Page 20 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“No. I don’t believe in curses. I think some people just do the pile-on theory,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, like with us. After what happened to Mom, and then the accident not long after that.” Lizzie’s fiancé and his daughter had been killed in an auto accident six months after our mom died from cancer. Our moving to Ireland had been to get a fresh start.

And except for my new habit of finding dead bodies, we’d adjusted well here. We loved our home and neighbors, and Lizzie loved running our grandfather’s bookstore.

We had a good life.

“Sorry I brought that up,” I said.

“No. It’s okay. We’re supposed to talk about the past.” Lizzie sniffed. “But you’re saying we could say we were cursed because those things happened one after another. And then we discovered a grandfather we never knew who left us his home and store. But we didn’t get to meet him because he died too. And we have a father, who may or may not be dead.”

“Right. Someone might pile all those things together and think we’d had a bit of bad luck,” I said. “But, in truth, life has ups and downs. Most people aren’t aware of their family’s five-hundred-year-old history like Gordon and Nora. So, they can pile on with those big life events. But the truth is, life really does have peaks and valleys.

“Take their financial woes, which are more indicative of the times we live in than any curse. Lots of businesses are having trouble, and Nora and Gordon admitted that the upkeep on this place is tremendous, to say the least.”

“You make a good point. I suppose it’s also perspective, right?”

“Yes. If you have a more positive outlook on life, you weather the ups and downs. Thanks to some therapy and a great upbringing with our amazing mother, we get knocked down…”

As I knew she would, she sang the line from the Chumbawamba song about getting up again.

I smiled. “Not everyone is like us.”

“It’s harder some days than others, but you’re right. I do wish we knew what happened to our father, though. And I wish Mom knew about our grandfather before she died.”

Our father was another mystery we’d yet to solve. Years ago, he went missing while on a military mission. Our grandfather had no idea what had happened, and the government had not responded to his request for information.

We’d also tried to reach out, but our letters had been ignored. I’d handed over the official requests to our lawyer.

Our dad went missing when Mom was pregnant with us. Through a series of mishaps, we believe she thought he’d ghosted her. But in truth, he’d gone missing.

“Me too,” I said. “I wish we’d met our grandfather as well. From all the stories, he sounds like he was a great man. I mean, just look at the bookstore he left you. He must have been brilliant to create such a place.”

“He left it to us. I just run it,” she said. “But it is magical.”

“But I guess someone could take all those events in our life and maybe say the family was cursed. In truth, it’s life’s bumpy road.”

She sighed. “Doesn’t make it any easier to accept.”

“True.”

“But we have just as much that’s good. We have Mr. Poe, our lovely neighbors, and a beautiful home. We had a mom wholoved us and would have done anything for us. She supported our dreams, and we have each other. We’re lucky.”

I smiled. She’d gone through one of the hardest times of her life, and I loved that she could once again see the world through her prism of positivity.

“We are.”

I meant what I said about not believing in curses.

But the priest had been murdered downstairs. His rocky road of life had come to an end. And there was a good chance the killer was still in the castle.

FIVE

When I woke up later that morning, it was nearly ten. After a quick shower and dressing for the chill in the castle, I went in search of my sister and Mr. Poe. I didn’t like the idea of them walking around alone while there was a murderer on the loose.

That was if the killer was still here. It was possible they had escaped before the storm hit the night before. If it were me, I would have run away as fast as possible.

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