A Forgotten Murder (Medlar Mystery 3)

Sara smiled. “Later, Bertram would yell at Nicky and ask if the murder was loud. He wouldn’t want the horses to be frightened. They might lose the next race too quickly.”

Kate was grinning. “Puck would be hiding in the shadows. She’d see it all and never tell anyone anything.”

“And what about Poorwilla?” Sara asked.

“She’d say, ‘Oh no! That’s one less person to pretend to love me. Who do I pay to make it right?’”

Kate and Sara looked at each other, then dissolved into laughter.

When Jack opened the door, he saw both of them laughing hard. “What the hell have you two been talking about?”

“You!” they said in unison, then laughed harder.

* * *

It was later, after Kate and Sara had calmed down—they’d told Jack why they were laughing but not how it had started—that Sara found the note. It had been slipped into her camera bag. If at all possible, she didn’t bother carrying it. She just put a medium telephoto lens on, stuck a battery or two in her pocket and went out shooting. That the bag had been in her room since they’d returned from Puck’s meant anyone had access to it.

The note was on a heavy card and she held it out, facedown. She didn’t turn it over until Kate was beside her and Jack was looking down over her head.

She flipped it over.

Nadine had a daughter. She was born November 1994.

Below that was a telephone number.

Kate was the math person. “That means Nadine was pregnant when Sean and Diana disappeared. She was far enough along that she knew she was.”

Sara looked at Kate. “What was it Clive said about her husband?”

Kate quoted, “‘Nadine immediately married some man none of us had heard of.’”

“She could have been fooling around with the guy she married,” Jack said.

“And not tell her besties?” Kate said. “Not likely.”

Sara held up the card. “If it was all on the up-and-up, why secretly slip us a note? I’m going to call that number.”

“Shouldn’t we wait until...?” Kate began, but at the looks from Jack and Sara, she said, “Yes, do it now.”

Sara got her cell and touched the numbers. It was picked up right away.

“Teddy here. What can I do for you?”

“Hi. My name is Sara Medlar and I’m at Oxley Manor with Lady Nadine. I believe she’s your mother. I was wondering if—”

“My mother! You have a nerve calling me. Did she give you my number? I’ll have my lawyer—”

“No, no,” Sara said. “She didn’t tell us about you. I don’t want to cause any trouble but there are three of us here at Oxley trying to investigate the disappearance of two people in May of 1994. We—”

“You’re calling me about that?” The young woman’s voice with its upper-class accent was full of rage. “You can tell my mother that I’ll never forgive her for a lifetime of lies. I never want to see her again. She—”

“We could tell her everything you want to say to her,” Sara said quickly and loudly. “We’re here. Come stay. Tell us all.”

“I don’t deal with liars!” She clicked off.

Sara looked at Jack and Kate. “Oh.”

“Looks like we’ve uncovered a secret.” Kate looked at Jack. “Nadine didn’t mention that her daughter hates her?”