English Trifle (12 page)

Mrs. Land looked just as anxious, but there was a curiosity in her eyes as well, proof that she wanted to know what Sadie was building up to. Sadie decided to go for it, and let the chips fall where they may.

“I managed to grab her arm, but she was so upset, Mrs. Land. She said he’d told her if something happened to him that she had to leave. Was she talking about John Henry? Could he have known someone wanted to kill him?”

Mrs. Land’s mouth opened slightly. “John Henry,” she repeated, her shoulders slumping as she looked at the floor, seeming to be deep in thought and not the least bit interested in explaining what those thoughts were.

Sadie’s stomach was tight as she waited for Mrs. Land to continue. But instead, Mrs. Land began scooping the beans onto the plates, all her focus on the task at hand. Sadie wasn’t sure what to do, so she opened another container which held four browned birds, smaller than the Cornish hens they’d had in York, but fairly similar. They smelled wonderful.

“Mrs. Land,” she finally said when she couldn’t stand the silence any longer. “Do you think that’s what Lacy meant? That John Henry had warned her?”

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Land said, her hand slowing. “It’s just that—” She turned to face Sadie with a look of wanting to tell her something.

Oh, please, Sadie prayed in her mind. Please tell me something. “It’s just that—what?”

Mrs. Land’s shell was cracking, Sadie could feel it, see it in the other woman’s expression, but she feared at any moment Mrs. Land would realize how much she was giving away and retreat. Or someone would interrupt them. Sadie scrambled for a way, any way, she could gain this woman’s confidence and knock her off the fence she seemed to be sitting on and directly onto Sadie’s side. She took a step toward the other woman as an idea entered her mind. She wasn’t sure it would work, but it was worth a try. She’d used it with her kids when they were young, and it worked beautifully. If she pretended she knew more than she really did, then they didn’t feel like they were confessing, just confirming what Sadie already knew.

“I promise you that I don’t want you or Lacy or anyone to get into trouble,” Sadie said, smiling sympathetically. “But I’m worried, now that the police are involved. If they find out what’s been going on here, we could all find ourselves in a mess.”

Mrs. Land was horrible at hiding her feelings and a variety of thoughts passed over her face, ranging from surprise to relief. “That’s what I’m so very afraid of,” she whispered. “What if, after everything, I end up in jail for my part in this? What will Rupert do without me?”

Chicken Tikka Masala

Chicken

1 cup plain yogurt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 teaspoons cumin

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (1 teaspoon for a milder flavor)

2 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground ginger (or 1/2-inch piece of ginger root)

1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into bite-size pieces (thighs are a more tender meat—worth a visit to the meat department)

After combining all ingredients in a gallon-size Ziploc bag, seal bag and knead the mixture together by hand. Allow chicken to marinate at least 1 hour in refrigerator. (Can marinate all day or overnight.)

After marinating, remove chicken from bag. Grill or broil chicken until cooked through. Marinade will be thick and will cook off. You do not need to save the drippings.

Sauce

1 tablespoon butter or margarine

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 jalapeño, minced (Breanna doesn’t like a spicy sauce—leave out the jalapeño, it’ll still have the kick of the cayenne)

2 teaspoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon garam masala (optional) *

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 cup whipping cream

Basmati rice, cooked

Cilantro (for garnish)

Melt butter in a large skillet, add garlic and jalapeño. Cook 1 minute. Add coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala, and salt. Add tomato sauce and cover skillet. Simmer 15 minutes. Add cream and simmer until sauce thickens, about 5 minutes. Add cooked chicken to sauce; simmer an additional 5 minutes. Serve over basmati rice. Garnish with cilantro.

Serves 6.

* Garam masala adds to the traditional flavor of the dish but it isn’t absolutely necessary if it’s difficult to find at your local grocery store. However, the dish is better with it than without it. Garam masala is made up of a combination of different spices and can be mixed at home.

~ ~ ~

Sadie’s heart began to pound in her chest. Even though she’d known Mrs. Land was hiding something, to have her admit it was a huge validation. It was all she could do not to shake more answers out of the woman. She was so close but knew that pushing would only force the woman’s defenses back up. In an instant she reviewed what Mrs. Land had said. Rupert. Was he a husband? A boyfriend? Was Mrs. Land protecting him somehow?

“Is that why you went along with this?” Sadie asked. “For Rupert?”

Mrs. Land’s eyes filled with tears. “I had to do it for my boy.”

Her boy, Sadie repeated. Her son. “I know,” she said with a sympathetic nod. “We’ll do anything for our children, won’t we?”

“There’s just so much I can’t do for him,” Mrs. Land explained. “It’s not easy, raising a boy without a man around—but they promised me he’d be okay if I just did my part—that they’d get him a good lawyer. But you can’t imagine how hard it’s been. I’m not a liar, Mrs. Hoffmiller. It’s been tearing me up something awful. And Lacy, oh, that poor girl, she just didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she came here. I’d hoped she’d come back for dinner, but if she left like you said, oh my, I just don’t know what to do.”

Sadie nodded encouragingly even while shouting in her mind for Mrs. Land to get on with it. What was Mrs. Land’s part? What did Lacy not know? Who were they?

“I have to know,” Sadie said, trying hard to be patient so as not to scare off Mrs. Land from talking to her even though it was so hard to know where to start with her questions. “Was John Henry in the sitting room when you went up there?”

After a moment, Mrs. Land nodded, triggering a hallelujah chorus in Sadie’s mind.

“You cleaned up the wall, didn’t you?” Sadie offered. Mrs. Land was the only one Sadie could think of who would do it.

Again Mrs. Land nodded. “The maids keep a few rags and some cleaner in every room to clean up spills and things. I was so relieved that it cleaned the wall so well, even though I felt sick the whole time. This wasn’t supposed to happen—nothing like this. I don’t understand what went wrong.”

Sadie couldn’t help but ask herself one more time if Mrs. Land could have killed John Henry. But she’d seemed too genuinely surprised when Sadie had burst into the kitchen this afternoon to have known he was already dead, and Sadie had already determined that Mrs. Land wasn’t strong enough to move the body—let alone stab a poker through his chest; an action such as that would take a good deal of strength to pull off. No, the murderer had to be strong, and able to sneak up on a man hiding behind the curtains. She believed that Mrs. Land was telling the truth—but she’d cleaned up the blood, so she must have been aware that someone had moved the body. Sadie was lining up her next question when Mrs. Land continued.

“I feel right awful about it. It ain’t right and no one told me anyone would be killed or that the police would be involved or nothing like that.”

“I don’t know how you’ve held up for so long, Mrs. Land,” Sadie soothed. “Can you please tell me who moved the body?”

A male voice startled her from behind. “Mrs. Hoffmiller?”

Sadie spun around to see Grant standing a few steps away. With her focus so intent on Mrs. Land and what she was about to divulge, Sadie hadn’t heard his approach. She would have bopped him on the head for his ill-timed interruption if she’d had the chance.

Grant was watching them closely and although he looked perfectly professional, Sadie could read the irritation in his posture and the set of his brow. He held Mrs. Land’s eyes for a moment, which seemed to communicate something Sadie wasn’t supposed to understand. But then he didn’t know Sadie very well. She wondered how much he’d overheard and her stomach sank. Mrs. Land had hinted she wasn’t alone in whatever deception was going on; it wasn’t hard to imagine that Grant—the butler who wasn’t there when they found the body—would be in on it too. He practically ran the household. Sadie would need to be careful around him.

He turned his eyes back to Sadie. “May I please escort you back upstairs?”

Whether it was the tone in his voice or the fact that she might make things worse for Mrs. Land if she stayed, Sadie felt she had no choice but to agree. She’d have to find a few minutes with Mrs. Land later somehow. A quick glance at the table showed that her recipe book was still there, giving her a perfect reason to return to the kitchen and this conversation. In fact, the time between now and then might very well soften the woman up and give Sadie time to plan the best approach and process everything she’d learned. She looked back at the reluctant cook. “Thank you for the snack,” she said, trying to cover up the real reason she had been there. “Dinner smells delicious.”

Mrs. Land gave Sadie a tremulous smile. Sadie followed Grant back through the dish room, glancing at her jacket still hanging on the hook as she did so. She decided to leave it there as well; now she had two excuses to return later. She followed Grant back to the main floor. He opened the door for her, but then hesitated. Sadie could hear Austin’s voice and a quick look at Grant clued her in to the fact that he didn’t want Austin to know she’d been down there.

“Go back downstairs,” Sadie said quietly. “I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

He regarded her for a moment, then shook his head. “I have no reason to hide from my employer, madam. I keep no secrets from him.” He watched her carefully as he continued in the same whisper, “None of us do.”

~ ~ ~

Sadie held his eyes for a few seconds, wondering what exactly he meant by that. “But Liam is more your employer than Austin—”

“Lord Melcalfe,” Grant corrected her. “And Master Liam.”

Sadie bit back an argument about the ridiculous nature of the title. Lord and Master—how arrogant did you have to be to come up with that kind of thing? But she didn’t want to put the butler off. “Sorry, what I mean is that Master Liam is more your employer than Lord Melcalfe is, and it’s obvious that the staff is keeping things from him.”

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Grant said, pulling himself up even straighter.

“Why does Mrs. Land’s son need a lawyer? Who’s blackmailing her? What’s being covered up?”

He looked at her quickly and she realized that she’d gone about it all wrong. He certainly wouldn’t give up such information that easily. “I’m sure I wouldn’t know,” he said quickly, then turned away from her, took a breath, and stepped around the tree. Sadie scowled at him, but followed all the same. She saw his shoulders relax slightly when he realized that both Liam and Austin had their backs toward them. He would not be reprimanded for having let Sadie get into the kitchen.

Liam and Breanna were half a step behind Austin who was talking to three men dressed in suits. They must be the security guards Liam had mentioned—they looked a little like the Secret Service in their dark suits. Or maybe more like Men in Black.

She tried to catch Breanna’s eye for a hint of what was going on, but Breanna didn’t look her way. She was probably still mad that Sadie had set her up to talk to Liam. Sadie hoped Breanna would accept her apology once she realized how much Sadie had learned from Mrs. Land. She itched for her notebook so she could write down all of the details before she forgot.

“It would be helpful for us to have a list of everyone on the premises,” one of the three men said. He had a dark complexion, Middle Eastern, Sadie assumed, but spoke with a British accent. His eyes watched Sadie as she approached the group and she wondered if she should continue up the stairs to her room.

“Grant will assemble that list for you,” Austin said, looking over his shoulder to where Grant stood. The butler inclined his head. “He’ll also assemble the staff below so that the security detail can meet them.”

“Would it be possible to wait until after dinner, sir?” Grant asked in his formal tones. “Many of the staff members are required to execute the meal.”

Sadie thought it ridiculous that so many staff members were needed in order for the four of them to eat. Equally ridiculous was the idea that dinner couldn’t be moved back half an hour to accommodate the security team’s meeting with the staff members. One more example of the low priority everyone gave to John Henry’s death. Sadie was amazed security was there at all.

Sadie looked at Austin, wondering why he’d suggested the security team in the first place. He’d been plenty clear about the fact that he didn’t believe John Henry had been murdered. However, he apparently still wanted to put on a good show of covering his bases. She reflected back on what he’d said about having stayed at the house all this time, purposely not being seen. Even with his being a snob, she couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t at least have introduced himself to them. He was Liam’s cousin and managing the holdings that Liam would soon be taking over. Then again, he also thought Breanna was a gold-digging American willing to tell outrageous stories in hopes of weaseling her way into the family tree. Hmmm.

“This is the final houseguest,” Austin said, pulling Sadie out of her ponderings as he waved toward her. “Mrs. Sadie Hoffmiller.”

She stepped forward and shook hands with each security guard. “You can call me Sadie,” she said warmly. “Everyone does.”

They all nodded and smiled and made polite noises at each other.

Austin cleared his throat, drawing the attention back to himself. He looked at the security guards. “Would you like a tour of the estate before dinner?”

The men agreed, and headed toward the west wing of the main level to begin the tour; Liam, a couple steps behind the rest of them, looked like a little brother tagging along. As they walked away, Liam looked at Breanna, a scared, sad, but hopeful look on his face. Sadie was embarrassed for him and wondered if part of Breanna’s decision to break things off was because he wasn’t very assertive. She’d pegged him as quiet and easygoing from the first time they’d met, but over these last few hours, she felt like she was seeing those qualities in a different light. Only dominating women wanted weak men. Breanna wanted a partner, and seeing Liam in this setting did not reflect well on that potential.