Part 3: The Appraiser Who Priced a Murder Weapon by Mistake

Rosalind's continued investigation uncovered Constance's old personal diary, preserved among the estate's belongings, its pages revealing a story considerably more complicated than simple hush money or quiet complicity.

"Edwin came to me in a panic that night," one entry read, dated the same week as Serafina's disappearance. "Said there'd been a terrible accident, that Serafina had fallen during an argument, struck her head. He begged me to help him, said if anyone learned the truth, his family's reputation would be destroyed, and I'd lose my position along with any hope of a future. I helped him bury her, God forgive me. I've regretted it every single day since."

"So it wasn't murder exactly," Delphine said, reading over Rosalind's shoulder with her permission. "An accident, followed by a cover-up."

"That doesn't erase Constance's culpability," Rosalind said carefully. "Concealing a *****, helping dispose of remains those are serious crimes regardless of the original circumstances being accidental."

Bettina, present for this latest revelation, looked overwhelmed. "Where are her remains, then? Does the diary say?"

Rosalind continued reading, finding the answer several pages later. "We buried her beneath the old oak at the property's eastern boundary, the one that was struck by lightning the following spring, as though even nature couldn't bear to properly witness what we'd done."

The property, still owned by the Whitmore family's descendants, granted permission for excavation once presented with the diary's evidence. Within days, forensic teams recovered remains consistent with Serafina Loeb, finally providing sixty years of overdue closure to a case that had haunted her family for generations.

"Edwin's long dead," Rosalind said, reviewing the case's final details with Delphine and Bettina. "Died in the eighties, so we can't properly prosecute him. Constance passed only months ago. There's no one left to hold legally accountable, though at least Serafina's family will finally have answers."

Bettina sat with this information heavily. "I never knew my great-aunt carried this. Sixty years of guilt, hidden in a diary and a brooch she apparently couldn't bring herself to properly discard."

"Sometimes people carry burdens their entire lives, unable to properly confess," Delphine said gently. "I think, in her own way, she was trying to leave a trail toward truth, even if she never had courage to reveal it herself while she was alive."

Serafina's remaining family a great-niece herself, coincidentally close to Bettina's own age was located and properly notified, finally receiving answers to a decades-old mystery that had shaped her own family's grief for generations.

to be continued... 💎💛