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Anders settled at the table across from her and kept her company while he waited for the shower to be free Eshe had finished, gotten herself a second coffee, and dialed the hotel where the Harcourts were staying in Montreal when Bricker ca down the stairs to announce the shoas free and grab the paper off the table He gave her a nod and hen he noted her on the phone, then turned and hurried back out of the room

Anders followed, no doubt headed for the shower, and Eshe turned and glanced out theas she heard Bricker talking to so with hi by the way the young wo that she was soon to be one of his conquests, but her smile faded as the phone was picked up on the other end of the line

Getting her mind back on business, Eshe asked for the Harcourts&039; rooet any answer or that she&039;d be put through to a voice mail system It was after five, but still early for their kind, and they were likely to be sleeping, which meant they&039;d probably have asked for their calls to be redirected It was so of a surprise when the phone was picked up on the second ring by a female

"Mary Harcourt?" she asked uncertainly

"Yes Who&039;s this?" the woman said cheerfully

"This is Eshe d&039;Aureus I&039;hed when she hesitated about how to introduce herself "I passed you on the way out the night you came and talked to William He told me all about it Did that fellow Justin tell you I&039;ve invited you all to Sunday dinner?"

"Yes, thank you," Eshetoit was necessary, she opened her ed it to "Is William there?"

"Yes, but I&039;m afraid he&039;s in the shower We have an early reservation for a dinner We&039;re going to a play afterward Is it iht Don&039;t disturb him," she said quickly She&039;d only asked that to be sure the woman was alone and would speak freely to her "Mary, I really wanted to ask you a couple things"

"I see" Soood cheer left her voice, replaced with uncertainty

Eshe hesitated, debating what to ask first, but finally decided to try to stay away fro that talking about Annie would be less upsetting, she asked, "Did you everuncertain

"Yes We understand she was asking questions about Armand&039;s wives before she died, and wondered if she&039;d approached you?" There was a long pause, long enough that Eshe was sure the ansas yes and the wo the truth, so shethe phone line "Yes, I didover to Ar on the door She introduced herself when I walked up to the porch and explained she was looking to meet her new father-in-law, and I told her he was probably back at the barn or out in the field"

Eshe frowned at this news Ar for hi, "We got talking and then she suddenly rushed to her car, got in, and roared off"

Eshe stiffened, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling She just knew this was the puzzle piece that wouldelse make sense "What did you say just before she rushed off, Mary?"

"II don&039;t recall," she mumbled

"It&039;s ined from the other end of the line, Eshe tsked with irritation and pulled out the big guns "I&039;m a Council enforcer, Mary I&039;m here on Council business, and whatever you told Annie pertains to that"

"I don&039;t see how," Mary said, sounding h sounded down the phone and she said, "Annie was asking a lot of questions about Althea and Armand&039;s other wives But at the end, the conversation circled back to Althea and how she really disliked Agnes and John Althea thought they were a pair of leeches taking advantage of Arht they should have moved out centuries earlier, and her first order of business after they nes and John to move out She succeeded and they went to Europe, but she was always afraid they&039;d come back and pop up like a pair of bad pennies Althea was becoht we rode into Toronto, she actually thought she saw Agnes and was positive they&039;d returned and were going to spoil everything she&039;d nes?" Eshe asked sharply

"No, of course she didn&039;t," Mary said firnes and John were in Europe Everyone knew that I&039;ined it or saw soed to upset Althea enough that she said she couldn&039;t sleep and was going to go for a walk before bed"

"Why didn&039;t William tell me about this?" Eshe asked with a frown

"Oh, Willia until I went to collect Thoive him his bath, so after we checked in, she took him to her room to bathe him while William and I settled in our rooms, and then I went to collect hi in a tub of cold water while Althea paced the roo about having seen Agnes as we rode in I tried to tell her she was nes and John were in Europe, but she wouldn&039;t listen She never did once she got so in her head," Mary added with exasperation, and itpositive that Armand was her lifeanyone when they tried to tell her she couldn&039;t read him because he was older than she was It seeht this was another si what she wanted to

"Althea was a bit high-strung," Mary admitted reluctantly, and then rushed on, "It was always best to huood rant about it all, and then agreed with soo for a walk before bed Then I took Thoretted that ever since William didn&039;t know this, but I know Althea sometimes bit drunkentrouble sleeping, but" There was another unhappy sigh "Ever since the fire, I&039;ve suspected she did so that night too and then went back to her room, and knocked over the lantern as she passed out on her bed"

"Thank you, Mary," Eshe said gently when she fell silent "You&039;ve helped a great deal"

"How?" Mary asked almost plaintively "Why was Annie so excited about this? And what are you investigating?"

Eshe hesitated, but then shook her head and said, "How about I tell you that at Sunday dinner? I reed reluctantly

"Have a lovely anniversary," Eshe said sincerely, and hung up to i Cedrick&039;s s Agnes, Eshe didn&039;t ines, then it nes and John had returned from Europe earlier than everyone believed, or they&039;d never leftwhich eliminated their alibi and meant they&039;d been around for every death They&039;d been at the castle when Susanna died, as well as in Toronto the night Althea died, and there had never been any question that they lived in the area when Rosamund and Annie died And they were certainly here now, able to have caused the fire at the shed, and then the house burning It was that being-in-Europe business that had taken them off the suspect list, but if Althea really had seen theht back on it Actually, it ed, and then stopped pacing as she realized that Arnes&039;s alone

Eshe turned slowly and peered out the , staring at the lowering sun It wasn&039;t nightfall yet From what she knew about the pair they were never up and about this early and should have been tucked up in their soundproofed baseer as Armand did, and yet he was up today and Ar with a sick cow She hadn&039;t seen any cows at the Maunsell far, Eshe snatched up the SUV keys Bricker had set on the counter and hurried out of the house

"I&039; into livestock," Arot out of the pickup and walked to aze slid over the farm John had led hines presently lived, and it would have been less of a drive for Ariven Armand the address Instead, John had waited for Armand at the main farm and then led him there in his van

Ar, another s There were several barns, and he wondered which one held the ailing cow

"I thought it was ti for the house rather than the barns "I just want to check on soo see the cow Come take a look around"

Ar as John unlocked the door and then preceding hiestured him to

"I need to check the size and kind of the breakers here Sohts don&039;t work I think the breakers are burned out and need to knohat kind I need to buy," Johnpeering into eht"

Armand opened the door and flipped the switch, relieved when a light turned on He didn&039;t fancy trying to navigate an unknown set of stairs and a baseht vision, but they needed at least a little light to ith and the basereat black hole when he&039;d opened the door

"Are you going to get any other animals?" Armand asked as he started down the stairs

"No, just the cow for now," John answered "I&039;hed and brought up the subject he felt he should most approach while here As he stepped off the last step, he said, "John, Agnes showed Eshe your blood collection ere over the other night I think we should talk about it"

There was a heavy sigh from behind hirunted with surprise as so and reached out instinctively to break his fall, coave a little ain