Kate changed the subject. “What about Sean and the women? I gather he was a gorgeous man and women liked him.”
“Like you.” Puck was looking at Jack.
“I can see that,” Kate said. “Plays around with women’s feelings, never serious about any of them.”
Jack ignored the comment. “What was Diana like?”
“She cared about the horses,” Puck said. “She was a very good rider and she fixed a broken leg on a swan.”
“It still sounds like it was possible that Sean and Diana did run away together,” Sara said. “Nicky and Clive were fighting to rule this place. Everyone seemed to be waiting for Bertram to die.”
“I agree,” Kate said. “Diana and Sean got fed up and left.”
“And when Diana found out that Sean didn’t love her, she murdered him.” Sara looked at Puck. “Was she strong enough to put Sean’s body down that hole?”
Puck didn’t hesitate. “More than strong enough. Sean was slim and lithe while Diana was thick and sturdy.”
“So,” Sara said, “maybe there was a fight, an accident, and in a panic Diana hid Sean’s body. After that, she disappeared.”
“And she’s still hiding,” Jack said.
“She would have to be,” Kate said. “Murder has no expiration date. This is all a mess, isn’t it? Love and hate.”
“Jealousy,” Sara said.
“And death,” Puck said.
“Murder,” Sara said.
“Whether we like it or not,” Jack said, “at some point we have to contact the police. They’re going to be PO’d that we didn’t tell them right away.”
“Why don’t the lot of you go—?” Sara began.
Jack and Kate didn’t let her finish her sentence. Their eyes said no.
“All right,” Sara said. “We’ll keep to our original plan.”
Jack spoke first. “You were bored, with nothing to do. You heard of the mystery and you wanted to research it.”
“I wasn’t exactly bored,” Sara said. “But I—”
“And since you paid for this place, Bella owes you,” Jack said.
“And there’s the singing for Jack,” Kate said. “When you heard that Byon Lizmore was—”
“Mere,” Jack and Sara said in unison.
“Whatever,” Kate said. “When you found out he was here, you saw a bestseller in the making.”
“If you tell him he has a place in my novel, he’ll want part of the royalties,” Sara said. “Any person who thinks they’ve given a writer so much as a single idea wants a cut. A woman at a party said I’d met her before and had used her name in a book so she wanted money. Her name was Beverly. She said I had stolen her name and I had to pay her. If someone begins a sentence with, ‘Why don’t you?’ I walk away. If I write anything like what they suggest, they demand money. One time—” She cut herself off. “Right. Uh. I think we’d better say it’s to be a highly fictionalized account of what happened. No real names used.”
“Good idea,” Jack said.
Puck was staring at Sara with wide eyes, but Jack and Kate were used to her impromptu tirades.
“Monday,” Kate said. “This is Thursday. I vote that we give ourselves until Monday at...at teatime to solve this. We find out all we can by then and on Monday at 4:00 p.m. we go to the police and tell them where the body is hidden.”
“And we pretend it’s all for a book?” Puck asked.