document’s title?” Julian asked.
“No.”
“Did you see Celeste’s hands?”
Nora looked at him, uncertain.
“Anything unusual. Wax. Ink.”
“She had taken off her right glove. There was red wax near her thumbnail.”
“Why did you not mention that before?”
“Because you did not ask, and because I was watching the document.”
Mrs. Pike lowered the service schedule. “People do not usually inventory another person’s fingers during a shock.”
Julian accepted the rebuke.
“Celeste says your father left under suspicion of theft.”
Nora’s face changed, though her hand remained steady on Owen’s shoulder. Elsie looked down at the cards.
“My father was accused of altering maintenance accounts,” Nora said.
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Was it proven?”
“No.”
“Was he dismissed?”
“He resigned before your father could dismiss him.”
“Why?”
Nora glanced at Owen. “This is not a conversation for the child.”
Julian nodded toward the adjoining conservatory.
They stepped through the glass doors, leaving Mrs. Pike and Elsie with Owen. The conservatory had been closed for winter. Empty terracotta pots lined the benches, and the smell of dry soil lingered in the cold air.
Nora folded her hands over her apron.
“My father discovered that invoices for roof repairs had been submitted twice,” she said. “One set was approved through the estate office. The other went through a company belonging to Mr. Vale’s father.”
“Martin’s family?”
“Yes.”
“That was before Martin married Celeste.”
“He was already advising her.”
“Why was your father blamed?”
“He had signed the payment register.”
“Did he know it contained duplicate invoices?”
“He said blank pages had been added after he signed.”
Julian leaned against a stone worktable. “And Father believed him responsible.”
“Your father believed scandal among staff was easier to manage than scandal among friends.”
The sentence came without bitterness. That made it harder to dismiss.
“What happened to the records?”
“They disappeared.”
“Convenient.”
“For someone.”
Nora looked through the glass toward Owen. “I was twelve. I do not expect you to accept my childhood understanding as proof.”
“Did Celeste know who you were when you were hired?”
“Mrs. Pike told her.”
“And she approved you.”
“I thought that meant she did not hold my father’s disgrace against me.”
“Now?”
“Now I think she preferred knowing where I was.”
Julian watched her. “Why stay?”
Nora’s chin lifted a fraction. “Because my mother needed support. Because Mrs. Pike offered me honorable work. Because Owen was two and threw porridge at everyone except me.”
“That is a remarkably weak qualification.”
“It was a large bowl.”
He almost smiled. The expression disappeared before it fully formed.
“Do you believe the transfer document is connected to what happened to your father?”
“I have no evidence of that.”
“You have an opinion.”
“I have many opinions I am not paid to provide.”
“I am asking.”
Nora looked at the empty pots. “Mrs. Vale does not take risks without preparing somewhere to place the blame.”
Julian let the words remain between them.
When they returned to the morning room, Owen was awake. Elsie had succeeded with the card trick, though Mrs. Pike insisted she had seen the queen concealed in Elsie’s sleeve from the beginning.
Julian crouched beside the sofa.
“I need to keep the music box tonight,” he told Owen.
The child’s lower lip tightened. “It was Mama’s.”
“Yes.”
“Aunt Celeste said it belonged to the house.”
“It belonged to your mother. She asked me to keep it here until you were old enough not to overwind it.”
“I didn’t overwind it.”
“No. Someone forced the tray and caught the mechanism.”
“Can you fix it?”
Julian had repaired small clocks with Thomas when they were boys. Thomas had possessed patience; Julian had possessed stronger opinions. Most of their repairs required a professional afterward.
“I can try.”
Owen considered this. “Nora should watch you.”
“I had assumed she might.”
The boy nodded, apparently satisfied that proper supervision had been arranged.
That night, snow thickened over the bay, isolating Bellwether behind white lawns and a mile of unplowed private road.
Dinner was served in separate rooms. Celeste refused a tray and came to the dining room in a black evening gown, as though family accusations required formal dress. Julian joined her after Owen had been taken upstairs.
They sat at opposite ends of a table built for twenty.
Mr. Weller occupied a chair between them, his napkin tucked precisely across his knees. He was sixty-two, narrow-faced, and perpetually offended by food that required cutting. The sealed document lay inside a leather folder near Julian’s plate.
Weller adjusted his spectacles. “The instrument is not valid as a recorded conveyance.”
May you like
Celeste reached for her wine. “There. That should conclude the hysteria.”
“It may not transfer title by itself,” Weller continued, “but it authorizes Celandine Holdings to execute the final transaction on behalf of the estate. Combined with the board resolution missing from the foundation file, it could have been presented to the bank as evidence of authority.”
