Page 6 of One Last Smile

I think of his wide, dark eyes staring unblinkingly at me in the attic and suppress a shiver. “Yes, I’m sure we will. Anyway, I came across a portrait of a beautiful young girl who bore a striking resemblance to… to Eliza.”

Veronica’s smile fades, and I feel a rush of fear. “It could simply have been a trick of the light. My cell phone light, that is. I… well, once the attic lights were on, the resemblance wasn’t as strong.”

Her smile returns, but it’s more forced than before. “No need to apologize. The girl was blonde with blue eyes, and she was walking in a forest, yes?”

“Yes. Not like…” I gesture around at the eclectic collection of plants that surround us. “More like a normal English forest. Not that this is… not that there’s anything wrong…” God, I’m getting discombobulated.

“That was Minnie,” Veronica says. “Minerva Montclair. Oliver used to call her M&M.”

“Oh. A girlfriend of his?”

She laughs, and there’s a shocking degree of bitterness in that laugh. “One can never tell with Oliver. He doesn’t take anything or anyone seriously.” She catches herself and says, “But no, not a girlfriend of his. A friend. Sometimes a friend of his and sometimes of Eliza’s.”

I should leave it at that, but my curiosity refuses to release me. “I take it she’s not a friend anymore?”

“She’s gone,” Veronica replies. “She’s been missing for over a year now.”

“Oh.” Heat floods my cheeks. “Oh, how horrible. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” she says, looking at me with a strange expression that is one part shrewdness, one part disgust, and one part amusement.

I blink and stammer for a few seconds, and she laughs and says, “I’m just teasing, Mary. Of course, it’s tragic. She was a beautiful and vibrant young woman. It’s a shame she was taken in the prime of her life. Mind you, no one knows that she’s dead. No body was ever found. She was just home one day and gone the next. But… well, after so long, I can’t see how she’d still be alive.” She meets my eyes. “I’m sorry. What a horrifically morbid thing to talk about. I should have warned you before you brought it up. Anyway, I don’t know why we still keep her picture in the attic. I’ll have Horace remove it when we return.”

We spend the next hour or so enjoying the garden. I allow the conversation to drift away from the mystery of Minerva Montclair, and we spend the rest of our excursion discussing Veronica’s charity work. She is quite careful to point out how much more the family gives than their neighbors and Sebastian’s business partners do.

“We recently made a pledge to Clean Water for Asia to donate one million pounds per annum to their fund. Sebastian was concerned that we would carve into our budget for maintenance of the estate, and I told him, ‘Sebastian, there are things on Earth more precious than your silly estate.’” She laughs. “He did not like that.”

I manage to keep up with the conversation, which is easy to do since Veronica clearly intends to dominate as much of it as possible. My thoughts, however, remain on the missing girl with bright blue eyes and hair the shade of molten gold.

I try once more to tell myself to let this go. It’s not my business. I’m done with prying into events that have nothing to do with me. Better to focus on the job I was hired to do and leave the secrets of the Carlton family to them.

But deep down, I know that once more, I’ve been pulled into the mystery, and try as I might, I won’t be able to leave it behind until I have an answer.

CHAPTER THREE

Lucas doesn’t join us for breakfast. The older children—I really must stop thinking of them like that—the older two siblings seem relieved by that fact. Veronica is tense. She asks about him several times, and each time, Oliver and Eliza brush her concerns aside with some lighthearted comment. I get the impression that were I not there, she would take matters into her own hands and go storming off to find him.

When he does finally come down as we’re leaving the breakfast table, Veronica practically sprints toward him. “There you are, my love! Where have you been? Why didn’t you come eat?”

“I wasn’t hungry, Mother,” he says in his soft, almost girlish voice.

“Nonsense!” she insists. “Eliza, get your brother some food.”

“We’re leaving to pick Father up, remember, Mother?”

“So make him a sandwich for the road. He looks so thin! Doesn’t he look thin, Mary?”

She looks at me, and underneath the concern in her eyes is a thinly veiled threat: agree with me or else. I smile and say, “I’ll pack him a lunch.”

I am keenly aware of everyone’s reactions when I say that. Oliver purses his lips and mutters something under his breath. Eliza lowers her head slightly and avoids eye contact with her mother. Veronica crows with triumph and looks at her two older children with naked delight. “Wonderful! Thank you so much. I just knew you’d be perfect for my Lucas!”

Lucas only regards me with his wide, expressionless eyes. I decide now is a good chance to get to know him. “Lucas? Would you like to pick out some food? I’d like to know your favorites.”

“He’ll have a cheese sandwich with a boiled egg, and a serving of fruit and almonds,” Veronica answers before the poor child can even take a breath. She gives Lucas the same threatening smile she gave me a moment ago. “It’s his favorite.”

He lifts the corners of his mouth slightly and nods.

I incline my head, resisting a suddenly powerful urge to tear him from his mother’s grasp and carry him away. I have my own experience with overbearing mothers, and while mine preferred vitriol to syrup, I get the sense that Veronica’s façade is as false as that of the manor. The rot underneath is beginning to seep through.

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