“Very sweet,” agreed Darla.
Mariska pounded her fist into her opposite open palm. “I’m so sorry the plan didn’t work. It would have made me feel so much better to do this for Alice.”
Charlotte patted Mariska’s shoulder as they mounted the steps to Darla’s house.
“Stop beating yourself up.”
Darla gave them each a glass and poured three fingers of Pinot Grigio into each.
“Here’s to Alice,” said Darla, holding aloft her glass.
Charlotte snapped from her thoughts and dinged her glass against Mariska’s.
“To Alice.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Charlotte returned to the Miller farm the next day to find her knock answered by a Hispanic woman in a maid’s uniform. She recognized her as the wife of the eldest landscaper attending Miller’s funeral. When Charlotte asked for Mina, she pointed toward the kitchen and Charlotte went there to find Mina sitting at the table with her head in her hands. The puppies were loose in the kitchen, tumbling with each other and knocking their heads into the chair legs as if they were made of rubber.
Charlotte wobbled as she dodged to keep from stepping on one.
“I like to give them a daily romp,” said Mina. Her voice sounded as if it weighed a thousand pounds.
“Who answered the door?” asked Charlotte.
Mina glanced back towards the main hall.
“One of the cleaners? I’d arranged to have them come clean up after the party. Of course, that was when I thought I’d have the money to pay them. I guess I’ll ask Lyndsey for a loan.”
“I talked to Lyndsey’s mother last night. She said Kimber knew Lyndsey was his daughter.”
Charlotte watched the blood drain from Mina’s face.
“He knew?”
“According to her.”
Mina closed her eyes. “Then it’s true. He knew. And all this time I thought I talked him into taking her. I thought I’d done this noble thing.”
“Do you have that packet containing proof of Lyndsey’s paternity?”
Mina nodded and moved to the kitchen’s bill-paying desk to retrieve a brown folder Charlotte recognized from the reading. Mina handed it to her and she flipped through the papers, not sure what she hoped to find. Everything appeared to be in order, but Mina would need a lawyer to check each document to be sure. She handed it to Mina who placed it back on the desk.
“When did Kimber start to lose his mental capacity?”
“Maybe two months ago.”
“Did you ask when the will was changed? You could potentially contest it.”
Mina’s shoulders slumped as if the very idea exhausted her to her core. “If she’s his real daughter...”
Charlotte lowered herself into a seat.
“Are the girls here?”
“They’re all out at the barn. They only have two modes. Horse mode and phone mode.”
“Do any of them know it was Lyndsey’s mother who killed the twins’ parents?”
Mina gaped. “How do you know that?”
“Tracy Griffin told me.”
“Like she was bragging?”
“No. It came up while I was questioning her.”
Mina sighed. “They know. The twins have thrown it at Lyndsey during some memorable fights. Kids can be so mean.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was important and it hurts Lyndsey’s feelings when it comes up. She feels responsible for her mother’s behavior.”
“You brought the daughter of your brother’s killer into the house.” Charlotte said it as a statement of fact.
Mina nodded. “It felt right.”
“I guess Mr. Miller was okay with it because he knew she was his daughter.”
Mina barked a bitter laugh. “No. Not at all. We fought. I told him something good should come of it all. Lyndsey was such a darling girl. Eventually he just gave in. Or at least I thought he gave in. If he knew, maybe it was his plan all along. He did like to fight.”
“Tracy said she didn’t think he was particularly nice to her, though?”
Mina sighed. “There’s some truth to that. He always favored the twins. I tried to hide it from Lyndsey, but he didn’t. He definitely resented the girl. Either for what her mother did or for her very existence.”
“But he left her his money. Maybe to assuage his guilt for ignoring her all these years?”
“Maybe.”
A puppy began to gnaw on Charlotte’s flip flop and she picked the critter up.
“Did you notice any additional interaction between your brother and Lyndsey over the last few months?”
“No. He hadn’t been downstairs since Christmas two years ago. Well, until they carried him out.”
Charlotte’s gaze floated to Mina’s phone lying on the table beside her. “They gave you back your phone.”
Mina nodded.
“How come you only have that one camera in the back?”
“Hm?”
“When I went to review the camera footage, there was only data for the camera that looks out over the backyard.”
Mina scowled and grabbed her phone. “No, there’s a camera at each of the entrances front and back—” Mina flipped to the app on her phone and clicked through a few pages. “Well how about that? There’s only the one camera on.”
“Why would that be?”
“I don’t know. When you said you looked at everything I assumed you’d seen all the cameras.”
Charlotte lifted her chin to avoid drowning in kisses from the puppy in her lap. “I only saw the footage from the one.”
Mina dropped her phone to the table. “What’s the point of having the cameras if they don’t work?”
“Who else knows how to shut them off?”
Mina rolled her eyes. “All the girls do. You know kids and technology. They shut them off all the time so I don’t get a ding when they sneak out to party with their friends. I never think to check the thing.”
“Do you mind if I spend a little more time looking at what’s there?”
“No. Here.” Mina
