The Butler Didn't Do It

Diving for Answers

“You!’ Brett said before he could stop himself. Normally he would fear the solid form that was Davidson. The manservant was no weakling and he didn’t have the look of someone who would back down from a fight. Maybe I should ask Lucy to cry again Brett thought quickly before shaking off the smidgen of fear that had found its way into his head. This man was a kidnapper and possibly a murderer. Brett wasn’t going to let Gregory meet any similar fate. “You’re never going to get away with it!”

Davidson's face turned red his hands, formed into fists, were vibrating with rage. “You are out of line!”

Lucy pulled Brett up. She gave the Butler a steely glare. “No butler you are out of line. We know everything.”

The manservant advanced a step toward Lucy. His voice was louder, and his tone threatening. “Don’t you dare take that insubordinate tone with me!”

Max wanted to make a snappy comeback but he came up rather short. “Don’t you take that…subordinate tone with him!” Poor Max wasn’t used to being angry.

Another voice broke in, emanating from the room where Davidson had appeared. “I think no one should be taking any tone with anyone.” A pale hand appeared on Davidson’s shoulder. “Excuse me, love.” Gently pushing her lover aside, Sylvie stepped into the center of the fray.

“You!” Tanya pointed at Sylvie. “You knew he was a murderer this whole time!”

Sylvie maintained her composer despite her annoyance at being talked to in such an aggressive manner. “Murder? I really have no idea what you are talking about.” She looked from one to the other. “Is that really what you are accusing Davidson of?”

“Don’t act like he’s the only one.” Lucy looked ready to knock the woman out. “Your husband and you probably had something to do with Lynn and Gregory’s disappearance.

“You don’t understand. It’s not what it seems.”

“That’s usually what a murderer says.” Tanya crossed her arms over her chest, doing her best to make Sylvie as upset as possible. Tanya might be a maid, but at least she wasn’t in league with a killer.

“You think you understand everything child?”

“I’m 22!” Tanya stomped her foot, failing to prove her point.

Sylvie smirked and shook her head. “Just a baby.”

Davidson stepped up behind her. “It’s alright love,” He said, putting his arms around her protectively. She leaned her body back into his, proof of how comfortable she was with this man. She seemed uncaring of what the group around her thought. The look in her eyes when she gazed at Davidson told more than 1000 love letters. This woman was besotted.

Brett was furious. “You killed your husband to be with the butler?”

Tanya snorted, unable to stop herself. “How cliché.”

Sylvie looked at them coldly. “I would’ve.” She spoke matter-of-factly as if talking about a chore left undone on a busy day. “ It’s not something that hadn’t crossed my mind. But I’m no fool. I would have made it cleaner. Poison is always traced back to a woman.” She said in a lower voice, “And I would have wanted him to suffer more.”

Brett was not so sure. “Cleaner?”

“An accident. Oscar couldn’t swim. A trip to the lake and an “unfortunate tip of the boat would have been enough. There are no lifeguards here after all.” Sylvie’s eyes sparkled. “Rodgers does love everything being so historically perfect after all.”

“It’s anachronistic,” Donaldson explained as if that interested people more than murder.

Lucy almost exploded. “Well killing your husband to be with a butler sure isn’t.”

Now Davidson looked horrified. “What makes you think any of what you say is true?”

“Oh please.” Lucy was not buying his innocent act. “We saw the letters.”

“Girl no one will believe you.” Sylvie was standing in front of Davidson as a shied now.

Brett came back to help make the confession faster. “You hated his wandering eye, but what’s really curious is why you’d kill for someone you’d only known for a day?”

Now Sylvie just looked confused. “A day? I thought you read the letters.”

“We did!”

Sylvie and Davidson exchanged a glance. “What did the letter’s say?” Sylvie seemed to be testing the waters.

Now Lucy and Brett shared a look. “That Lynn was kidnapped and pregnant and might be an attic.”

“Oh my god!” Davidson said in Shock. You think I had anything to do with that girl's disappearance?”

“You’re name was mentioned in the letters as well!”

“Then why didn’t the police arrest me?”

“Because it was…in…code…” Brett realized now how flimsy their argument sounded.

Lucy didn’t let her sudden doubt show. “What did your letters say.”

Sylvie didn’t mince words. “Our affair. Obviously.” She indicated the bedroom they’d emerged from. “And our fantasy of running away together. Maybe killing my husband on the way to make it easier.”

“Oh.” Tanya wasn’t sure where to go with this.

“Not great,” Davidson admitted. “Certainly something we didn’t want the police to find. But a far cry from being responsible for the murder of an employee.”

“You don’t understand what any of us go through!” Lucy shouted at Davidson. Tanya nodded. “Or you!” Lucy glared at Sylvie. “It’s hellish to be at the mercy of all these guests and not feel able to say anything. Not that either of you would care.”

“Actually, I would care more than you think.” Sylvie suddenly looked sad. “I used to be just like you. Just with less status.”

Tanya looked shocked. “You mean…?

“A maid. The lowest of the low at Bowers Manor.”

Davidson put a hand on her shoulder. “We both started the same year. While she was scrubbing sinks I was serving people too wealthy in everything but actual love. They liked to find snippets of that here.”

“That’s how I met Oscar,” Sylvie continued. “He was…younger, and more charming. One thing was the same though. He liked the thrill of chasing a maid. AT the time I thought it was cute and exciting. However, when he kept it up after our marriage I realized that it was not as endearing as I had pretended it to be.”

“He hurt Lynn?”

“ I know he tried to seduce her. I was the one who finally threatened to turn him in. Of course, he didn’t know it. He just assumed it was Gregory.” Davidson looked almost guilty.

“So that’s why they were constantly at each other’s throats.”

Nodding Davidson added, “In hindsight, it was completely stupid of Rodgers to put those two together that night.”

Max broke into the story. “But Richards doesn’t assign roles, that’s your job.”

“It is. Originally I had Gregory with the professor. But Rodgers stepped in last minute and changed the order”

“Why would he do that?”

“He said there had been some fighting between the professor and Gregory the day before. So he switched the servers around and Gregory was the only one he said who could adequately serve Oscar to his expectations.”

“He always did see himself as something of nobility,’” Sylvie noted wryly.

Brett had a nagging thought to address. “Was it Rodgers who told Oscar that Gregory was the informant?”

“I don’t know for sure…but it must have been.”

“Why did you tell everyone you met Oscar at a polo match.” Tanya was still focused on Sylvie.

Sylvie blushed “After I became pregnant Oscar proposed to me. He told me in no uncertain terms that our relationship at Bowers Manor was to be a secret. I was the daughter of a politician after all. Rebellious or not.”

“You didn’t find his declaration of love difficult to believe?”

“Nothing is difficult to believe when you need to believe it. It was a different time, and my parents were traditional people. If I’d gone home pregnant and unmarried I’d have nothing. NO family or Oscar. Working as a maid was meant as a pre-college experience to annoy my parents. Not the end of my life. “

Lucy raised her eyebrow. “A little dramatic.”

“I get that from my mother.”

“And Lynn?”

Davidson shook his head sadly. “What happened to her was unfortunate.”

“Did Rodgers pay her off? She obviously didn’t marry Oscar. Or anyone else.”

“I assume he did. After all, she never caused any problems after she left.”

“But her parents reported her missing.”

“4 months later. They had letters from her.”

“But no one ever saw her! And those letters were obviously cries for help.”

“Maybe…” Brett ventured. “Rodgers is behind all of this.”

Sylvie looked shocked. “Why would Rodgers kill Oscar? They were business partners. And he obviously covered up for his friend. Several times. “

“And it’s not like Rodgers would financially benefit anyway. All of the shares would have gone to Sylvie.”

“Maybe think he finally realized Oscar was a liability.” Max was catching on.

“Not only Rodgers but Gregory.” Tanya was on board too.

“But he loved Gregory,” Davidson said.

“Than why put him with Oscar? He must have seen the tension.”

“If Gregory knew something about Lynn or was asking questions…”

“Or snooping around!”

“Then Rodgers would have reason to make sure that Gregory was completely discredited!”

“Yeah! Why would the police listen to a murderer?”

“Exactly. Or a dead person.”

Sylvie gave Brett a look of disbelief. “That’s a great theory, Sherlock, but how are we supposed to prove anything?

Brett thought. He knew he was so close to an answer. And then he had it.

“We have to find a body,” Brett said.

“Oh is that all?” Tanya asked weakly.

“You say that like it’s something that hasn’t been tried before.” Davidson snapped.

“The Lake.”

“They searched the lake.”

“Once.”

“You think he dumped a body in after?”

“If he had her writing letters then there is no way she was dead. She certainly wasn’t anywhere where the other staff could see her. “

Max grimaced. “Or smell her.”

“Thank you, Max.”

“Dead bodies smell.”

“He’s right. Another thing we know is that he absolutely refused to have anyone out on the lake this year.”

Lucy held up a finger. “Ok…even if her body is in the lake. How would we find it?”

Brett thought for a moment. He wasn’t actually sure how one could get a body out of a lake but he knew they had to give it a shot. Brett smiled. “Let’s go swimming.

“Not me.”

“Not me”

“Not me”

Out on the boat, in the dead of night, Tanya, Max, and Lucy all had their fingers to their nose. Brett was the last.

“I really don’t know how to swim…” Brett tried to say.

“This was your idea!” Max held out an oar as a threat.

Tanya nodded. “So it’s only fair if you take the dive.”

Lucy smiled brightly. “And if you find anything come up and we’ll help you fish it out.

“You will?”

“Well, we’ll pull you up to the boat.”

“You guys are such good friends,” Brett said with sarcasm.

Max poked him with the oar. “Get swimming.

“Ugh. Brett took off all of his clothes except for his boxers. Thank goodness it was summer. Tanya and Lucy were smothering giggles.

“It’s cold out!”

Tanya handed him a flashlight. ”No, it’s not.”

Lucy gave him a push. “In you go."

The first splash of water was freezing, he came up for air, “OH MY GOD THAT’S COLD” He shouted, gasping.

“Shhhh! We are looking for a body! Do you want the whole manor to hear you?

Brett readjusted his goggles and slipped under the water. It was an unearthly green, colored by the heavy vegetation. Brett was frustrated; even if they looked all night they might not spot a body under all the growth. Still…

After what felt like forever Brett was ready to give up—when he caught something out of the corner of his eye. Like a skirt drifting past him. Had Tanya jumped into the water? He turned.

Nothing was ther—

He was pulled down, sharply, like someone had taken his angle and was trying to drag him below.

And then it was gone.

He looked about.

He needed air.

He swam up to the surface. Sucked in a lungful of air and descended again.

He swam down. Down, down. And there it was again. Something kept flashing when it was struck by the light of the flashlight. He reached out and pulled it from the water-based plants. It was a silver heart on a chain. With a tug, he pulled it free from the vegetation.

And brought the decomposed head along with it.