---

---

---

---

At Jeanne's invitation, Tony sat down next to Constance. Trying to decide how to go about figuring out if Jeanne could be trusted, he listened while Constance took the lead on asking questions.

If they could be confident that Jeanne was not involved in everything that was happening, then she could be useful. But trying to figure that out without risking everything would be difficult. If they revealed too much and it turned out that Jeanne was not on their side, it would be disastrous. Based on his earlier conversation with her, she did seem to be concerned about Miguel. That would be the best way to start, he hoped.

Picking up the conversation after Constance had asked a few questions, Tony chose his words carefully. "So, after you asked me about Miguel earlier, I did some asking around myself. None of the nominees have heard from him, and we're all concerned... especially after this morning." Both technically true statements, which didn't give away what they knew; half-truths are much easier than lies. Suddenly remembering the tape recorders that Sam had given them earlier, Tony casually slid a hand into his pocket, acting like he was just habitually making sure his wallet was there, and discreetly started recording. "He's definitely not anywhere in the building. Nowhere we can access, anyway; obviously some places are off-limits to us, so nobody's been able to check there. Unless you have?" he asked.

As he spoke, Tony maintained eye contact with Jeanne, paying close attention to how she reacted. If she truly knew nothing about anything that was happening, he assumed she'd just be concerned. But if she slipped for even a moment, he didn't want to miss it.

---

---

---

---

Would Eleanore kill to maintain the status quo?

It was a good question and one that couldn't be easily answered. Millicent didn't know much about the matriarch apart from the history she knew before coming here on top of everything she had been told. But surely it wasn't out of the realm of possibility.

"I mean, would a wealthy person kill someone if it meant being able to maintain the life you enjoyed? I'd think so. I mean, hell, billionaires have done worse for less. She's on my list, but she isn't the only one. Any of the family members could have done it to maintain the life they grew up with. And as much as I am glad we're all working together, I don't fully trust anyone else apart from you. One of them could have killed Miguel while someone else killed Renee. Things aren't adding up nicely."

Once they entered the bar, she saw Lena talking to the others and heard some of the qwuestions they asked. Millicent was happy to see them prodding for answers. She, too, was still curious about the selection process. "Pardon my interruption, but Lena, Eleanore wanted us to ask you to check on the slideshow and make sure it was up to par." She nodded to the others, smiling, though her eyes said "We have some updates."

---

---

---

---

---

It appeared there was more to this system than simply having family members nominate their favorite hobby of the week to come and entertain them. There was something sweet about knowing that someone out there had thought that Sam was good enough to be considered for nomination, and even more so that the grandmother herself believed it as well. It was a shame though the circumstances at which all of this had happened, the why of it all beyond simply accepting it. Part of him wondered if Lena ever padded the dossiers to favour some candidates over others. Sure her grandmother didn’t take into account the whos’ of input, but perhaps Lena would. Shoving someone Lawrence recommended further down or skewing the document to make them seem like an unfavourable candidate would be easy work for her he figured. It would also look bad on Lawrence if every year his candidate choices seemed more and more questionable, then again the matriarch supposedly had no idea who nominated who exactly. Sam raised an eyebrow at Rihannon’s question. ”Please, I do all my dancing either in the nude or in a pair of boxers and tube socks.” More theories began to enter his mind, that Lena perhaps didn’t do all of this on purpose but may have had a helping hand in it by accident. What were the chances that Lawrence learned of what Lena was doing and decided to get into her files, find the dossiers, and blackmail everyone here with what he had found, assuming that Lena even had such files tucked away in her computer.

That however would put too much intelligence onto Lawrence, and as Sam stated before, while the man seemed crazy and willing to kill, he seemed like too obvious of a choice for the actual murders. Then there was the fact that the first two were made to look like accidents while the final one was hidden away and has yet to be spoken of. Perhaps they should’ve been talking to people about Miguel as well. See who starts to sweat at the mention of his name or who acts nervously when trying to figure out where exactly the missing candidate is. Millicent and Branden both showed up and cut into their conversation, though the look on Millicent was as if she was the cat that caught the canary. ”Shit, sorry about that Lena, I didn’t mean to keep you from your work. I could go down rabbit holes like that for hours though, give me a good creepy pasta and im hooked enough to dig til the daylight shines. Let me know if you want to chat some more on this though, or any other theories you may have. Though…I didn’t realize we’d be having a slideshow presentation as part of this, were we supposed to prepare our own or something? Cuz I didn’t get the memo…then again I have no service so I haven’t really gotten anything.”

---

---

---

---

Constance watched as well as Jeanne reacted to what Tony had to say. However, she didn't seem that surprised by the information. Perhaps Sam had already informed her of much that happened with Miguel earlier when he had sat and conversed with her. She did note the worry lines in Jeanne's brow, and got the feeling that no matter what else happened, Jeanne truly had no idea what happened to Miguel. There was at least possibly one La Lune that was innocent in that death. Did that make her innocent in Renee's? Not necessarily. There was still no proof that only one person had done both.

Constance kept her emotions to herself as she waited for Jeanne to respond to Tony's question about the off-limit spots, though she they already knew the answer. Miguel was in the cemetery, waiting to be discovered again.

She mentally shook that thought off as she sat there, and thought. What else would they wish to discuss with Jeanne then and for how much longer? Tony had made that promise to George to check on Agatha, and it was probably wise to do that sooner rather than later. She was sure that Sam would wish to catch up with them soon, unless he had attached himself to another group and was currently swapping information with them. That might have also been wise, since he had talked to Jeanne first.

Constance did hope by going to check on Agatha they could get some more access to the manor and she could possibly look around a bit. Sure, she wasn't the stealthiest, but she did know she could be quiet when she wanted to be.

---

---

---

Jeanne looks worried. “Sam said as much. Not exactly that, but he asked if I had seen Miguel and I haven’t.” She looked away briefly. “He was supposed to meet with me last night, but he never did. I am worried. I can look in the attic and the family rooms. Though I doubt he would be there.” She offered.

The clock chimed the hour.

“Damn, it is six. We have an hour till the ball starts. If you two want to let the others know they should get ready. When I go get ready I’ll check the family rooms.” Jeanne stood up. “The attic will have to wait, but I want to do that when the staff is busy since their rooms are up there.”

---

---

---

---

Lena smiled at Rhi’s question. “Everyone has secrets. It isn’t my place to talk about any of them.” She looked up as Millicent and Brandan joined them asking for the slide show. “It is finished. Don’t worry Sam, you don’t have to do anything for it.” The clock chimed and Lena sighed. “Well great now I’ve got to get this set up and get changed in an hour. I’ll see you all at the ball in an hour.” Lena closed her laptop and stood up, sliding between the group and heading through the library into the ballroom.

Upon Lena’s exit from the room it left just the nominee’s, sans Tony and Constance, and the bartender. He sat at the bar reading a book, looking like he was actively trying to ignore the conversations. Ralph looked over at the others. There was a decent amount of information there. He had to parse it though. Lena helped Elenore with choosing who to select to come to France. His gut told him that was very important.

“I wonder what the slide show tonight is for? I thought tomorrow was the ceremony.” How much information did Lena have on them? He looked between Rhi and Sam. “I don’t know a lot about computers except what they can do for flying planes. How much information can you get about people off the internet? I don’t even have a Facebook.” Not anymore anyway. He had deleted his after... after he had moved away from home.