Chapter 13
No other window had nails or cracked paint. The twins confirmed that they had not nailed the window shut. All the windows did have a lock, but they could only be engaged from the inside. They did not hear hammering the other night, but they admitted that from where their cottage was situated related to the rooms, they may not have heard it anyway. Macdara and Siobhán were going to have to question the others. Further investigation was needed, but Siobhán felt confident in assuming the killer—or someone—had indeed entered Deirdre’s room sometime after her murder and removed her laptop, notebooks, biros, and books. The twins also confirmed that the cleaning staff had entered Deirdre’s room the day before but there had been a DO NOT DISTURB sign on the door all day the day of the murder.
“Why is it not there now?” Macdara asked.
“It is,” Eileen said.
“No,” Siobhán and Macdara said.
“I swear it was there,” Eileen said.
“She’s right,” Emma said. “It was.”
The killer had also disturbed theDO NOT DISTURB sign? Was there any logic to that? Or had someone else swiped it?
“We need to talk to your cleaning staff,” Siobhán said.
Emma let out a laugh. “Sorry. But you’re looking at them. We do everything.”
“But you specifically said the cleaning staff had not entered the room,” Macdara said.
“It’s still us,” Eileen said. “When we clean, we’re the cleaning staff.”
“What about security cameras?” Siobhán said.
“We can pull the ones from the front of the inn, but there is nothing at the back.” Siobhán figured as much. The farmer’s field wouldn’t have one either.
“Please pull them right away,” Siobhán said.
“E-mail the link and passcodes to the garda station,” Macdara added.
The twins bobbed their heads in agreement.
“Do you have any empty rooms?” Macdara said. “We’d like to try getting into one the way we think someone did to Deirdre’s room.”
* * *
They were given the keys to Room #2. The decorations were identical to Deirdre’s room, with slightly different landscape paintings. Siobhán entered the bathroom, stood on the toilet, and checked the window. “Locked,” she said. She moved the lever. “But easy to unlock.” From the doorway, Macdara took notes. She reached and lifted the window. It opened, but made a loud squeak. “Close the door and stand in the room. See if you can hear that,” she said, shutting the window. Macdara stepped out and closed the door to the jax as she shut the window. Seconds later, he called out, “I can hear it.”
“Hold on.” She jumped down and turned the water in the sink on full blast. She returned and lifted the window. “Now?”
“Not that time.”
She shut the water off and returned to the room. “All set.” They retrieved the desk chair from the room, went around to the back of the building, and placed it under the window. Macdara went to steady the chair.
“We have to assume the person worked alone,” Siobhán said. “It’s not a far drop if I fall.” She stood on the chair, then reached up to lift the window. “It won’t open,” she said. “If this is the method, the person left the window open.”
“Hoping no one would notice and shut it?”
“It’s a safe assumption. Even if Deirdre noticed her window open she may have assumed the person was trying to air out the bathroom.”
“Excellent point.”
“I’ll open the window. Let’s at least see it through, see if it’s physically possible to climb inside from back here.”
Macdara hurried around to the front of the building. Soon the window squeaked open. He returned to the back as Siobhán threw her arms into the window, grasping the inside ledge to try and haul herself up. She managed to lift her chest up and over the window. Her arms burned. She was going to have to start doing more pull-ups. “If it’s not someone close to my height, this wouldn’t have been easy,” she said. “The person needs strength if he or she isn’t tall.”
“Either tall and strong, or short and strong,” Macdara said. “Extremely helpful, Garda O’Sullivan.” Cheeky. Was it her imagination or did he stress O’Sullivan? “Is it wrong to say I’m enjoying the view?” Macdara added.
“Your view is going to be a boot in the face if you say it again,” she responded. She was halfway in, sliding face down over the commode. There were so many things they never prepared her for at Templemore Garda College. She slid in until she could rest her hands on the floor and pull the rest of the way in. The tank on the back of the toilet slid off with a bang, splashing water and barely missing her poor head as it thunked to the floor.
“You alright, boss?” Dara called, the humor in his voice gone.
“Fine,” she said. “Do you tink that would have been heard in one of the neighboring rooms?”
“No,” Macdara said. “Only from back here with the window open.”
She hauled herself up off the floor. “Let’s see how easy it is to get back out.”
“They could have left through the front door,” Macdara said.
“Too big a risk,” Siobhán said.
“At night? When most folks were at the bistro?”
“Is that when you think this was done?”
“It’s a good guess.”
“Then why wouldn’t they just enter through the front as well?” Siobhán demanded.
“That is always a possibility,” Macdara admitted. “But given the window was nailed shut and we found a lighter and a biro, I think our window theory has some merit.”
“That’s why I want to try exiting this way.” She stood back on the toilet seat. It slid beneath her. “Perhaps we’re looking for someone with both circus skills and surfing skills,” she said.
Macdara laughed. “That ought to narrow it down.”
She poked her head out the window. “If I go face first, I’m going to do a face-plant,” she said. “But it’s not possible to go feet first.”
“Don’t do it,” he said. “The person either exited through the front door after making sure no one was around, or maybe they brought pillows out to soften his or her landing. Either way, we should check our suspects for scrapes and scratches, and ask the twins to check all the pillows in our suspects’ rooms.”
“Or, as we said, it’s the killer who broke into the room and he or she stole Deirdre’s key at the signing.”
“Either way none of this was very helpful,” Macdara said. “Good work.”
He brought the chair back, then they locked the door, returned the key, and asked the twins if they had cleaned any of the rooms since the murder. They shook their heads. “Please gather the rubbish from all the rooms, mark the bags, and keep them. We’ll be picking them up.”
The twins flinched, but to their credit they didn’t try to argue. This had never been part of the dream. “While you’re collecting the rubbish please check the pillows and call us immediately if any of the rooms have signs of dirt or grass,” he said.
“Including Deirdre’s room?” Emma asked.
“No,” Siobhán said. “The door is now covered in crime tape, as well as the back window. No one, including the two of you, are allowed in the room. When the forensics team has finished its work, we’ll let you know.” They had just started to leave when Eileen called out.
“Nessa Lamb’s room has dirt and grass,” she said. “She likes to go to the cemetery.”
Siobhán and Macdara stopped. “How do you know?” Siobhán asked.
“She inquired about the cemetery, said she wanted to walk there. I think she’s done it every day she’s been here.”
“What about her pillows?” Macdara asked.
Eileen shook her head. “I just noticed her runners by the door. They were muddy.”
“Got it. Let us know what else you find, and do not mention any of this to any of the guests. And please call as soon as the rubbish is collected. But do not let any of the guests know.”
The twins saluted. Siobhán found it kind of cheeky but Dara simply laughed. Siobhán was relieved when they hopped in the guard car. “Do you want me to drop you at the bistro first?” Macdara asked.
Their day had barely begun. “Why?”
“Because you’re covered in toilet water,” he said.
“Do you still love me?”
“Definitely,” he said. “I just don’t want to be anywhere near ya.”
* * *
By the time Siobhán had showered, changed into her second uniform of the day, and reached the garda station, she entered to hear Macdara recounting Siobhán’s escapades to an enthralled Aretta. “Circus and surfing,” she heard Aretta exclaim. Their howls of laughter came to an abrupt stop when they noticed her in the doorway. Siobhán glared for a moment, relishing the horrified looks on their faces before joining in on the laughter. Aretta placed her hand over her heart as if checking to see if it was still beating.
“Why did you crawl through the window and not the detective sergeant?” Aretta asked. “Is it because you’re a lower rank?”
Siobhán opened her mouth to say it was because she was taller, which of course she was not. Stronger? Nope. Smaller? As Dara pointed out, the window was of average size. “She has former circus training,” Macdara said. The laughter resumed. This time the glare was real.
“I almost forgot,” Aretta said, retrieving a notebook of her own from the pocket of her uniform. “A resident stopped by today to report a lurker.”
“A lurker?” Siobhán said. What now?
Aretta nodded, reading from her notes. “He was a big fella, with red hair that looked as if it needed a wash.” She stopped reading and waited.
“And?” Macdara asked.
Aretta shrugged. “That’s it.”
“We don’t arrest people for poor hygiene,” Siobhán said. “Where’s the lurking part?”
Aretta glanced at her notes again. “I’m not sure. She was talking at rapid speed and said she was in a hurry to do her messages, but she thought we should look into it.”
“Who reported this?” Macdara asked.
“Leigh Coakley.”
“Leigh?” Siobhán said. Another one of their suspects. Was she purposefully trying to throw shade somewhere else? “Thank you.” She took the piece of paper from Aretta. “We’ll follow up.”
Aretta stood. “I’ll start scheduling those interviews.”
“Great,” Macdara said. “Start with Lorcan Murphy. And schedule it for my flat.”
“Your flat?” Aretta asked.
Macdara nodded. “I live in the attached building. I’d like to make him feel more like a witness than a suspect. He’s liable to reveal more that way.”
Aretta glanced at Siobhán. “Absolutely,” Siobhán said. “It has nothing to do with the collection of westerns on his shelf written by Lorcan Murphy.”