Page 96 of Death on a Scottish Train

“And someone was ready and waiting with bee venom?” he asked.

“Well, when you say it like that, it seems dumb. But maybe. They were waiting for the right time to present itself. Maybe, they weren’t even thinking the lip balms. Maybe, they were just going to inject it directly into him, but went with plan B.”

“Your imagination is in overdrive.”

I shrugged. “He lost people’s money. To me, that is the number one motive. What if one of his clients paid the executive assistant, or the lover of the partner to put that bee venom into the lip balm?”

“That’s a bit of a reach. I dinnae think that is the way it happened, but I will have Henry grab their bank statements to look for any large deposits.”

“What are you two talking about?” Mara asked as she walked up. She glanced over her shoulder to see who we were looking at. “Oh. They had breakfast together in the pub this morning,” she said.

“They did?” Ewan and I said at the same time.

“Aye. Seemed to be quite friendly and cheerful. I thought it was strange since the girlfriend was so upset the other day at Jasper’s.”

“Did it seem like they’d known each other a long time?”

She pursed her lips. “That I couldn’t say. But they had definitely planned to meet up at the pub. I’d just come down to help out with themorning rush, when the girlfriend walked in, and then Catherine waved her over.”

“That’s interesting,” Ewan said.

“Maybe even more so the guest who joined the both of them.”

“And who was that?”

“The victim’s sister, Kaitlyn Jacks. I overheard her talking about her brother. And she’s been into the pub more than once.”

Ewan and I glanced at one another.

That was very interesting.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Later that night, I dressed in my new dress from Lulu’s. The midnight blue chiffon came down to mid-calf. It was quite chilly outside, and I’d almost decided on jeans and a sweater, but I really loved the dress. My feet still hurt from the night before, so I wore the sparkly flats I’d bought as well.

It had been an extremely long day, and it wasn’t over yet. Thankfully, I’d managed a power nap between the Highland Games and the talent show that was to be performed in an hour.

I was glad we only had a few more days of events before this was all over. Not that it wasn’t fun. It had been. But I was ready to get back to a normal schedule where I spent most of my nights curled up on my sofa watching mystery series.

As we’d planned, I met Mara down the hill behind the pub. The shuttle would take us up the mountain to the church where the event was being held.

Abigail and Tommy were already there. She was playing piano for her brother, who had surprised everyone by saying he wanted to sing at the talent show.

He had a beautiful voice, which we all knew. But he was not a fan of crowds. For that reason, Abigail had tried more than once to talk him out of it over the last two weeks. But her brother was insistent.

She’d come to me upset, and I’d calmed her down with a bit of advice. “The worst that can happen is he gets cold feet or freezes on stage. You’ll just carefully guide him off and take him home.”

She’d been nervous about it all week, and I didn’t blame her. We were all so protective of Tommy and his wanting to perform in public was very unlike him. But he loved to sing, especially show tunes.

“Are you as nervous as I am?” Mara asked.

“Yes,” I said, as we boarded the shuttle. Jasper was right behind us. We’d all come to show our support. Even Angie and her husband, Damian, planned to be there.

“Do we have a plan B, if things go south?” Jasper asked. “I feel like I want to throw up, I’m so nervous for him.”

“Yes. Abigail will guide him off the stage, and Henry will whisk them home. She even bought him a new video game to distract him in case it all goes wrong.”

“I dinnae understand why he would put himself through this,” Jasper said. “I feel like a protective uncle who doesn’t want his nephew hurt.”