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Only three days later Margie called the men to say that the Langley’s were taking an overnight trip to Nashville. Ironically, it was where one of the young men in question lived.

“Thanks for calling us, Margie,” said Kev stepping through the back door. The four men wore coveralls with a paint company logo on the back. If anyone could see them, they would think nothing of it.

“Happy to do it. All of us,” she said nodding at the gardener and two cooks. “None of us like them much but need the money.”

While the men carefully placed the tiny devices around the house, Kai stood at the desk of Carter Langley, staring at the laptop.

“Can you get in?” asked Christopher from over his shoulder.

“If I can’t, I know someone who can guide me through it,” smirked Kai. He opened the laptop and was shocked to see that there was no password required. “Can he be that stupid?”

“Is that rhetorical?” asked Christopher.

While Kai downloaded as much as he could, the others asked questions of the other staff members. Their accounts, concerns, and affection for Aurora were the same as Margie’s. There were dozens of e-mails back and forth between Carter and two men, Dustin Morgan and Lawrence Beauvois.

“Miss Margie?” called Kai as he walked into the living room. “Who are Dustin Morgan and Lawrence Beauvois?”

“Pfft!” she scoffed. “Those two low life’s they’ve been trying to get Aurora to marry.”

“Interesting. Carter was e-mailing them, talking about a payment if they could make things happen. One commented that he couldn’t even find an address for her and she wouldn’t answer his phone calls.”

“Smart girl,” smirked Christopher.

“There’s no mention of a final payment amount, just that they’d be taken care of,” said Kai.

“He must be talking about her trust and inheritance,” said Margie. “I’m worried she doesn’t even know that it exists or if she does, maybe she thinks it’s safe leaving it in the bank.”

“We need to get her to claim it before it’s too late,” said Kev.

“Kev? You read me?”

“I got you, AJ,” said Kev. Margie and the others stared at them.

“We got the autopsy reports and ID’s on our victims from the cannery. Five people, all formerly employed by the Langley’s.” AJ recited the names and Kevin stared at Margie, repeating the names as they were given.

“How did you know their names?” asked Margie. “I didn’t tell you that.”

“Miss Margie, those were the five people in the cannery fire. That can’t be a coincidence,” said Christopher.

“Good lord,” she said shaking as she fell to the chair. Her face turned white, the others seated beside her, holding one another’s hands. “Th-they must have heard something, known something.”

“What roles were they in? You said there were more than five that left here,” said Kev.

“Of the names you said, two were gardeners and three were housekeeping staff. They must have seen or heard something.”

“Did you see them when they were dismissed?” asked Christopher. The four individuals shook their heads.

“No,” said Oliver, the remaining gardener. “We always have Sundays off and when we came in on Monday, Mr. Langley said they reduced staff because they wouldn’t need everyone while they remodeled.”

“Then they heard something,” said Sonny. “They must have overheard something on the Saturday that they were all here.”

“Of course,” whispered Margie. She looked at the two cooks. “You had gone to the market on Saturday. I went to the hardware store. We needed a new mop and broom and Ms. Langley likes a particular kind.”

“I went with you,” said Oliver. “I needed some grass seed and something for the fire ant piles. The four of us weren’t here.”

“That still leaves others,” said Kai.

“No,” said Margie shaking her head. “They were off that day. We all thought it was odd because Ms. Langley never lets you take off without a lot of notice. When they said they were cutting back on staff temporarily, we almost thought they’d been fired for asking for time off.”