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Remi smiled. “I loved hearing the sheep at sunrise.”
“Probably not the rooster?” Oliver asked.
“That,” Sam said, “we could’ve done without.”
“Life in the country. You get used to it, eventually. I know I should have noticed, but do you take coffee or tea in the morning?”
“Coffee,” they both said in unison.
He handed Remi the silver pot, looked down at his plate of food, eyeing his scrambled eggs with distaste. “I was quite hoping to hear something by now.”
“I’m sure it won’t be long,” Sam said, trying to put on a positive face. “The police in London are very competent. No doubt they’re making headway, even now.”
The housekeeper appeared, waiting quietly in the door until Oliver looked her way. “Yes, Mrs. Beckett?”
“Your sister rang. She’s at the police station. They’ve found your uncle.”
He pushed his chair back, standing. “Why wouldn’t they have called here? He’s not hurt, is he? Did Allegra say anything?”
“She didn’t, sir. Just that you should get there straightaway.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Beckett.” He looked at Sam and Remi. “Please, finish your breakfast.”
“Actually,” Sam said, “we’ll be glad to drive you. After everything that’s happened, it might be a good idea to have extra sets of eyes and ears.”
“Right you are.”
The three met out front, where Sam’s rental car was waiting, the keys in the ignition. A gray-haired man walking with a pronounced limp approached from a door in the side of the garage, nodding at them as Oliver made the introduction. “Thank you, Jones.”
“Sir.”
Oliver gave an embarrassed smile as he watched the elder man walk off. “It’s all very formal around here. ‘Sir’ this, ‘M’lord’ that. Something I’m no longer used to. Uncle Al
bert hates it. Every one of these people here are like family to him and he can’t figure out why they insist on all the formalities.”
Sam slipped in behind the wheel, Remi taking the backseat, leaving the front for Oliver. “He mentioned that at dinner our first night.”
“In truth, we really can’t afford the handful of staff remaining, but my uncle couldn’t bear to let them go. They have nowhere else. Allegra’s son even lived here for a few years when she was going through her divorce. Nasty business, that.”
“How many staff are left?” Remi asked from the backseat.
“Three families here in the manor cottages, not including the four farmers.”
The drive into Manchester took about twenty-five minutes, during which Sam was glad to see they hadn’t been followed. At the station, Oliver nodded toward a woman standing out front, her light brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. “My sister, Allegra,” he said.
The moment she saw him, she walked over, her blue paisley dress fluttering in the wind. “Where’ve you been?” she asked. “I rang at least an hour ago.”
“I came as soon as I heard.”
“Well, not soon enough. Uncle Albert’s been arrested.”
“What? When? Whatever for?”
“Sometime early this morning. They’re accusing him of insurance fraud for stealing the Gray Ghost.”
“Preposterous. There is no insurance.”
Allegra looked at Oliver as though he had lost his mind. “You didn’t have the car insured?”
