A Christmas Homecoming 2 - The End (Pages 103 - end)

 RATING: OKAY

SPOILERS!!!

The next day after finding Mr Ballin's dead body, everybody goes to the room where they left him, and they find the body gone. They can't call the police as they are trapped inside. Caroline decides that she will try to find out who killed the man. So she starts questioning everybody with the excuse that when the police come, they will be able to provide the names of the people who can't have killed the man. Caroline doesn't find anything, but she discovers that Charles Netheridge and his wife Eliza sleep in different rooms, and a maid tells Caroline that she heard them argue. Mercy tells her that she was in the room but her husband James was nervous about the play and went to practise his lines in the library, and James confirms that. And Douglas and Lydia were together talking.

As Caroline has nothing to help her discover the killer, she decides to try to find the body. She looks everywhere, and when she finds nothing, she goes outside to the ice house. It is there that she chances to find the body. Some snow falls from the roof, and after that the body falls. When she examines Mr Ballin, she realises that his face is caked with makeup, which is melting, and she realises that his face looks familiar.

Then she goes to find Joshua because she has the key to the mystery. Mr Ballin's real name is Anton Rausch and she remember seeing his picture at the theatre. Anton was married to an actress who died on stage when a fake knife was changed for a real one. The actress was having an affair, and it seems it was the lover who killed her. Caroline and Joshua think that Anton came to take revenge as the lover was Vincent. They confront the actor, who claims that Anton attacked him, but Joshua disregards his words as there is no evidence that Vincent was hurt. Joshua says that he will be taken to a room while the police are called. Vincent tris to hit Joshua and Caroline hits him with an ashtray, and then the man trips on the curtain and falls on the big stained glass window, which breaks and he falls into his death.

I have to say that the mystery was interesting, but I didn't like all the discussion about the play which dragged too much, and the resolution was a bit too dark and as readers we didn't have any clues to play.