Page 63 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“Our staff has been with us for years. I can assure you that they didn’t do this. We should have put security cameras in the rooms we were opening. I didn’t see any reason for the expense,” Nora said. “Now, I wish I’d listened to my husband.”

“Why did he think you might need them?” I asked.

“Because we were inviting strangers into our home,” she said. “Obviously, he was correct. Do you think it might be one of the guests?” She glanced up at me for the answer.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Two of the guests are gone. And while I don’t know for sure, my mystery writer brain says there had to be a connection between them.” At least, Kieran couldn’t be mad about me saying that.

“A priest and a nun died on our first weekend. How is that going to look?” She gasped. “I mean…” She stared at Kieran as if he was going to berate her for spilling it had been murder. We’d all been going by the line that the nun was indisposed, and priest was missing.

“Don’t worry,” Lizzie said. “You’re among friends, and we’ve sort of figured things out on our own. I just said the same thing.”

“They didn’t just die,” I said. “They were killed. My guess is this may have nothing to do with you and your business. Well, at least, not in the way you think.”

“What do you mean?”

I glanced back at Kieran. He shook his head and rolled his eyes. “Go ahead. But you are not to discuss any of this with anyone outside this room.”

Rob shut the wooden pocket doors into the dining room. Then we all sat down around the table.

I explained my theories about it possibly being one of the guests, but I left out the fact that someone was moving around behind the walls. I didn’t mention anything that Kieran had shared with me.

“While I don’t know how,” I lied, “I think the nun and priest knew one another. They were here at the same time for a reason. I don’t believe in coincidences. That they just showed up. I believe someone was looking to settle an old score.”

“But why here?” Nora asked.

“Well, that’s the big question, right? If we knew that, we might be able to figure out who is behind all of this. But it either has to be one of the other guests, as no one at this table knew the victims. Or it has to be one of your staff.” Or, it could be her and Gordon, but I couldn’t come up with a motive for them. Until we found out who was doing this, everyone was still a suspect.

She opened her mouth and closed it. “I was about to speak up for our staff, but I don’t know what I think any more. Do youhave any other ideas as to why they picked our estate for this nasty business?”

“Well, greed is a good motive,” I said.

“What do you mean?” Rob asked.

“In the study alone there are hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of books on the shelves.”

Nora frowned. “Are there really? We haven’t had the books appraised yet. We were focused on the artwork. It’s expensive having the experts come in to do all the appraisals. Our accountant had the art appraised and most of it is fake. We had to have everything appraised for insurance purposes.”

Experts. Something jiggled in my brain. Was it possible that one of the appraisers had mentioned something to the killer, the priest, or the nun? Or maybe, one of them had worked for the appraiser? It was a lead at least.

Kieran had moved to the doors and had his notebook open. My guess was he had the same thought. That might explain why they were here, though not why the killer had knocked them off.

“That’s understandable,” I said. “But I know that you have a lot of money sitting on those shelves, and most likely in your library as well. And this is all conjecture, but what if the priest, nun, and the killer had planned to work together to take some of those things?

“You have so many, it might have taken a while for you to figure out what was missing. Years even. They would be long gone, and much richer.”

“What you’re saying makes sense,” Lolly said. “But why now?”

“It was the first weekend you had a full tour of guests,” I said. “The third party may have been waiting for an opportune time to bring them both here for nefarious purposes. It may have been his or her plan all along to get rid of them and pin the murders on someone else. Perhaps one of the other guests.”

“I can’t imagine someone out there who hates us so much,” Nora said.

“I’m not sure I’d take it that way,” I said. “Criminals don’t care who they hurt. My guess is this is some greedy revenge plot. At least, that is how it is playing out. Since we have some idea why they are doing this, maybe, we can figure out who it is.”

Lizzie shivered. “We may be stuck here but my sister and Kieran will figure it out.”

I hoped she was right.

“To be safe, you’ll travel in pairs, always,” Kieran said. “I don’t want any of you roaming the castle without at least one other person with you.” He stared pointedly at me.

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