I
picked up the pizzas and made it back to Rose Cottage with twenty minutes to spare. I quickly changed my clothes and was ready to greet everyone as they arrived. Reanna especially. She brought brownies.
To balance it out, Gran added a salad.
By six-ten, everyone had arrived and had their plates full of food and their favorite beverage. We spent the next twenty minutes eating and discussing Molly’s black eye and the upcoming election.
“The election is the chief topic of conversation at the pub,” said Dillon.
“I like Mayor Wilson. He’s been doing a good job the time he’s been in office,” added Gran.
Liam got up. “I’ll be right back.” A minute later, he returned with some folded sheets of paper.
“What’s that?” Gran asked.
Liam explained he’d stopped by his office in Ballyquicken, and Gary printed off the police file on Ian Wilson, the mayor’s missing older brother.
“Do you think it has something to do with Herb’s death?” I asked as I took a sip of wine.
“I actually forgot I had it.” He smiled. “Give me a minute to read it.”
When we’d finished the pizza and salad, I gathered the dishes and took them into the kitchen and set them on the counter. The left-over pizza all fit into one box, the empty boxes I put in the garage to recycle.
On my way back in, I stopped in the kitchen and took the brownies out of the box Reanna brought them in and placed them on a plate. Fiona joined me, a bulky envelope in her hand. She placed it on the counter and whispered, “The invitations are in there. I hope you like them.”
I finished with the brownies and handed the plate to Fiona, then washed my hands. “I’m sure I will. You always do a fantastic job.” I pulled small plates from the cupboard, then picked up my notebook and a pen and we made our way back to the dining room.
We passed the plates and brownies around the table, and I sat back down. I put a brownie on my plate and opened my notebook, and wrote everyone’s name who was in attendance. Molly, Gran, Liam, Fiona, Callum, Reanna, Dillon, and Ciara.
I looked at Callum and smiled. “Callum, is there anything you can tell us about the case that won’t get you in trouble?”
He pulled out his notebook and set it in front of him. “There isn’t much to tell, really. The cause of death was blood loss because of a cut across the throat. He had to have died within minutes.”
Liam looked at him, “Time of death?”
“Between ten and half past,” they think.”
“So, basically between the time we left the castle, to the end of the fireworks?” I said as I wrote the approximate time down in my notes.
Ciara, taking a bite of her brownie, asked, “How do we narrow this down? The whole town was there.”
I picked up my piece and took a bite. Soft and chewy chocolate nirvana bursting in my mouth. I closed my eyes to savor it as I chewed.
“Molly!”
I’d barely swallowed when Gran’s voice interrupted my bliss. I opened my eyes. “Yes?”
“Maybe you should tell everyone what you’ve found out?” She said, smiling.
“Oh, sure.” I looked down at my notebook and told the group what I’d found out, which, like I said earlier, wasn’t much.
“So, my list of suspects isn’t very long. Suzanne - the ex-girlfriend. Faye White, the woman at the bookstore with the jilted sister twenty-years ago. There’s also Katherine from the cafe who he was trying to blackmail, but she really had no reason to kill him, as she didn’t care if anyone found out her husband was in prison.”
Callum interrupted. “So, we know for sure he was blackmailing people?” He wrote some notes in his book. “Katherine confirmed it?”
I nodded, then looked at Liam. “What did you find out from Tom Doyle? Should he be on this list?”
“I don’t think so. I found out more about the mayor’s brother than anything else.” He picked up the sheets he’d been reading. “Whatever Herb wanted to speak to the mayor about, he kept to himself. Tom feels bad he couldn’t help him.”
I tapped the notebook with my pen again. “Should the mayor be on the list, then?”
Liam continued, “Maybe Herb found something out about the brother he thought he could blackmail the mayor with. Except I don’t think he ever spoke to him. He never got past Tom.”
I added Mayor Wilson to the list.
Fiona added, “Maybe you should add Tom Doyle. He seems pretty protective of the mayor. Maybe Herb told him what he wanted, and Tom took care of him.”
Callum added, “Everyone is a suspect, until they aren’t.”
“So true.” I wrote Tom’s name down.
I looked at the list. “We’ve spoken to these people, and none of them seem to have a strong enough motive to kill him.”
Gran took a sip of her wine. “Maybe it was someone else he was blackmailing?”
“That sounds more likely,” I said, then looked at Dillon. “Did you remember any names of the people who paid Herb’s tab?”
He shook his head as he picked up his mobile. “But I can find out.” His thumbs typed lightning fast, then he set the phone down.
Callum added, “We’re interviewing everyone from the motor coach again tomorrow. So far, the only one we’ve found a link to Herb is Faye White. Personally, I think she’s a wee bit too shy to commit murder, and one of the other members of the tour swears they were together the whole time.”
Liam looked at him. “Do you believe them?”
He shrugged. “I have no reason not to. If we don’t find anything tomorrow, we’re going to have to let the tour continue.”
“Good to know. I was hoping to speak to her again, but it sounds like I don’t need to.” I crossed her name off the list. But glancing down at it, it left very few suspects.
Suzanne - ex-girlfriend, no motive as far as we know.
Katherine - tried to blackmail, but failed
Faye White - Herb jilted sister twenty-years ago. Has an alibi.
Mayor Wilson - Was he being blackmailed? Did Herb ever speak to him?
Tom Doyle - Did he do the dirty deed for the mayor?
I tapped my pen on the notebook, waiting for some divine inspiration to strike. I finally set the pen and notepad on the table and took another brownie.
Gran looked at me and said, “We still have Martin McDonald to talk to, don’t we?”
“Reanna, did you have time to speak to him?”
She shook her head. “He didn’t come in today.”
I looked back a few pages at my notes. “Maybe we should make him a priority. He might know a little more about what was going on in Herb’s life, or at least if he had a partner in the business.” I looked back at Gran. “Maybe we can speak to him tomorrow? What’s your day look like?”
She smiled. “I’m open, and didn’t Suzanne say he worked Tuesday through Saturday from nine to one? Tomorrow is Tuesday. He should be there. We can go before the bookstore opens. How does that sound?”
“I can open the store tomorrow morning, Molly. So, take your time,” said Ciara.
I smiled at Ciara, “Thanks.” Then I looked at Gran. “It’s a date. And since everyone is a suspect until they aren’t,” I nodded at Callum. “I’ll add Martin’s name too.”
Just then, Dillon’s phone buzzed, and he picked it up. A few seconds later, his eyebrows raised.
“What’s up, Dillon?” I asked.
“Aiden checked the past two-years, and the list is pretty long. However, he said there are five names that are on the list multiple times.” He handed me his phone, and I wrote the names down in my notebook.
Otis Smith
Grace Wilcox
Bud Tyson
Victor Hall
I said the names aloud to the group.
Callum asked, “Did you say Victor Hall?”
I nodded.
“He’s one of the maintenance crew at the Garda station. He’s worked there for years.”
I added that to my notes when Gran said, “Bud Tyson owns Tyson Garage. His son Ewan is always in trouble. If Bud’s on the list, it probably has something to do with the son.”
I added the information and then looked up. “Anyone have any idea who Grace Wilcox or Otis Smith are?”
Everyone shook their head, and I looked at my sister. “Fi?”
She sighed. “Yes, I can see what I can find out.”
I smiled. “Thank you.”
I looked at my notes. “Okay then. It looks like Gran and I will check out Martin McDonald in the morning, and Fi will check out Grace and Otis. Once we know who they are, we can figure who is best to reach out to them. Anything else?” I looked around the table at the group. Callum and Liam were frowning.
I sighed. I figured I knew why Liam was frowning, so I asked, “Callum, what’s with the frown?”
“DI Elliott is certain someone on the bus tour killed Herb. I’ve spent the entire day looking into their backgrounds, when we should obviously look elsewhere.”
I smiled. “Well, look on the bright side.”
“Oh, what’s that?”
“At least he’s not trying to pin this on me.” I smiled.