Page 57 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“We vetted them and checked their rooms,” he said, “and we didn’t find anything.”

I shrugged. “Anyone who works here would have access. But again, why wait until there are guests here? That’s the part that isn’t adding up for me. I keep going back to the guests.”

Nothing had happened—until we’d arrived. That fact hadn’t been lost on me. I felt sorry for the O’Sullivans. They’d put so much work into making this a fun and creative weekend for their guests. When news of the murders got out, it would hurt their business.

Something else clicked in my brain. “When you spoke with the staff, were there any who weren’t happy working here? Did any of them seem to have a beef with the owners?”

He flipped through the notebook he always carried. “No. The O’Sullivans received high marks. All the employees seemed to appreciate that they kept them on through tough economic times. Many of them, who lost their homes in the crash, moved into cottages on the estate. They had nothing but respect for the O’Sullivans, which you don’t always see these days.”

“Very true,” I said. “That is admirable. Okay. So, stick with me here. We know there is someone who wanted Carl and Sarah dead. Someone who led them here with the promise of some kind of heist or treasure.”

He nodded.

“And we know that someone may be traveling around in the walls. I suggest we check those out as well. If they haven’t been used often, they’ll probably be dusty and we might find prints.”I started going through books and moving them as if they were a lever. When that didn’t work, I tried knocking on the back of the shelves to see if there was a hollow area.

“Are you looking for an entrance?”

“Yes.”

“We could just ask the O’Sullivans for the plans to the house.”

“We could. But the passages might not be shown on them. And I think it’s best to keep it to ourselves for now. You’re the one who always tells me to keep the circle close.”

He laughed.

“What?”

“Most of the time I don’t think you listen to me.”

I chuckled. “I always listen, Kieran. I’m just not one who follows orders easily. I’m a bit bull-headed that way.”

He said something under his breath, and I ignored him.

He started doing the same thing as me, pulling each book to see if something happened, but on the shelves opposite.

It took several minutes, but then I hit a hollow space. I tried pressing in on the shelves, but nothing happened. In movies and television shows, one would pull a book like a lever, and a door would open. I tried doing that with a few volumes, but nothing happened.

“I think I’ve found something, but how to get into it, I have no idea.”

He crossed the room and joined me. The carving around the wooden shelves was intricate, with a lion in the center of each frame.

“Wait. I wonder.” I tried pulling the lion’s head but couldn’t get my fingers around it. My hand slipped and pressed on the figure, and there was a clicking and screeching sound—the same thing we’d heard when we came in and that my sister and I had listened to the night before.

“You’ve found it,” he said.

The shelf moved a bit but didn’t open completely. I pushed harder on the lion’s head, and there was another click as something shifted as the door slid aside. The entire bookshelf moved outward, and Kieran helped me pull it open.

I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight app. The passageway was dark, and cobwebs clung to the walls.

While I wasn’t afraid of spiders, as long as they stayed in their space outside, I wasn’t exactly excited to traipse through their domain behind the walls. But my curiosity won out. I took a step, and Kieran pulled me back against his muscled chest.

“What? Is it a spider?” I started what my sister called the spider flap, brushing off my hair and clothes as fast as I could.

He chuckled. “No. Look at the floor.”

He let go of me, and I missed the warmth of him behind my back. When had I started thinking of him like that? The notion surprised me, and I hoped he couldn’t see the blush on my cheeks. The heat there burned my face with embarrassment.

I liked Kieran inthatway. I blinked with the shock. But there wasn’t time to think about that new revelation.

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