English Trifle

by Josi S. Kilpack

  “Grant called me. I was in Exeter and came right out,” Austin explained.

  “How did Grant know?” she challenged. “Fifteen minutes ago Liam had only just arrived at the sitting room—Grant was nowhere in sight.”

  Liam took a few steps to the side as if relinquishing the floor to Austin and not wanting to be involved in their exchange. Sadie was not impressed with his backing down and refused to move even though Austin was only a foot or so away from her. She could smell the woodsy scent of his cologne, but noticed that he had sweat rings under his arms. Ewww. It wasn’t overly warm, which made Sadie wonder if, despite his dominating manner, he was nervous about something.

  “Where were you, Grant?” Austin asked, looking at the butler.

  “I was speaking with Kevin, sir.”

  “You are to be on hand at all times, especially when we have guests, are you not?”

  “Yes, sir,” Grant said. “I was waiting outside to assist the ladies into the car once they finished their tea. I’m very sorry, sir.”

  Austin accepted this explanation with a nod.

  Sadie didn’t. “You didn’t hear us scream for help?” she asked.

  “No, madam,” he said.

  Sadie watched him carefully. She’d yelled for help when they first came out of the room, and then again when they’d come up from the kitchen. There had been almost ten minutes between the two occurrences. And Grant had been outside the whole time?

  He cleared his throat. “I enjoy a cigarette once or twice a day.” He glanced at Austin, who scowled even deeper—which was a feat. “I moved away from the house so as not to disturb anyone. It was a poor choice to make at that time and I apologize.” Though Sadie didn’t fully accept his explanation, he sounded quite sincere in his regret.

  Austin continued. “Mrs. Hoffmiller would like to know how you found out what had happened and when you called me.”

  Grant nodded. “Master Liam came outside to tell me what had happened. He said the Hoffmillers had gone to their room and he needed my help in gathering up the staff. I called you from the kitchen. You knew within seconds of my own awareness, my lord.”

  Sadie scowled at the title. Though she knew it was common in England, it just rubbed her wrong. In her Christian mind there was only one person fit to be called Lord, and it certainly wasn’t Austin Melcalfe.

  “Is this true, Liam? Did you find Grant outside?”

  “Yes,” Liam said. Sadie half-expected him to tack “sir” on the end of his answer.

  “Mrs. Land,” Austin said, waiting until she looked up and met his eyes. “When you came upstairs did you see anyone else?”

  She paused for a good three seconds, making her answer that much more unbelievable. “No, sir,” she finally said. “I didn’t.”

  Austin nodded as if satisfied with her response—something Sadie certainly wasn’t—before scanning the rest of the staff. “And who was the last person to see John Henry today?”

  No one answered and Sadie shifted her weight. How could they answer such an impossible question? None of them knew if they were the last person to see John Henry. Well, except whoever murdered him, but she didn’t think Austin was being clever.

  “What he means,” Sadie interrupted, unable to hold back, “is who saw John Henry today.” She looked up at Austin who was scowling at her. She scowled right back. He reminded her of Detective Madsen, one of the detectives on her neighbor’s murder case who had rubbed Sadie wrong from the very beginning. In hindsight she wished she’d stood up to Madsen a little more in the beginning and she did not want to repeat the mistake. Giving in to Austin would only feed his already inflated ego.

  Still no one spoke, but Sadie caught Mrs. Land glancing up at Liam nervously. Sadie didn’t understand how the woman could be intimidated by Liam, who looked pale and rigid despite his position of authority. After another moment, Mrs. Land looked back into her lap.

  “He rang for breakfast this morning,” Grant finally said. “Around seven. I had Charlotte take it up to him. He then called for lunch around eleven—earlier than usual. Charlotte took it up as well.” He looked at Liam once he stopped speaking. Liam was looking intently at nothing and no one—seemingly content to turn over the entire situation to Austin while he lost himself in his own thoughts.

  “So you didn’t actually see John Henry at all today?” Austin clarified.

  Grant shook his head. “Charlotte retrieved the lunch tray around two o’clock.”

  Austin turned toward a redheaded maid—Charlotte, Sadie assumed—who seemed to both shrink and straighten under his gaze. “Did you see John Henry when you picked up the tray?” Austin asked.

  “No, sir,” Charlotte said, glancing up slightly, then looking back down at her knees again. “The tray was in the hall.”

  Austin nodded, and Charlotte relaxed. “Did anyone else see John Henry today?” Austin asked, scanning the faces once again.

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “John Henry kept mostly to the earl’s room—even took his meals there,” Grant said. “We saw very little of him about the house. I took a tea tray up to Master Liam in the earl’s room after serving Mrs. Hoffmiller and her daughter this afternoon—John Henry wasn’t there.”

  “When you were with your father,” Austin said, turning to Liam, “was John Henry there as well?”

  “Yes,” Liam said. “He was there when I arrived in my father’s room this morning. I asked to be alone with my father until it was time to leave.”

  “Did John Henry indicate where he was going while you stayed with the earl?”

  Liam shook his head, pushing his hands into his pockets as if he were being reprimanded. “No.” Everyone looked at him, and Sadie expected him to expound on his answer, but he didn’t.

  “But he had to have come down from the earl’s room at some point,” Sadie said, realizing as she said it that John Henry must have also been in the sitting room when he was attacked . . . in fact, his shoes had been flush to the floor as though he’d been standing. She thought about the expression on his face—shock. For an instant she pictured what it could have looked like for John Henry standing behind the curtains, in the dark, waiting for . . . something, and then the curtain was whipped back. Before John Henry could even process what was happening, the poker was shoved through his heart. Sadie shivered at the visualization and though she hoped she was wrong, it was an incredibly clear image and all the details fit—except why he would be hiding behind the curtain in the first place? Wouldn’t he have screamed? Would the poker have killed him instantly, or would his death have taken a few minutes? Sixteen sets of eyes staring at her brought her back to the present.

  “No one saw him come down?” She looked specifically at Grant who was supposed to be “on hand at all times” according to Austin. But he hadn’t seen John Henry come down and he hadn’t been there when Sadie and Breanna found the body and he hadn’t heard their screams for help.

  The staff either shook their heads or made no expression at all—except for Mrs. Land who continued fidgeting with her smock and staring at the floor. Why wasn’t she telling the truth? Could she have moved the body? Mrs. Land’s thin arms and sloped shoulders made that thought ludicrous. The woman might be able to lift a turkey in and out of the oven—if it was a small one. No way could she drag a grown man, let alone pull him off the wall he’d been pinned to. But she knew something, and gauging from her behavior so far, it likely wouldn’t be an easy thing to get out of her. Someone had cleaned up the bloodstain on the wall—where were the cleaning products kept? Were they accessible for anyone who needed them, or would someone need keys to a janitorial closet?

  “I assume the police said they’re on their way?” Austin asked, turning toward Liam, who looked at Breanna for the answer.

  “Yes,” Breanna offered from where she stood at the back of the room. She looked at her chunky watch. “They should be here any minute.”

  “Then let’s do a thorough search of the house before
they get here,” Austin said.

  “I think we should wait for Scotland Yard,” Sadie said. “This is a crime scene.”

  Austin looked at her as if he’d love nothing more than to duct tape her mouth shut. “Scotland Yard operates out of London. We deal with the Police Authority here.” He turned back to the staff. “We’ll search the estate. The police don’t need this kind of nonsense filling up their afternoon.”

  Sadie tried not to glare at the man, but it was very hard. Austin called each of the staff members by name, assigning them portions of the house and grounds to search. Sadie realized that Austin must manage the estate in addition to the earl’s holdings. He was certainly comfortable with being in charge. Liam continued to hang back, hands in his pockets.

  “We’ll meet back in twenty minutes,” he said as the staff began to mill about. “I’m sure John Henry is taking a break somewhere, so let’s find him.”

  Sadie watched the staff leave the room. Austin had sent most of them out in pairs, but Sadie found that a far from optimal arrangement. “They aren’t going to find a man taking a smoke break,” she said to Austin as the last two staff members passed through the door. “They’re going to find a corpse. Don’t you think they ought to have been prepared for that?”

  Austin shrugged, and turned to look at Sadie. “I mustn’t believe they are going to find a corpse then, must I?” His hazel eyes were hard, relentless as they stared her down, telling her in no uncertain terms that he was not a man used to being questioned about anything.

  “Do you really think we would make this up?” Sadie asked him, feeling a bit more bold than she had when the staff had been there. “Why would we do that?”

  “Why would someone kill the earl’s nurse in the first place?” Austin questioned, crossing his arms. “If someone did kill him, why use a fireplace poker in the sitting room? And if someone did kill the earl’s nurse with a fireplace poker in the sitting room, why move the body? Do you really think those questions have an easier answer than why two American women, one of whom will become a countess if things work out just right, wouldn’t make up a story that ensures they miss their plane so as to stay at the earl’s estate a few more days? Every minute helps build a bridge, right, Mrs. Hoffmiller?”

  High Tea Lemon Cookies

  * Shawn will eat half the cookies—hide some of them!

  Cookies

  2 cups butter (room temperature)

  2/3 cup powdered sugar

  1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

  1/2 teaspoon vanilla

  1 3/4 cups flour

  1 1/2 cups cornstarch (this is not a typo )

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add lemon zest and vanilla. Beat well. Add flour and cornstarch and beat until well combined. Do NOT refrigerate.

  Roll by hand into 1-inch balls or use a well-packed scoop, placing cookies about an inch apart as they do not spread much while baking.

  Bake 15 minutes on ungreased cookie sheets until bottom edges are light brown. Cool on wire racks before frosting with lemon glaze (below).

  Makes about 5 dozen small, delicate cookies.

  Lemon Glaze

  4 tablespoons butter

  3/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest (get zest from lemon before juicing)

  1/4 to 1/3 cup lemon juice*

  2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

  In a medium bowl combine butter, zest, juice, and sugar. Stir until well mixed. Place a piece of wax paper beneath the wire racks where the cookies have been cooling and drizzle glaze over cookies.

  * For best results when using lemons, choose the largest lemon you can find and roll it on the counter for about a minute before juicing in order to get as much juice as possible. Zest only the yellow part of the lemon peel; the white portion leaves a bitter taste.

  Chapter 7

  ~

  Sadie was absolutely stunned by Austin’s accusation that they would lie about a dead body as part of some gold-digging scheme. Her head and chest prickled with shocked rage and indignation. “I—I can’t believe you just said that! You think we’d make this up for a . . . a title?” It was so completely ridiculous that she could barely say it out loud. She looked at Breanna who looked as shocked as Sadie felt, and then at Liam, who was also stunned into silence.

  “Oh, don’t take it so personally,” Austin said, every word dripping with patronizing arrogance. “It happens all the time. My point was simply that there are a lot of questions in the world, woman, and what we need now are answers—which no one seems to have.”

  Woman?

  Sadie counted to ten very slowly in her head to keep from exploding. She looked to Liam to step in, to defend Breanna, but he was looking at the floor as if deep in thought, his hands still in his pockets. Breanna’s face had turned red as she too looked at Liam for rescue.

  Sadie was just opening her mouth to say something to defend Breanna’s motives when Liam finally spoke.

  “You’re wrong, Austin,” he said, his voice surprisingly calm. “Breanna doesn’t want my title.”

  Sadie felt his defense was a bit deflated. Austin seemed to think the same thing. He shook his head. “You’ve been gone too long, cousin. You’ve forgotten how it works.”

  Liam let his eyes rest on Breanna before meeting those of his cousin. “Trust me on this, Austin. I know how it works, but not everyone plays the same game. Breanna isn’t after my title, and neither of them would make this up. If they said they saw him, they saw him.”

  Austin didn’t seem impressed by Liam’s explanation, and he shrugged slightly as if the argument wasn’t worth his efforts. Sadie was as steamed as an English teapot, and not willing to just let this go. She glanced quickly at Breanna, ready to fire at Austin with all guns blazing, until she saw Breanna shake her head slightly. Sadie clamped her teeth together so hard her jaw hurt. Restraining herself took so much of her focus that she missed the first few words of what Liam was saying to Breanna.

  “ . . . okay here while I check on my father?”

  “I’ll oversee the search,” Austin said as he turned and headed out of the room.

  That’s it? Sadie thought. Austin could come in and say those kinds of things and both Breanna and Liam were okay with just letting it go? Sadie’s blood was still sizzling in her veins.

  “We’re fine,” Breanna said in answer to Liam’s question. Sadie hadn’t dared answer, afraid she’d breathe fire if she opened her mouth. “We’ll wait here—is your phone on?”

  Liam nodded, looking a bit sheepish, and then left the room, closing the double doors behind him.

  As soon as they were alone, Sadie dropped her arms, balled her hands into fists and let fly the things she’d been holding back. “Of all the arrogant, patronizing, pigheaded, arrogant—”

  “You said arrogant already,” Breanna cut in. She walked over to one of the padded chairs the staff had occupied a few minutes earlier and plopped down.

  “I can’t believe he said that,” Sadie finished, though Breanna’s interruption had thrown her off her rant. Shouldn’t Breanna be offended by the insinuations Austin had made? “Am I the only one who thinks he’s out of line? No matter who he is or what he’s done to help the earl he has no right to say things like that.” She watched Breanna for a nod or some other gesture to indicate she agreed with her mother, but Breanna just looked thoughtful.

  “Who has the energy to be offended?” Breanna said.

  “I do!” Sadie responded automatically, rapping her knuckles on the large desk next to her.

  Breanna let out a breath and met Sadie’s eyes. “The reason Liam said what he said—about my not wanting the title—is because last night I told him I don’t think we should see each other after we get back to the U.S. I didn’t want to tell you about it until we got home.” She crossed her arms over her chest as if trying to comfort herself, or shield herself from Sadie’s reaction.

  “What?” Sadie was stunned. Both at Breanna ending th
e relationship as well as her keeping it a secret. Sadie hated being out of the loop in regard to . . . well, anything.

  Sadie really liked Liam. He was the first serious boyfriend Breanna had ever had and, despite the strange circumstances of his life, Sadie felt they were a good match, which was the first step in overcoming any difficulty in a relationship—well, except maybe this one.

  Breanna continued, “It’s been a difficult decision to make, Mom, but as much as I care about him, I know I can’t live this way. And pretending that maybe I can isn’t going to make it any better. It didn’t work for his parents and I’d rather learn from their mistakes than make the same ones.”

  “And you told him this last night?” Sadie asked, imagining what it had been like for Liam to hear that. Poor Liam.

  Breanna nodded. “It’s been hanging between us this whole trip—whether we were working toward marriage somewhere down the road or not,” she admitted. “And although we’ve both tried to ignore that it was the whole reason for this trip, he finally asked me outright what I expected would happen between us now that I’d seen this part of his life. I couldn’t lie to him, Mom—even if it would have made the last bit of the trip easier. He deserved to know the truth.”

  “That you can’t live this way?” Sadie offered, wanting to be absolutely clear on what had been said.

  “That I won’t live this way,” Breanna clarified. “I didn’t ask him to give it up for me or anything, but you’ve always told me that my future is based on my choices. It would be foolish for me to expect that my feelings for Liam will always be enough to overshadow the fact that I don’t fit in here and I don’t want this lifestyle. I don’t want to run a household and manage servants. I don’t want to spend my life in a foreign country away from my family, friends, and career. And pretending to agree with social systems I just don’t feel are right would be giving up who I am. I won’t do that to me or to Liam. He deserves to find someone more worthy of his . . . station, or at least someone ready to try. I’m not that girl.”