“I did,” Clara admitted. “I was hoping it’d give us a better idea as to what was going on leading up to their deaths. In some ways, it did.”
Brittany looked a little concerned about this. Clara was confused at first, then she remembered the slight tension between Brittany and Lyla leading up to her death. She figured Brittany didn’t want anyone else knowing about their disagreements. Clara didn’t judge her for that though. She wasn’t sure what exactly was going on with Brittany and Lyla, but friends fought sometimes. It wasn’t as important as figuring out who murdered the family.
Though of course, she’d probably be much more careful when working with Brittany in the future. Clara wondered if perhaps that was part of it. Brittany might’ve been aware of her friend’s frustration, once she noticed Lyla was more hesitant to work on projects with her. Maybe she was worried that if Clara read about them, she wouldn’t want to work with her anymore. Which wasn’t entirely true. It wasn’t entirely wrong either.
After reading about Lyla’s experiences, Clara wasn’t so eager to jump into projects with Brittany without considering them first and making sure she knew every detail of what was going to be done, how much was spent, and what it was spent on.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Brittany per se. She didn’t think she was malicious. But Brittany did live an extravagant lifestyle and after reading Lyla’s journal, Clara had a different perspective on it. It seemed Brittany spent money she probably didn’t have, or at least was careless with it. Perhaps she simply had a lot more to spend, but Clara wasn’t that kind of person. She didn’t want to get trapped in the cycle Lyla found herself in.
“There was a lot of turmoil in Lyla’s life leading up to her death,” Brittany said slowly. “Did you come across anything that might be helpful in finding them?”
“Possibly,” Clara replied. “But I don’t want to share anything that could get someone in trouble if they weren’t involved. Though I suppose since everyone who could’ve been involved has already passed away, it would do less damage than if they were alive.”
“Definitely,” Sam said. “You can tell us. We won’t jump to conclusions or anything. We’re simply here to listen.”
“I just…” Clara looked to Ezra again, but he was letting her take the lead. She was the one who found the diary after all. She also looked over the police report. She knew more about this than he did. “We don’t think Lyla and Richard killed their children.”
“You don’t?” Brittany asked, a bit of worry scattering across her face, playing with curiosity. “Who do you think killed them then?”’
“I suspect Billy did,” Clara confessed. Their eyebrows rose as they looked on in shock.
47
“Billy?” Brittany asked.
“I mean it does make sense,” Sam said as some of the tension eased a little. “They weren’t getting along so great near the end, and he was close to the family.”
“Exactly,” Clara replied. She thought about mentioning what she saw on the police report, but she worried that would be taking things a step too far. She didn’t want them to judge her for prying so much into things, so she decided to stick with the diary for now.
“Lyla mentioned their fight,” Clara explained. “Apparently Billy asked for a raise that Lyla refused to give him. After that, things were tense between them. They apologized, but like you mentioned before, there were some small disagreements. Things weren’t the same ever again.
“Furthermore, Lyla mentioned keeping the children home as soon as they got sick. That meant the only people who were around them during this time were Lyla, Richard, and Billy. That’s why it was assumed Lyla and Richard killed them, but I honestly don’t understand why Billy was never charged with the crime. He had easy access to the children too, and he seems like the most likely suspect to me.”
Clara continued, sharing the details of what she read and why she thought Billy was the killer. She laid out the motives he’d have, piled with his parents’ past.
“I can see that,” Brittany admitted. “It would be a relief to know Billy killed them since he’s no longer alive to hurt anyone. But if he killed the children, what does that mean for Lyla and Richard? They’d have no reason to flee.”
Ezra and Clara looked to each other. After meeting the ghosts, they knew exactly what happened to the couple. They still weren’t ready to share that with them though.
“We think Billy killed them,” Ezra said quietly. “We think that’s how he covered it up. He used their disappearance to frame them. Meanwhile their bodies are likely hidden somewhere.”
Sam shook his head. “It’s awful to think about someone that close to the family betraying them. It’s good you found that diary though and have been piecing everything together. It must give you some peace of mind to know their killer is dead. Hopefully now you can move on from this and continue with your own bed and breakfast, since you really have been making it your own. With all the hard work you’re doing, I’m sure the murders will be forgotten and replaced by the good memories you bring in.”
“I hope so,” Ezra said.
“Though we can’t fully move on yet,” Clara lamented. “Now we have at least some proof that Billy had reason to want the family dead, we’ll have to go to the police station with it. We have to find a way to convince them to reopen the case and continue with the investigation.”
“You’re planning on going to the police with this?” Brittany asked, looking a little uneasy.
“We must,” Clara replied. “We’ve put a lot of thought into it and decided it would be best. We want to ensure Richard and Lyla’s names are cleared of any wrongdoing. We don’t want them to be blamed for something
