The Butler Didn't Do It

Illumination

“What is it!” Tanya and Max had hauled a gasping Brett into the boat after he’d tugged on the rope. Lucy tried to get information even as she patted him on the back to help him get his breath back.

Sputtering, Brett managed to say, “There’s a body!”

The people on the boat stayed silent. When Brett was able to look up he saw they were standing still, just looking at the water.

“Guys?” No response. He tried again, exasperated. “Guys! I said it’s a body! That’s what we were looking for!”

Max didn’t look away from the inky water. “Well, we didn’t’ actually plan on what to do once we found it.”

Lucy looking sadly at the water remarked, “And it’s hard to be happy when you have a feeling whose body it is. Hard to cheer the end of hope.”

“Oh.” Brett had been so consumed with the idea of proving Gregory innocent and saving him that he’d forgotten that if it were the missing maid under the water, then Lucy would have no more hope of saving her friend. Pulling himself up, Brett took some deep breaths and stood at the edge of the boat, ready to jump. “I’m going back under.”

“Wait!” Max took off all of his clothes except for his boxers precariously rocking the boat as he did so. “I’m coming with you.”

Once again Brett dived into what he now knew to be a murky tomb. This time Max followed close behind. He found the spot again. Brett tried to grab the body and bring it up. But it was heavy, far heavier than a mostly skeletal body should be. He tried again, straining to move it an inch when Max pressed him sharply on the shoulder and pointed toward something near the body. Brett followed his finger. It was a Cinderblock. A robe around block wound it’s way along the pond floor before coming to end in a knot tied around the skeleton's neck. Brett looked closer at the body. That’s when he saw that the wrists and feet her bound as well.

Knowing he couldn’t pull it up by himself, and that he should really stop messing around with what was undoubtedly a crime scene, he signaled to Max that they should swim back up. But, before he did, Brett grabbed one thing from the body.

“OOOOOHH MY GOOOD” Max, now able to speak, was absorbing the full horror of seeing a dead person.

Brett got into the boat. “Not helping Max.”

Max was pulled in next, but he continued to be in shock. “It’s a body. There’s a body. We found a body.” Tanya sat down with him and began to talk softly and calm him down.

Brett sat next to Lucy. She rubbed her arms to ease the soreness of pulling the two heavier men into a boat. Brett, not wanting to, but knowing he had to, held out his hand. “We couldn’t bring up the body. But I grabbed this. Do you recognize it.”

In his hand, lay a necklace. It was silver, in need of good polishing, but it glittered in the flashlight still. Engraved on the heart was the letter L. Lucy looked at it, her expression sorrowful. She took the pendant and stroked it. “I gave her this. I have one too. We were the two L’s in our group so we made it our thing. Lazy I know, but we liked to laugh at stupid things.” Tears filled her eyes. “I knew but I didn’t want to admit.” She clasped the heart in her fist as the tears began to flow.

The realization that her friend was dead, her body only minutes away from where she had been working and breathing, caught up to Lucy and she began to sob.

Brett didn’t care anymore about playing it cool. He put his arms around her. “It’s not your fault. We are going to get the person who did this. She will be at peace.”

Lucy just continued to cry. “You know what the worst thing is? I thought, for a while, she might have just run off. What kind of friend does that make me?”

Tanya and Max came over to comfort Lucy as well. Tanya put a hand on her shoulder. “We are all just trying the best we can. You wanted her to be alive and if that means you imagined a scenario in which she really had run off somewhere else, that was how your brain coped. Don’t be down on yourself for it. There was probably nothing you could have done.”

Max nodded. ‘Ropes were tied around her wrists and feet. She was also tied to a heavy piece of cement. Whoever threw her in there didn’t want her to come back up.”

Brett stood up. “ That also confirms there is no way she jumped in on her own. It wasn’t suicide.”

Lucy tried to regain her composer. “Do we go to Quincy?”

Brett shook his head. “If we do that now, then Rodgers or Paul will get away with this.”

Lucy nodded. “Or both of them. This could have been a two person job.”

“They will find a way to pin it on Gregory. They could surmise that he's running away because he’s guilty. And because he had a relationship with Lynn and the other victims he’s a prime suspect. We need to find him first.”

Tanya took an oar, sitting down to begin the row back to the dock before it got light out. “How? Quincy and his officers have been looking all week and there is no trace of him.”

Max took the other oar. “He couldn’t have left the property. But maybe he’s being kept somewhere, like Lynn.”

“I don’t know what to tell you, I’ve been over every inch of this place.”

Brett thought a moment. “Maybe not.”

Max looked exhausted. “We found a body. There is no need for suspense. What are you thinking? “

“I have a plan, but we need to do it perfectly.”

“So I guess we’re not telling the detective we found a body…”

“No Max, we are making sure there’s not another body to find.”

“But first,” Tanya said with a smile. “We need to get back and change. Or, in some cases, put on clothes. We’re bound to be noticed if you are walking around the manor in your boxers.”

Brett and Max realized for the first time they were mostly naked in front of the girls after being in cold water. Blushing Brett nodded. “Yep, let’s go change.”

As soon s breakfast service was done they put their plan into action. It was easy to go unnoticed; they were after all just cleaning. Or so it seemed.

Focusing on the second floor and above, the code had said “attic’ after all they cleaned, which meant they went into every room and left a large bright red candle in the window.

‘Why a candle?” Max had asked when Brett explained the plan earlier.

“Because it won’t draw too many questions. What fancy house doesn’t have a candle or seven just hanging about? We can just say they are for decoration or reading or something like that if anyone asks.”

“So we’re going to save Gregory by cleaning and beautifying the manor?”

“Yes.”

Max began to leave the room. “I’m going to the detective unless you explain yourself.”

Brett rushed in front of the door to prevent Max escaping. “From outside we can see every window.” Brett talked quickly but quietly.

“This is a true statement. Still not understanding how this will help Gregory.”

Lucy was a bit quicker on the uptake. “We can see all the attacks from outside

Brett waved his hands, urging them on. “And if a window doesn’t have a candle?”

Max got it “Then it’s hidden.”

Clapping his hands Brett almost shouted. “There you go!”

“Will it work.?” What if the attic doesn’t have a window?”

“One way to find out. Oh! I forgot to mention, don’t actually focus on cleaning. Time is of the essence guys and we don’t have a lot of time before we will be missed.”

After breakfast, they began to “clean” the second and third floor. It took an hour but they managed to get a red candle in every room above the second floor they could find. When they convened outside they tried to look natural as they all stood looked casually at the house.

“We’ve got to look weird, just pretend we’re taking a stroll, and looking at all the windows…”

Brett saw it. “There!”

He pointed. There, in one of the taller turrets, was a window. There was no candle there. But where is it?”

“Hang on.“ Tanya ran into the house. They watched the house, looking at the windows. Every once in a while they would see her look out of a window. Slowly she was getting closer to the candleless one.

Then Brett saw movement in the mystery window and felt a thrill Brett saw movement look it---

But that wasn’t Tanya’s face. The face in the candles window was pale. It stared down at him. He knew that face. Not only from the window. But from the halls. And the kitchens. IT was the girl he’d never talked to….or seen anyone talk to. And he remembered where else he’d seen the face. In a photograph. A photograph that had been in the dead professor’s room.

Lynn? Brett wondered if anyone else saw what he saw. “Guys do you see---“ But when he blinked it was gone

Instead, he saw Tanya’ face in the window right below. They signaled her to go up another floor. She shook her head and disappeared. Soon she was running down towards them, not caring how conspicuous she looked.

Out of breath, she told them, “I was in the library! That’s the closest I could get. There is no way to go up from there.”

“No way to get where?”

Tanya had not gone unnoticed. Wen had run up behind her. “Sorry. I couldn’t help but notice you were acting weird. And cleaning more than usual.” Wen put her hands on her hips. “You could’ve let me help you.”

Tanya smiled ruefully. “Sorry Wen, everything happened so suddenly. But follow us and I’ll fill you in.”

“I can

Max nodded. “Many heads make…More heads.”

Brett laughed. It was a stupid joke but he didn’t care, he laughed.

Once upstairs Wen was filled in on everything. Together they begin to look around the library.

“Anything?” Brett asked after 10 minutes.

Lucy stuck her head out from behind some shelves. “Nothing.”

“Wen appeared from a dark corner of the library. Every closet appears to be a closet. The walls are solid.”

Brett sat down on the floor. What had they missed?

“The coded messages.” Brett looked at everyone. “What were they again?”

“Love, Worried, Attic, Kidnapped, Davidson, help me.” Lucy quoted off the top of her head.

I get every one of those but what do you think she meant by—

“Davidson!”

They all turn to look around for the manservant. But he wasn’t there. They turned back to Tanya who had shouted his name. But Tanya was pointing at a large bookshelf against a wall. It held many dusty books. “Look at this shelf. It’s flush against the wall.” She turned, smiling to the group. “All the other shelves are loose! This isn’t a shelf, it’s a door!”

“Look for any book by someone named Davidson!” Brett had seen enough movies to know that if there was a secret passage behind a bookshelf then it was most likely opened with some book that was really a lever. And my mom used to tell me that all that Scooby Doo was bad for my brain. Well, look at me now mom!

They scoured the shelves--And then he found it, A volume of 1900 era advertising fonts by someone named Sam Davidson. A book no one would every pull from the shelves unless they had to. Smiling Brett pulled the book.

WHIZZZZ. There was the sound of mechanical happening and the bookshelf shifted slightly from the wall, It Lucy carefully pried it open

“A passage.” Lucy peered through the darkness. “Brett, you still have your phone on you?”

“Yes.”

“Use the flashlight.”

He did. A set of stairs, twisting up and out of sight were revealed.

“Well, we might as well go up.” Max sighed, ready for more dead bodies.

With no time to lose they ran up the stairs. The passage was old. The air smelled musty and dank. It needed a good wash. Finally, they arrived at a door. Brett tried to open it. It was locked.

Lucy pulled the skeleton key from her apron pocket. “Might as well try.”

By some miracle, worked. But there was no relief. Only horror. There, lying against the wall, tied to the floor was the missing butler.

Brett ran into the small room. “Gregory!”