Ashes of Roses

by Melissa R. L. Simonin

  “The light wasn’t on in the bathroom when you first went in, and I’m assuming the other room isn’t heavily carpeted?” John questioned.

  “It isn’t,” Miles confirmed.

  “Then we know if the light was on in the other room, you would’ve seen it,” John reasoned. “So he was probably using a flashlight, then saw the bathroom light underneath the door, when you turned it on. He must have heard you too, considering the type of flooring. Either way, he knew you were there.”

  “Maybe he thought you wouldn’t come any further,” Annette suggested.

  “Was there time for this guy to get out?” Xander questioned.

  “Yes,” I answered. “The room’s really small.”

  “Whether he works at the manor or not, it’s possible he didn’t want to risk being seen abruptly exiting a room he had no business being in,” Miles said.

  “So he took a gamble,” Xander concluded. “If he was targeting you, why wait until you saw him, to try anything?”

  “Well… the wardrobe blocks the bathroom door, on that side,” I responded.

  “The closer Anika was to the door, the greater the chance she could retreat, and the more likely I’d be to hear anything that happened,” Miles added. “If she was targeted, he would want her as far away from the door as possible.”

  “I don’t see why I’d be targeted, though,” I said.

  “Neither do I,” Miles agreed. “There was no reason to expect you to enter that room, at any time. It’s much more likely that he expected if we were in our room at all, that we would stay there.”

  “Did anyone know where you were?” Xander asked.

  “No,” Miles replied. “After Edmund was called away, and then Ashley, Anika and I returned to our room. We saw no one else on our way there.”

  “Was the bathroom door on your side open, or closed, when you went to bed?” John asked.

  “I left it open a crack,” I said, then my eyes widened. “But it was latched, when I got up!”

  “Excellent deduction, John,” Miles said, and the energy level in the room increased.

  “Right, so he made sure both doors were shut, so you’d be less likely to hear what he was doing,” Xander summed up. “If you were there, or if you came back. The guy had to be searching for something.”

  “But what? Everything we brought with us, is in our room,” I pointed out.

  “Who knew that?” Annette questioned. “Or maybe it doesn’t matter.”

  “Did you notice anything different about the other room?” Jenny asked.

  Miles’ eyes closed, and he pressed his hand to his forehead as he thought.

  “When I found Anika and turned the light on, the curtains were closed.”

  “And we left them open,” I remembered, and felt the back of my shoulder. “The wardrobe drawers. I’m sure one of them wasn’t shut all the way. They were earlier, when we took out the seeds Finn gave us.”

  “Wait, so you did have something in that room,” Xander noted.

  “Right, and… more than one person knew in advance right where we planned to put them,” Miles remembered. “The footman, Edmund, Ashley, and anyone else near the entryway at the time.”

  “They were amazed Finn talked to us at all,” I recalled. “They were stunned, actually.”

  “Are you sure all he gave you was seeds?” John asked.

  “Well… yeah,” I said, and the truth insisted on correcting me. “They were in a plastic baggy, labeled ‘Cait’, with some paper towels. I never got them out and looked at them, though.”

  “They’re in the fridge, right?” Jenny asked, and she hopped up. “Allow me.”

  She was back right away, and handed me the bag. I opened it, and carefully removed the folded paper towels. Nestled inside, were several rose seeds.

  “That’s it,” I declared, as I gently placed them back in the bag.

  “Aw, man,” Xander looked disappointed. “I thought they’d be wrapped in bank notes, or the deed to some property, or something.”

  “They mean a lot, to me,” I said, as I handed them to Jenny, and she returned them to their place in the refrigerator. “But that’s because Finn gave them to me. I don’t know why anyone else would care.”

  “He creates hybrids, though,” Annette considered. “Maybe there’s money to be had in that.”

  “We do know Finn is determined to maintain the exclusivity of the manor’s roses,” Miles recalled. “On the ferry, Marge said many of the roses won’t grow anyplace else. Was she right, Anika, or did she only think she was right?”

  “She believes what she said, but… either she assumed it was true, or someone told her second or third hand, and she believed them. Or she read it somewhere, I really don’t know. But she doesn’t know it for certain.”

  “It may be an assumption she or someone else has made,” Miles considered. “Finn would have no need to guard the manor’s roses, if they’re incapable of growing elsewhere. We know those identical to the ones found in our own garden don’t fall into that category.”

  “The hybrids don’t either,” Annette reasoned. “Otherwise, why give you the seeds?”

  “You said he guards the manor’s roses, yet he did make an exception in your case,” John pondered. “Did he say why?”

  “He heard us talking,” I reminded everyone. “He knows we’re Bannermans, and that the Bannerman women have a tradition of developing hybrids, which I’d like to continue.”

  “He doesn’t want Anika to become discouraged, as it’s painstaking work, with many more failures than successes,” Miles said. “The seeds belong to one of the hybrids he developed in the past, so he knows she’ll have success with them.”

  “He likes the idea of one of his roses growing with the rest of those in the House of Bannerman garden,” I added.

  “Finn also has a soft spot for Anika, due in part, to their shared Irish heritage,” Miles said.

  “Okay, so… he’s fine with it,” Xander concluded. “Maybe someone else, isn’t.”

  We each considered that.

  “I’ll go ahead and say it,” Annette finally spoke. “The Carlisles come to mind.”

  “Especially Lady Carlisle,” Jenny acknowledged.

  “The woman’s a piece of work,” Xander frowned.

  “Did you catch anything when they entered the corridor, this evening?” Miles asked me.

  I thought that over, and slowly shook my head.

  “Only that everyone was genuinely shocked and dismayed. No one in the hall had torn clothing, or scratches on their hands, or face. It was a man who was in the room, not a woman. He was shorter than Edmund and Monsieur Delacroix.”

  “The person who did this could have been paid to, so all that tells us is that they didn’t do it themselves,” John remarked.

  “What’s the deal with that Monsieur guy, anyway?” Xander questioned.

  “He’s opportunistic, we know that,” Miles replied. “Unscrupulous, as well. Anika picked up on that, at dinner last night.”

  “How would Monsieur Delacroix benefit, if the seeds were stolen?” Annette wondered.

  “How would he lose out, if they weren’t?” Jenny added.

  “His cousin is engaged to Sir Edmund,” I considered. “But why? And why’s this guy still hanging around? She’s got to be mid-twenties. Not that she seems aware enough to take care of herself.”

  “She may be more aware than she seems,” Jenny replied sagely.

  “If you saw what she wore tonight, you wouldn’t think so,” I grimaced.

  “Maybe she’s into shock appeal,” Annette suggested. “Does this Monsieur Delacroix strike you as the caregiving type?”

  “I would say no,” I answered. “But, our observations are limited.”

  “What is their relationship like?”Annette asked.

  Miles and I considered that.

  “I don’t recall them acknowledging one another,” Miles replied. “Although we’ve only seen them twice, and they were toge
ther both times. Or present in the same location, perhaps is more accurate.”

  “She hasn’t said a word, or acknowledged anyone, that I’ve observed,” I added. “Except she did finally accept Edmund’s arm, and walk into dinner with him last night.”

  “Does she seem… snobbish?” Annette puzzled.

  “No, she seems like she’s off in her own world, and oblivious to this one,” I answered.

  “Is she mentally all there?” Jenny asked with concern. “Or maybe she’s following in her parents’ footsteps, after all.”

  “There was a lot of alcohol served at dinner,” I remembered. “It seemed like there was a new glass filled, with every change in course. I don’t know if she drained every one of them, but she did several. She wasn’t wobbly though, or giddy, or… there was no speech, so I don’t know if that was slurred, or not. She didn’t seem drunk.”

  “Depending on her tolerance level, that might not mean anything,” John said.

  “Why is Lady Carlisle so determined for Sir Edmund to marry her?” Jenny puzzled.

  “We wonder that ourselves,” I replied. “If we get the chance to talk to her, we’ll find out. Unless she refuses to speak. Titles are super important to her, though, and the Countess has one.”

  “That can’t be Lady Carlisle’s only motivation,” Annette frowned.

  “She doesn’t want Sir Edmund with Ashley,” I said. “Yesterday afternoon, when he told his mother he cared about her and they were in a relationship, Lady Carlisle told him in no uncertain terms that she’d fire Ashley and kick him to the curb, if he didn’t agree to marry the Countess. So maybe that’s part of it. Ever since then, she’s been really cruel to Ashley.”

  “That’s terrible,” Annette frowned.

  “This is Ashley Fairgrave, the girl who found you online?” Jenny questioned.

  “That’s the one,” I replied. “She was put on scullery maid duty, right after Sir Edmund was ordered to escort the Countess on her shopping trip. I feel awful for Ashley. She was there at the engagement dinner, and after Sir Edmund promised to tell his mother he loved her. Which he did, although his actions in agreeing to the engagement, and letting Ashley be blindsided by it, would argue otherwise. He may be your cousin, but he’s nothing like you, Miles.”

  “Not to sound rude, but… thank you,” Miles said. “I admit I find his priorities disappointing.”

  “They certainly are!” Jenny snapped, and her blue eyes and Annette’s brown ones, flashed angrily.

  “It gets worse, but I don’t want to bore the guys hashing it out,” I said.

  “Not to sound rude, but… thank you!” Xander declared, and I laughed.

  “Let’s assume we’re right, and the intruder was after the seeds,” John got back to the point. “Either someone wants them in order to profit in some way, or they feel possessive, and as if they have a right to them.”

  “Or as if we don’t,” I considered.

  “I have a hard time believing Lady Carlisle would send someone to our suite to confiscate them,” Miles said.

  “If she resented our having them, she’d tell us directly,” I agreed. “Even if she decided to go the indirect route, she’s too calculating to send someone at random.”

  “Not when she could so easily ensure that we were first occupied elsewhere,” Miles concurred.

  “So she’s out,” Xander concluded. “It sounds like this Sir Edmund’s got worse things to worry about than a few rose seeds leaving the manor.”

  “Maybe it’s one of the footmen, or someone else who overheard your conversation,” Annette suggested. “It may be misguided loyalty to the Carlisles that motivated the intruder.”

  “How loyal do you suppose any of them are?” I wondered.

  “Based on what Marge told us, I suspect the butler is,” Miles replied. “Before you point out how nice he, or any of the rest of them are, bear in mind that injuring you wasn’t the goal.”

  “It was the reaction of someone desperate enough to do just about anything to get away,” John agreed.

  “Which includes climbing out a window, and down a rose bush,” Xander said. “You know that left a mark.”

  “DNA evidence was collected,” Miles confirmed. “So it most definitely did. Tomorrow, we’ll look up Marge.”

  “She’ll tell us if anyone failed to show up for work,” I declared. “I doubt we’ll even have to ask.”

  “If she knows about the rose seeds Finn gave you, it’ll indicate how large our suspect pool is,” Miles considered. “Assuming, of course, that’s what the intruder was after.”

  “How much she knows, will also gauge the speed and accuracy of the manor’s underground grapevine,” Annette suggested.

  “Good point,” Miles acknowledged.

  “Very good,” I agreed. “I know whether someone is telling the truth or lying, but when they don’t know the truth, I have no way to judge whether they’re more or less likely to be right. So this could help a lot.”

  “The Countess seems unaware of the engagement,” John mused.

  “Either that, or she’s completely ambivalent about it,” I confirmed.

  “Then it’s her cousin driving this,” John said. “So… what does he have to gain?”

  “Well… he is opportunistic,” I reiterated. “So, maybe he sees this as an opportunity to have access to the Carlisle wealth. If he knew even Sir Edmund only has what his mother is willing to dole out each month, he might lose interest.”

  “Or, he’s thinking ahead,” Xander said ominously. “The woman won’t live forever, no matter how mean she is.”

  “You’re right,” Miles remarked. “Not only that, we know all too well how willing some people are to hurry that eventuality, in order to speed the acquisition of an inheritance. I’m doubtful our current investigators have international contacts… but investigating Countess Grieve and Monsieur Delacroix online, may be all we need. Shall I put your sister on that?”

  “If you want to further solidify your ‘best brother-in-law ever’ status,” I replied. “Is anyone else hungry, yet? That soup won’t stay hot forever.”

  “You must be feeling better,” Miles said hopefully, as he paused in texting Doreen.

  “I am,” I said. “I couldn’t help it, even if I wanted to. We’re home, with our pets, and our friends, and soon we’ll go back to bed, in our own bed, and wake up to our own single faucet shower. So I feel much better. I’m also hungry.”

  “Far be it from me, to allow you to starve,” Miles declared. He left his phone on the arm of the loveseat, then filled one of the waiting bowls and handed it to me. “Everyone, help yourselves.”

  Our friends did, and for a couple of minutes, our focus was food-related.

  “Have you had any more dreams, or received any more transmissions from the past?” Annette suddenly remembered to ask.

  “Oh! Yes!” I recalled. “I forgot all about it, after everything else.”

  “What did you learn?” Miles asked curiously.

  “I saw James and Katharine in the garden, and they met Evie, the manor Bannermans’ daughter. She and Katharine remembered each other from Cynthia’s wedding, years before.”

  Miles’ eyebrows knit, as he considered that.

  “Family traveled from all over, to attend. I didn’t pay attention to where they were from, or even who they were, if I didn’t remember them from before. It makes sense, though. Of course our families were connected, otherwise James and Katharine would never have visited.”

  “James appreciated the manor Bannermans’ attempt to pair his wife with someone else at dinner, as little as you did. It sounded as though he was rather forceful in correcting Mr. Blaine, whoever he is, when he offered Katharine his arm as instructed. James didn’t go so far as to challenge the man to a duel, for which Katharine was sure Mr. Blaine was thankful.”

  “If he had any idea the marksman my brother was, he really would’ve been,” Miles said. He sounded kind of proud.

  “Was he as good
as you?” I asked.

  “Not quite, but he didn’t have need to practice, as I did. By the time he was an adult, our business dealings in the west were concluded.”

  “So the mines ran out of gold?” I questioned. “I wondered, since we no longer have any.”

  Miles gave me a puzzled glance.

  “We never did,” he replied.

  “Well… yeah, we didn’t,” I amended. “But you did, or your family, anyway. That’s why you were out west, when you found the wanted poster with Sarah on it.”

  Miles’ eyebrows knit.

  “Where… did you hear that?” he wondered.

  “You told me,” I reminded him. “You met with the Sheriff, and that’s when you saw it.”

  “Yes, but I never said anything about my family having gold mines,” he replied.

  “I heard the same thing,” Jenny volunteered, then grimaced. “Along with a lot of other things that weren’t true.”

  The rest of our friends watched in fascination. I, however, was very confused.

  “Well if you didn’t have gold mines to manage, what were you doing out there?” I asked.

  Miles half-laughed.

  “As unimpressive as this will sound by comparison, my family owned a mercantile,” Miles answered.

  “A mercantile?” I replied in surprise. “As in, grocery store?”

  “Groceries, dry goods, tools, and other supplies,” Miles answered.

  “And… you traveled out west for that?” I had a hard time wrapping my mind around it.

  “Of course,” Miles replied. “Maybe it wasn’t as exciting as joining the rest of the forty-niners, but the return on the investment we put in was as near to guaranteed, as one could get. The influx of miners into such a sparsely populated region created a demand that we were only too happy to meet. Not that there was no risk involved, and in one instance, a ship carrying our merchandise from South America was abandoned, when the crew decided upon reaching port, to switch to prospecting. In spite of that, as a whole, our venture was successful. A single egg sold for around three dollars, as I recall.”