Page 109 of Death at a Highland Wedding

“Threatening to reveal what you know about him. To tell people what he did.”

“Why would I want to tell people?”

“To keep your job. Ezra got it for you, and Mr. Cranston was going to let you go. What you knew about Ezra gave you leverage.”

I expect one of two responses. He’ll deny it or he’ll laugh it off. Instead, his face goes dark.

“Move,” he says.

“You—”

“I saidmove.”

The gun barrel rams into my shoulder so suddenly that I stumble back. When I open my mouth, Müller slaps me. I reel, hands flying to my face.

“Move!”

I had a chance there, when he took his hand off the gun to hit me. But I missed it. I won’t do that again. Stay calm and watch for another opportunity, and donotlet him catch me off guard again.

I turn around and walk as I think.

Müller is genuinely angry at the suggestion that he’d blackmail Sinclair. I didn’t expect that. I’d insulted him, of course, but we’d already accused him of stealing those objects from Lenore. Hell, I accused him of murder, and that hadn’t fazed him. This did.

What had he said when I accused him of killing Sinclair? That it wasn’t in his best interests to do so, which made sense if Sinclair was helping him keep his job.

I’m missing something.

Clear the mental chalkboard and rethink this.

Lenore had a fling with Sinclair. Müller confirmed it. Lenore thoughtit was a love affair. It wasn’t, and Müller suggested she’d know that, even if she couldn’t admit it.

Sinclair was taking advantage of her. Something went wrong—maybe she realized he didn’t love her—and she quit.

Müller said she’d never tell. Why?

I mentally shift to the items found under that floorboard. My first thought had been “trophies.” It’s a classic sign. Predators like to keep items belonging to their victims, as talismans that allow them to relive those moments.

I’d reframed them as blackmail fodder. But Müller’s reaction said they weren’t. He’d been confused, as if he’d never considered such a thing.

Swing back to trophies then. Trophies of what? The bit of bloomers tells me it’s sexual. Did Müller watch Sinclair with Lenore? I certainly wouldn’t put that past him. But how would he get those items from her? She could have left the ring behind and lost the hair ribbon, but her underwear?

If I told you the truth about your Ezra, you would not believe it.

Why wasn’t Sinclair worried about Lenore talking?

Why did Müller have those items under his floorboard?

These two things are connected. Lenore did something she was ashamed of. Another form of blackmail. One that involved Müller.

A threesome?

I hear Müller walking behind me, his breathing letting me picture the man, and that scenario makes me shudder. Could Lenore have overlooked her revulsion because she was curious? Or because she was in love and her lover wanted her to do this?

If I told you the truth about your Ezra, you would not believe it.

Is “talking his young lover into a threesome” enough to warrant that statement? In my time, I’d laugh at the thought.

But thisisn’tmy time, and maybe what Müller meant was that I would be shocked as a young Victorian woman.