Caroline couldn’t stop staring out the car window at the rolling farmland and majestic mountains in the distance. The view of seemingly endless, undeveloped acreage was such a welcome respite from worrying about her stepdaughter, her boss, and whether or not this crew was going to give her a hard time.
Eventually, she forced herself to pull the manila folder from her bag and began to read through the contents. She’d gotten the article from the KEY News reference library. It was a Vanity Fair piece on Belinda Winthrop that had run almost two years ago. It outlined Belinda’s most famous roles on stage and screen. There were pictures of her beachfront home in Malibu, her chalet in Gstaad, her brownstone in Greenwich Village, and her vast country estate in Warrenstown, Massachusetts.
The article went on to describe Belinda’s passion for detail. How she decorated each home herself, selecting furnishings in styles appropriate to their locations. It also told of her penchant for entertaining and described some of the parties she had given over the years. Belinda, the article said, loved to give theme parties, often coordinated with a role she was playing.
To celebrate her role in Treasure Trove, Belinda had given a treasure hunt. Caroline studied the artist’s rendering of Belinda’s Massachusetts estate that accompanied the article. The map, executed by the famed Winthrop portraitist Remington Peters, was marked with tiny stars indicating spots where Belinda’s party guests had to go for clues to where the treasure was buried. X’s—there seemed to be a dozen or so—warned of holes leading to underground caves that the guests should be careful of.
Caroline highlighted the following passage:
WINTHROP’S RUN OF TRIUMPHS WAS INTERRUPTED THIS PAST SUMMER BY TRAGEDY. FOLLOWING THE TREASURE TROVE PARTY FOR THE WARRENSTOWN SUMMER PLAYHOUSE COMPANY AND PROMINENT LOCALS HELD AT CURTAINS UP, WINTHROP’S HOUSE-GUEST AND LONGTIME FRIEND DANIEL STERLING, WIDELY CONSIDERED THE DOMINANT HALF OF THE VICTORIA AND DANIEL STERLING PLAYWRITING TEAM, DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT. STERLING, WHO HAD DIABETES, COULD HAVE BEEN SUFFERING THE EFFECTS OF THE DISEASE WHEN HIS CAR WENT OFF A DESERTED MOUNTAIN ROAD AND OVERTURNED IN A DITCH IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, BUT HIS WIFE SAID HER HUSBAND HAD TOLD HER HE FOUGHT WITH ONE OF THE PARTY GUESTS, THOUGH HE WOULDN’T TELL HER WHO. CLAIMING HE WAS TOO UPSET TO SLEEP, HE LEFT THE ESTATE TO COOL OFF WITH A CAR RIDE THROUGH THE BERKSHIRE MOUNTAINS.
THE PARTY GUESTS, AMONG THEM BROADWAY DIRECTOR KEITH FALLOWS, SCREENWRITER NICK MCGREGOR, AND ACCLAIMED ARTIST REMINGTON PETERS, WERE QUESTIONED BY POLICE, BUT STERLING’S DEATH WAS DECLARED AN ACCIDENT.
Caroline re-capped the highlighter and looked out the window again.
Nick had been questioned about Daniel Sterling’s death? Why hadn’t he ever mentioned that? He knew she was doing a story on Belinda Winthrop. Why hadn’t he volunteered that he’d been at the party at her house the night Daniel Sterling died? That wasn’t something you’d forget.
“I’m hungry.” Caroline’s thoughts were interrupted by Boomer’s voice.
“Not again, Boom.” Lamar groaned.
“To tell you the truth, guys, I wouldn’t mind stopping either,” said Caroline. “We’re almost there, so let’s get some lunch. And I want to pick up a copy of the local paper.”
Back in the car after lunch, the headline on the bottom of the front page of the Albany Times Union caught Caroline’s eye. EVIDENCE OF MARIJUANA IN PLAYHOUSE VICTIMS. She read the story about two Warrenstown Summer Playhouse apprentices who had been killed in a car accident over the weekend. Marijuana had been found in the car, and now the autopsy showed the drug in both of their systems.
Meg must know these kids, thought Caroline, hoping that their tragic deaths would be a cautionary tale for her stepdaughter.