“I thought you were convinced Billy killed them?” Ezra reminded her.
“I am, but…”
“But Billy’s dead.” He kissed the top of her head and held her. “That means their murderer is likely dead too. He’s not going to hurt anyone else from the grave. We have time to solve the mystery. We don’t have to do it all today.”
“They seemed to think it was someone else though,” Clara pointed out. “They were shocked when we mentioned him, and the last thing they said was to find who killed them. So, they must believe their murderer is still alive. They still believe it wasn’t Billy.”
“Yes, but they admitted they don’t know who killed them. And they do care about Billy. Love can blind you sometimes. Their bond with him could’ve very well made them ignore the red flags simply because they care about him. You must’ve seen the way they looked at each other once he was mentioned.”
Clara had been too shocked to notice though. Her mind had been too busy trying to comprehend that ghosts were in front of them in the first place.
“There was something there,” Ezra said. “They were keeping something from us to protect him. And Lyla did mention that they fought sometimes. Billy could’ve killed them. It seems likely he did, and if he did, we’re safe.”
“Unless Nathaniel wants to hurt us,” she reminded him.
“Clara,” Ezra looked his wife in the eyes and kissed her forehead, “we’re going to be okay. I promise you we will. We’ll find the killer, we’ll protect ourselves, and we’ll open the bed and breakfast of our dreams. We’ll find success. We’ll be happy here.
“This is our dream. This is our fresh start, our chance to have all we ever wanted. I want to enjoy every step of the journey with you. To do so, I think we need a break right now. I think we need time away from this house to enjoy our life here. We’ll refresh, and once we’ve been able to reset a bit, we’ll come back and tackle the murder investigation. We’ll put our all into getting this place ready for opening day.
“We will burn out though if we don’t take time now. I don’t want us to resent this. I want to see you happy again. Come on, you made me take a break when I was overwhelmed. Now it’s your turn.”
Hope shone through Ezra’s eyes and as exhausted as Clara was, it was still contagious. She wanted to enjoy this time as much as Ezra did. This was her dream and she wanted to love it again.
“Besides, I told them I’d bring them food,” Ezra said as he walked to the refrigerator. “Since Nathaniel stormed off without taking any leftovers, we have far more here than we could eat before it all goes bad. So, I promised to bring some over. We really can’t back out now. It’d be rude, promising someone food and not delivering it to them.”
“Fine,” she relented. “But can we at least kind of figure out what we’re going to do about the murders? Like, what direction are we going to go in? Are we still looking for a killer, even though Billy’s dead? Do you think it’s possible that someone else was involved?”
“I can’t think of anyone else who would be involved,” Ezra replied. “But I don’t know the case well and last night was the first time we met Lyla and Richard, so I can’t say for sure. I’m at a loss regarding this whole thing if I’m completely honest.
“The fact that they think we’re in danger though is concerning. Therefore, though Billy may be the likely suspect, I think we should look in other directions too. Lyla and Richard clearly didn’t murder their family, so someone else did, and it’d be prudent to make sure that someone else is no longer a threat to us.
“Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, it might be good to know for sure so we can maybe try to figure out how much Nathaniel knows about all this. He was just at that age where he might’ve been influenced by his father’s actions. Perhaps even… well, if he was old enough to want to buy the bed and breakfast after...”
“He was old enough to potentially be involved,” Clara gasped. She hadn’t even considered that before. She worried Billy had killed the family and that Nathaniel might want to harm them to get his hands on the property. But what if he was involved?
“Even if he simply knew his father killed them, that could be a problem,” Clara said as it dawned on her. “He might be willing to kill just to protect his father’s reputation.”
“There are a ton of ways this could go wrong,” Ezra admitted. “I don’t want you to worry about them today, but I do think this is something we need to investigate. Lyla, Richard, Olivia, and Kyle all deserve justice, and we deserve safety. I’m tired of living in fear.”
“Me too.” Though it seemed the fear was only mounting lately, and though they might be leaving the house, Clara didn’t think they could outrun it.
39
Clara and Ezra believed Brittany when she said their bed and breakfasts were different enough as to not be direct competitors, that they served vastly different clientele. But they didn’t fully understand what she meant until they drove up that winding road to the huge property Brittany and Sam’s business sat on.
Just the driveway itself felt better suited for a high-end hotel, with blue English primroses lining it. Their petals were bright beacons under the snow, leading to a house that was at least three times bigger than Clara and Ezra’s bed and breakfast. The white colonial-style house with dark trimming was immaculate.
“How much do you think it’d cost to stay at
