Unfortunately, everyone else in the hall had gone deathly silent.

But either Nora didn’t notice or she didn’t care. She just laughed on and on.

After what seemed like hours, my aunt wiped the tears from her face and said, “Oh my. Just the thought of me being in love with that man. It’s too much.” She coughed, blinked a few times, then looked around the room. “Sorry. Where were we?”

Nobody seemed to know anymore.

It was Liz who recovered first. “That was a good performance,” she said, a little uncertainty finding its way into her voice, “but I know what I know.”

“What is it you know again?” Nora said, still smoothing tears away from the corners of her eyes.

“I know you made my father disappear, and more importantly, I know what everybody else in this room suspects.”

Nora rose to her feet. “I would choose your next words carefully.” All the previous hilarity had vanished from her voice, and everyone in the room tensed with the sudden feeling of danger.

“Evanora Warren, you are responsible for the murder of my aunt. And I have proof.” Liz patted the file in front of her. “Right here.”

Chapter 29

Everyone. Everyone!” Williams called out as the crowd erupted in panicked chatter. “We have strayed far from our original path. Liz, I fail to see what connection a love affair that may or may not have happened years ago has to do with your aunt’s death. It clearly isn’t a motive, and, once again, the purpose of this meeting is not to litigate any crime. We all need to stand down.” Williams pointed at Nora. Surprisingly, she sank back down to her chair.

“You’re right,” Liz said. “It isn’t motive for my aunt’s death.”

Williams took a step toward the podium. “Perhaps we should move on, then.”

“The motive for my aunt’s death is actually in the town hall meeting notes.”

I looked at Nora yet again. She shook her head by way of saying she had no idea what was to come.

Liz raised a sheet of paper into the air. “What I have here are copies of the notes from a town hall meeting eleven years ago, dated April twenty-first.”

“Eleven years ago?” Williams asked. “What possible significance could a meeting from eleven years ago have now?”

“The top agenda item of this particular meeting was Graves House.”

Only I could hear Nora mutter under her breath, “Well, fudge.”

Fudge? Fudge! I stared at my aunt, willing her to look at me, but she had gone still again.

“Here, Evanora Warren is quoted as saying Graves House is a horrific eyesore. That it detracts from the beauty of Evenfall, and someone should . . .” Liz squinted at the paper as though she wanted to be sure she was getting the wording just right. “Someone should burn the house to the ground.”

Nora scoffed. “I was hardly the only one in town to grumble about the property. Multiple complaints have been filed over the years.”