“What did it?” Jack asked.
“Old house!” Sara said loudly. “It was an accident. Right?”
Gil grimaced, not sure he should tell.
“Go on,” Jack said. He was leaning against the wall. For all his bravado, it had been a harrowing experience.
Gil looked at Sara. “We did inspect this place. It was in good shape. Both the chimneys were solid. But...” He looked at Jack for permission to tell what he knew and was given a nod. “Someone removed some bricks at the base, then set a charge on it.”
When Sara’s knees weakened, Jack held her upright. “It was deliberate? Someone tried to hurt Jack?”
“Lenny and I think so,” Gil said. “And that guy Reid agreed with us. Somebody wants to stop this investigation.”
“I can understand that, but why Jack?” Sara’s voice was rising. “I’m the ringleader. It should be me who is removed. I—”
Jack put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “If any one of us was taken out, the others would stop. I guess I was just the easiest one to remove.” He stepped away from the wall, taking Sara with him. “I have a feeling Kate will be back soon, so let’s have breakfast and talk about this.”
“Let’s all go home and stop sticking our noses into murder,” Sara said.
“Too late to stop now,” Jack said. “We know that one of our guests is a killer. I doubt if he or she will stop trying to silence us just because we chicken out before the exposé.”
“Even if you did quit, the murderer would want to remove all three of you, just to be sure,” Gil said.
“Thanks for that,” Jack said.
“Anytime,” Gil replied. “Think we should repair the chimney or leave it?”
“Leave it,” Jack and Sara said in unison.
They heard a car door slam hard.
Jack groaned. “It’s Kate and she’s going to be mad.”
“I agree with her,” Sara said.
Together, they walked back to the house, bracing themselves to deal with the anger and fear from Kate.
Ten
It was an hour before the Medlar-Wyatt group sat down to breakfast. Lenny had filled the sideboard in the dining room for the others, but Randal and Jack made breakfast and set it up in the small morning room. They wanted privacy so they could talk. They knew that if any of the guests started wandering around the house, Lenny would stop them. What they said wouldn’t be overheard.
Kate asked them to tell her everything that had happened, especially the part where Jack received a text from her. He showed it to her. It was short, saying that she would meet him at the cottage right away.
“I’d just seen you off,” he said.
“I didn’t send it,” Kate said. “And I didn’t leave one of my cards stuck in the grass. I went to meet the client but no one was there. I came straight back.”
“And you had your phone with you every minute?” Randal asked.
“Of course!” She opened her handbag. “It’s always—” She broke off.
“What is it?” Sara asked.
“I keep my phone in this pocket, but now it’s in the middle.” She took it out. There was no text sent that morning from her to Jack.
The four of them looked at one another across the round table. The text sent to Jack said it was from Kate.
“It’s someone who knows how to really work a phone,” Randal said.
