“What’s happened since then?” Sara asked.
“My siblings had spent everything, and one by one they came to me asking for jobs. But they believed they should be given all because their sister owned the company.”
“Entitlement!” Sara sounded bitter. “One of the things I hate most in the world. ‘You have to give it to me because I’m me.’” She grimaced. “Hope you rejected them.”
“I did. However, remember obnoxious little Martin, my nephew? He came to me right after he graduated from uni and asked for a job. I gave him one but made him work his way up. He’s an executive now, and I dearly love him.”
“What about you?” Kate asked. “Your personal life?”
“Fifteen years ago, I married the son of the lawyer who handled all our deals. We have two children, a boy and a girl, and David handles all business for me.”
“You are loved,” Sara said softly.
“I am.”
“And your brothers and sister?” Jack asked.
Meena shrugged. “They get by. Martin helps his father. The others...? I don’t really keep up with them.”
“Still have the ring?” Sara asked.
“I do. I wear it often.”
For a few moments, they sat in silence.
“What now?” Sara asked. “Will you go back to Oxley Manor with us? This time you can arrive in a limo.”
Meena leaned back. “I’ve had a lot of time to think about those days when I practically lived with those people. I was so young and naive, so lonely, that I looked at them in awe. But the truth is that we were all misfits.”
“We’ve seen that,” Sara said. “Nadine...”
“Lower-class origins, upper-class education. Her accent was like the Queen’s while her father’s was barely intelligible. Nadine didn’t fit in anywhere.”
“And Byon,” Kate said.
“Talented, probably from a poor background—we never knew for sure. We have no idea how he afforded school. Nicky was the saddest of us all. Disliked by his father, burdened with a rotting house that he’d been told he had to hold on to no matter what.”
“Do you think he loved Diana?” Kate asked.
“Lord, no! They weren’t even friends. But they both wanted Oxley Manor and were willing to do whatever was needed to obtain it. And Nicky would have done anything to get his father’s approval.”
“Murder?” Sara asked.
“Oh yes,” Meena said. “But not Diana. He needed her.”
“What about Sean?” Jack asked.
“He hated us all. I can’t imagine why he stayed there. Even I knew he had job offers. Byon used to joke and say, ‘He actually loves us.’ But of course we knew he didn’t.”
“What do you think actually happened to them?” Sara asked.
“I have no idea,” Meena said, “but I don’t think Sean and Diana left together, not as a couple. They didn’t match. Sean liked women who did their hair and makeup. Put together. Diana was pretty but in a natural way. Sean always treated her like she was his younger brother. We laughed about it.”
“Did he—?” Sara began, but a knock on the door stopped her.
A young woman came in carrying half a dozen heavily loaded shopping bags. She looked only at Meena. “I hate these things! I had to go to Oxfam for half of this. The shoes need to be disinfected. You’re going to swelter with this padding on, and—”
“This is my stylist, Felicity,” Meena said loudly.