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11:35 p.m. Friday, August 28th, 1992
SAM padded softly down the dark corridor that led to the staff bedrooms. She’d waited behind the door of the laundry room until she was sure they’d all retired for the night. She didn’t want to be seen at all, but she certainly wouldn’t want anybody to witness her sneaking into Bailey’s bedroom, or how she was going to find it.
Checking the locator app on her helper’s watch, Sam saw only the one blip. Bailey had come to wake her where she slept in the garage to warn her one of their fellow Travelers had arrived on the island and might try to track her down. They hadn’t dared take the time to discuss it then, but she had switched her leader device for Bailey’s more limited one. Now if anyone looked for a leader, they would find him, in the same way she was now using her helper’s watch. That one blip indicated where Sam’s watch was and what door she would find Bailey behind.
It was unlocked for her, and Sam slipped inside quickly and quietly. The lamp was on, and her helper was hovering next to a hot plate where a steaming kettle sat, all on top of a tall dresser. Bailey poured a couple cups of tea, placed them on dainty little saucers, and then turned to offer her one.
She took the tea and sat down on the floor with her back against the door to help block the light and sound from leaking into the hall. Someone could be awake and investigate if they heard a strange sound, so she spoke in a soft voice. “I would’ve preferred a cup of coffee, black, but this will do.” It was steaming, and she was cold.
Bailey tapped his watch. “I saw you coming, so I was prepared. And you shouldn’t be drinking any coffee at this time of night.”
Frowning up at him, she nodded at the watch he was wearing, her watch. “Don’t imagine that means you can tell me what to do. I’m still in charge.”
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Bailey sipped his tea and smiled. “I know. It takes more than having a leader device to give somebody authority. Else I’d have had to follow Kirin when she had this.”
Sam shuddered at the thought. Then she began to wonder why exactly he’d decided to recognize her as his leader. But this wasn’t the time to consider it. They had more pressing problems, and this was the first chance they’d had to discuss what they had discovered. She had a lot to tell, and she hoped Bailey did as well.
Taking a hot gulp of the weak tea, she let it race down to her stomach and start to warm her up from the inside. “So, what have you found out about our suspects?”
He took another small sip and frowned. “We’ve no evidence yet Brandt Keener was murdered.”
“I’m sure. And you read the eyewitness account of his death—you can’t really think that was by natural causes.”
“A lurid anonymous account in a tabloid.”
“Well, it still had to be somebody who was here. And nobody contradicted the story.”
“It was likely one of the staff, since I can’t imagine either the family or one of Brandt’s financial gurus desiring any extra publicity over his death. That they didn’t dispute the details doesn’t mean they’re reliable. It’s not evidence.”
She set the saucer in her lap and let the cup rest there while she looked him in the eye. “I know that everyone is innocent until proven guilty, but I’m not trying to accuse any particular person. I’m just saying someone killed Keener, and we have people who could’ve done it. They’re our suspects, right?”
He nodded. “It won’t hurt us to assume Keener was killed. He might’ve been, and if so, his murderer must be here in this house.” Holding her eyes, it was clear he was trying to tell her again about being careful. At least this time it was a subtle caution.
“So. Since you’re the expert, how do we find out which one of them it was?”
“There are three classic indicators. Means, motive, and opportunity. Given the account we read, it would have to have been by poison. In the wine he drank just before he died.”
Sam pursed her lips. “And who could’ve slipped some poison into his wine? They couldn’t have put it in the bottle, or everyone would’ve died, so it was in his glass. The butler served the wine, so he could have done it, and maybe the people sitting on either side had the opportunity.”
“True. But the murderer might’ve poisoned the glass before the wine was poured. The glasses were set at table well before dinner was served—so there would have been a window of opportunity for someone to slip in before the meal and put poison in the glass. And everyone knew Brandt’s place was at the head of the table. I’ve learned that much. It means anyone in the house that night could’ve done it.”
“So who had the means?”
Bailey sighed. “We’re doing a lot of speculating here, but if Brandt was poisoned, it could have been any of a number of substances which would’ve been easy for someone to have gotten their hands on. So it doesn’t help us narrow it down.”
“So it comes down to motive. Good thing you’re an expert on the criminal mind.”
“Hardly an expert, just experienced.” He took a sip of tea and thought for a moment. “I wish we had some idea what the police did and didn’t discover in their investigation. There’s so much we don’t know that could help. Like what poisons they tested for. I would dearly love to know what they do, so we don’t waste our time looking for evidence that doesn’t exist. We’re working blind here.”
Sam could clearly see he was still far from convinced Keener had been killed. “You said it sounded from the description like it might’ve been cyanide.”
“That was a guess. Potassium cyanide would’ve produced similar symptoms to what was apparently witnessed. It’s a colorless liquid, and it only takes a tiny amount to kill a person. Someone could’ve put it in Brandt’s wine or the glass itself without the poison being detected. But the police probably ruled it out. If they’d identified a particular poison, it would not have been labeled a natural death.”
Sam shrugged. “And then the authorities of this time would be looking for the murderer, rather than us. But they’re not, so we have to. And my original plan is sounding better all the time. We can do what the police can’t, so that’s what we should be doing.”
Bailey seemed to consider that. “Well, what did you find out searching their rooms?”
She started with the four family members. She told him about all she had seen and the conclusions she’d drawn about each person. “It doesn’t amount to much, does it?”
“I don’t know. I already liked Elaine as a potential suspect because of the money motive, and hearing about her expensive tastes only strengthens it. I think you’re dismissing the others too easily though. It might not make much sense for Stephanie to hold onto those books if she’d used them to research how to kill her father, but people do stupid things.”
Sam nodded. “Especially young people.”
Bailey gave her a strange look. Something to do with his being a lot older, she suspected. They were both only undergraduates, though. Or had been before their extraordinary expedition into the past.
“And Stanley may be a slacker, but you’d be surprised how motivated people can be by the prospect of inheriting a huge pile of money. And then there’s Barbara, the ex-wife. Apparently she hated her former husband.”
“She wouldn’t expect to gain anything by Keener’s death herself, but surely her daughter will, and I am familiar with what lengths a mother might go to for her children.”
“Not only that, but she would benefit indirectly if Stephanie receives a lot under Brandt’s will.” Bailey paused to take another sip of tea. “We’ll understand the potential motives much better once we’ve learned what that will says.”
While he’d been talking, Sam had swiftly gulped the rest of her tea down before it cooled off. It took a moment before she could speak. “But you said what matters is whether someone believed they’d benefit. So why do the actual terms of the will matter?”
“If the will says something, then someone could have known what that was. It’s hard to know about wrong ideas someone might’ve had or find out what bad information they could’ve gotten ahold of. And then, a person’s testamentary dispositions are often enlightening, especially when they have a lot to dispose of.”
The first part made sense. She would see about the second part of what he’d said. “Are they still going to have the reading of the will in the parlor?”
Bailey nodded. “But they don’t know what time in the morning the lawyer will arrive exactly, so they don’t have any set schedule. Will that be alright?”
“Yes.” It was her idea, so she’d go through with it no matter how uncomfortable it turned out to be. “So, your original four are still suspects, but I didn’t find anything interesting in Mr. Quill’s room or Mr. Oak’s. All they brought with them were clothes and financial papers I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I took photos with your watch, so we’ll see if you can get some sense out of them. And Quill also brought several bottles of pills. These are the prescriptions from the labels, both his and Barbara’s.”
She dug the slip of paper out of her pocket, then leaned forward to hand it to him. He set his cup on its saucer and held it in one hand as he took the note from her and perused the names of medications she had memorized.
When he was finished, he just shook his head. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary, not considering the backward era we’re in. But we have no way to know if what’s in any of those bottles matches the labels.” Then he changed the subject. “So what did you find in Turner’s room?”
“Turner? Surely he’s not a suspect?”
Bailey’s brows drew down as he frowned. “Why not? He was here when Brandt Keener died, and he would’ve had opportunity. So we need to discover if he had a motive.”
“What about ‘innocent until proven guilty’?”
“Another of our mottos in law enforcement was suspect until cleared.”
Sam shook her head. “He’s one of us.”
“So was Kirin.”
She hesitated. Turner was different, but Bailey wouldn’t accept her arguments, so there was no use making them. “Alright. I’ll search his suite tomorrow.” She also had a lot of questions she wanted to put to him. “But you leave Turner to me.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but she glared at him, and he took a sip of tea instead. She had more to say anyway. “I also searched Talia’s room. You’ll never guess what I found there.”
Bailey blinked and set his cup of tea back down. “I have a strange suspicion it might’ve been a maid’s uniform.”
She glanced down at the outfit she was wearing. “In a secret compartment in her jewelry box, below the cheap stuff on top, there was a nice cache of expensive earrings, necklaces, and such. She couldn’t have afforded those things, so she looks like a thief. And that could give her a motive to murder.”
“It could, if she is.” He made a funny face. “Or she might’ve come by those baubles another way. A pretty young woman like Talia. Men do like to give them gifts. I got the impression from the rest of the staff that there had been something between Brandt and her, but I don’t know what, and we need to find out before we’ll know if she had a motive.”
“Or you could tell me what kind of relationship might’ve led to her wanting to murder him, then we can find out if that’s what they had.”
Bailey shook his head. “That’s backwards. And anyway, while it would be nice to know the motives of every suspect, we don’t have to have them. What we really need is evidence to show Brandt was murdered. Even better if it also indicates who did it.”
“Or we figure out why somebody killed Keener, then get them to confess, and that will give us all the evidence we need. You probably think that is backwards too. But then you’re always saying my methods are unorthodox.”
“And I’m sure I’ll say it again.”
Sam silently thought through everything they’d discussed so far. “If we consider everyone who was here at the time a suspect, that means we have ten of them. And we’ve reviewed all except for Padget and Mrs. Trimble.”
Her helper nodded with approval. “The butler’s not been here long enough to believe he’d benefit by Brandt’s will. Or to have developed a different motive, most likely. On the other hand, Keener was the type to have made a lot of enemies, so there’s always the possibility one of them hired somebody to murder him. And the only person who was present that I can see taking money to kill Keener is Padget.”
“Is there any evidence to back that up, or is that more speculation?”
“He might have been contacted beforehand and obtained the job just for the chance to commit murder, or he might’ve been recruited by someone after they saw Padget was in the perfect position to do the deed. Because he was, you know.”
Sam smiled. “Now you’re just guessing. As long as you are, tell me what Mrs. Trimble’s motive is.”
“She’d been with Brandt for many years, and he loved her cooking. He could’ve left her a hefty sum, and she might’ve known it—but Mrs. Trimble is definitely at the bottom of the list of suspects. She happens to be the one person who agrees with you.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Bailey’s eyes twinkled. “She claims Brandt was murdered too. After she heard about the chandelier shaking and the door slamming itself shut from the butler, she started going on about how her employer had been cruelly done in and now Brandt’s ghost must have returned to wreak vengeance. Presumably on his murderer.”
Sam nodded. “At least if people begin to believe it, enough to think it’s possible, they might get nervous and reveal something that would help us.”
“Maybe it might make the murderer confess in a fit of conscience. But I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.” He paused to take another sip of tea. “It may help that you were a little sloppy searching the rooms. Oak and Quill both complained after dinner that they thought someone had been going through their things.”
“I don’t suppose Talia noticed one of her outfits is missing. Or a safety pin.” If the maid had noticed that disappearance it might frighten her, as that pin had been so close to her secret stash of jewelry.
“If she did, she hasn’t said anything. And if she does, Mrs. Trimble is sure to blame Brandt’s ghost.”
“We can hope she’ll blame anything unusual on the murdered man’s spirit. Then I wouldn’t have to be so careful.”
Bailey frowned. “You’ll still need to be prudent. There may be a murderer in the house, and that person would be dangerous if they caught you.”
Sam smiled. “There is a murderer here. That’s one thing Mrs. Trimble has right. And they should be watching out for us, except they don’t know we’re investigating them. They can’t know. And because they think they got away with murder, it will be they who get careless. Not us.”
“Maybe. But since he or she has killed once and gotten away with it, they likely wouldn’t hesitate to kill again.”
After a little more talk, she left her helper in his room, shaking his head at her as she went. He worried too much about her. He also didn’t approve of her tactics, but at least he didn’t doubt her determination to get to the truth.