The Butler Didn't Do It

Reading Between the Lines

Lucy, Tanya, Max, and Brett all stared at the letter. It was alarming. Could Lynn really have tried to warn that she was in danger?

“We need to look through all of these letters,” Brett said.

Lucy looked at a clock in the room. “We don’t have much time, they’ll be expecting us later. Even I can’t talk down Davidson when he needs staff for dinner service.”

“Alright,” Tanya said, rubbing her hands together. “In that case let’s get started.”

The four worked together, spreading out the letters in chronological order. Hoping to notice a pattern, any pattern that might indicate that she’d tried to send for help. But they couldn’t.

Tanya began to grow doubtful. “I mean, they tested the handwriting. It is hers.”

“If she was going to run away how why would she go through all the trouble to write so much?”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at these letters! Does it seem normal for a girl today to hide away but send her dad all the information about why she’s run away? If she was really ashamed she would have just written one letter and then gone silent.”

“Or she would have….” Lucy looked closer. “Lynn was brainy, like her dad. She loved all that political history, anything with spies she was impossible to get talking about anything else. And everyone knew it.”

“So you think she was a spy.”

“No, but I think she and her dad, with their love of court intrigue, might have learned a thing or two about secret codes. I also think she had to send these to show that things were normal. She’d often write letters to her father, about everything. It would be suspicious if she didn’t.”

“So what does the code say?”

“I can’t figure it out. None are like the help me one.”

“We’ve tried to connect the first letter of every letter. That doesn’t do anything.”

“But- “Max said pulling out the “help me” letter. This is the last one. It’s hurried.”

“Not sure why that matters.”

“If someone was forcing her to write these than she would know if they wanted to kill her. Maybe she ran out of time and convinced her killer to send one last goodbye letter. If it looked like suicide note she’d knew they say yes. But she didn’t want to risk her father not seeing the danger she was in.”

“I have a question.” Max was going quickly letter to letter. “Did you notice that she used a different pen to write the date.”

“They looked. Sure enough, the letters were all written in black ink. But the dates…”

“They’re a dark blue.”

“It was small, I didn’t even notice it.”

“Do you think she just had that quirk?”

Lucy shook her head. “I saw her write, she would use whatever was handy, but she didn’t have a tendency to write her dates at a different time Or with a different pen.”

“I bet they were added later!” Brett looked at the face eyeing him questioningly

“Think about it! There’s no way you could hide someone in this house forever. The risk is too high. And no one saw her leave the property. They just got these letters.”

“But if she were here why even go through the trouble of writing these letters and not trying to get help.

“Because she thought she would be leaving…” Lucy pondered.

“I don’t follow.” Tanya crossed her arms.

Brett did. “If she thought that her predicament would be short she might have written the first letters more willingly.”

“The ones with no errors.”

“But if she were in danger---“

“She’d try to alert her father!”

“And we noticed that the grammar is weird in the last three letters.”

“Hey look!” Max put the first letter up.

“Lately I’ve been a little off. Because of my behavior, I worry that you will worry. But I’m very happy! Please let me enjoy this happiness on my own for now.”

“Do you see it?” Max looked excitedly from one to the other.

“LIBSLOBO---“ Brett tried to sound out the words. He only saw nonsense.

“No look! It’s a different puzzle.” Taking a pen Max began to circle letter. The first word of the first sentence. The first letter of the second word of the second sentence. Then the first letter of the third word of the third sentence…

“Love!” Max cried. “It says, love!”

“So she ran away for love. There was no foul play?” Brett asked Lucy.

Lucy looked doubtful. “Only one way to find out.” And she picked up the second letter.

Personally, I’ve always hoped that mom would come back. I really wanted a mother to talk to sometimes. Though those endless discussions about history were fascinating, it’s not enough! There are some general topics that a girl can’t discuss with her father. But I never ever noticed them until I went to bowers manor to work. It is a wonderful, exciting, and thrilling place to work. There are lot many different and new kinds of people. One who I admit I’d become almost totally attached to.

Using the same technique as Max had Lucy found the code. There was a moment of silence before she uttered, “Pregnant.”

“No way!” Max exclaimed. Tanya put a hand over his mouth to quiet him.

“We are literally walking in what could still be considered a crime scene. Hush your face.” Tanya let go of his mouth and Max rubbed his chin, sore from the grip and the stern words.

Brett looked at the note. “If she was pregnant then who was the father.”

Tanya looked more thoughtful. “Maybe…maybe she really was happy. In love and pregnant. Unless…” She took a deep breath. “Unless the father wasn’t happy.” Tanya picked up the third letter.

When I wrote you last I was still in the afterglow of love. How Often I think of that girl. There are reasons now I can’t go back. I’m loath to remind myself of my foolishness! I could go back if I didn’t have this weight of sadness about me. I believed that he hadn’t ended things. I believed he loved me still despite…complications in our relationship.

“Worried,” Tanya stated, after decoding the message. “She is worried.”

“About what?” Max wondered. “We know the last letter says help me. And if the first says love, maybe she only began to realize she was in danger?”

“That would mean she wasn’t alone.” Brett picked up the next letter.

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Why I remember you taught me about several king’s men who died horrifically because they knew too much. This is dumb in my opinion. I never could not know something that was right in front of my face. But I was foolish as those king’s men of long ago. I sincerely thought I could protect my heart. But I was hopelessly unprepared for possibly having my love thrown back in my face. I suppose you could say in the end I got what I deserved.

I look at myself in the mirror and don’t know how I dare come back.

“Uh oh,” Brett said quietly. The others in the room had been silent, waiting to hear what he would say.

“What is it?” Lucy asked.

“Kidnapped,” Brett said. “She’s telling her father she’s been kidnapped.”

Lucy was elated. “Then she didn’t run off!” She suddenly realized how odd her happiness looked. “I’m sorry. I’ve just spent so long trying to convince others, even myself, of that fact. I knew she wouldn’t just abandon her father or friends for some lover. And certainly wouldn’t be too embarrassed to return if she were dumped.”

“I hate to ask it,” Tanya butted in, “But what about suicide?”

Lucy shook her head. “Lynn had so many dreams. She wasn’t the type to stay in a funk. She could literally just push bad feelings away after a good cry and carry on. She could be emotional, but overall she was a rational self-assured woman.”

Brett wondered if she were still trying to convince herself of that fact. He decided it was best to pull away from the subject. “If she were kidnapped. It would explain why these letters were written. Someone was trying to cover their tracks. They wanted to buy time and stop the police from searching for her.”

Max nodded. “But she realized she was in danger and tried to get help.”

Brett had a terrible thought. “What if the kidnapper realized that she knew. What if he, or she, decided that keeping her around was a risk not worth taking?

“What’s the next letter say?” Tanya asked.

Max took up the letter.

Day in and day out I think of you. In a second I would run back. But a vision in my head remains. No way could I return with a baby. I would rather be dead than dishonor you so. If there were a more sorry daughter then I have never heard of her. Alas, I think there is only one way for this to end. I hope that in time I’ll be on that road.

Max gasped. “It says, Davidson! She is naming someone. And it’s Davidson. Oh my god it’s Davidson!”

Brett hissed, “Shh he always appears when you say his name, be quiet.”

Luckily for them, the Manservant had other places to lurk, and he did not appear. Counting their lucky stars they discussed the new reveal.

“I always knew he was hiding something.” Lucy was almost shaking with rage.

“I thought he just cared about the manor.” Tanya was trying to piece together how a manservant could come to kidnap a maid.

Max had a great idea. “Perhaps he cared too much, and she was going to cause a scandal and he murdered her in true turn of the century fashion.”

“Turn of the century fashion?”

Max shrugged. “It’s how he does everything.

Not being able to wait, Brett picked up the final letter.

As you read this, know I shall be far away. Don’t take the time to look for me. I now think myself unworthy of love. Heartbreak is an invisible pain that nonetheless kills. I hope you don’t carry any negative feelings towards Bowers Manor as they are not to blame but rather it was my own foolishness that has destroyed me.

“That’s heartbreaking.” Lucy sounded close to tears.

“So what’s she really saying?”

Brett looked hard at the letter. “Attic.”

“Attic?”

“So…she was kept in an attic?” This last letter confused Tanya.

“But the police searched this house top to bottom. They searched all the attics.”

“All of them?” Brett stretched for a long shot, “How many attics are there?”

Lucy had to think a second. “Well, I guess we call them towers. But there are, several…8 maybe. I don’t know.”

“What if the police missed one?”

“I know you don’t like Quincy, but he was very thorough. He and his men combed every staircase, closet, room, hallway, tower, or whatever they could see.

“Exactly!” Brett felt a thrill, “That they could SEE.”

Max gasped. “But maybe they couldn’t see all the towers.”

Tanya caught on. “This place is huge. It’s easy to hide a secret passage.”

Brett looked at Lucy, who stood dumbfounded. “Who actually knows the house well?”

“Rodgers knows the house the best. Besides him Davidson, he would have to direct all the staff. Gregory was always asking to make a map of the place, to be more efficient he said…”

Brett noticed she’d trailed off. “What is it?”

“They were always getting upset on his insistence that he be allowed to learn the build of this place. I thought it was weird. Why did it matter? Most the rooms don’t get used. But then, after Lynn disappeared, Gregory became more insistent. And that caused a few arguments with Davidson and Rodgers. It was the only time I saw Rodgers get angry.”

“Oh no, guys.” Max was looking at the clock. “We got to go.”

Brett looked too. It was almost dinner.

“Shoot!” Lucy shoved the letters back into the bed. And the group took off down the hall at a run. They knew if they were off schedule they might be watched more closely. And that was the last thing they wanted. Brett was ahead of the group when a figure stepped out of a doorway. He didn’t have time to stop.

“Ouch!”

“Why am I not surprised to see you here when you should be doing your duty?”

Brett looked up into the sour face of Davidson looming over him.