Chapter 12 #2
Isobel’s stories were wonderful and fun, she had a couple for each island we circled in the boat. On the way back she offered us warm cups of apple cider. While I considered it a drink for fall, I didn’t complain. Out on the water it was colder than it had been on shore.
“Made by mum for these chilly nights,” she said. “It will warm you from the inside out. It’s said the apples will bring the people you need into your life.”
She wasn’t wrong about it warming me from the inside out, and the beverage was just the right amount of tart and sweet. I could have had a gallon of it without blinking an eye.
While we traveled back, Isobel continued to share folk tales about the islands we passed. She was a gifted storyteller. Then something that had been niggling at my brain came to the forefront. The name, Gillispie. I’d seen it on one of the files when we’d been in Donald Jacks’s home.
I climbed the steps up to where the captain stood at the helm.
“This has been a wonderful experience,” I said.
He smiled and nodded. “My Isobel is talented with the stories. I think she should be an actress, but she loves the sea like her Da.”
I grinned. “Well, your passion for it shows. You two have made this really fun.”
“Glad you are enjoying it.”
“I have a strange question for you, and I hope you don’t think I’m being too forward.”
“I’m happily married, Doc. You’ve met my wife, Cecile.”
We laughed.
“I have. She’s lovely. This has more to do with my job of investigating deaths.”
He frowned. “That sounds serious. Tell me how I can help?”
There was a noise, and I glanced back to see Ewan on the steps leading up to where we stood. I was certain he stopped to listen.
“Right. When we were searching Donald Jacks’s home, I remember seeing your name on one of the files.”
He frowned and shook his head. “Aye, he was our accountant. Emphasis on was.”
“You don’t seem to have liked him very much.”
“Shifty fellow,” he said. “He was always trying to get me to invest in different projects. The only investment I’m interested in is me and this boat. I do what I must to keep things going, and I’m careful with my money. Besides, if you listen to anyone in town, you’ll hear stories about him.”
“What kind of stories?”
“Losing people’s money,” he said. “Some said he was a trickster. I was looking for someone else to keep the books because I’d lost trust in him a while ago.”
“How long had he kept your books?”
“Oh, about four years. But it has only been in the last year and a half that I had trouble with him. Always bugging me to invest in one thing or another. After hearing some of the stories, I’m glad I held onto my money.”
This wasn’t the first time I’d heard about the bad investments.
Even though I was certain the killer had to be someone close to him, it could have been one of his clients.
They would have to know his habits and his addiction to lip balm.
We lived in a small town and the victim seemed to be ruled by his daily habits.
By the time we made it back to the docks, some of the other boats were coming in from their tours.
As we disembarked, I heard someone arguing.
I turned to see Kiara, from the Lotions and Potions shop, having words with Sarah Billingsley.
The conversation appeared quite animated, but as if they realized at the same time that we were all staring at them, they closed their mouths tightly.
Kiara ushered Max down the main pier doing her best to ignore Sarah, who stomped along behind her. I was more worried about Max, Kiara’s son. He was sensitive and the arguing might have caused one of his rashes. He was prone to hives when he encountered any sort of stress.
I glanced up at Ewan, who frowned.
“I wonder what that was about?” I asked.
“No telling with Sarah,” he said. “She likes to poke her nose into places it doesn’t belong.” He seldom said things like that about people in town, but Sarah seemed to push his buttons.
“Do you think it has something to do with the case?”
He shook his head. “Knowing Sarah, she was trying to convince poor Kiara into working on one of the many committees she heads.”
I’d been at the other end of Sarah’s pushiness, though I knew she meant well.
“Probably,” I said.
A phone dinged behind us, and Henry glanced down at a message. “ACC, the warrant has come in,” he said. “Should I head over now, or in the morning?”
“We’ll go tomorrow,” Ewan said. “It’s late and I’d rather surprise them first thing.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Can I go with you?” I asked.
Ewan’s eyebrows went up. “Do you know accounting?”
I shook my head. “No, I thought I might look to see if he kept more toiletries at the office and if those had been loaded with the venom.”
“Henry gathered them up for you and Abigail to test,” he said, and his brows drew together as if he were confused.
“I wasn’t thinking of looking for those things in his office,” I said.
“I thought I might check the partner and executive assistant’s desk.
The killer was in close proximity to be able to dose those balms. Who better than someone who worked with him?
Maybe, we’ll get lucky and find the actual venom. ”
“But his partner and assistant weren’t at the train station when he was put into that cupboard.”
“That doesn’t mean they didn’t have an accomplice,” I said. “You’ve known we’ve run all the tests we can. Though, we’re still waiting on DNA from his clothing, which takes a minimum of forty-eight-hours.”
“I’ll have that report in the morning,” Abigail said as she came up behind us. “I had to send some of the fibers to Edinburgh, so that will be another couple of days.”
She’d become quite the forensic specialist and knew how to run all of our machines in the lab. I’d done a fair amount of studying, as well, when it came to forensics.
I hadn’t read the fine print of my contract when I moved to Sea Isle. The wording that had said I would be the town doctor, as well as the person who investigated death. They didn’t really have coroners in Scotland, but that was what I called myself.
Since Ewan was the mayor and laird, he could appoint any political position he wanted in town. And when he’d sent the contract, I hadn’t read the part about signing and investigating death certificates.
But I took my job seriously and had learned a great deal about solving crimes over the past year. Even though my real job was to determine cause of death and if there had been any sort of foul play. I’m me, so of course I took the investigating a step further.
In the beginning, most of my knowledge had come from the UK mysteries I watched. But like Abigail, I’d done a fair amount of research into forensics and crime solving. I found it all quite fascinating.
In many ways, I related it to my working in the ER for more than a decade. Back then, I never knew what kind of case might present itself next, and I had to do a fair amount of medical deducing rather quickly.
Though, when it came to solving crimes, I still had a great deal to learn. Not the least of which was never making assumptions, something I was prone to do, even though Ewan demanded we have evidence to indicate someone was guilty.
He wasn’t wrong. It was just annoying.
After I left with Ewan, Jasper caught up with us.
“Hey, before you go, there is something I need to tell you,” Jasper said. “I didn’t want to ruin your time on the boat with local gossip.”
We moved up the pier a little bit away from the crowds getting off the various fairy boats.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I didn’t realize where she works, but Catherine Allan was in the bakery earlier. She ordered several dozen petits fours for the office. It seems they have some important people coming in tomorrow. While she was in the bakery, she was speaking quite loudly on her cell phone.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. Jasper didn’t approve of people talking on cell phones in his bakery. He even had a sign that stated as much.
“If she hadn’t made such a large order, I might have kicked her out. She told me she was talking to her boss, who wanted to make certain that the baked goods were fancy. That the clients they had coming in were very important.”
Ewan and I glanced at one another. If the search was to take place the next morning, Catherine and her boss, Jeremy Burns, were in for a big surprise.