“I watch blue herons dive for fish. And soft-shelled turtles are in the water. Iguanas prowl around. They’re huge, iridescent green and gold. If you sit very still, they don’t run away.”
He could see that she was imagining those things and she leaned back on her arms, her eyes on the water.
He leaned back beside her. “Do you know what this mystery is?”
She hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“Who is Nicky?”
She sighed before she spoke. “He was to be the earl. He was going to inherit this place.”
He liked her voice. Quiet, soothing. “Was? What happened?”
“He died in a car crash.”
“And this was before or after the couple disappeared?”
“Two years after.” Puck looked at Jack. “Will you help find out the truth? Sean was my friend and they hated him.”
“Sean? He was one of the people who disappeared?”
Puck looked away as she whispered. “Yes. But he didn’t disappear. He—” A voice came and she stood up quickly.
“It’s just Kate,” Jack said. “She—” But Puck had vanished into the trees.
“There you are,” Kate said as she came into view. She sat down beside him and ate a couple of berries. “Did you find what you were looking for?”
“And what do you think that was?”
“An orphan. A stray. Someone who needed to be rescued by Hero Jack.”
He snorted. “Is that a compliment or a gibe?”
“You tell me.” She waited for his answer.
“I didn’t like what that guy said, so shoot me. And yes, I found her. There’s something going on here and it’s not good.”
“She told you that?”
“Not in so many words. It’s a feeling as much as anything. Nicky—who bad-tempered Mrs. Aiken seems to have loved—was the earl-to-be. Died in a car wreck two years after Sean disappeared.”
“Sean Thorpe and Diana Beardsley.”
“How do you know their names?”
“It was in the news clipping.”
“The one you stole from Sara?”
She started to protest but then smiled. “The very one. I’m practicing to be a thief—like my father seems to have been. Do you know the combination to Aunt Sara’s safe?”
It took some work not to show his shock at the casual mention of her father’s predilections. “I know she doesn’t have a safe. Besides, the last I saw, half her jewelry was in your closet.”
“Now who’s snooping?”
He chuckled, ate some berries and leaned back on his arms. “So what’s our room like? Just to be clear, I get the end of the tub without the faucets.”
“You wish! But I did...”