Page 118 of Death at a Highland Wedding

“Is there anything more you can tell me?” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“All right then. Thank you for your time.”

THIRTY-EIGHT

I round up McCreadie and Gray and take them outside.

“I think we’ve been looking at the Violet and Ezra connection wrong,” I say as we walk. “I presumed they were secretly courting, but that doesn’t make sense. The secret part at least. Violet is adamant that their meeting was not romantic in nature, and I believe her.”

McCreadie passes me a dubious look. “I realize Violet is easy to believe. She is not the sort to dissemble. But you may be underestimating how severely she would be affected by a romantic scandal. Also, thanks to me, she has already experienced one. I would not blame her for hiding an affair.”

“Yes, but I believe she was being truthful. That she has not, in the recent past, been having an affair with Ezra.”

“In the recent past,” Gray murmurs.

I nod. “The way she said it—blushing but also firm—suggests therewasan affair, but she can say, honestly, that isn’t why he wanted to speak to her.” I look from one of them to the other. “Is it possible that Ezra Sinclair was the father of her baby?”

Silence. Then, McCreadie says carefully, “Had you asked that yesterday, I would have said he would never treat her so shabbily.”

“But now?”

He exhales and stops in the shade of an oak. “There was always a closeness between them. I considered it fraternal in nature.”

“Her big brother’s best friend, who also treated her like a little sister.”

“Yes. Ezra was always very attentive. Violet could be shy, and when I noticed him seeking her out at social engagements, I would feel the sting of it—that he was doing what I should have done. Being kind and ensuring she was not alone.”

“While he seems to prefer maids, it might be more because they often fit a type he likes. Vulnerable.”

“Which Violet was. And she was often ignored by her supposed fiancé,” McCreadie says, his voice dropping. “Who did not even suspect that another man’s attention might be more than kindness.”

“No onedid. Otherwise, Ezra certainly wouldn’t still have been Archie’s best friend, treated kindly by their parents.” I turn to look at the house. “Maybe I’m wrong about the affair. She said they were friends, that he sought her counsel.”

“Because he did not treat her as he treated Lenore,” Gray says. “Lenore was…” He trails off.

“Disposable.”

Gray makes a moue of distaste but nods. “Yes. A relationship between Ezra and Violet could have felt like a romance, which ended when she became pregnant.”

“Which seems to have happened before Hugh ended the engagement,” I say. “So she chalks it up to a youthful indiscretion on both their parts, and they remain friendly.”

“Do we see her as a potential killer, then?” Gray says. “A jealous former lover?”

I look at McCreadie.

“I would prefer not to speculate on Violet as a suspect,” he says. “Knowing I ended my engagement to a future murderess would absolve me of a guilt I should not be absolved of.”

“But whoever struck Ezra didn’t necessarily mean tokillhim,” I say. “Still, I can see what you mean. I don’t like jealousy as a motive. What if Violet found out what Ezra did to Lenore and hit him with the shillelagh? I asked Violet about Lenore and Ezra, and she seemed genuinely thrown. But her reaction was…” I shrug. “Surprised and yet not surprised. Dawning horror, even.”

“As if she did not know of this specific instance, but knew of—or suspected—others.”

“Yet Ezra and Violet seemed to get on,” Gray says. “Could that have been an act?”

“Didthey get on?” I ask. “They were polite, but any overtures were made by him.”

“As if she was tolerating him,” McCreadie says. “Unlike the relationship with me, no one knew about her past relationship with him, so she had to be polite.”