Chapter 14 #2
Jeremy, the dead man’s partner, seemed to be arguing with Catherine, their assistant. He was shoving a finger in her face, and she slapped it away.
I wonder what that is about?
A movement caught my eye, and to the left of the arguing couple, Ewan stood with his back to them. But I had a feeling he was listening to every word.
On the next round we made on the carnival ride, the couple had moved off, and so had Ewan. I tried to find him but wondered if maybe he had followed them. I was curious to know what they had been arguing about.
When we got off the ride, Tommy asked if I would go on the Gravitron, where we would be sucked to the side of a whirling dervish as the bottom dropped out beneath. It wasn’t my favorite ride, but I couldn’t disappoint him.
Once the ride took off, I had to remind myself to breathe. While it wasn’t easy, I turned my head to the right to see Tommy laughing harder than I’d ever seen him laughing before. I couldn’t help but smile at the pure unadulterated joy on his face.
I lived for moments like this where my friends gave me so much happiness just by being themselves and with me. When the ride was over, we were both laughing. We stumbled out of the gate, trying to stay upright and laughing even harder.
Abigail laughed with us as she handed him his headphones back. “You’re very brave, Doc.”
“I’m not sure brave is the word I’d use.”
“Hungry,” he said.
We laughed. She’d told me that earlier, in addition to the cotton candy, he’d had two sausages and some Scotch eggs.
“I have to feed the beast again,” she joked. She’d been doing that more lately as she’d grown more comfortable around me.
“I saw something earlier, and I need to find Ewan.”
She nodded.
I went through the crowds and ran into Jasper near a booth that sold jewelry. Many of the pendants were on leather and were quite beautiful.
“Hey, have you seen Ewan?”
“Not lately. I was about to come and find you, though.”
“Oh?”
“This is Malcolm. He used to have his taxes done by your dead man. And he has some interesting thoughts,” he whispered the last bit.
Malcolm was helping another customer, so I waited. While I did, I picked out some early Christmas presents for my friends. OK, and maybe a couple of necklaces and bracelets for myself.
Malcolm was young, and totally Jasper’s type, which was probably why he hung around.
“This is my friend, Dr. Em. I was telling you about her,” Jasper said by way of introduction. “She’s one of the ones investigating your accountant’s death.”
I shook Malcolm’s hand.
“Was he killed?” he asked me.
“Why do you ask?”
“That’s the rumor going around town,” he said. “And the police do not usually investigate natural deaths. I’ve seen our good ACC speaking with several people tonight. And I may have heard a snippet or two.”
“Everyone in this town thinks they are an investigator,” Jasper said.
We laughed.
“So, he did your taxes?”
“Aye, for the last few years.”
“What can you tell me about him?”
He shook his head. “Not too much. He was very professional, but a bit of an odd duck.”
“In what way?”
“When we were going over my taxes last year, I made a joke. I said, well, that leaves me just enough to buy my nephew a new train set for his birthday.”
“For the next hour he went off about trains, and what I should buy him. It was the longest conversation, though one-sided, that we’d ever had. He wasn’t what you would call a conversationalist, until we started talking about trains.”
That didn’t surprise me since trains had been his passion.
“Did he ever try to get you involved in one of his financial schemes?”
Again, he shook his head. “I barely keep my head above water with my jewelry business. By the time I pay travel expenses to various fetes, I break even but that works for me. I dinnae need much, and I get to do what I love. So, he probably wouldn’t have asked.
I never have much extra, and what I do have I put into a very safe retirement account. ”
His face seemed familiar to me. “Were you at the opening of the Storyteller’s train?”
“Aye, I was. That’s where I met Jasper. I was gobbling up his macarons. They were heavenly.”
I glanced at my friend, who blushed.
“Right? I’ve gained a good five pounds since I met him.” That wasn’t a joke, but we laughed.
“Do you remember seeing Mr. Jacks that night? Maybe, before we boarded?”
His face scrunched up as if he were thinking. “Was he dressed in an old-timey detective outfit in a trench and fedora?”
I nodded.
“Then yes, I saw him across the room. I think he was talking to one of the waitstaff handing out champagne. I can’t recall the other person’s face, though.”
That was the second time someone had mentioned someone in the servers’ uniforms.
“Did you notice anything else?”
“When he turned, his face was very red. I remember that. I couldn’t imagine what had made him so angry. He always seemed a bit drab and unemotional when we spoke. He dinnae get excited about anything besides trains.”
So, he had been arguing with whoever had been in that uniform.
There had been a photographer there that night. I wondered if he had perhaps taken pictures that might help us identify who had been wearing that outfit.
It seemed unlikely the normally even-tempered accountant would get angry at a waiter over a glass of champagne.
I made my purchases and thanked Malcolm.
“Thank you so much.” He handed me a card and then smiled as he gave one to Jasper. “Feel free to call if you need anything.”
I grinned at Jasper, who had turned red again. It was sweet that he had a new crush.
Like me, he’d had his heart broken. He had come to Sea Isle to heal and open his patisserie. I didn’t know the guy who broke his heart, but I was grateful that Jasper had chosen to come back to the town where he grew up. He’d become one of my dearest friends.
As we walked away, he had a silly grin on his face.
“Are you going to call him?”
His eyes went wide. He waved a hand. “No. I’m not ready for anything like that.”
I didn’t push. I couldn’t blame him. I was still nursing a broken heart myself. My husband had been living a double life, which was something I only discovered the day he died.
Trusting again had been difficult. Though, my friends here had helped. As had Ewan. But I would never tell him that. He was a good man and looked out for his town.
We’d been spending more time together. Well, as a group. When he came over to watch our shows with us, though, I’d never been the one to invite him. Mara had. She also always included him if we went out together.
While he and I often argued, we’d grown closer. He too had a past, which had made it difficult for him to trust anyone, as well. That, and his job didn’t help.
Not that there was much crime in Sea Isle, but he had seen the worst of it.
“There’s Ewan.” Jasper pointed to a booth where it looked like he was buying Tommy a hot pretzel.
“Tommy is going to have a stomachache before the night is done.”
“I doubt it,” Jasper said. “He is a bottomless pit and never gains an ounce. It isn’t fair.”
“True,” I said.
We laughed, and then walked over to the booth.
“You know, you don’t have to date him. You could just call him to be friends.”
He sighed. “Maybe.”
“There she is,” Abigail said. “Ewan was wondering where you were.”
I held up the bag of jewelry. “I was doing a bit of early holiday shopping. I was looking for you,” I said.
“To go shopping with you?” Ewan joked.
I rolled my eyes.
“I saw you from the Ferris wheel and wondered if you’d overheard anything.”
“Let’s talk over there,” he said. He motioned to a spot behind the booths that was free of nosy listeners.
I waved goodbye to my friends and followed him over.
Without asking, he tore his pretzel in half and handed it to me.
I smiled. “Thanks. But this is not going to shut me up. I saw they were arguing. Did you learn anything interesting? And how about the search of their offices? Did you find anything yet?”
“They were arguing about our visit, though it seemed like she was more worried about what we might find than he was.”
“What did they say?”
“She is ready to quit. She doesn’t want to get arrested for playing any part in schemes that might have led to Jacks’s death.”
“So, are they involved in some sort of illegal game?”
He shrugged. “Other than that some of the numbers don’t match up, it is hard to say. I’m still waiting for the forensic accountant to take a look at what we’ve found. She should know more tomorrow.”
He nodded. “Luckily, she’s great at her job. They’ve expanded the department in Edinburgh because there is so much white-collar crime these days. She said late tomorrow she should know more. Maybe then, we’ll get some answers.”
“It does seem odd that Jacks would have two different sets of numbers. We can at least agree on that.”
“Aye. But I need solid evidence. You know how it works.”
I was learning. Pesky evidence.
“Do you think one of them killed him?”
“Hard to say. They seemed surprised, truly so, that he might have been murdered when we made the initial calls. Though, they may just be good liars.”
“That reminds me, we haven’t released anything about how he died. Maybe, you can catch them up that way. If they know more about how he died than they should, it might show on their faces.”
Ewan chuckled. “Thank you, Agatha Christie, we’ll keep that in mind when we’re speaking with them.”
“You joke, but I’m taking that as a compliment. She was a brilliant writer and criminologist in her own right. No one gave her enough credit.”
“She used poison for most of her deaths.”
I rolled my eyes again. “Not always. Sometimes people were shoved down the stairs. Besides, poison makes sense. It’s easily found and used. And as you pointed out on a previous case, poison being used mostly by women is a misconception.”
“True,” he said.
“So, do you have any other suspects?”
“We’re looking into some of his clients. Especially, the ones where he lost a large amount of funds with his schemes.”
“That makes sense. I spoke with one of his other clients.”
I told him about Malcolm.
“What else did he say?”
“Basically, the same thing as everyone we’ve talked to about the case. That he was quiet, until the subject of trains came up.”
Ewan nodded.
“Malcolm didn’t have enough to invest, so he wasn’t upset with him. While we haven’t found any evidence that he had a girlfriend or boyfriend, have you discounted that? I mean, he seemed to keep to himself. But maybe there was someone who shared his interest.”
“Why do you ask that?”
“I don’t know. It seems odd that he was arguing with one of the waiters from the other night. More than one person saw them arguing. Maybe, it wasn’t over money.”
He sighed. “It is possible. Though I feel certain money was the motivation here.”
“You’re probably right. I remember what you said about assuming. I have a habit of deciding early on why someone was killed, and I learn later that it had nothing to do with my early assumptions. I want to keep an open mind.”
He grinned.
“What?”
“You’re learning. Until we have evidence pointing us one way or another, it is a good idea to keep an open mind.”
“And here’s you thinking I never listen.”
He chuckled. Then just as quickly, he frowned.
I turned to see what he was looking at.
The victim’s sister was arguing with Jeremy, the partner, and she didn’t look happy.
What was that about?