Page 49 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“She was heading upstairs when you came down the hallway,” Rob said. “We didn’t know what to do. Should we have called her out?”

“Well, we need to tell Kieran. That’s something for him to handle.”

“Do you think she’s some kind of klepto?” Rob asked.

The conversation from earlier, came to me. The things her husband said made more sense now. As did the look he’d given her.

“Well, she does like all things shiny, according to her husband, but he made it sound more like she had a shopping addiction than anything else. I need to talk to Kieran anyway. Why don’t you come with me?”

They followed me to the incident room. Kieran was alone and I wondered where his team might be. He was on the phone and held up a finger for us to wait.

We sat down at the table across from him.

After he hung up, he wrote a few things in his notebook. Then he nodded toward us. “What’s going on?”

“First, Rob and Scott have something to tell you.”

They relayed what they’d told me.

His eyebrow went up. “When did this happen?”

“Five minutes or so ago,” Rob said. “A woman like her could afford almost anything she wanted. I mean, she’s wearing clothes today that cost more than I’d spend on my wardrobe in a year.”

“How do you know that?” Kieran asked.

“Well, I’m a gay man. And when I had my restaurants, we catered to the fashion crowd. I learned a few things back then. Those pearl earrings she wears are from Cartier. Her hair was up yesterday, and I could see the metal tag on the matching necklace. Why would someone with that kind of money steal? It doesn’t make sense. She could have whatever she wants.”

“If she is a kleptomaniac, it’s an illness,” I said. “A psychological one. More than likely she can’t help herself. The need is a compulsion she can’t control. I researched it for two books ago.”

“Yes, but she’s still a thief,” Kieran said. “And you actually saw her put it in her pocket?”

“We did,” Scott said. “It was half sticking out of her coat. It was like she didn’t care if someone saw it.”

“Okay,” Kieran said. “Thank you for bringing it to my attention. I’ll take care of it. Is that all?”

“I have something to tell you, as well.” I glanced at Rob and Scott.

“I think that’s our cue to go,” Scott said, though he sounded disappointed that I wasn’t including them. It was nothing to do with me not wanting to tell them, and everything about my promise to keep my thoughts between Kieran and myself.

“You two, let me know if you see anything else, okay?” Kieran asked.

“We will,” Rob said. They rose to leave and stared at me expectantly.

“I’ll see you at lunch,” I promised.

They nodded, but there was no denying the curiosity in their eyes. They would be peppering me with questions later.

“So, tell me what news you have.”

I started with the accountant’s phone call.

“A treasure that no one has found in the last hundred years or so, it sounds like something out of one of your books,” he said.

“I think I take offense at that,” I said. “I wouldn’t put anything like that in one of my books.” Wait. Maybe I had, in book seventeen. I’d forgotten about that one. No way I’d admit it to Kieran. “I’m just relaying what I overheard. Before you ask if I was following him, I wasn’t. I was sitting in the mudroom changing out my shoes. He didn’t even notice me there.

“Also, if he works for them, why is he being treated as a guest?”

Kieran sighed. I wasn’t sure what that was about. “From what he told me earlier, he came as a guest to understand the full experience.”

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