why. I just didn’t want anyone to be surprised if you hear us in there.”
Everyone fell quiet, glancing at one another. Tom waited for someone to comment or offer any objection.
“Us?” Alex asked.
“I asked Tom to come with me to videotape the room and document where everything is before I move anything.”
“Sounds like you have it all figured out,” Alex said in a tone Tom couldn’t quite read.
“Did anyone think of any ideas why someone might have wanted to hurt Haley?” Meredith asked.
Everyone looked around the table, seemingly hoping someone else would provide the answer. No one did.
Tom had spent much of last night considering the question himself, trying to think of the slightest reason anyone might have to kill Haley, going over every interaction he’d witnessed since they had assembled at the airport. But he wasn’t convinced he was the best one to figure it out. He’d been away from the group too long. Anything could have happened within the past seven years that he would have no idea about.
Still, his natural inclination was to believe that none of these people was capable of killing anyone, let alone a friend. That left him trying to figure out who else it could be—and why.
The only other people at Sutton Hall were Rick and Ellen, neither of whom he could read all that well. He didn’t know enough about either of them to guess why one of them might have killed Haley. If it was one of them, the motive likely had nothing to do with Haley herself and involved something secret on their part. The fact that the knife used hadn’t come from Sutton Hall didn’t necessarily mean anything. If someone in the wedding party could have brought it here with them, one of the staff could have brought it, too.
If he could figure out the motive, it might help him discover who was responsible. It seemed strange that Haley would be killed here of all places, where another wedding had also ended in murder. It seemed the killer had decided to take advantage of the mansion’s history. Or, he thought with a frown, was the mansion itself the connection?
He slowly raised his eyes to look at Meredith. This wedding business was hers. She was the reason anyone had come here in the first place. And two of those weddings had led to murder. He knew she was no murderer. Even if she hadn’t been with him when Haley had likely been killed, he remembered the devastation on her face last night. No, she wasn’t the killer, but...
“Maybe it’s not about Haley,” he said slowly. “Maybe it’s about Meredith.”
Meredith flinched, just as every eye in the room turned to her. “Me?”
“Maybe somebody has a grudge against you....” As he said it, his gaze automatically slid toward Jessica.
Jess’s mouth fell open, leaving no doubt she’d caught his meaning. “Are you talking about me?”
“You seem to know a lot about Meredith and Brad. How exactly is it that you know so much? Have you been talking to him?”
She clamped her lips together in a thin line. From her expression, she didn’t want to answer, but her reaction was enough of one.
“Well?” Alex prodded.
“We had coffee a few weeks ago,” she sniffed.
“Exactly how long have the two of you been in touch?” Tom asked.
“We ran into each other a few months ago, that’s all.”
“And what did Brad have to say about Meredith and the fact that she owns this place?”
She grimaced, clearly indicating that whatever he’d said, it hadn’t been good. “He’s not her biggest fan,” Jessica admitted delicately.
“Enough that he was pleased to hear how things went badly here before?”
She bit the inside of her cheek, her silence telling. The answer was yes. Brad Jackson had relished everything his ex-wife had been through.
“You can hardly blame him,” Jess said. “After what she said about him, he has every right to enjoy what’s happened to her. It’s karma.”
His eyes narrowing, Tom surveyed her, trying to figure out just how deep her spite ran. “You’re obviously on his side. If he did want to do something to hurt Meredith, how far would you be willing to go to help him?”
Her jaw swung loose. “You can’t honestly believe I would kill Haley!”
He paused. No, he admitted, deep down he didn’t believe that. “Maybe not. But where is Brad right now?”
“Back in Chicago.”
“You’re sure about that?” he prodded.
She blinked. “Well, no, but I assume so.”
“What are you suggesting, Tom?” Scott asked.
Honestly, he wasn’t really sure. But