Page 16 of Death at Inishmore Castle

When the meal was over, I discreetly asked Nora if I could have food sent to Rob and Scott’s room. Since I planned on taking the first watch overnight, I wanted them to get some rest.

Lizzie went back to the study with me and insisted on staying. Neither of us wanted to actually sit in the room with the dead body. It had nothing to do with the creepiness, and everything to do with the smell of death.

But we didn’t have a choice. We sat on the floor next to the closed door.

“Why can’t we sit on the chairs?” Lizzie asked.

“If the murderer sat down in one of them, they may have left some DNA. I don’t want to disturb the crime scene more than we already have.”

“Oh, that makes sense.” We leaned back against the wall of bookcases. It had been a long day, and my sister nodded off about an hour into our vigil. Mr. Poe snored softly by her side.

The storm was still raging outside, but I kept trying to connect with Kieran, our local detective. It took almost three hours, but I finally heard a ringtone.

“Mercy? What’s wrong?” Kieran asked sleepily. I mean, it was three in the morning, I couldn’t blame him.

“We’re at Inishmore Castle,” I said.

“I know. Is Gran okay?” he asked worriedly. Lolly was his grandmother and she’d helped raise him when he was younger.

“Yes. Everyone from the court is okay. But one of the guests was murdered. A priest.”

There was a long pause on the other end. “The phone cut out. Did I hear murder?”

“Yes.” There was nothing but static. “The owner, Gordon, and Scott tried to come and get you, but the bridge is flooded. Only a few of us know what happened. And we’ve been guarding the door so the killer can’t get back in to mess with the evidence.”

“And you’ve put a target on your back. Why didn’t you just lock it?”

“Because I don’t know who we can trust, and someone might have a set of keys.”

“Talk me through how you know it’s a murder.”

“He had a very fancy letter opener through his heart. I don’t think he accidentally fell onto it.”

“Right. How did you find him?”

“This place is enormous, and we were a bit lost. Mr. Poe scratched at the door. And, well, we found the body.”

“I may need to hire your dog for the force.”

I smiled. Mr. Poe adored Kieran. Whenever the detective inspector was around, Mr. Poe demanded attention from him. Kieran tried to act like our dog was a menace, but his smiling and giving him lots of pets spoke otherwise.

“Please tell me you haven’t been asking questions of the other guests.”

I sighed. “I don’t want to lie to you.”

He groaned. “Once again, putting a target on your back. How many times do we need to have this conversation?”

“You can yell at me later. Tell me what we should do.”

“Nothing. I’ll be there soon.”

“How? It’s still raining, and everything is flooded.”

“I will be there as soon as I can. Be careful.” His phone cut out, and there was nothing but static.

“What did he say?” Lizzie asked sleepily.

“Well, he wasn’t happy we’ve found a dead body yet again. But basically, he said to hold tight and not to ask any more questions.”

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