The Perfect Bride - By Kerry Connor Page 0,59

to fall over.” She made a sound of contempt in the back of her throat. “Come on. I wouldn’t trust these cops to help a little old lady cross the street.”

Truth be told, the more he thought about it, the less he could argue with her. The local police were just a small-town force, who likely didn’t have much experience investigating major crimes. Then again, it wasn’t as though the two of them did, either.

“Besides,” she continued before he could point that out, “even if the police do question the staff, do you really think any of them is going to admit anything? They’ll just know that we’re onto them, and it’ll be harder for us to figure out who it is. I know we can do this. After a few days here I bet I know more about these people than the police do, and you’ve been working with them for almost a year. We should be able to figure this out.”

It had to be one of the staff. He recognized that, even if he still couldn’t quite wrap his head around it. “Who was upstairs when you were pushed?”

“Ray and Zack were working in the ballroom. I think Ed was supposed to be around somewhere, too. Grace is the one who took me up there, though I don’t know if she was still on the second floor. That’s all I know of for sure, but if there are passageways in the west wing as well—and I have to believe there are—then anyone could have gotten up to that hallway and come up behind me.”

“And anyone could have been the one who came into your room as well.” He let out a sigh of frustration. “I just can’t imagine why any one of them would want to stop the weddings.”

“How much do you really know about the staff?”

“Mostly that they’d all been here for years. I did standard background checks on them when we decided to open the manor for weddings and keep them on, normal business procedure. None of them have criminal records, and since everyone but Zack had been here for decades there wasn’t really any employment history to check out. Zack’s background check was clean. I can’t say I know any of them all that well personally, but there didn’t seem to be any reason they shouldn’t be allowed to work here. If anything, they seemed to fit the atmosphere of the place, and Meredith didn’t feel right about letting them go.”

“I get the impression Grace isn’t all that pleased to no longer be in charge around here. It might be enough to make her want to stop the weddings.”

“But without the weddings, we’ll probably sell and she’d have to leave anyway.”

“Maybe it’s worth it to her. I don’t know. There’s more, though. I think Grace was in love with Jacob Sutton.”

Adam was suddenly reminded of how he’d been struck by her use of Jacob’s first name yesterday, the way she’d said it. “What makes you say that?”

“I think it’s why she stayed here all these years. That comment she made at dinner about Kathleen being ‘irreplaceable.’ I think she wanted to be with Jacob, and he was still in love with his wife. Maybe Grace doesn’t want to see any other woman get married here when she was denied the chance.”

Adam considered the idea. “Pretty twisted motive.”

“I think it’s clear we’re dealing with a very twisted mind here.”

He couldn’t exactly argue with that. “True. So you think it’s her?”

“I think it could be. But all of them seem to have issues that, in theory, could make them want to stop the weddings. I mean, Ed and Rosie are married, but don’t seem happy about it. Talking to her the other day, I got the impression she’s not too happy to be married to him. Probably not a surprise considering how she treats him. And I know he’s usually all smiles, but I’ve seen the way he looks at her sometimes. It’s...cold, calculating. Not the way I can imagine anyone looking at someone they love. Then there’s Ray. Did you know his wife abandoned him and Zack?”

“No,” he admitted.

“Either one of them—or both—could have substantial enough issues with women that they’d go after women who are getting married.”

“So that leaves us with what we already knew. It could be any one of them.” He couldn’t keep the frustration out of his voice. “Maybe I should call the company I had run the background checks, have them