Page 87 of The Beach Hut on Plum Island
Ten minutes later, Harriet and Finn were seated in the living room of her suite. Harriet had her laptop on hand while she sat with pen and paper on her lap.
“Let’s start from the top,” Finn suggested, his voice steady despite the chaos swirling around them.
Harriet nodded, her pen poised over the paper. “Let’s start with Titus’s announcement about coming to Plum Island, bringing Leon and Estelle. That was the beginning of this entire mess,” she noted, her handwriting a swift scrawl.
“Then there’s the shift in his plans for marital alliances,” Finn added, leaning over to see her notes. “Initially, Titus wanted Gray to marry Estelle, but Gray was already seeing Trinity Woodrow in secret.”
Harriet drew a line to a new note. “Which led Titus to concoct that surprise engagement between Leon and me.” She paused, her lips pursed in distaste as she tapped the pen against them before writing again. “Except our fake engagement threw a wrench in that plan.”
Finn rubbed his chin, his mind on the next piece of the puzzle. “And then there was Leon’s attempt to kidnap me. We still need to figure out why.”
“He clearly wanted to remove you from the scene in order to put his engagement to me back on track,” Harriet figured.
“My thoughts exactly,” Finn agreed.
Harriet jotted that down along with another note. “Gloria Gladstone was quick to make a trip to Plum Island to save her son.”
“Yes.” Finn nodded, his brow creasing. “That was almost as if it was planned how quickly she got here.” His eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You don’t think that she may have planned the whole thing? Including Leon getting caught so she had the excuse she needed to cut him off.”
“Could be,” Harriet had to agree with that. “Then, there was the early arrival of the royal party, which got here around the same time as Gloria.”
“Gloria didn’t seem very convincing nor too forceful in arguing for me to drop the charges against her son,” Finn pointed out. “Almost like she was stalling for time to stay here.”
“Maybe that has something to do with Estelle breaking into my room and then trying to blackmail me into helping her set my uncle and Gloria up.” Harriet jotted down the few points they’d just discussed. “Then there’s the mysterious appearance of Faith Vanderbilt.” Harriet shook her head as she played with the pen. “Why has no one even mentioned Faith’s appearance or the significance of where my uncle always seems to seat her?”
“What significance is that?” Finn asked.
“My uncle has Faith seated at his right,” Harriet explained. “That’s traditionally reserved for someone of significance to the king.” She bit her bottom lip. “Like the queen or the king’s intended.”
“Oh!” Finn’s brows rose. “Do you think that your uncle and Faith are romantically involved?”
“That could explain his sudden fascination with America and all his secret escapes,” Harriet reasoned.
“That’s true,” Finn agreed. “How do you find that out?”
“Ask,” Harriet shrugged. “Or snoop by torturing the truth out of Murphy.”
“Haven’t you done enough to that poor man?” Finn sighed.
“He’s tough, he can take,” Harriet said, waving a hand.
Their discussion turned to the hastily called meeting where Titus wanted to see if Harriet and Finn’s engagement was real and how Titus had tried to get Finn to drop the charges against Leon, which Harriet made Finn refuse to do.
“Did you write that down?” Finn teased. “Harriet made Finn refuse to drop the charges against Leon.”
“I did!” Harriet rolled her eyes, laughing. “After that, Uncle Titus demanded a meeting between myself and him, kicking everyone out of Gray’s room.” Her eyes widened in realization. “This could’ve been the perfect time for someone to get into my room and put sleeping powder on my pillow.” She looked atFinn. “You were in the hall with everyone else. Do you remember who left?”
Finn’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he recalled that day. “Murphy organized chairs for everyone out there to sit on.” He told Harriet. “I stood with Harley, Alex, and Gray chatting. Estelle and Gloria sat together. I remember that because I made a mental note to avoid that part of the hallway.” His eyes widened. “Your mother needed to go to the bathroom, so Murphy opened your suite for her and Gloria to go to. While Dawn took her aunt to her suite to use the bathroom.”
“Gloria and my mother went to my bathroom?” Harriet frowned. “I don’t think Gloria would’ve put sleeping powder on my pillow as she wouldn’t have had time.”
“And there was security in all the suites at all times,” Finn told her. “There was a female security detail that went with the ladies into your suite and Dawn’s suite. When they were done, the security detail swept the rooms and locked up.”
“I’m sure my mother would’ve used the bathroom in my bedroom as she wouldn’t allow Gloria into my bedroom, so Gloria would’ve used the small guest bathroom in the spare bedroom.” Harriet guessed.
“Other than that, all the guests were together until I went into the room to speak with you and your uncle,” Finn told her. “The guests in the hall were discussing going to Cobble Point Restaurant for dinner.”
“We need to circle back to this point,” Harriet told Finn. “There may have been someone who we didn’t account for who arrived late at the dinner or left earlier.”
