Chapter 27
TWENTY-SEVEN
When I entered the vestibule, Savilla was speaking with Mina—or perhaps comforting her.
“Everything all right?” I asked, as I approached them.
“Lee tried to leave, and the police wouldn’t let him. And then…” Mina wiped at her nose and tried to compose herself.
“He became violent, swung at one of the officers. They’ve put an ankle monitor on him and told him he absolutely cannot leave the estate,” Savilla continued.
“Do they actually think he’s a threat?” I asked, wondering if this was the reason that the deputy had been stalking our car. Charlie must’ve turned off his walkie-talkie, trusting her to handle things.
“I don’t think so,” Mina said, sniffling one last time. “He’s just a belligerent jerk who doesn’t know how to cooperate.” She looked between the two of us. “I swear, though, he is harmless.”
I wasn’t sure that was the right word for what I’d seen of him with her in the gardens in the early hours, and hearing about his behavior now with an officer of the law wasn’t helping his case.
“I get it,” Mina said, sliding into a wingback chair. “He wants to go home and see his family. Our flight was supposed to leave tonight.”
“How long does the sheriff want everyone to stay near Aubergine?”
“No idea.” Mina looked up at me and shrugged. “Thankfully, I can go stay with Gram. I told Lee he was welcome too, but he wasn’t hearing it.” She let her head fall in her hands. “Nothing is… right.”
I knew the sentiment, one I’d felt often when Momma had been in the later stages of her illness.
Whether it was a long line at the pharmacy, traffic on the way to the hospital, the lack of a parking spot—it all felt too hard when already anticipating the coming loss staring me in the face every second of every day.
I touched her shoulder, and Savilla put a hand on her other side.
Mina attempted a smile. “At least Gram is getting out of the hospital. The car is bringing her here.”
“To the estate?” I asked, hopeful. “That’s good, right?”
“She does seem happy when she’s here, always reminisces about the year she won.
Even though she complained about how much had changed, every time I saw her on that judges’ dais, I could tell she was in her element.
She taught me so much.” Mina stared out the window at the mountain peaks.
“Aubergine, this house – it’s comforting to her. ”
I could tell that Mina was seeing the past, present, and future colliding. The shadow of imminent loss hung over her.
“What did you learn from her?” I asked, gently nudging her to recall better memories.
Mina kept her gaze steady. “I learned how to really see people, for better or worse.” Her voice took on a different timbre, almost as if she was slipping into a different persona, her voice sounding more like Miss 1962’s raspy one.
It sounded so familiar, and at first I figured it was merely because I’d gotten to know her grandmother this past summer.
But no, that wasn’t it—or it wasn’t the only reason.
I spoke slowly as my thoughts coalesced. “Mina?”
She shifted toward me.
“You said that you worked on Small Town, Big Romance, right?”
“Yeah.”
“What exactly did you do?”
“I told you. I was a gopher before I was pulled into work off-screen.”
“And off-screen, you were…?” I waited for her to finish the statement.
“The interviewer,” Mina answered, her eyes narrowing as if she wasn’t sure where I was going with these questions.
I closed my eyes. That’s why I’d recognized Mina’s voice. It wasn’t just that she sounded so like the grandmother she resembled. I knew her voice from the clips of the show. Mina had been there all along.
“Why are you asking?” Mina wondered, hesitant at my inquisitiveness—and perhaps a bit defensive. “You don’t think that I have anything to do with this weekend, do you? Because I wasn’t hiding anything.”
“No, no, it’s not that,” I tried to reassure her. “I’m just trying to find all the links. This helps.”
Mina nodded, accepting my explanation and then seemed to remember something.
“Lee didn’t like that they’d pulled me into the show that way, said it distracted me from ‘being behind the camera.’” She put the last few words in air quotes and lowered her voice to better match his.
“He thought that Brett had something to do with me getting on the show.”
I noticed the purple rings lining her eyes. She was exhausted.
Mina heaved out a deep breath before standing and facing me, and I was reminded that the concerns about Brett, though important, weren’t the first thing on her mind. She was thinking about her grandmother too.
She sniffled as she spoke. “It’s gonna be hard, isn’t it?”
I knew exactly what she meant, and there was nothing I could tell her to make it less painful.
Savilla leaned her head against my shoulder, reminding me that she was there with us. “I told Mina about my father. And about your mother, about losing her.”
I didn’t mind that she’d shared this experience, not really.
But I still wasn’t sure what to say about the coming days.
It would be hard beyond her wildest imaginings, and then it would slowly start to seal over, like a fine layer of balm, the balm of time.
The wound would always be there, at least in the form of a scar, but that’s how I wanted it. I didn’t want to forget.
Mina hesitated a second longer before reaching out to pull both me and Savilla into a hug, the three of us bonded by loss. Then, without another word, she walked away.
Savilla and I watched her go, and then I tried to collect myself and bring some semblance of normalcy back to the moment. Regardless of our personal feelings, we also had a job to do.
“I think we should check out your dad’s office,” I decided. “Maybe he had information about the estate, the Rose Diamond, the password.” I was forming a plan of action as I spoke, but it felt right. I recalled the layout of the dollhouse. “It’s on the fourth floor, right?”
“Good memory,” Savilla said. “Let me grab my keys from behind the front desk.”
As she went to find them, my mind created a new pathway as to how we might solve this case. If we could find any clues about the password or if we could figure out how the Rose Diamond had disappeared before making its way into Brett’s throat one day ago, then perhaps we could find the murderer.
I checked my watch, counting the hours until midnight when the emails would be released. About five to go. The dominoes were ready to fall, and I felt in my gut that it started with the most treasured Finch jewel.
“All right. You ready to visit the Diamond Mine?” Savilla asked, coming back with her key ring.
I scrunched my nose. “Is that what he called his office?”
Savilla smiled. “I named it that when I was a kid because it sounded more interesting than his boring old office. I would make treasure maps and force Nanny Kate to go on adventures all around the grounds. I had new names for every room.”
Nostalgia passed over her face, which reminded me of the fact that whether or not she showed it, she’d lost so much in such a short time.
Savilla possessively tucked an arm in mine and led the way, taking us to the west wing of the estate with its vining wallpaper and yellow lighting reminiscent of the Gilded Age.
We didn’t pass a single person as we went, and Savilla must’ve noticed me looking around because she said, “The deputy told me that she and Charlie let almost everyone head home after lunch, just told them to not venture too far from town until the case was solved. Of course, the main suspects have to stay.”
“They must think the killer is in Brett’s inner circle,” I mused. “So, who’s still here?”
“Me, you, Presley, Joe, Mina, Lee, Lacy, and… her boyfriend, what’s-his-name.”
“Anton,” I reminded her.
“Right. Jemma is sticking around because she’s in between shows, and Will and Valerie Hurt stayed because she wants to see the drama.” Savilla lifted one brow. “So, there are ten people, not counting me.”
Joe and Presley were still firmly situated at the top of my list, and I hoped against hope that Lacy wasn’t at the top of anyone else’s.
“How is our sheriff?” Savilla asked, studying me. “Your face tells me you talked about more than Brett’s death.”
I didn’t say anything, so she prodded me, reminding me that her newly discovered role as my sister was making her feel more connected and perhaps more entitled to intrude on my personal life. I didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would.
“Did he take you in his arms and beg you to marry him as soon as this case is closed?” Savilla clenched a hand over her heart. “Ooo… did you tell him that you’re an heiress?”
“Am I an heiress if there’s not an inheritance?”
“Great question. Worse comes to worst, we sell the place and Thelma & Louise our way to freedom,” Savilla teased as we reached the fourth floor.
I squinted. It wasn’t a malapropism, but it was a misguided goal. “Have you ever actually watched that movie?”
“Sure, years ago with Nanny Kate, but I fell asleep before it was over. Why?”
“No reason.” I couldn’t help but chuckle.
Savilla led me down a long corridor past her former nursery, where my aunt had been staying when she’d been accused of murder four months ago.
At the last room on the right, Savilla inserted a key into the lock and put her fingerprint against an electronic reader that had been installed on the door, but she didn’t need to do either.
It swung open on its hinges, opening even before the scanner lit up.
Someone had already been here.
“What the…?” Savilla mumbled, as she stepped inside.
Other than the scanner and the door having somehow been broken, there were no other indications that anyone had trespassed.
A large cherry wood desk and an even larger workstation were spotless, no mess or overturned drawers.
If someone had entered Mr. Finch’s former office, they’d left without seeming to bother anything in there.
“Maybe the police were in here?”