“That sounds awful,” Izzy said. “I wish I had known. I would have done things differently.”

“Done what differently?” Nora said grumpily. “Given her a nightly foot rub? You were lovely. You know you were.”

The implication was of course that she herself had not been. I couldn’t help but feel for my aunt. Nora did not do well with guilty feelings. And I didn’t think it was just because of the truly awful conversation we—she!— had had before Constance’s death. If I were to guess, I think she felt responsible for what had happened. All three of us took pride in Ivywood Hollow and the comfort we provided our guests. We wanted everyone who stayed with us to have a memorable experience. We had never had a guest hurt, let alone die while staying with us. And the truth was we weren’t like other B&B proprietors. We should have been able to prevent this.

“I’m sure Nora’s right, Izzy. You could have showed Constance all the kindness in the world, and I doubt it would have made a difference,” Beatty said kindly. “We’re all products of our upbringings.”

Nora adjusted her gauze shawl. “Not that that’s an excuse to be miserable to everyone.”

“No, it’s not, but Constance certainly had her fair share of people being miserable to her. All that business with her father’s will?”

“What business?” Nora asked, peering at him over the top of her sunglasses.

Beatty shook his head. “It’s old news. I shouldn’t have brought it up. That whole affair was one of the low points of my career. I’ve never felt right about any of it. But suffice it to say, if I had to guess, Constance’s choices resulted in a pretty lonely life. In fact, the only person I think she was friends with was Theo,” he said, looking at me.

I smiled. That made sense. Theodora Holmes was a wonderful person. She also happened to be my old boss. I used to work part-time at her bookstore, Lovely Leaves, up until, well, up until I didn’t. There was no sense in reliving the past.

“Actually, I think Theo was the only person able to stay friends with everyone in that family and not take sides.”

“What sides?” Nora asked.

“Again, I shouldn’t say.”

My aunt bristled. “Beatty, must you be so infuriating?”

“I keep wondering if it was somehow our fault,” Izzy said loudly enough to derail Nora. “I’ve always made sure we’ve followed health and safety regulations, but maybe we missed something.”

A soft buzz sounded from the coffee table. “Sorry,” Beatty said, putting up a finger before picking up his phone. “This may be important. I have a friend over at the department.” A deep furrow formed in his brow as he looked at the screen. “You know what? I hate to cut this short, but I’m going to pop over to the police station.”

Izzy’s eyes widened in alarm. “Why? What’s going on? They don’t think we were somehow negligent?”