“My aunt was having the house brought up to code. That’s why she was staying with you at Ivywood Hollow?”

“Exactly!” Nora said, snapping her fingers. “There were obviously no hard feelings between us or why else would she stay at the B&B?”

A smug smile spread over Liz’s face. “Because that’s how my aunt preferred to fight. Up close and personal.”

Nora frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“She told you during her stay that while she was bringing the house up to code, she didn’t have any plans to improve the esthetics of the family home. Thereby ensuring the house would remain an eyesore for years to come. You were obviously enraged by her plans and decided to do something about it.”

“Wait.” Nora held up a hand. “Just so I have this straight, you think I killed your aunt because her house wasn’t pretty?”

Liz turned back to her papers. “This is a quote from you in the Evenfall Gazette, dated four years ago.” She cleared her throat. “Constance Graves should be strung up and quartered for what she’s done to that beautiful house.”

Nora turned to me and muttered, “You know, I’m starting to think Beatty’s right. I talk far too much.” She then said quite loudly, “I’m sure that’s a misquote. That doesn’t sound at all like something I would say.”

The hall went completely quiet again as a number of people in the crowd exchanged awkward looks.

Nora threw her hands up. “Fine, then. It does sound like something I would say. But you all know me. I can, at times, be charmingly dramatic.”

“Just so that we can all rest assured you weren’t in fact misquoted, let me read from one of your initial complaints to the town council regarding Graves House.” She pulled yet another paper from her file. “In the section labeled ‘comments from issuer’ it reads, Constance Graves should be strung up and quartered for—”

“I think we all get your point,” Nora snapped. “This is ridiculous. I will have you know, Constance and I quashed that beef years ago. When I realized the town council wasn’t going to do anything of use, surprise, surprise,” she said, flashing a look at the members, “I went to Constance’s house and demanded she fix it up. She said no. I asked her why not. She said revenge. And we left it at that. Beef quashed.”

“I’m sorry. You left it at revenge?” Williams asked.

Incredulity came over Nora’s face. “Who am I to judge another person’s revenge? Constance might have mentioned something about her family, but I didn’t pry.” She whispered to me, “Actually, I asked her if she needed any help moving her revenge along, but she turned me down.” She then directed her attention back to the crowd. “Now that I’ve become acquainted with more of Constance’s family, I can see her desire for revenge was most likely justified.”

“You’re scrambling,” Liz said. “Everyone here knows it. You had the means. You had the motive. And you had the opportunity.”