Page 34 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

“What is it?” I turned it so he could see the large ruby, surrounded by diamonds. “Do you think it’s real?”

“If it is, it would be worth a great deal,” he said. “I know a bit about gems from my mother. She was a jeweler before meeting my father.” He held it up and used his flashlight to look at the stones. “Hard to tell in here, but it appears real.”

He didn’t often share personal information. I’d met his mother and father at several charity functions. His family was wealthy, but down-to-earth. His father was fairly quiet, while his mother was the belle of most balls. If they’d been surprised I showed up at so many events with their son, they never said a word.

I’d once asked Ewan why he asked me. He said, “You’re good company.”

“The rest of this is receipts and such,” I said pawing through the remnants of the dead man’s life. “We may be able to track his movements with these.” Even though it was dark, there was enough light from my flashlight to take some pictures with my phone.

Ewan gave me a look.

“I know, you have a team to go through these, but this is how my mind works. I needallthe information. Besides, I may be able to help when it comes to tracking down where the hemlock came from—maybe, that is.”

“There are no hidden compartments on the ring,” he said.

“Good to know. Though that would be an excellent way of dispensing poison. Like a spy ring.”

“You watch too many television series and films.”

“We live in Scotland, what else am I supposed to do in the winter? Besides, I seem to remember you being on the same couch.”

He laughed.

We returned everything into the pack, along with the change of clothes that had been in a separate compartment.

“Let’s get back,” he said. “I’ll send a team for forensics. In case someone else was staying here. It’s been taking forever to get the info on his phone. It may be days. But the warrant’s gone through.”

I nodded. Every time we found some sort of clue, it only led to more questions. That was the nature of a mystery, but this was a confusing one.

Two men were dead, and we still had no idea who was the intended victim, or if both of them had been targets.

Chapter Nine

As we came down the mountain, Ewan’s radio went off. “Boss we think we’ve found the vehicle.”

He clicked his radio. “You think?”

“Heading out to Jack Harper’s farm. Says he found a vehicle matching our victim’s, parked beside one of his fields.”

“I’ll meet you there,” he said. “Don’t touch anything until I get there.”

“Can I come with you?” I asked. “Could be I find a medical reason somewhere in his belongings for what happened to him.”

“Right. And you’re OK with leaving the victims?”

“You’ve upgraded the security so many times, I feel safe leaving them.”

“OK.”

About twenty minutes later, we headed down a dirt road. The police cars were there. It was dark, and the lights were almost blinding. Henry was there with several other officers.

It took a bit walking down a dirt road, but there was an older car parked near some trees. There were several paths leading through one of the fields.

“How far away are we from the bothie?” I asked Ewan.

“A kilometer or so. Definitely walkable down the right path.” The car was a four-door sedan that had seen better days. It was packed to the brim with boxes and paper bags filled with stuff. It was hard to see in the dark, but as soon as I thought it, a spotlight beamed down on the car.

Ewan’s team was on the outside taking samples from the doorhandles.