Page 74 of Death at Inishmore Castle

“The initials on the spreadsheet are M.H. Maximillian Herbert,” I said. “Not only is he stealing money from them, he undervalued their collection. I bet they have no idea what they are sitting on here.”

“But why would they believe him?”

“I think I have an idea.” I pulled the cover up on another painting. It was by a Dutch artist that I recognized.

“He tells them their stuff isn’t worth much, so they leave it in storage. He has supposed experts who are working with him, probably for a cut of the proceeds. Then he sneaks around and steals it, selling it at an enormous profit.”

“But like I said before, wouldn’t whoever bought it need the provenance?”

I shrugged. “That’s probably what the priest was searching for in the study. But there are all kinds of ways to fake that sort of thing, especially on the black market. This is the treasure the journals refer to and the poor O’Sullivans have absolutely been duped.”

“Do you think Maximillian’s the killer?”

I blew out a breath. “I mean, we’ve had cases where we’ve underestimated killers before. And we know he’s cheating the O’Sullivans by cooking their books and undervaluing their collection. Is it such a stretch to believe he could be a killer?”

“There are no connections between him and the victims, though. I couldn’t find a single trail that led back to Sarah and Carl.”

“I have to admit that I just can’t see him as a killer. Maybe he was an accomplice. The way he’s cheating the poor O’Sullivans makes him a bit smarter than I’d given him credit for. I can’t believe they haven’t discovered him stealing their money.”

“He’s related to the family,” Kieran said. “That came up in our search. He is a distant cousin. That may be why they’ve kept him on. That and they can’t possibly know what he’s been doing.”

“He probably feels like he’s owed an inheritance. Men like him always have some sort of justification. His father worked for them, as well. We know that, and it is possible that Carl and Sarah were his accomplices.”

“Question is: did he kill off his partners?”

I was about to answer when the lights flickered out, and a door slammed.

“What was that?”

Kieran used his flashlight to find the path back to the door. When we got there, it was shut. He tried the handle.

“It’s locked,” he said.

“Who would do that? At least, you have the key.”

“Except it locks from the outside. There’s no keyhole on this side of the door.”

I tried turning the knob that controlled the lights. Nothing happened.

Great.

We were locked in a dark room with no way out.

NINETEEN

I took a deep breath. At least the storage room was huge. I had a thing about small dark spaces. It helped that Kieran was there, too. He was always so calm and collected.

“I’ll just try to text my sister,” I said. But the text went nowhere. “The signal is out again. Do you have any bars?”

He sighed. “No. It probably went out with the power. And I left my SAT phone in the evidence room when your sister was worried about you earlier and came to make me search for you.”

“But when your people realize they can’t get in touch with you they will figure out where we are, right?”

“Except that I didn’t tell them.”

Great. “Well, we told Nora we were looking into things, and when my sister can’t find me, she will search the place. And I think I mentioned we were coming down here. It’s just a matter of when she realizes we aren’t around. I suggest we stay busy until she figures it out. Otherwise, my anxiety might kick in.”

I’m a strong woman, but the idea my sister might not find me caused my insides to twist. I forced myself to breathe again.

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