Page 115 of Death at a Highland Wedding

I sneak a look at Gray. “Duncan wanted to talk to me.” I quickly add, “About the case. But he left the note before we realized Müller was gone, and he must have decided against…”

I struggle to find a way to word that, one that doesn’t blame Gray, but he’s frowning at me.

“Note?” he says.

“Under my pillow. You told me you’d left it, and I completely forgot about it until nearly midnight.”

“I left you aletter,” he says. “There were things I wished…” He trails off, glancing at Isla and McCreadie before clearing his throat. “Mallory and I had a disagreement earlier in the day, and I wished to respond to it.” He looks back at me. “You received the letter and a note?”

I shake my head. “Just the note.”

“So the letter…?”

“I don’t know where it went.”

“You did not read it,” he murmurs, as if to himself. “So what I said earlier, when you were injured, it did not make any sense.”

“What did you say?” I rub my temple. “It’s all a blur.”

“Ah.” He pulls back, tugging at his tie. “No matter. It is hardly important. Now, about this note…”

I pull it from my pocket.

Gray reads it and blinks. “That is not from me. It looks like my penmanship, but I did not write it.”

“So Mr. Müller lured her out with a forgery?” Isla says. “But he could not have gotten inside to leave it, and it seems far too coincidental that it appeared when Mallorywasexpecting a missive from Duncan.”

“Because it’s not coincidental,” I mutter. “That maid—Dorothy—overheard you saying you’d left me a note. She took it and copied your handwriting, as well as using the familiarity of first names. She’s also the one who allegedly found a half-written note from Ezra.”

Isla rises. “I will speak to Mrs. Hall and be sure the maid is detained for questioning.”

Once she’s gone, I tell McCreadie and Gray the rest. When I get to the part about Sinclair—and what he seems to have done to Lenore—McCreadie pales.

“My God,” he says.

“It might not be true,” I quickly add.

“But it is not an outlandish lie that Müller told you. It is what you deduced from his words, and he did not deny it.”

I nod slowly. I know this is hard to hear. Sinclair was a friend, one McCreadie had admired. Even Gray rubs his mouth, shaking his head.

“It might not be true,” I repeat. “We’ll need to speak to Lenore.”

“Who will confirm it,” McCreadie says quietly. “Because it makes sense. Ezra seduced her, and then…” He struggles for words. “Gave her to Müller. Against her will. Of course she would not dare tell anyone.”

“Because she’d be blamed. She almost certainly consented to sex with Ezra, and so anything else that happened would be seen as her fault because of that. Afterward, she ended the relationship with Ezra, quit her job here, and withdrew.”

Silence falls as we all contemplate that.

“This makes it far more likely that Ezrawasn’tmistaken for Archie,” I say. “The question is who killed him.”

“I am inclined to say it was Müller and ignore any evidence to the contrary,” McCreadie mutters. “I would have no qualms seeing him punished for one crime he did not commit.”

“Really? It would never come back to haunt you?”

He gives me a hard look. “Yes. Fine. It would be wrong.”

“If I might suggest a course of action,” Gray says. “Müller will need to be turned over to Constable Ross for his attack on you, Mallory. If the young man decides—without any help from us—that the gamekeeper killed Ezra?” He shrugs. “It will help keep him out of our way, temporarily.”

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