Free The Green Remains by Marni Graff Page B

single and good-looking; it wasn’t too much of a stretch to imagine it.
      “Perhaps you’re right. We never do know what others carry around, do we? I should be nicer to her.” Kate sipped her tea. “Ready to face the fortress later? I thought we’d walk to Clarendon Hall. It’s only a quarter of a mile, but a portion is uphill.”
      Nora brightened at the thought. “I can use the exercise. I’ll bring my camera, maybe get some shots of Belle Isle from up there.” She remembered what she’d been thinking before falling asleep the night before. “Kate, do you think my pregnancy will be a problem for anyone at the Hall?”
      “I really don’t think so,” Kate answered as Maeve appeared. “I believe they’ll appreciate your regards.” She paused as Maeve set their plates down. “Thank you, Maeve.”
      Not a blink from Maeve, who moved on to clear another table. So Maeve could be moody, Nora decided. Maybe that’s why Simon resisted her—if he had. Time to find out.
      “I wondered if Maeve and Keith dated and that’s why she’s upset today. Or even she and Simon?”
      Kate smiled. “Not for her lack of trying again with Simon. I never saw her with Keith, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”
      Again? Nora nodded. “I didn’t realize she and Simon had been an item.”
      Kate waved the thought away. “Eons ago, before he went to France. They had a few dates, but I got the impression she was too shallow for my dear brother.”
      That explained it—history that Maeve was trying to resurrect. Nora attacked her breakfast with relish, surprised at her hunger. When she was finished, she put her fork down with a sense of satisfaction.
      “I think the young man and I have had our fill of breakfast this morning. I’ll just get some air before we take that walk. You take your time here.”
      They agreed to meet at 10:30, and Nora left the dining room, exiting the main lodge door. The fresh morning air was bracing. She looked at the lake across the road and hesitated. She turned away, passing instead through the curved trellis draped with vines that led to the flower garden just outside her own room. Empty. With a grateful sigh, she pulled out a chair and sat down. Her baby was quiet this morning, just an occasional flutter to remind her of his presence—as if her constant backache could let her forget. Most evenings, her feet and ankles were swollen, but Dr. Ling, her obstetrician in nearby Windermere, assured her this was normal.
      Despite having ignored the lake, Nora thought of Keith and remembered clearly how his eyes had shone when he’d talked about the water he loved. Could he have chosen it deliberately as the place to spend his final moments, lulled to eternal sleep in its depths? But why would he have wanted to end his life? He seemed so positive, so filled with ideas for the future. If his death was at the hand of another, what had Keith done to provoke someone to kill him?
      Even though she was blameless, Nora wasn’t happy to be any part of Ian’s investigation. She knew being involved in a murder inquiry cast widening circles, like the ripples of a mud puddle, contaminating and infecting everyone within its reach. Nora slipped her feet out of her loafers and wiggled her toes. She wouldn’t be in the middle of another death investigation if she’d stayed at her job at the magazine, she thought ruefully.
      Nora remembered her last day at work before leaving for the Lake District. She wrinkled her nose with distaste when she recalled the morning spent reading a truly awful piece of Tony Warner’s on a new memorial being built for Princess Diana. Nora thought the readers of People and Places wanted the poor, dead princess to rest in peace so many years after her death as much as she did, but the Third Floor insisted that one article per issue highlight some royal, and Nora had stopped fighting the Third Floor early on in favor of her weekly paycheck.