“He didn’t run away?” Nadine whispered.
Jack’s face softened as he looked at her. “No. He didn’t leave you.”
Nadine put her hands over her face and began to cry.
Teddy was on the other side of the chapel. She went to her mother and put her arms around her.
“Are you sure he was murdered?” Clive asked. “Or was his body just hidden? Maybe he fell. Maybe a horse kicked him.”
Willa, who’d been sitting in the back in disguise again, moved to the front. “If it wasn’t murder, then why hide the body?” She looked at Jack. “How did you Americans find it?”
They all seemed to know the answer to that. Everyone turned to look at Puck. She looked at the exit doors. How fast could she reach them?
“Stop it!” Sara said as she stood beside Jack. “You’re not going to blame anyone but yourselves. We need to figure out who did this.”
“Then you will write one of your bestselling novels about it?” Byon said. “Oh, darling, what a lucrative idea.”
Kate stepped in front of her aunt. “If you want to be snide and sarcastic, so be it. I’ll just call the police. We’ll tell them how each of you had motive and opportunity. The press will love it! I can’t wait to read the headlines. They’ll love speculating on which one of you is a murderer.” She had her phone in her hand. “Your emergency call number here is 999, isn’t it?”
“Don’t call,” Clive said. “Byon, shut up!”
“Oh my goodness. The boy becomes a man.” A glance from Clive made Byon quit talking.
“The police will try to find the murderer,” Willa said.
“And it will be in the papers,” Nadine whispered. “And on social media.”
“Perhaps it would be better to leave this alone,” Byon said. “After all, our dear friend Sean has been there awhile. Maybe we should leave things as they are.”
“My father deserves justice,” Teddy said.
“Maybe we could find him a place in the churchyard.” Byon looked at Nadine. “Next to your father.”
“What does that mean? You think my father killed Sean?”
“No, of course not,” Byon said. “But he did offer him a million pounds to—” He shut his mouth.
“I see,” Jack said. “The lot of you do know things.”
Sara stepped forward. “What we need is a human sacrifice. Someone to burn at the altar.”
She had their full attention.
“What my aunt means,” Kate said, “is that when we do contact the police, we need to hand over the guilty person to them.”
“And save them the expense of an investigation.” Willa turned to Clive. “You disappeared that night. You went outside but you were nowhere to be seen.”
“I was hiding from you.” There was venom in his voice. “You were always throwing yourself at me. That night you had on a dress that exposed the upper half of you and you were always leaning over me.”
“And you were tempted,” Byon said. “Clive, my dear man, we all knew you wanted to jump on that. If Nicky hadn’t laughed at you so hard, you would have grabbed onto her family fortune the way you’re now going after young Kate and her bestselling millions.”
“You fat, lazy bastard.” Clive lunged for Byon but Jack grabbed him.
“Sit!” Jack ordered, then stepped back. “We all want to get out of here. We Americans most of all. We didn’t want to get entangled in your nasty little Pack where you have predetermined winners and losers.” He looked at Willa. “Which have now reversed themselves.”
She smiled at him.
“All we want to know is—which one of you bastards killed Sean Thorpe?” Jack asked.