Page 48 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“I want to apologize,” I said to Jim. “I wasn’t trying to pry. I just meant to say your tour of the gardens felt like a university class with you as the professor. I meant it as a compliment.”

He nodded.

“And I was only curious where you’d worked before because I’d like to visit those gardens as well.”

He cocked his head and stared at me. “I can’t say. They are private estates and my former employers don’t want visitors. It isn’t like this place where tourists are entertained.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to it.” He walked off.

Well, there I go, making friends again. My sister often said I had a way of putting people off. She was the opposite. She made friends wherever she went. Though we were twins, we had different personalities and demeanors. There was a reason I spent most of my time alone with the characters in my head.

I blamed my curious writer’s brain, which was always full of questions. It needed a constant influx of information. And yes, I was often too blunt.

I took a few steps toward him. “Wait, I just want to ask you one more thing, please.”

He stopped and turned.

“Did you notice anything strange about the priest or nun?”

His eyes narrowed. “Who? Are they guests? Can’t say that I’ve seen them and why would you care? That said, I didn’tknow them.” Then he took off at a near run toward one of the outbuildings.

The way he’d phrased that made me more curious than ever. I hadn’t asked if he knew them. But he was defensive.

Another suspect was added to my list. A priest, a nun, and a gardener. Yes, another beginning of a bad joke. Maybe I was reading too much into his behavior. Maybe he just didn’t like nosy folks like me.

I took off my wellies by the back door and slipped on the black Converse I’d left there before our jaunt. I was seated on the bench, tying my shoes, when the accountant pushed through the door.

“I told you stop calling me here,” he said. “I don’t have any answers for you.” He was obviously angry and so focused on the caller, he didn’t see me there in the mudroom. He stomped out the back door and I caught what he said before it slammed.

“I told you, if there is treasure, I’ll find it. I don’t need you calling every five minutes to ask about it. And no, you coming out here would be suspicious. I wish I’d never mentioned the bloody thing to you.”

Treasure? That wasn’t the first time I’d heard that word. Was some of the art real? Or did he mean like a pirate’s booty? And it was then I noticed he was on a walkie-talkie, not his cell. I’d wondered since the reception we’d had earlier had gone away with the new storm.

“I haven’t been able to get back in there. I told you someone died in the study. The police have it taped off. We don’t even know if what you read is true. I’m doing my best. Now stop calling.”

Why would he be after treasure? And if it involved his clients, why wouldn’t he just ask them? Or, at the very least, include them in his search.

Because he’s up to no good.

I needed to get into that study. I wasn’t interested in finding some treasure, but the priest had been up to something in there. Maybe, he too had been searching for the treasure.

I wound my way through the house and bumped into Scott and Rob on my way to the incident room.

“What are you two doing?” I asked.

They put a finger to their lips. Then Scott took my hand and pulled me toward the room where cocktails had been served the first night we’d been there. Then they slid the doors closed.

“What’s going on?” I whispered.

“We just saw that woman from the States slipping a porcelain figurine into her coat pocket,” Rob said.

“What? Sally? Are you sure?”

“She couldn’t see us around the corner,” Scott added. “She looked at it for a minute, smiled, and then stuck it in her pocket. Like she owned it. I can’t believe she’s a thief. It isn’t much of a reach from that to killer, right? She and her husband might be the murderers. Maybe, the priest and nun caught her.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. I couldn’t imagine her as a thief, though. Maybe they’d misinterpreted what they saw. But I wasn’t about to say that. Nothing annoyed me more than people telling me I hadn’t seen something.

“Where is she now?”

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