Lady Exner, a dazzling bracelet on her arm, chirped, “Mr. Gavin found Mrs. Watkins’s bracelet. Isn’t that lovely?”

Dale rushed to Sylvie. “He found the bracelet?”

Sylvie looked at Gavin with a sympathetic but knowing glance. “In a way he found it.”

“But that’s a fifty-thousand-dollar reward.”

Gavin, who had been looking totally despondent, perked up. It might not be the Costa del Sol, but it was nothing to sneeze at.

Luke and Nora were standing by Regan as she talked on the phone to Superintendent Livingston. Now that the shock was over, Nora’s natural whodunit curiosity had set in.

Regan was listening intently. When she started to say good-bye, Luke took the phone from her. “We can’t thank you enough ...”

Nora said to Regan, “What did he tell you?”

The room became suddenly still. Veronica seemed to have forgotten the bracelet. “Philip? Did he have anything to do with this?”

“Oh no, no. It was Val,” Regan reassured her quickly. “Val and Cameron have been lovers off and on for years. He murdered Athena’s aunt in Greece when she walked in on him during the robbery. They were both questioned in connection with the crime. The police were sure it was an inside job, and Val was the prime suspect.

“As Livingston said, you can imagine how shocked Athena must have been to see Val walk into a pub in Oxford and join Hardwick, who was wearing her uncle’s priceless pocket watch that had been stolen with the other jewelry. According to Val’s confession, Hardwick had pulled it out several times while he was waiting for her and they were afraid Athena might have seen it. Hardwick was sitting in a booth and hadn’t noticed Athena was at the bar until Val came in and spotted her. Certainly it was obvious that Athena had put two and two together. Otherwise why would she have tried to jot down Val’s license plate on the matchbook cover?”

Regan sighed. “They knew it would all be over if she went to the police. So they followed her out, caught up with her . . .”

“Why did she end up so near my property?” Veronica asked.

“Livingston thinks that Athena wanted to ask Philip what to do, and headed for Llewellyn Hall. She was emotionally dependent on him and had made him her unwilling confidant. Hardwick killed her near your house and they wanted to get rid of her body as fast as possible.”

Regan hesitated. “Veronica, you must realize that Philip was totally unaware of Val’s plans. She poisoned Penelope so that you’d be alone on this trip. Cameron Hardwick intended to make sure you didn’t reach New York alive. With you dead and Val married to Philip, your estate would have been sold to that hotel chain in a minute. She couldn’t take the chance that you might become close to your American relatives and change your will.”