“He got me a lawyer,” Miranda said. “Leo Kennedy.”
“As you know, I admire—admired—Leo as an attorney and as a human being,” Mike said. “I thought he would be a good influence, help Miranda. That was the end of my involvement—until today.”
“Leo was good to me at first,” Miranda said. “He was wonderful to talk to. He’d listen, let me go on for hours. The opposite of my dad. My father’s an actor, and he always acts like he’s onstage—it’s always about him. And even though Leo’s a big-time lawyer and does important cases, gets up in front of a courtroom and talks to the jury, he would rather hear about other people’s lives than talk about his own. Such a good, caring person.”
“But he’s obviously involved with 1740 if he knows it’s coming apart. So how good can he be?” Conor asked.
“He hid that from me,” Miranda said. “I introduced him to Belinda. Or IthoughtI did. She was already a widow—she had been forced to grow up very fast. She just wanted to cut loose—have fun,party, go to clubs. At first, I thought Leo was helping her the way he was helping me.”
“But it was quite different,” Mike said solemnly.
“Yes,” Miranda said. “I was still living in New York in the winter, Connecticut in the summer, and I only came to Rhode Island once or twice a year. Belinda was living here at the hospital—they had a special cottage for her and her daughter, and they let them stay—she was special to everyone at Maynard-King, considering how much they all loved her husband. Her daughter was growing up, everyone seemed happy and healthy.”
“But she wasn’t,” Mike said. “Was she?”
“No. Everything Jonathan did wrong convinced Belinda that Conor could do it better. He could make her happier, take better care of her and her daughter ...”
Conor took all that in, feeling overwhelmed by all that Miranda was telling him about Belinda. How was it possible that she had carried those feelings for him all this time? They had been destructive not only to Belinda and her daughter, but ultimately—disastrously—to Kate.
“After Jonathan’s death, Belinda began acting out even worse. 1740 was already in action—there were plenty of members—Leo was one of them.”
“I thought you said you introduced Belinda to Leo,” Conor said.
“I thought that too. But Belinda had her reasons for hiding the truth from me, that they had known each other a long time.”
Conor looked at Mike, to see how he was taking this, to gauge whether he was involved. But he saw disgust on Mike’s face and a type of defeat.
“Today, Leo asked me to come on the boat with him and Randy,” Miranda said. “With Belinda dead, Leo had lost his special way into 1740. Crispin and the others never really trusted him and his law friends.”
“Crispin Adams,” Conor said. “Lincoln’s father.”
“Yes. He’s the president of the 1740 society,” Miranda said. “Leo told me the group has been in existence for over a hundred and fifty years, and it started right here, on Maynard-King property. The land has always belonged to Crispin’s family. It still does, even though Leo set up the Leprince de Beaumont Associates LLC to hide the true ownership.”
“I thought Leo was one of the Old Detectives,” Tom said. “Helping to uncover 1740.”
“We thought so too,” Mike said. “You know how much I trusted him? I asked him to represent you, Conor. I thought his character was impeccable. How wrong I was.”
“Anyway,” Miranda said. “Crispin and the rest of the group were afraid that Leo might have been setting them up—working with the police to infiltrate them so he could bring them down. They’re afraid that 1740 is coming apart.”
“If it has lasted a hundred years, why is it coming apart now?” Conor asked.
“Ever since Belinda’s murder, everything has been toppling. You’d foundPsyche, the mansion on the island, the note at Dr. Tyler’s grave. The woman who trains the girls is getting nervous and wants to leave. It became a nightmare when they decided to lure Kate to Fernando Harris’s studio. And as of today, Leo told me he wanted me to be his new Belinda.”
“And do what?” Conor asked.
“Line up women for him—take over from the trainer. Find Belles he could dominate,” Miranda said. “They had that poor girl onRosebud. They made me look at her body, said that I was part of the murder now, and that if they were ever caught, I would be arrested. Leo said he would protect me, but only if I work with the organization.”
“And what did you say?” Conor asked.
“I said yes, just to reassure them, so they wouldn’t kill me too. And then, when they went out on deck to throw the body overboard, I picked up Leo’s phone to look for Mike’s number, so I could call him. But it was password protected.”
“How did you get in?” Tom asked.
“I guessed the password. 1740,” Miranda said.
“And that’s when she called me,” Mike said. “I should have told you right away.”
“I’m sure you hoped to keep her from being involved in all this,” Conor said. This was more of the Uncle Mike he knew. A great judge other than his soft heart, sometimes willing to bend the rules if he thought he could help someone in a less orthodox way.
