Mr Stone's Hunting Lodge

Chapter Seven

The Great Room was jolted again with Mrs Slain quick to dismiss the revelation.

'Liar,' she blurted out.

'I don't care if you don't believe me,' said Mr Hayward, 'because it's a fact. Can you seriously stand there and tell me your husband never had children outside your marriage. Your husband had an affair with my mother. That's how he seemed to recognize me the other day because I look exactly like her. They had an affair for a year and as soon as she got pregnant with me, he threw her away like trash.'

Mrs Slain slumped her head and began to cry again.

'Is he the reason you came to my hunting lodge?' asked Mr Stone. 'Or was it a surprise to see him?'

'Yes,' replied Mr Hayward. 'He was the reason I came here. I was going to confront him. Tell him that he was my father.'

'Did you confront him? Confront him down in the cellar?'

My Hayward put his hands up. 'I swear, I didn't.'

'That's the truth,' Miss Doncaster piped up. 'We were in our room.'

Mr Hayward continued. 'I couldn't confront him. I didn't have the courage. But yesterday, after he made that pass at Gloria, I got mad as you saw. I admit I wanted to hurt him, but I'm not a violent type.'

'You could have fooled me,' Mr Forsythe said. 'You were quite rough on him.'

'I assure everyone I am not. After the incident, while Mr and Mrs Slain were out of their room, I went in and stole the earrings. It was the only thing I could think of to hurt him, to get back at him.' He turned to Mrs Slain and said, 'I'm very sorry.'

Mrs Slain didn't respond to his apology. Even if she could have, the Great Room was interrupted by a second savage yell.

It was Emily.

Once again, everyone was quick to follow the scream, ending up in Mr and Mrs Forsythe's room, where they saw Emily standing over a bloodied and slender piece of metal attached to a wooden handle.

'I found it in the pocket of Mrs Forsythe's bath robe,' a panicked Emily said. 'I didn't realize what it was when I took it out.'

'What the heck is it?' said Mr Forsythe, looking at his flabbergasted wife.

'I'm guessing it's the murder weapon,' replied Mr Stone.

'Yes, but what is it?'

Mrs Forsythe answered the question. 'That's a sley. A tool for weaving.' Everyone took a step back from her. 'Why is everyone looking at me like that?'

'You were a weaver, were you not?' said Miss Doncaster.

'And you did threaten Mr Slain,' said Jack. 'I knew it was you. I knew you did it.'

'I did not murder Mr Slain,' bellowed Mrs Forsythe. 'I've never seen that sley before in my life.'

'That was my mother's,' Mr Stone stated as he took a closer look. 'It was in the cellar with the rest of her weaving tools.'

'You killed and tried hiding the weapon.' Mrs Slain lunged at Mrs Forsythe, but Mr Stone was quick on his toes and grabbed Mrs Slain just in time.

'Why did you do it, Penelope?' Mr Forsythe asked his wife.

Mrs Forsythe looked at her husband with hurt in her eyes, but her mood soon turned. 'Are you completely delusional? How could you think such a thing of me?'

Mr Forsythe raised his voice. 'I'm just putting two and two together here. You threatened Steve and the murder weapon was found in your bath robe. A weapon - tool - you're very familiar with.'

'When would I have done this? I was sleeping when the murder took place.'

'For all we know, you could've woken up with revenge still on your mind, snuck out of your room, found Steve and killed him before returning,' Mrs Slain burst out.

'Why is everyone ganging up on me. For the last time, I didn't kill Steve.'

'I think it's best, Mrs Forsythe,' said Mr Stone, 'if you remained locked in my office until the police can come. Jack, can you take her there please?'

Mrs Forsythe tried to resist, but Jack was too strong for her and took her out.

'We'll need to lock this room so nobody can touch anything.'

'Before you do that,' said Mr Forsythe, 'is there any chance I can change my clothes real quick, freshen up a bit? I'm just feeling so filthy right now with everything going on.'

'I don't think that would be a good idea,' replied Mr Stone. 'Right, everyone out.'