T
he following morning, it was announced on the local news that the police had arrested Suzanne Doherty for the murder of Herb Weston. Not how I preferred my Friday morning to begin.
At nine o’clock, I did as dad suggested, and called Jack Webber. His wife Jayne and mum went to university together and stayed close. Over the years. Jack and dad have become good friends, and he’d made it clear he was always willing to help any of us.
Jack lives in Cork City, about two-hours away, but once he heard the story, he assured me he’d clear his schedule and be here by mid-morning.
Although Gran wanted to join us, she had some errands to run, so Liam and I went to visit Suzanne at the Garda station. DI Elliott came out of an office when he heard us asking to see her.
I couldn’t help but notice the smirk on his face. “Coming to see the guilty party? I bet you thought you’d figure this one out before I did, didn’t you, Miss Marple?”
Liam took my hand in his and squeezed. I took a deep breath. “DI Elliott, good to see you. May we please see Ms. Doherty? We have news about a solicitor.”
“She’s decided on a court-appointed lawyer.” He frowned.
Which was what I figured. I took a deep breath and tried to keep the smile on my face. “Nothing against a court-appointed lawyer, but I’ve found someone else.”
His thin lips tightened. He looked at Constable Mills. “They get five minutes, Constable.”
Constable Mills got out of his chair. “Yes, sir.” Then he looked at me. “Come this way, Miss Molly.”
Liam and I followed him through a door in the back. After receiving our visitor passes, he escorted us into another room with only a wooden table with two chairs on each side.
“Have a seat. I’ll bring her in shortly.”
We sat down in the uncomfortable chairs and waited. A few minutes later, Suzanne walked in, looking even more pale than before, dressed in jeans and a sweater.
I stood up to give her a hug, but Liam stopped me.
Constable Mills said, “You’re not allowed to touch the prisoner, Miss Molly.”
I sat back down. “Suzanne, are you okay?”
Tears fell down her face. “No. I don’t know why I’m here. I had no reason to kill Herb.”
“I have a solicitor coming to help you. He’s very good.”
“I can’t afford…”
I went to lay my hand over hers, but stopped myself. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll pay.”
“But I can’t ask that of you.”
I smiled. “You didn’t. I offered. I received a quite substantial inheritance, and I like to spend it helping other people. Besides, the important thing is we find out who did this.”
Liam pulled out his notebook. “Did you know you were the beneficiary of Herb’s will?”
“Yes. He’s also the beneficiary of mine. We only broke up two weeks ago. He probably didn’t think about changing it. I know I haven’t.”
He added some notes. “Do you remember where you were between ten and half-past the night of Herb’s death?”
She placed her elbows on the table and placed her hands on each side of her head, threading her fingers through her hair. “Not really. I was all over the place. At nine, I shut down the children’s room, then spent some time in there putting things away. I think I was there until about half-past, when I moved to the young adult’s room and did the same thing. I stayed in there until about ten, and I was about to move to the adult room when I realized I forgot to lock the front doors. Before I could do that, a woman came in who had cut her hand, so I went to my office to get a plaster.”
I sat up. “Did you recognize the woman?” I looked from Liam back to her. “She could be a witness.”
She shook her head.
Liam had his pen poised over his notebook. “Do you know what time it was?”
She dropped her hands. “Maybe quarter past? I’m not sure.”
“Then what did you do?” I asked.
She closed her eyes and held onto her head with her hands. “I walked the woman back outside and stopped for a few minutes to watch the fireworks.”
“So, you never went and checked the adult room?”
“No. It was so tired. I’d been there since five in the morning making sure everything was ready for the festival, and I just wanted to go home. I knew the fireworks would end soon, and I wanted to leave before the rush of cars. The adult room could wait until the morning.” Her eyes went wide. “If I’d checked it, I may have saved him.” Her hand flew to her mouth and tears flowed.
Liam looked at me, then said, “Or you may have become another victim.”
The door opened up and Constable Mills walked in. “Time’s up.”
We all stood.
“Suzanne, we’ll do everything we can to get you out of here. The solicitor’s name is Jack Webber.”
She looked at me and nodded. Through the tears she said, “Thank you.”
Constable Mills took her by the arm and led her out of the room.
Liam and I followed, but turned left and headed to the front of the station. Luckily, DI Elliott wasn’t around. Callum stood up from his desk as we walked in. I gave him a big hug and whispered in his ear, “Thank you,” and left the station. Dark clouds loomed overhead, fitting my mood perfectly.
I got into Liam’s Miata and slammed the door.
“Hey, don’t take your anger out on my car.”
I turned my head as I fastened my seatbelt. “He’s just so irritating. How on earth can he think Suzanne killed him just because she’s the beneficiary?”
Liam started the car and shifted into gear. “Many times, in a murder, that’s all it takes. However, you’re right. I don’t think that’s the motive in this one.” As he pulled out of the parking lot and onto Center Street, the sky let go and the rain came down in buckets. Liam turned his wipers on full blast, and we still couldn’t see much. As we left downtown, we could see lights shining from resident’s houses, not used to it being so dark at half-past ten in the morning. In the distance, I could see a streak of lightning.
“There’s a storm coming.” And my witchy senses were telling me it was more than just the weather.