Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
“Wait,” I called out to Kaitlyn Jacks as she opened the front door of my practice. “I have a few more questions about your brother, Donald.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “I have no answers,” she said. “I need to sort my brother’s affairs.”
“I understand that, but his home is considered a crime scene at the moment. You most likely won’t be able to go through his things for a couple of days.”
She shut the door. “I do not have time for that,” she said. “Why would it be a crime scene?”
Well, you stepped in that one, Em.
“Your brother’s death was suspicious. Even if you weren’t in contact, you might be able to help us with the investigation. Please, sit down. I promise it will only take a few minutes. Then we can find you a place to stay until your brother’s death is sorted.”
She sighed and shut the door. Then she took a seat in the waiting room. I grabbed my notebook out of my purse and a pen. Then I sat across from her.
“Is it normal for a doctor to be doing these interviews?”
“We do things differently here in Sea Isle, and I help the police directly with investigations into deaths.”
“OK. What is it you want to know?” she asked.
“Has your brother always had an interest in trains?” I thought starting out with something a bit more mundane might help.
“That’s an odd question.”
“Well, he was part of our new Storyteller’s Train, and I noticed he had an elaborate set up in his home.”
“I’ve never been to his home, but that doesn’t surprise me,” she said.
She’d never been to her brother’s home? That seemed odd.
“Yes, since he was a young boy. He always had train sets and could be quite a bother about wanting to take train rides. Our father encouraged it and would buy him anything he wanted when it came to trains.”
“You didn’t approve?”
Her eyebrows rose. “They say parents are not supposed to have favorites, but my father clearly did. When my mother and he divorced, he spoiled my brother. I on the other hand, didn’t exist.”
I frowned. “That must have been difficult.” She didn’t seem the type to share something so personal, which probably meant she still held a grudge. I couldn’t blame her.
I’d had a difficult relationship with my mother after my father had died. She was more or less absent until much later in my life. Luckily, I had a loving grandmother. And in the end, my mother made amends before she died.
“Aye, it was. I became quite fond of books as an escape.”
I wasn’t sure what to do with that information. “Books can be a comfort.”
“Agreed, it’s one of the reasons I became an editor,” she said.
I’d never met anyone in publishing. “What kind of editor?”
“I edit mainstream fiction and business books for a publishing company in England.”
“Oh, so you really did turn your passion for books into an occupation.”
She nodded.
“You mentioned before that you hadn’t spoken to your brother in a year. May I ask what type of falling out you had?”
“I did not kill him,” she said. It was the first time she sounded the least bit Scottish. Her accent was more posh English. I’d learned to tell the difference.
“Of course, you didn’t. You weren’t even here. I was just curious for background purposes.”
She frowned and seemed to ponder this for a few seconds.
“For a time, he was my accountant and helped with my investments. That is until he lost the bulk of my retirement savings in some scheme. One that I think affected most of his clients.”
“That’s awful. What happened?”
“Other than I’ll have to work another thirty years before I can retire?” She didn’t bother to hide the bitterness in her voice.
“That must have been difficult.”
“Aye. I moved everything to a different company after that. They always say never mix family and business. I learned that lesson the hard way. Never again. Not that I have any family left. Still, that didn’t keep him from asking me for more money.”
“He wanted you to invest again?”
“Yes. A year ago, only a few months after I lost everything. Can you imagine the gall of him?”
I shook my head.
“He said that every investment came with risks, as if that excused his bad business sense.”
“Did you ever meet his business partner? Or anyone from the office?”
She shook her head. “No. Most of the time if we met it was for the holidays, which we did at mine in Glasgow. But after he asked me for more money last year, that was it. I never had any further contact with him. So if you want me to tell you about his personal life, I haven’t a clue.”
She still sounded quite bitter about the financial fall out. I didn’t blame her. Losing her retirement had to have been rough.
“Do you have any other siblings?”
“No. He was the last bit of family I had left. I will say I’m sorry he is dead.
He was my family. But I have had a difficult time forgiving his actions.
He didn’t seem to care about the trouble he’d caused me.
He was like that. He never had an ounce of empathy.
That is something I struggle with as well, but I have enough to know that he should have, at the very least, apologized. ”
“I couldn’t agree more.”
“Do you think he was murdered by one of his clients? I could see that happening,” she said. “It is one thing to lose a family’s money, and quite another to lose a stranger’s.”
“I’m sure the ACC will be investigating the clients, and everyone else connected with your brother. And no one has said murdered, yet.”
“Yet? So, you do think that is what happened? It wasn’t just a bee sting?”
“I wish I had more information for you. Perhaps, the ACC will be able to shine a light on the situation.”
“I’d like to go see the ACC now.”
As much as I wanted to help Abigail with further testing, I had an idea.
“I’ll take you to the station,” I said. “I’m headed that way.”
“Do you really think it will be a few days before they allow me in his house?”
I nodded.
“Perhaps, you can give me a referral for a hotel or B did you stay here while it went out?”
“No, I was on there. I was helping in the engine room. One of our lads was sick. I got on right before we left.”
“As far as you know, no one stayed behind?”
“No. I locked up the station before getting on the train. And before you ask, I thought I’d locked the office where they found the poor lad. But I was rushing, and I may have missed it.”
The door had been unlocked when I’d tried it. But I didn’t want to make him feel bad, so I kept that bit of news to myself.
“Do you remember seeing him get on the train at any time?”
“No. From what I’ve heard, he died before we took off. Though, you would know more about that than me.” He was digging for information, and I wasn’t about to give him any. Ewan would have my neck.
“Right. Before yesterday, did he have any arguments with anyone associated with the train?”
He crossed his arms. “Let me have a think. He was at all the committee meetings. He stayed quiet unless there was something he didn’t agree with, I suppose.”
“Like what?”
“The uniforms for the staff. They wanted to wear costumes from the time period or their own clothes. He insisted, more than once, that they should wear the proper uniforms.”
“The ones with the jackets and pants.”
“Aye, he won out in the end. The story tellers can wear anything, but the train staff had time-period uniforms. I can tell you he liked things a certain away and believed we should be proper.”
“You sound like you agreed with him.”
“Aye, I did. If we are going to do something, it should be proper.”
“I understand that I asked this already, but I’m wondering if you noticed him acting any differently last night?”
“I only saw him from afar, and he seemed fine.”
“Was he talking to anyone in particular?”
“I cannae say I took notice. He was here at the start when everyone arrived. I did see his costume, though. He looked like something out of a Philip Marlowe novel. Trench coat and fedora, I believe. He spoke with some of the other storytellers as they arrived. I could not hear what they were saying.” Mr. Garfield continued, “As you saw, even though we weren’t selling tickets, I was at my station, until it was time to help out the engineers.
When I got on the train, no one was in the building. ”
Except for a very dead Mr. Jacks stuffed into a cupboard.