Chapter 24
As soon as Maisie told Chelsea what she and Robert were going to do, Iverson said he was going with them. William and Edward would stay behind with Anne.
Of course everyone who had planned to go to bed couldn’t now, as they wanted to hear what Maisie and Chelsea discovered.
“I’ll make us some green tea,” Anne said, wearing pajama shorts and a shirt and a robe. “Be safe, all of you.”
“We will be,” Robert assured her, and then they took off in his car for the castle.
“I wish I’d thought of this earlier,” Maisie said.
“If Gus’s car was found near that petrol station where I saw Jack, that has to confirm that Jack was in the same proximity,” Chelsea said. “How far was Gus’s car from the station?”
Iverson said, “Just a mile. It was on a farm road, sitting mostly hidden by some old sheds so it wasn’t really visible, but I saw the back of the car, and it was black, so I drove down the road to check it out. It looked as if someone had parked it there to hide it. The sheds were practically in ruins, so the farmer probably doesn’t even use them any longer and might not have come across the car for a long time.”
“So Jack tailed me to the petrol station from Glasgow,” Chelsea said, “and Gus picked me up from there. I never saw any sign of Jack at that time. Then Gus and I went back to his room while I left my car at the petrol station. We visited for about an hour, and then he drove me back. When I got in my car and moved it to a pump to get some petrol, I saw Jack. I wonder if Gus did too. Well, worse, that Jack saw Gus leaving me off. I left, irritated that Jack was there, not wanting to have any kind of a confrontation and worried he would smell Gus on me. I hadn’t considered that Jack had followed me there. But then why not follow me to the inn and confront Gus there? So I figured at the time that it must have been a coincidence.”
“Too much of a coincidence,” Robert said.
Maisie and Iverson agreed with him.
“Aye. I should have assumed it was. I thought Gus had just left and returned to the inn. After we said our goodbyes, I didn’t watch him leave. But if he saw Jack there or Jack could have followed him, then maybe the two of them got into an altercation once I had left. I didn’t see Jack leave either.”
“I didn’t see Gus on the security video fighting with anyone at the petrol station,” Iverson said. “What did Jack’s vehicle look like?”
“A blue car. Something new. I don’t know vehicles that well. It was a two-door. I hadn’t seen him drive it before, actually.”
“That would explain why only Gus’s car ended up back at the inn and some other guy was driving it. He had Gus’s room key, got the bags, returned to the car, and left again,” Maisie said.
“After he got the garden stone and rope from the shed,” Robert said.
Maisie sighed. “Right.”
Iverson said, “Jack’s car is a five-door hatchback, Nissan, silver. He must have used another car for his trip there.”
“Unless his car was in the shop for repairs or for some other reason, it sounds like this was planned,” Robert said.
“Aye, just what I thought,” Iverson said.
“What I don’t understand is how we wouldn’t smell him in the room or on anything, except his phone. He should have left his scent in the room when he grabbed Gus’s bags,” Maisie said.
“Hunter’s concealment,” Iverson said. “If he planned this out—like driving a car unknown to either Chelsea or Gus—he wouldn’t want either of them to smell him coming. He most likely didn’t know the inn was owned by you and your sister.”
“Until he smelled our scents around the place,” Maisie said. “It sounds like he didn’t follow Gus and Chelsea to the inn, or we would have seen his car on video, but instead waited at the petrol station for both of you to return.”
“Unless Jack parked somewhere close to the inn but out of sight of your security cameras and then followed Gus and Chelsea back to the station after they left his room,” Iverson said. “In any event, once Gus dropped off Chelsea, she saw Jack. Jack had to have seen Gus there and then followed him and confronted him, maybe ran him off the road, had a fight with him, and then killed him.”
“I should never have joined Gus there,” Chelsea said with regret.
“If you had seen Gus at a different location or even had been with someone else instead, the result could have been the same,” Maisie said.
Robert and Iverson agreed with her.
When they arrived at Farraige Castle, several people greeted them in the inner bailey, including Enrick, Lachlan, and Grant.
“How are Colleen, Heather, and the babies?” Robert asked Grant and Enrick as they walked to Gus’s car.
“They’re good,” Grant said, “and they’re eager to learn what we discover about all this business.”
That was the thing about a wolf pack. They all wanted closure for each other.
Maisie checked out the car on the driver’s side. “I smell Iverson, Gus, and Chelsea and the heavy odor of bleach, which is burning my eyes. No one would have been able to ride in the car if it had been covered in bleach, so the killer had to have cleaned it out after leaving it on the farm. But I don’t smell any sign of Jack.”
“Which means that he must have worn concealment. It’s the only explanation for how he could enter Gus’s room, pack his bags, and remove them without leaving his scent behind,” Iverson said. “But nothing proves he actually murdered him.”
Which was true. He had motive. He’d been at the station at the same time that Gus and Chelsea had been, so he didn’t have an alibi.
“I’ll check the petrol station’s video inside the store. I didn’t before because Gus was never seen going into the store. But if I can find Jack entering it and maybe buying bleach inside the store, that would help confirm that he was the one responsible for Gus’s death,” Iverson said.
“Was Jack wearing a wrist splint when you saw him at the station?” Robert realized no one had asked Chelsea about it. And they needed to have her see the video of the man wearing the splint.
Chelsea’s eyes widened. “Aye. Jack had hurt his wrist about six weeks before I went to see Gus. He made a big deal of it because he wanted me to baby him and I didn’t. I’d learned that he had struck a wall with his fist and broken it in a fit of rage when he was angry with someone at a pub. So I figured he had kind of deserved what he got for losing control. But he wasn’t wearing the splint when he was at the petrol station. I would have noticed it.”
“If there’s nothing else that you ladies want to look at with regard to the car,” Iverson said, “let’s go home and get some rest.”
“I want to see the security video you have of the man wearing the splint,” Chelsea said.
“We’ll show it to you when we return to the inn,” Maisie said.
Robert really hoped she could identify that the man with the torn pocket was Jack. “Were Gus’s bags in the car?”
“Yeah, in the trunk,” Iverson said. “What about Gus’s cell phone? Were you able to ever get it to work?”
“No. Too much salt water,” Robert said.
They said good night to Grant and his brothers and to the others who had come out to learn what they could about their murder investigation.
On the way back to the inn, Chelsea said, “We have to prove Jack did this and take him down.”
“We will. He won’t get away with it,” Robert said.
Iverson agreed. Maisie was quiet.
Robert glanced at her. “Are you okay?” She looked pale too, and he suspected just seeing the car and thinking about the scenario had gotten to her. Especially since she’d seen Gus’s body. He reached over and gently rubbed her shoulder.
“Yeah. I’m sorry that Jack wore hunter’s concealment, though it’s possible it was someone else. But I bet it was him. I wanted to know for sure that he had been in Gus’s car though.”
“Me too,” Iverson said, “but it shows he fully intended to kill him all along. I just texted the petrol station and asked them if they had any sales of bleach that evening and if they had hunter’s concealment. They don’t carry hunter’s concealment, but yes on the bleach.”
Everyone practically held their breaths to hear what Iverson had to say.
“A blond-haired man bought the bleach before he got some petrol. He used a credit card,” Iverson said.
“Yes!” Robert said.
“His name was Jude Springer,” Iverson said.
“Ohmigod, he probably thought no one would connect him to the name Jack Wolfson, the man who had the beef with Gus,” Maisie said.
“We’ve got him then.” Tears spilled down Chelsea’s cheeks.
Iverson gave her a hug.
“We just need to physically catch him now.” Robert hoped their plan to get him to the inn would succeed.
When they got back, they found everyone waiting up for their arrival. Robert could understand that. If the roles had been reversed, he would have been sitting up, waiting to learn what they’d discovered too.
“We need to see the security video and show it to Chelsea.” Iverson walked through the door first.
“That’s exactly what I told Edward and Anne,” William said, “as soon as you all left.”
They had Chelsea review the video after that, and she carefully studied the man in the hoodie. “That’s Jack. That was the wrist he injured, though he hasn’t been wearing a splint for a long time, but I’m sure he knew there would be security videos. If any of them caught him, it would look like he was an injured man, and no one would figure he could have murdered anyone. And that hoodie? He wore it a lot when we went on hikes. The pants with the torn pocket? No wonder he lost his phone in the garden.”
“He had to have been grabbing the paving stone when he dropped it and didn’t realize it,” Maisie said.
“Aye, in too much of a hurry,” Robert said.
“I suspect he removed Gus’s driver’s license and stuck it in the pocket with his phone, intending to get rid of it so if anyone had discovered Gus’s body, they would find his wallet but no ID,” Iverson said. “Since Gus’s wallet didn’t contain anything else, not even a credit card, Jude must have gotten rid of whatever might have been in it at some other location. But before he disposed of the driver’s license, he’d accidentally lost it in the garden. Now we have confirmation Jack was the one wearing the hoodie also.” Iverson stretched.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Chelsea said.
“Okay, well, let’s get some sleep.” Robert took hold of Maisie’s hand, ready to take her to bed. “Now all we have to do is catch him.”
“And eliminate him.” Chelsea sounded like, if she could, she would take him down herself.
***
Early the next morning, Maisie woke to see Robert smiling at her as she snuggled with him in bed at the inn. She wondered how long he’d been awake. She really didn’t want to get out of bed. She was always ready to get up and go first thing in the morning, but when she had such a hunky wolf to wake up to, she really had a hard time letting go of him.
He kissed the top of her head. “Ready to get up?”
“No. I’m so happy to be here with you like this.”
“I know. Me too.”
Then they heard Anne and Chelsea talking in the kitchen and starting breakfast and a shower running in one of the bathrooms.
Maisie sighed. “It’s time to get up. I’m glad we went to see Gus’s car last night and had Chelsea look at the security video. I had thought of it earlier, but we didn’t know if she was in on the murder initially. Though I had no intention of telling her that we had ever suspected she could have been involved in his murder.”
“When we started to set up the boyfriend situation between Chelsea and William, I just didn’t think about it again.” They kissed and got out of bed. “I can’t wait to see if Chelsea or William had any response to their posts.” Robert pulled on some boxer briefs.
“What if Jack’s a sneaky bastard and doesn’t say anything, just comes for William and/or Chelsea?” Maisie slipped her shirt on over her head. “And he’ll be wearing hunter’s concealment too.”
“There’s a chance he’ll just wait for Chelsea to return home and then attack William. But he fought with Gus before he killed him, so there’s a good chance Jack will come out here and take William to task for dating Chelsea.” Robert finished dressing.
Maisie pulled on her shorts. “I agree. I’m going to help the ladies with breakfast so we can get that cleaned up before we start on the guests’ breakfasts.”
“What do you want us to do?” Robert asked.
“If you don’t mind, maybe you guys can clean up the guest room. One of our guests is checking out by ten. So we can get that ready for the next guest coming in at three. I’ll take William and Chelsea out to capture some more fun boyfriend/girlfriend pictures after the guests’ breakfasts are done,” Maisie said.
“Okay, Iverson and I can do that, while William and Edward watch over you ladies.”
“That sounds perfect. First, I want to know if Chelsea or William got any messages.”
“You and me both, Maisie.”
They left their bedroom and checked on everyone else, telling them the plan.
“Jack didn’t contact me yet. I wonder if he’s anxious about returning here, afraid he might just get caught,” Chelsea said.
William looked at his phone and smiled. “Jack sent me a friend request.”
Everyone just stared at him, waiting to hear more.
“Okay, I accepted.”
“Let’s wait and see if he responds once he sees your selfie with Chelsea,” Robert said.
The ladies had made eggs and haddock and brought them to the table. They began to eat, and William got a comment on his post.
Everyone stopped what they were doing to see what he had to say.
William laughed. “Janet said she met Chelsea and she’s such a nice woman. She hopes that the two of us enjoy spending time together.”
Chelsea smiled. “Your mom is so sweet, Anne, Maisie.”
“She’s funny. I didn’t expect her to get involved in this charade,” Maisie said.
“Me either,” Anne said.
After breakfast, they got busy with their other jobs. Robert and Iverson took care of the vacated guest room while the ladies took meal orders and began making breakfast for the guests.
After they were done, Maisie went out with Chelsea and William to take photos in the woods while Anne stayed with Iverson at the inn and Edward and Robert watched out for Maisie and the “couple.”
Maisie photographed them hand in hand in the woods, and then they took selfies to make it look like they were on their own.
After they returned to the inn, Chelsea and William posted their pictures on their Facebook pages. Then they all had tea and waited to see if there was any response. Nothing.
“I would say Jack might not be monitoring your Facebook page, Chelsea. But since he friended William, I feel like he has taken the bait,” Robert said.
“I got a message from him! Jack asked where I am. He is worried about me because he has been dropping by my apartment and I haven’t been there.” Chelsea smiled. “I’m glad I’m here. What do you suggest I say?”
“You’re in the Highlands, enjoying a vacation because you don’t have a hospice job right now and you have friends you’re staying with?” Maisie said.
“That could work if Jack thinks Chelsea’s got friends and is protected and so at least she would be safe,” Robert said. “So he might think he could solely go after his competition.”
“What if Jack thinks Chelsea’s friends are really just one guy—William?” Iverson asked.
“That’s a possibility,” Anne said. “That could be good because he might think she is lying and want to get rid of the guy who has come between them. So he will come to take William out, and then we’ll get him.”
“He will think Chelsea isn’t telling him the whole story anyway if she doesn’t mention seeing William.” Maisie finished her tea. “Does anyone want another cup of lavender tea?”
Everyone did, and she went into the kitchen to heat up some more water.
“Go ahead and post what Maisie suggested and see what happens,” William said.
“It’s interesting that he contacted me right after I posted the picture of me having fun with William.” Chelsea typed in her message to Jack.
“Yeah, he’s watching what you’re up to,” Iverson said. “Now we just need him to come here so we can catch him.”
“He hasn’t contacted you yet, has he, William?” Edward asked.
“Nope. Other than friending me. I’m sure he just wants to see my posts for now. Commenting or messaging me would leave a trail, so he might not do that. Especially if he has a plan to eliminate me. Then anyone investigating my disappearance would possibly put two and two together. He probably didn’t want to even friend me, but he had to, to see my posts. That way he would get to know me better—learn what I was thinking about Chelsea, maybe more about me, my habits, my strengths, and my weaknesses,” William said. “I had another thought. We’ve had homicide cases where someone is selling something like a car, for instance, and they’ll put it in an ad. In one case, the supposed interested buyer took the car for a test-drive and killed the car’s owner.”
“Or you could say you’re trying to buy something and maybe he says he has just what you’re looking for,” Edward said. “The idea kind of seems like a long shot, but something like that might give him a reason to come see you, and then we can watch what happens.”
“Yeah, just make sure you take him down if I don’t first,” William said.