“My parents had given the servants the night off. I’ve double-checked their alibis, and every one checks out.” There were three names. All had been interviewed after my parents' death; all had insisted it was an accident. One or more must be lying. I gazed over the list:
Mr. John Rittle (Council Member; Met with parents right before murder. Possibly the last person to have seen them alive)
Clara Ashchombe (Council Member; had a disagreement with my parents over a recent Tea Incident)
Sir Walter Elliot (Council Member; the meeting before Mr. Rittle. Disagreed with a lot of my parents' policies)
“So it looks like Sir Walter Elliot disagreed with your parents on policies?” Lizzy asked.
“Yes. My parents were very traditional. But Sir Walter is, well…
“Ancient?”
“Yes. Any policy my parents tried to implement that was new, he opposed. He was their strongest critic. He also met with my parents the night they died, though he wasn’t the last.”
“And John Rittle was the last to meet with them,” Lizzy said as she grabbed a mug, ignoring the hearts, and took a sip.
“Yes, he had the most opportunity.”
“Did you discover they were there because of the video feed at Pemberley?”
The video surveillance at Pemberley was extensive. I shook my head. “My parents turned off the video cameras that night. They did that sometimes when they didn’t want their meetings recorded.”
She raised an eyebrow at that. “Then how did you know these people were around your parents?”
“My parents' itinerary from that night notes who they met with.”
Lizzy leaned a little closer. “And Clara Ashcombe? She’s on the council and…”
“She met with my parents that night as well. Before Sir Walter.”
She squinted at the screen. “What is the Tea Incident?”
I rubbed the back of my neck. I wasn’t used to telling others about my parents’ drama. But I trusted Lizzy. “One time, my parents invited a famous fortune teller to a charity event that both they and Mrs. Ashcombe attended. The fortune teller offered to read the tea leaves in Clara Aschombe’s cup. Clara allowed the reading, and the fortune teller announced publicly that she was in a scandalous love affair. Of course it was false, but that didn’t stop the gossip.”
Lizzy grimaced. “And because your parents invited the fortune teller, she blamed them for her humiliation.”
“Yes. But normally, she and my mother were good friends. It was the only conceivable motive I could come up with. ClaraAshcombe texted me earlier today,” I told Lizzy. “She said she has news about how my parents died and asked to meet at the Hearthside House Inn in a couple of days. But I called the place before my plane took off, and it turns out she already checked in.”
Lizzy set the mug aside and looked at me, clearly on the same track. “You want to try to catch her early?”
“Your father isn’t doing great, so like you said, we don’t have time to spare.”
“If we can find the person who killed your parents and maybe make them talk, then we might find out how Moonrot started,” Lizzy surmised. “If we figured out what caused it, maybe we can figure out how to undo the curse.”
“I thought the same thing.” I looked into her mesmerizing gaze and willed my heart to be steady. “But I may be wrong. There’s a chance the coroner is mistaken about the time of my parents’ death. Plus, the date of the curse and my parents' death may just be a coincidence. There’s a chance that there could be no connection at all.”
