“Not to me.” He leered and paused to be sure she’d caught his meaning.
So subtle. She stared at him until he shrugged and continued.
“Lyndsey lives above the stalls here. I saw her first thing that morning. Sometimes we have coffee.”
He smirked and waggled his eyebrows.
Charlotte did her best not to react to his transparent bragging. “Do you and Lyndsey have coffee every morning?”
He shrugged. “If she needs coffee. Sometimes we have it more than once. She likes caffeine.”
Okay. Enough of this.
Charlotte decided to change the implied subject. Any affair Todd and Lyndsey might or might not be having probably had nothing to do with what happened to Miller. Killing him wouldn’t do anything for them. In fact, killing him could lose them both their jobs.
“Did you see the twins that morning?”
Todd took a drag of his cigarette and nodded. “Yeah. They had a show that day. They were all here at four o’clock in the morning braiding the horses and shining their boots and all that fancy crap they do.”
“So the three of them went to a show?”
“Took the two thoroughbreds. Lyndsey drives the trailer.”
“Were you here when they got back?”
He shook his head. “Nah. I usually finish up my stuff by one.”
“How did you find out about Miller?”
“One of the landscapers told me when I got here the next day. Then I read about it in the paper like everyone else.”
“Is the landscaper here?”
“No. Today’s not their day.” Todd looked up at the house. “Did I hear the puppies? Did they find them?”
Charlotte nodded. “They’re back.”
“So who took them? That’s who killed the old man, right?”
“Maybe.”
Charlotte pulled one of her cards from the pocket on the back of her phone case.
“This is my card. Let me know if you hear anything that might be useful.”
Todd pinched the card between his thumb and forefinger and held her gaze. “Sure. I’ll give you a ring.”
Ick.
“Yep.” She let go of the card and turned to head back to the house.
“Maybe we can get some coffee,” he called after her.
Subtle as a sledgehammer.
She kept walking. As she passed one of the Dutch-doored stalls she felt eyes on her and spotted a face peering at her from inside the barn.
One of the twins was staring at her. She paused.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” said the girl.
The lack of a sneer led Charlotte to believe it was Gemma.
“You were here the other day.”
Charlotte nodded and walked up to lean on the half-door. The horse in the stall glanced at her and then returned to watching its food bucket as if staring at it would make sweet feed appear.
“Is your sister in there with you?”
“Payne’s out with some friends.”
I was right. Gemma.
“She’s a P.I.,” said a familiar voice.
Todd walked into view to stand beside Gemma. The girl looked up at him with wide eyes and Charlotte could almost hear her heart pitter-pattering.
Oh no. Her too? Charlotte wondered if Gemma knew about Todd’s coffee breaks with Lyndsey.
“I’d like to talk to you about the day Mr. Miller died. Mina said she came down looking for her phone and talked to you and your sister?”
Gemma nodded.
Todd lowered his head and said something in Gemma’s ear she couldn’t catch. She glanced at him and shook her head. “Why? I don’t know anything.”
Todd returned his gaze to Charlotte. “She doesn’t have to talk to you.”
“No, but I’d appreciate it.”
“She should talk to a lawyer first.”
“You didn’t ask for a lawyer.”
He shrugged. “I don’t have anything to lose.”
“Well, I’m not a police officer.” Charlotte returned her attention to Gemma. “Do you want to talk to a lawyer?”
Gemma shook her head. “Mina came down saying Uncle Kimber fell. She was looking for her phone.”
“Did you talk with her for long?”
“Payne did. I went back to my room.”
“You weren’t worried?”
Gemma shrugged. “She was calling nine-one-one and, I don’t know...she didn’t seem that panicked. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“Had he fallen before?”
“I don’t know. Probably. We hadn’t seen him for a long time. I think he was pretty sick.”
Charlotte glanced at Todd. He was staring at her with grim concentration. All his bravado had disappeared.
“One last thing. Is that your room across from the servant stairs?”
Gemma sighed as if she’d been expecting the question. “Yes. But I don’t use those stairs. Not since I was little. We used to play on them when we were kids. Hide and seek and whatnot. If you went to the top it was so dark people couldn’t see you, but we knew not to go out onto the second floor.”
“Why? What do the stairs have to do with anything?” asked Todd.
“They found the murder weapon,” said Gemma.
Todd’s eyes bulged. “Like a gun or a knife?”
“A doorstop. Someone hit him with it.”
Todd whistled, seemingly impressed by something. Charlotte couldn’t imagine what.
“So your uncle never let you go to the second floor. Even when you were kids?”
Gemma laughed. “Especially when we were kids. He’s not a big kid person.”
“So would it be right for me to say Mina was effectively your mother growing up?”
Gemma nodded. “I guess.”
“And Lyndsey’s like a big sister?” She glowered at Todd as she asked the question and saw his face twitch with what looked like anger.
“I guess,” repeated Gemma. “And Uncle Kimber was a little more like a real dad before he got sick. He ate dinner with us sometimes and made us do our homework and stuff. It’s just when he got older we didn’t see him much anymore because it was hard for him to get up and down the stairs.”
Charlotte nodded and tapped the top of the half-door.
