Page 54 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

He frowned. “Do you think he was killed because of the ring? As far as we can tell, no one knew about it.”

“There wasn’t a receipt for it, right? I took a few pictures with my phone. I think someone hid the ring in a puzzle box. He sent a picture of the box to his wife. Most likely, he hadn’t found the ring yet. I think it was an accident. Maybe the person who lost it wanted it back.”

“But you said except for the bruises on his wrist, there weren’t any signs of foul play.”

“No. I didn’t say that at all. I think the guy was scared to death. He could have escaped his captors and …”

“What? Run straight to your office for help? Did I mention this isn’t one of your television shows?”

“Which you enjoy,” I said. “Admit it.”

“I do, but they are fiction. We can’t connect the dots here.”

“I get it, but I think he was hiding in that bothie. Why would he wear a costume and mask around town? He was hiding from someone, right? That’s what I keep thinking. Maybe they caught up with him to take back the ring and scared him to death.”

“I hear you,” he said. “Bring me the facts to back it up.”

I was determined to find out which estate the puzzle box had come from, but I wasn’t about to tell him that. I had a feeling it was the key, but I had to do this my way.

What Ewan didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him. It was much easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Besides, technically,I’d mentioned it to Henry. If he didn’t pass it along, it wasn’t my fault.

“I can see the wheels turning in your head. What are you planning?”

“Just thinking about how I can find you the evidence you need. More pizza?”

Chapter Fourteen

The next afternoon, Mara and Jasper met me at my SUV in front of my practice. They both carried coolers with food. I couldn’t help but laugh. We wouldn’t be going hungry on this road trip.

“You guys look like you made enough for an army. We’re only going to be gone for a few hours,” I said.

“Exactly,” Jasper countered. “Lunch and dinner, and snack for in between. Mara and I coordinated. Trust us.”

“I always do, and I’m not complaining.”

We loaded everything into the car and headed off, after I put the location of the first estate in my GPS. I’d tried to do some research on the receipts, but there weren’t names on all of them. Only the items were listed for each one. Most of them hand-written. But I was able to score a list of sales from Henry, that they had pieced together from all the evidence.

Luckily, there were three fairly close by Sea Isle.

“You know, estate sales are usually for dead people. What if we show up and no one is there?” Mara asked a wise question.

“Then we’ll have to move on to the next one. Worst case, I can try to call the people who put on the estate sales. Though the police haven’t had much luck in that respect. My hope is there will still be relatives living there. The first one is a farm, so maybe someone inherited it. I have to try.”

“Does your friend the Constable know what you’re up to?” Jasper asked.

“Uh. You know. He’s a very busy man.”

“Who has spent the last two nights at yours,” Mara chimed in.

They laughed.

“On my couch,” I said. “You guys know that. He’s worried about evidence from the bodies going missing.”

“And he likes to make sure you feel safe,” Mara said.

I sighed. “He’s nice.”

“Just give it up. You like each other, and you look out for one another,” she said.