The Best Man to Trust - By Kerry Connor Page 0,35

the middle of the ballroom floor, dwarfed by the massive space that stretched two stories high and half the length of the wing. On one side of the room was a stage they’d already checked. There was a skylight high overhead and windows covered nearly half of the outside wall. All that could be seen beyond them was an impenetrable whiteness. He thought he could hear the faint sound of the wind howling in the distance. Or maybe it was just the emptiness of the room echoing around them, he thought, his skin suddenly prickling with unease.

“There are certainly a lot of hiding places around here,” he noted.

“I guess that’s the downside of how big it is.”

“This place really is incredible, though,” Tom said, leaning back to scan his surroundings.

“It is, isn’t it?” Meredith said, a wistful, almost resigned note in her voice.

Tom glanced over at her. Her expression was heavy with sadness. It had to be impossible for her not to remember how this amazing place had been touched by so much ugliness.

It was a shame, too. He wasn’t exaggerating—Sutton Hall really was extraordinary, he thought, craning his head to peer up into the high ceilings. From the massive ballroom to the tower bedrooms, the library to the atrium, the place was more like an actual castle than anything he ever would have expected to find in this country—or outside of a storybook. There were moments when they’d come upon a sight so amazing he’d nearly forgotten the purpose for their search and simply wanted to take in his surroundings.

Unfortunately, reality had always returned soon enough, reminding him exactly why they were doing this.

“I’m guessing you weren’t planning on using this space for Scott and Rachel.”

“No,” Meredith agreed. “It seemed a bit much with only the six of you. I know Rachel was excited to see the ballroom, but we were going to use more intimate spaces for the wedding events. The atrium in the back of the manor seemed like a good choice, and the library is lovely.”

“Still, seems like a shame not to be able to put this to use.”

She nodded. “It does. When I first came up with the idea of holding weddings here, I imagined all these big events that could really take advantage of such a magnificent space. But most of the weddings that planned to come here were smaller, like Scott and Rachel’s. In retrospect, it does make sense. It would be harder to get a large group of people to travel all the way to such a remote location.” She gave her head a small shake. “I guess this really was a bad idea.”

Before he could say anything she started to turn away. “I think we’re done here.”

They made their way out of the room, Meredith stopping to lock the doors behind them. Despite the massive amount of territory they’d covered, there were no doubt places they hadn’t reached. It would likely take days to conduct a thorough search of every inch of Sutton Hall. Even so, they hadn’t detected any signs there was anyone else on the premises who wasn’t supposed to be here. For the time being, and without any evidence otherwise, Tom was inclined to believe that meant there really wasn’t anyone else here.

Which meant the killer was most likely someone they were already aware of. Either one of the members of Meredith’s staff—

Or one of his old friends.

A sense of resignation settled over him at the thought. He still didn’t want to believe it was possible. But the longer he thought about it, the more he knew he had to.

“Can I ask you something?” Tom asked as they made their way down the corridor toward the front foyer.

“Sure.”

“Why didn’t you ask Rick to help us with the search?”

A guilty flush colored her cheeks. “I wasn’t sure if I should. He’s pretty much had the run of the place for the past several days, so if there was somebody here, he should have already known about it.”

“And if there was somebody here, that would mean he was keeping it from you, and probably was involved with that person being here in the first place.”

“Exactly,” she allowed. “Now that it looks like there’s no one else here, I hate that I didn’t automatically trust him, but I didn’t think I could afford to. Not if there was even a chance...”

“But you trust me?”

She glanced over at him, her gaze direct and unguarded. “I do,” she said simply.

Her unquestioned confidence struck