Her plan for the day had been to finish up a quilling project, but Motts’s morning discovery and confrontation with one of the O’Connells had destroyed her concentration. She threw in the towel an hour before lunch.
Quilling and origami required patience and skill. Motts’s fingers refused to cooperate. She decided to brave the coastal path.
Since her walk with Dempsey, Motts thought maybe her fears had been settled. She pulled on a light cardigan and headed out her garden gate.
“This is why I moved out here from London.” Motts breathed in deeply and enjoyed the salty taste of the sea breeze. “Despite the dead bodies, it’s beautiful out here.”
The crashing waves on the cliffs below serenaded her along the trail. Motts wondered if her next quilling art should be something related to the ocean. She hadn’t created one for herself in a while; one of the downsides of her hobbies being her source of income was she rarely indulged for the fun of it.
“It’s you.”
“Is it?” Motts came to an abrupt halt on the path. She found herself confronted by the second of the O’Connell brothers. Mikey. “Could you move, please?”
“Someone in the village claimed you discovered Nan’s body.” Mikey shoved his hands into his pockets. He continued to block her way but didn’t stalk towards her as his brother had. “I know it’s a cheek, but can you tell me anything?”
“Anything about what?” Motts didn’t understand what the O’Connell brothers thought she might know. “I didn’t see much. I spotted her floating in the sea. Maybe caught up on some of the rocks. A detective was with me. He might’ve noticed more than I did.”
Unlike his impulsive and aggressive brother, Mikey seemed genuinely moved by his nan’s death. Jasper hadn’t been grieved so much as enraged about some aspect of the discovery. She wondered why Mikey was up on the coastal path.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know if I can be much help to you.” Motts considered a hasty retreat since her way forward was blocked. “Do you walk up here often?”
“No. Hate heights. Not overly fond of the sea either.”
“Pity, since you live in a fishing village.” Motts wondered if he might be lying. She wasn’t the best judge of deceit. “Don’t you and your brother own a boat?”
“Me? And Jasper? We’d drown each other if we ever went out to sea together.” Mikey wrapped his arms around himself. “He doesn’t approve of me.”
“Oh?”
“Or the way Nan loved me better.” He stepped to the side. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have been so abrupt. My head’s not been straight since they found her. We’d given up hope, or I had. Three years was such a long time. Mum and Jas didn’t care much about Nan even when she was alive, aside from the money.”
Money.
What money?
Motts rarely succeeded with small talk, but maybe he’d keep going if she didn’t try to pepper him with specific questions. “And you did?”
“Nan ran the company with our granddad for years. She had a head for numbers. He dealt with the fishing blocks while she handled everything else.” Mikey gestured for her to walk with him back towards the village. “She encouraged me to follow my dreams. Jasper took over the business when Nan got sick. Mum was supposed to be taking care of her.”
“But?” Motts prompted when he fell silent.
“Mum and Nan tended to argue. Granddad spoiled mum. His only daughter.” Mikey suddenly seemed to remember himself. “Sorry to have interrupted your walk.”
Motts could only stare in confusion while he bolted away from her. Was it something I said? What an odd conversation. All is definitely not right in the O’Connell family. So, did one of them kill their sickly nan?
Lost in thought, Motts returned to her cottage. She had too much on her mind to continue with a walk. Turning off the alarm and opening the back door, she allowed Cactus to join her in the garden.
The afternoon flew by. Motts lost herself in tending her various herbs and plants. Not a flower in sight, which would prevent her sneezing fits. She watched Cactus chase butterflies.
“Time for tea.” Motts carried Cactus into the cottage. He’d spent enough time out in the sun. “Ready for your snack?”
Her tortoiseshell Sphynx cat required frequent healthy snacks to cope with his high metabolism. His peach fuzz suede-like fur didn’t allow him to regulate his temperature well. So despite his enjoyment of playing outside, Motts tried not to let him get overheated or too cold during the cooler months.
“Are you wanting your little cardigan?” Motts smiled when Cactus leapt onto the coffee table and sat beside the knitted jumper. “We’ll have to thank Teo again for making this for you.”
After a soothing cup of tea and biscuits, Motts turned on a YouTube video. She carried a portable speaker outside and continued lazily pottering around in her garden through the late afternoon. It helped her process her thoughts.
While digging around a patch of basil, Motts considered the temperamental O’Connell clan. She wondered about the truth of the relationship between Jasper and Mikey. The latter seemed greatly affected by his nan’s death.
Had they simply been facing their grief when they’d argued at the funeral?
It was possible.
“No Cactus helping you weed?”
Motts jumped in surprise and pressed a hand to her chest. She glared at the detective inspector peering over her fence. “Did you want to scare my heart out of my body?”
“My apologies.” Teo hefted a shopping tote up for her to see. “I come bearing gifts of food.”
“Apology accepted.” Motts stood up and shook the dirt off her jeans. “So, how did your conversation with Jasper the Grumpy go?”
“I can’t tell you about the case.”
She watched him reach over the fence to unhook the latch on the gate and step into the garden. “I happened to stumble on the second of the O’Connell brothers today.”
“Did you?”
“I can’t talk about personal conversations.” Motts made her way into the cottage, leaving Teo to follow her. She ignored his frustrated huff. “What did your bring for supper?”
“Zagrebački Odrezak.” He lifted a covered platter and gently placed it on the kitchen counter. “You might call this a schnitzel cordon bleu. Only my mother makes hers with chicken instead of the traditional veal.”
“I sense the presence of pastry.” Motts leaned forward to get a closer view of the bag. “And sugar.”
“Fine sense of smell.” Teo reached in for a second plate. “Cherry strudel. Extra sugar. Extra cherry.”
“Dessert first then?” Motts carefully pulled the aluminium foil off the strudel plate. She was greeted by the sight of powdered sugar covering the flakiest of filo that was wrapped around a sweetened cherry and walnut filling. “Oh. Custard.”
Teo lifted the little pot and placed it next to the strudel. “Savoury before sweet.”
“As you like.” Motts handed him a dinner plate and reached for a bowl for herself. “I’m having strudel and custard.”
With a wry chuckle, Teo cut himself a large portion of the schnitzel. Motts dished out a decent piece of the cherry pastry and more custard than was probably healthy. She fancied a sweet treat to get her through the evening.
Despite having gone on several dates with Teo, Motts still found them both stressful and awkward. He did his best to put her at ease. She was grateful that he didn’t take her reactions personally.
Even Vina, who’d known her for so long, had struggled at times. Motts sat across from him at the table, deftly keeping Cactus away from their food. Teo waited until halfway through his schnitzel before bringing the conversation around to the O’Connell brothers.
“How about I give you a few details about our talk with Jasper and you tell me about running into Mikey?” Teo saluted her with his glass when she nodded. “You probably won’t believe me when I say he didn’t have any insights into his grandmother aside from considering her an annoyingly stingy old bat.”
“Charming.” Motts dragged a cherry through her river of custard. “Mikey didn’t offer anything other than more of a mystery.”
“We both clearly have issues with open and genuine communication.” Teo smiled at her. “I got the idea the elder brother didn’t care for his younger sibling.”
“And vice versa. I saw them arguing at the church before the funeral. Mikey did mention his mum didn’t enjoy caring for her mother. Who inherited the most with her death?” Motts had been wondering about Nadine O’Connell’s will. She hadn’t been declared dead despite being missing for so many years. “Or, maybe the question is who benefited the most from her death not being discovered?”
“What?”
“They never declared her dead, did they? Mrs O’Connell. If she wasn’t dead, who gained controlling interest over the family business?” Motts grabbed a second bowl and dished up some of the cherry dessert for Teo. “And if she hated caring for her mother so much, why not send her to a home for the aged?”
“You keep her at home to control her.” Teo tapped his spoon against the bowl. “We’ve put in a request for a copy of the will. I’d wager the killer discovered the money wouldn’t go to them, so if she was missing….”
“It’s one theory.”
“Murder tends to have only a few motives. Money being one of them.” He scooped up a mouthful of pastry, pausing to consider while he chewed. “It’s the strongest motive in this case.”
“Unless her daughter truly loathed her. I doubt caring for a sickly relative improved an already strained relationship.” Motts wondered what Mikey had meant about his mother and brother caring about the money. “How well was their business doing?”
“Another aspect we’re investigating.” Teo was methodically working his way through the cherry pastry. “Unlike all those true crime shows on the telly, things don’t happen overnight with proper police work.”
“Proper police work?”
“The kind without flashy detectives and made-up science.”
“You’re a little flashy.” Motts stared into the remnants of her dessert. A little flashy? I am so hopeless with the flirting and complimenting. “Forensic accounting takes time.”
“Precisely.”
Totally.
Completely.
Hopeless.