“No!” Mina jumped in her chair. “No. I wasn’t thinking that at all. It wasn’t until you all showed up and Gemma mentioned the puppies…I didn’t think anyone would notice they were gone. No one but the family knew about the litter. Thanks to Gemma, you all assumed a robber had killed him for the puppies.”
“Why didn’t you tell us Lyndsey took the puppies then?”
Mina dropped her head against her hands and rubbed her temples. “I don’t know. I realized how stupid—” She looked at Sheriff Carter. “You have to know none of this was on purpose.”
He nodded, but didn’t look particularly convinced. “So Lyndsey left with the puppies. What did you do next?”
“I went back out into the hall and saw Kimber on the ground—”
“Dead.”
“Alive.”
Carter’s attention snapped up from his notepad. “Alive?”
She nodded. “I was relieved, of course. He was alive and groaning a little but he wasn’t getting up. I ran downstairs to get my phone to call nine-one-one.”
“Did you tell Lyndsey?”
Mina shook her head. “She was gone.”
“Right. So you got your phone...”
“Yes.”
“And you called for help.”
“Yes, well, I talked to the twins a moment.”
Mina sucked in a breath. Why did I mention that? That is exactly what I didn’t want to say!
“About what? You told the twins what happened?”
“Not exactly. I didn’t want to upset them. I told them he’d fallen but that he’d be okay.”
“Why did you say that?”
“I don’t know. It seems less scary than telling them I’d thought he was dead. And at that point I did think he would be okay.”
“His head wasn’t bleeding?”
“I didn’t think so at first but...” She felt a sob rising again and took a moment to quell it. “I thought he’d be okay.”
“What did the girls say?”
“Gemma didn’t say anything. She just wandered off to do her own thing. Payne kept asking questions. She’s like that, always has to be in the middle of everything. But she finally stopped and I ran back upstairs to make the call so she wouldn’t hear me tell the dispatcher the details.”
“And catch you lying about how serious it was.”
“I guess.”
“But when I got upstairs...” Mina faded off, realizing this was the part of the story she didn’t want to remember.
“He was dead?”
She nodded.
“Was there more blood then than you remembered?”
She looked at him. How did he know that?
“Yes.”
“Had he been moved?”
“Moved? He’d moved a little. Yes.”
“Why do you say he moved?”
“How else could he have moved? I told you he was alive when I left him. Groaning…”
“Was there anyone else in the house?”
“Just me and the girls.”
“Anyone working on the grounds?”
“Maybe. Yes. There’s always someone here. The stable boy, the gardeners…”
Carter stood and slipped his pad back into his pocket. He put his hands on his hips and stared down at her.
“Thing is, Mina, Mr. Miller didn’t just fall.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“The coroner says there are two distinct patterns of injuries. One, a single blow, more consistent with the story you and Lyndsey told me about a fall. But the others...” Carter turned his palms to the sky.
“Others?”
“It looks like someone finished him off with something round and hard.”
Mina gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Carter stared at her with his steely blue-eyed gaze until a new thought emerged screaming into her already spinning head like a freight train.
“Wait. Are you saying Lyndsey did that to him?”
“You said yourself he was still alive when you saw him. Not too much blood.”
“Right. And Lyndsey had already left.”
“Yes, you both agree on that.”
“So you’re saying the second injuries came later?”
Carter nodded. “Whether they came later or you just missed them the first time, they didn’t come from a fall.”
“But there was no one there except—” Mina gasped. “You think I killed him?”
“Didn’t you say you were the only person left in the house at that point except for the girls?”
Mina pounded her fist into the center of her chest. “The girls wouldn’t do something like that!”
Carter stared until Mina realized she’d just fought to narrow down the suspect list to one.
Her.
Panic twisted like a tempest in her heart. “And neither would I! It’s impossible!”
“Why is it impossible?”
“Because”—Mina stood, her whole body shaking—“I’m his sister.”
Carter scowled. “You’re his sister and you’re his maid?”
Mina swallowed, finding it hard to keep her voice from screeching. “When my husband died years ago, Kimber took me in.”
“And turned you into his maid?”
“I had to make money somehow, and I was someone he could trust. It worked for both of us.”
Carter nodded slowly, as if deep in thought, before cocking one eyebrow. “So if you’re his sister. Doesn’t that mean you’re in his will?”
A swirl of black filled Mina’s eyes and she felt her knees buckle before everything went dark.
Chapter Seventeen
Carter heard chatter behind him and turned to see the twins walking toward the riding ring.
“Girls, could you come here a minute?”
Payne and Gemma stopped and stared at him.
“Why?” asked Payne.
“Because I need to talk to you.”
Behind him he heard Mina moan. She’d fainted but he’d caught her and placed her back in her chair. She’d awoken almost immediately, and he’d stepped inside to find her a glass of water. While she sipped, he’d debated whether to take her back to the station for questioning in his car, or call an ambulance. He was sure she didn’t need one, but it felt prudent to make sure she didn’t file some kind of lawsuit against him in the future.
When he spotted the twins, he’d put his debate on the backburner.
He beckoned and the girls walked to him amid
