Murder Games (23 page)

Caroline leaned forward suddenly
. “But that’s not true. You told us you had looked through Lucinda’s diary before. You knew about the ruby.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe it was hidden
away someplace,” Rupert said quickly. “I just figured it was a childish prank and that someone had found it since the diary was written. Besides, I thought Lucinda was talking about some run of the mill necklace. I didn’t know she had hid some fancy Russian—”

“Prussian,” Kyle and Austin corrected automatically.

“Whatever. I didn’t know it was still here and was worth so much.”

Grace shook her head. “I believe him. I
f he knew about it before, why would he have drawn us into this search? He has several weeks before they destroy this place. He has plenty of time to search. He could have very easily convinced us the ruby was just part of the game and then sent us home. He fell into the hunt just as quickly as all of you because he was just as surprised as all of you.”

“
Exactly,” Rupert said with a relieved smile. “She’s right. I’m in charge of inventorying the place. I wouldn’t have needed any of you.”

“I told you we should have just sent them home,” Ivy whispered harshly.

“No, you didn’t,” he said with a grimace.

Sabrina
stood up. “Great. So, if you don’t need any of us, then we can leave.” She quickly sat back down when Rupert turned the rifle toward her.

“I’m
sorry,” Rupert said with a shake of his head, “it’s too late now. If I let you go before we find it, you all will go back to the hotel and tell them about the ruby. I’ve got to find it now.” Rupert leaned against the fireplace. “I’m a fair man. I’m willing to split the shares just like we agreed before. And to prove that . . .” He unloaded the rifle and set it next to the fireplace. “I ain’t no murderer. I just want that ruby.”

L
aura looked at Jerry. “The butler? Really? That’s who you think did it.”

“
He’s not really a butler, you know.” Jerry said defensively. “Well, if he isn’t the killer, then who is?”

“It’s obvious from the letter that
Belinda tried to double cross Drew,” Kyle said.

Laura narrowed her eyes. “What letter?”

Kyle briefly filled her in on the letters they found before adding, “Belinda convinced Erica to tell Drew she didn’t have the ruby. But what if Drew found out about the double cross? If he did, then he’s our most likely suspect. He killed Belinda and then killed Erica.”

“
Then where is he?” Ivy asked. “He’s certainly not hiding in this house. We would have seen him by now.”

Caroline made a small sound in her throat.
Eyes widening, she looked toward the doors. Fear etched across her face.

Grace looked over her shoulder to see what had captured Caroline’s attention. Other than the shadows cast by the fireplace
, there wasn’t anything there. When Grace looked back, Jerry was sitting down next to his wife. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her temple.

“What if we have
seen Drew?” Kyle asked. “We’re all strangers to one another. I mean, I know Grace, but I don’t know any of you.”

Laura nodded. “He’s right. How do we know that everyone here is who they say t
hey are?”

Sabrina,
who was sitting next to Austin, stood up and walked over to her sister. “So, you mean, Drew could be anyone of the men?”

Laura shook her head. “
We’ve just been assuming that this Drew is a man. What if Drew is a woman?” She looked suspiciously at Grace. “Drew could be a woman’s name.”

“Yes, it could.
” Grace turned to glare at Laura. “You could just as easily be Drew.”

“
But she isn’t,” Sabrina said in annoyance. “I can vouch for my sister.”

“And I can vouch for
Grace,” Kyle said. “Ivy, Rupert, and Molly can vouch for each other. They’ve known each other long enough. So, can Jerry and Caroline.”

Laura’s eyes swung to
Austin. “But there’s no one here to vouch for you.”

“I can,” Molly said quickly
, “I can vouch for him.”

“You don’t know him,” Rupert argued. “You only just met him over Christmas.
He could have been lying about who he was then, too.”

Molly shook her head angrily. “He’s not an imposter.
” She looked toward Austin. “He’s a professor . . .”

Caroline stood up. “No,
he’s not. I looked him up. The only Austin Waverly who taught at Yale was born in 1948.” She pointed to Austin. “There’s no way he’s over forty.”

Molly turned worried eyes to
Austin.

Rupert forgetting he had already taken out the bullets picked up the rifle and pointed it at
Austin. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Austin
smirked. “It’s a typo.”

“I have an idea,” Jerry said. “Why don’t we show our
driver’s license? I can prove who I am.” He stood over Austin and looked down. “What about it? Can you prove who you are?”

“No.”
Seemingly unconcerned, Austin swung his arm over the back of the sofa. “Someone saw fit to take my wallet today, too.”

“How convenient.” Laura stood up and approached
Austin “And you didn’t feel that warranted saying something?”

“What would I say? The moment I woke
up, I was ushered in here and then a few minutes later, I was outside digging up a grave. My wallet was the least of my concerns.”

Rupert took a few steps toward
Austin. “I think it should be a major concern of yours now. After all, you’re the only one who can’t prove who you really are.”

Austin
shook his head. “Before the jury goes off and convicts me, consider this. What if Drew has an accomplice? Someone who can vouch for him or her?”

Grace sighed.
“Then we’re back at square one. We have another problem, too.”

Everyone looked at her expectantly.

“According to Rupert, there’s a rumor going around that they pulled another body out of the pond today. I thought it might have been Erica’s, but if Erica’s body is in the cemetery, then it can’t be her. So, who did they find?”

Jerry
’s eyes narrowed. “Maybe someone killed Erica, Belinda,
and
Drew.”

They all shifted restlessly
, suspiciously eyeing one another.

“In which case, the killer could be anyone of us,” Grace said with a sigh. “I still think we should
take Jerry’s suggestion. Let’s show our identification. Make sure everyone is who they say they are.”

“Uh
-uh.” Rupert swung the rifle back around. “No one is leaving my sight. Not till we find the ruby.”

Kyle reached out and grabbed the
empty rifle, wrenching it from the older man’s grasp.

Grace looked at Ivy. “Where were you
on New Year’s Eve?”

Surprised by the sudden change in subject, Ivy stuttered a bit before saying, “At the party
at the hotel, of course.”

“Both of you?
” Grace asked, nodding toward Rupert.

Ivy stood up and linked her arm through Rupert’s. “We
left a little after eleven and didn’t get back to the manor until about one o’clock.”

“Did you notice anything strange?”

“No,” Ivy said. “We came back and had our own New Year’s Eve party with a group from the community theater. They left the next morning.”

Grace turned to Molly who was staring at
Austin. “What about you, Molly?”

“I stayed at the hotel until I met you the next morning.”

They all fell into silence as each one mentally sorted through the facts and clues.

Kyle held out his hand to Rupert, palm up. “Bullets, please.”

Rupert reluctantly reached into his pocket. He was just about to pass the bullets to Kyle when Laura grabbed them out of his hand and tossed them into the fire.

They all dove for cover as the bullets
went off.

Chapter twenty-one

“Would you get
off me?” Grace shoved Jerry away and sat up.

“Is anyone hurt?” Jerry
looked around at the virtually empty room.

“Just me
.” Grace rubbed the back of her head. She looked over at Kyle who was doing the same thing.

Pandemonium had broken out the moment the bullets began to go off in the fire. Startled, everyone began running and pushing at each other.
Somehow, Grace ended up under Jerry while Kyle was knocked over an ottoman. He barely missed falling into the fire himself.

Kyle
gingerly rubbed at his wrist and glanced around. Seeing Jerry still hovering over Grace, he stood up and pulled the other man away before reaching down and helping her to her feet.

“Caroline!
” Jerry called. When he received no answer, he turned panic-stricken eyes to the door before bolting out of the room.

Still rubbing his wrist, Kyle headed for the door after him. Grace reached out and grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”

“To find Laura.”

“Would you rather find the treasure?”

Surprised, he grinned down at her. “You know where it is?”

“I have a good idea.” Taking his hand
, she led him out into the foyer.

Kyle tugged on her hand when she tried to go up the front staircase. “Yeah, well
, I’ve got an idea, too.” He led her to the back of the house and the sunroom. Moonlight streamed through the nine-foot tall windows, illuminating the room in a soft blue glow. “Oh, no.”

“What
’s wrong?” she asked.

“Someone got to it first.” When she looked at him curiously, he added, “Timothy Graves’ bu
st was in here. I bet the ruby was hidden inside.”

Smiling, Grace pulled him out of the room and u
p the back staircase, pausing as the sound of running footsteps could be heard throughout the house.

A loud noise, like something heavy crashing against a wall, reverberated through the house.

When Kyle would have gone to investigate, Grace gripped his hand tightly, and pulled him up the stairs and into the nursery. She quickly ran toward the windows and pushed back the heavy blue curtains. The light from the full moon shown into the window, giving her just enough light to work without tripping over anything.

She knelt down next to the rocking horse with the name Timmy carved into its chest. “I’m guess
ing this old horse used to belong to Timothy Graves. You know, there’s a reason why they call these things heirloom rocking horses.” Palm up, she pressed against the underside of the horse’s stomach. She smiled when she heard a click and felt the stomach swing open. She felt along the inside of the horse, becoming concerned when her hand found nothing, but empty space. Just as she was about to pull her hand out, she felt one of the walls giving away. She shoved the tiny wall to the side, thrilled when her fingertips touched cloth. Pulling the small bundle out, she sat back on her heels and held her palm up. She carefully unfolded the tattered piece of cloth to reveal a large ruby necklace. “I told you there was a fortune in this room.”

Kyle opened his mouth to say something when
a loud bang brought him to his feet. Several more bangs, different in sound, rang out in quick succession.

Grace looked toward the window. “That sounded close.” She turned worried eyes back to Kyle when she didn’t see any
evidence of fireworks exploding in the sky. “That wasn’t the hotel’s nightly firework display, was it?”

“
I don’t think so.” He stood up and walked to the French doors which led to a balcony outside of the nursery. “It sounded like it came from outside.”

Grace
stood next to him. They leaned against the door searching the grounds.

“Over there, next to the
sunroom,” Kyle said, pointing to the left.

Grace leaned forward, pressing her hands against the
door. The ruby necklace clattered against the glass. “I don’t see—” Then she saw what Kyle was pointing to. A body lay on the ground. It was too dark to see who it was, but they could definitely make out its shape and the blood staining the snow underneath. A movement near the body caught their eye. A dark figure was crouching by the wall, partially hidden by the bushes surrounding the sunroom.

Suddenly, it seemed as though the
figure looked up, its head tilted to the side as it looked toward the second floor windows. Grace and Kyle lurched back.

“Could you tell who it was?” Grace asked.

“No, he was hiding in the shadows. Do you think he saw us?”

Grace looked down at the ruby, wishing she had kept it out of sight. Surely, the killer didn’t see
. . .

The next thing they heard was a door slam and running feet going up the stairs.
Kyle jumped forward and locked the door. He grabbed a chair and stuck it underneath the doorknob, just as someone tried to turn the knob. Suddenly, the door shook with the force of something slamming against it. With no other way out or any place to hide, Kyle opened the French doors and dragged Grace out onto the small circular balcony. To the side was a narrow walkway which connected the nursery’s balcony to a larger balcony just above the sunroom. Kyle grabbed her hand and led her across the walkway. They took only a second to stare down at the body lying face down in the snow beneath them, before hurrying on toward the other balcony.

Once above the sunroom,
Grace ran past the table and lounging chairs towards the French doors leading to one of the guest bedrooms.

She glanced back as the French door to the nursery opened.

Kyle grabbed her arm. “This way,” he said, leading her down an outside wooden staircase next to the sunroom.

As soon as they were on the ground
, they threw themselves under a pink and white striped awning and waited. They huddled next to each other, for comfort as much as for warmth. A moment later they heard someone walking on top of the balcony above them. As the footsteps neared, they pressed themselves closer to the wall. A few minutes went by before the footsteps retreated away from their hiding place and they heard the sound of a door opening and closing from above. Sighing in relief, Grace reached into her pocket and pulled out her gloves.

Not particularly eager to leave their hiding place just yet, they leaned back against the wall and waited until they were
reasonably sure that whoever had been on the balcony wasn’t still up there hiding.

After several minutes without a sound, Kyle whispered, “He must be back in the house.”
He took her hand and they hurried to the other side of the sunroom and to the body lying face down in the red stained snow.

Kyle acted as look out as
Grace knelt down next to the body. “It’s Caroline,” she said sadly, as she pulled off one of her gloves. Taking the woman’s pulse, Grace noticed that pieces of plaster were scattered all over the snow surrounding the body. She reached over and picked up a nose shaped piece lying next to the dead woman’s hand. “Looks like she had the same idea you had.”

The door to the
sunroom suddenly opened. Molly walked out. Shielding the candle in her hand from the wind, she said, “There you two are. Did—” She froze as her eyes fell to the body at their feet. The candle fell from her limp hand and into the snow. Recovering quickly, she retrieved her candle before motioning for them to come inside.

Grace and Kyle ran inside
. Kyle immediately drew Grace into his arms and began rubbing her back, trying to restore some warmth to her chilled body.

S
he looked over her shoulder at Molly. “We have to get somewhere safe.”

“
It’s okay, we’re safe now.” Molly said as she shut and locked the door. Cursing softly, she patted her pockets. “I thought I had grabbed some matches when I picked up the candle.” She sighed. “I wish the lights would come back on.”

With one arm still wrapped around Grace,
Kyle reached for the candle. “Allow me.” He let go of Grace long enough to hold the candle up with one hand and covered the wick with his other hand. Smiling, he lifted his hand, revealing a glowing flame.

Grace smirked. “
Show off,” she said through chattering teeth.

Molly’s eyes widened. “How did you do that?”

“Magic,” he said handing the candle back to her.

“What do you mean, we’re safe?” Grace asked.

“We caught the killer!”

“
Who did you catch?” Grace asked.

Molly looked surprised. “Rupert. We’ve locked him in the
cellar. He shot Jerry. He’s still alive, but he’s losing blood. Have either of you seen Laura? Sabrina’s beside herself with worry.”

Grace shook her head before explaining what they were doing outside, making sure to leave out any mention of the ruby.

Molly listened intently, never saying a word as she led them back to the library.

Kyle and Grace, chilled from their brief adventure outside
, rushed toward the fireplace. Warming their hands by the fire, they looked over to the sofa where Jerry lay.

“How is he?” Grace asked.

“We found him upstairs in the hallway, unconscious,” Sabrina said as she pressed a washcloth against Jerry’s ashen face.

Ivy poked at the bandage that was wrapped around his upper arm. “Maybe I should dig out the bullet. We don’t want it to become infected.”

Kyle held out his hand. “I think it would be better to wait for the ambulance.”

“We haven’t c
alled for one,” Sabrina said. “All our cell phones are in the fire and someone cut the lines and smashed most of the house phones to pieces, remember?”

“Even my gold plated princess phone with mother of pearl accents,” Ivy said with a pout.
Sighing, she looked up at Grace and Kyle. “Have either of you seen Caroline or Laura, yet?”

Sabrina
looked behind them toward the door and gasped. They all pivoted around. Laura stood at the door, holding a hand up to her head. Her fingers were stained a bright red. Sabrina rushed forward and gave her sister a quick hug. “Someone tried to kill me,” Laura said triumphantly. “I knew I was on to something.”

“Rupert
tried to kill you?” Ivy asked. “I just don’t understand what’s gotten into him.”

“What happened?” Sabrina asked as she peered at the small gash on Laura’s head.

“I was upstairs,” Laura continued. “I heard a noise and someone grabbed me and stuffed me in the closet.” She gingerly touched the wound. “The shelves came down on my head. It stunned me for a few seconds.””

“Did you see who did it?” Grace asked.

“No,” Laura said, “but that’s not important.”

“Why did you throw the bullets into the fire?”
Grace asked in exasperation.

“To get away from Rupert. None of you
was doing anything and I knew someone had to act. Naturally, that meant me. I figured when the bullets exploded, we’d all have enough time to get away.”

Ivy, who seemed far more upset when she discovered the holes in the wall earlier that day, chided gently,
“Darling, you could have killed us.”

Unconcerned,
Laura said, “No, I couldn’t have. It was just a distraction. I knew everyone would be fine.”

“Where did you go after you left the library
, Laura?” Grace asked.

“I
ran up to my room to retrieve a flashlight. When I came back out, I saw Austin skulking about the hall. He looked very suspicious. Unfortunately, he spotted me and ran down the front stairs. I started to follow, but the next thing I knew, I was in the closet, covered with towels and blankets. Obviously, the coward ran back up the back stairs and grabbed me while my back was turned,” she said with a sneer. “By the time, I got the shelves off me, he was gone. I distinctly remember hearing him knock down the nursery door upstairs. Anyway, as soon as I was able to get out, I began searching for him and guess where I found him?” She looked at everyone expectantly, but when no one bothered to guess, she sighed. “I found him standing over Caroline’s body.”

Ivy gasped. She pressed a hand to her mouth as tears filled her eyes.

“Her body?” Sabrina whispered, horrified.

Laura nodded. “He killed her.”

Molly sat down on the leather chair and looked dejectedly at the floor.

“
Did you actually see him kill her?” Kyle asked.

Laura raised her eyebrows. “
No, but after carefully analyzing the clues, it’s clear that it’s either him . . . or . . .” she let her sentence trail off as she looked pointedly at Grace.

Rubbing a hand across her forehead, Grace sighed heavily. “I think you’re confusing the game with real life.”

“I don’t think
I’m
the one with the problem,” Laura said softly. “Anyway, I’m at least ninety percent sure it’s Austin. He was on his hands and knees next to Caroline examining Timothy Grave’s bust, or rather what was left of it. Stupid man. The ruby wasn’t in there.”