Killing the Carnations (A Heavenly Highland Inn Cozy Mystery) (5 page)

“
Of course you would,” Aunt Ida growled and threw her hands up into the air. “Don't you see? That's why this is the perfect crime. It was expected that someone would have to take the fall for the murder, what better person to frame than Nicholas?”

“
If that's the case then I'm sure Mitchell will figure it out,” Vicky pointed out as calmly as she could. “I know that you and Nicholas had a moment...”

“
Not just a moment,” Ida corrected sharply. “We shared wine together, we talked, I know he's not the one who did this.”

“
Aunt Ida, just because a man is friendly to you doesn't necessarily mean...” Vicky attempted to inject reason into the conversation, but Aunt Ida cut her off before she could succeed.

“
Don't tell me what a man's intentions are Vicky, I know them very well. I also know a good man when I meet one, and Nicholas is just that,” she was so determined that she jabbed a finger towards Vicky's face, causing Vicky to raise her eyebrows with surprise and narrowly dodge the offending finger.

“
Listen to me, Aunt Ida, if you were with Nicholas then why didn't you tell Mitchell?” Vicky asked with some annoyance. “You could have been his alibi.”

Ida pursed her lips and tilted her head to the side as she considered the best way to say what she knew she had to say.

“The problem is that Nicholas did leave the room,” Ida reluctantly confessed. “He left for just a few minutes because he thought he had left his wallet in the car.”

“
And did he?” Vicky pushed gently.

“
Honestly, I found it in his suitcase while he was gone,” Ida said in a whisper. She knew how this would look to Vicky.

“
Aunt Ida, it sounds to me like he was trying to use you as an alibi,” Vicky pressed her lips together with annoyance. “Can you recall how long the two of you were alone together?”

“
It wasn't very long. I left when you called, he uh,” she cleared her throat. “He was very nice to me,” she was blushing when she looked back towards Vicky.

“
Being nice doesn't make him innocent,” Vicky reminded her aunt though she tried to keep her words tender. “He would only need a few minutes to commit the crime,” Vicky pointed out and sighed as she smoothed her hands down along her hips. “Aunt Ida, I know that you like this man. But just imagine. What if while he was gone he was taking another man's life? What if sharing wine with you was all an attempt to distract you or create an alibi for himself?” she searched her aunt's eyes intently, hoping that she wasn't hurting her feelings.

“
Vicky,” Aunt Ida drew a slow breath and then released it just as slowly. “I know the man I met did not do this. He even told me over the wine that he had no expectation of getting the position, and it was just a charade he had to go through for the sake of the CEO, to make it look as if he was choosing fairly.”

“
Don't you think that might have hurt him more deeply then he was admitting?” Vicky asked tentatively and guided her aunt to the small table in the corner of the room.

“
No,” Ida said with determination. “I may not be the most grounded person,” she pursed her lips and rolled her eyes a little. “But my instincts about people have always been good. He was so caring, and so courteous. I can't even imagine him striking a fly let alone taking a life.”

Vicky nodded solemnly.
“One thing I've come to learn Aunt Ida, is that sometimes people only show us the side of them they want us to know.”

Aunt Ida still shook her head and fluttered her hands in her lap before she finally stood up with a growl.

“No, Vicky. If I'm wrong, the investigation will prove me wrong. But what are the chances that they will even look at other suspects if they already have the perfect suspect?” she frowned.

“
Mitchell is smarter than that, Aunt Ida,” Vicky said with confidence. “He will get to the bottom of things,” then she paused a moment and looked over at her aunt. She usually had a cheerful glow, a confident aura about her. In that moment Aunt Ida looked like a frail woman, lost and alone. It was a side of her aunt that Vicky had never seen before. “But...” she sighed.

“
But?” Ida perked up a little bit.

“
But, I don't think it could hurt if we poked around, just a little bit,” Vicky finally murmured. “Let's wait until Mitchell clears the room, then we'll have a look for ourselves,” she suggested. “Until then,” she met Ida's eyes intently, “stay away from Nicholas Brendan.”

“
Vicky, I'm an adult,” Ida huffed and shook her head. “If I want to see him...”

“
No,” Vicky said sternly and then reached out for her aunt's hand. “Please Aunt Ida, you're all Sarah and I have and I can't bear the thought of anything happening to you.”

Ida looked as if she might protest, but her expression softened with Vicky's words.

“I promise to be careful,” she finally agreed, though she didn’t commit to avoiding Nicholas completely.

“
Good,” Vicky sighed and gave her aunt's hand a light squeeze. “I'm going to go downstairs and see if Mitchell needs anything, plus, I'm going to have to call Sarah,” she groaned. She knew her sister would be livid that she hadn't called immediately. “Just stick close to me, or other members of the staff Aunt Ida, I don't want you wandering around alone.”

“
I'll be fine dear,” Aunt Ida assured her and then added. “The same goes for you, you know.”

“
Yes Ma'am,” Vicky grinned and then headed down the stairs to the first floor. She took the stairs because she wanted to avoid the now extremely curious guests. She and Sarah would have to work together to come up with an official announcement. As she dialled her sister on her cell phone and tried to push open the door at the bottom of the stairs that led into the lobby, something suddenly struck her. If she hadn't been able to open the door to get into Charleston's room because his body was blocking it, how had the person on the inside who had committed the crime got out? The thought was pushed out of her mind as she gave the door a hard shove and began filling her sister in on the events of the evening.

“
I can't believe this,” Sarah gasped into the phone when she heard the news. “I should come in. Are you safe? Do you want to shut down the inn?”

“
Mitchell thinks that Charleston was targeted, and this place is crawling with police. I don't think that anything else is going to happen,” she pointed out. “So you should stay home. I just wanted to know how you thought I should address this with the clients,” she paused a moment before confessing with a grimace. “Jeremy Minkle is threatening to sue.”

Through the phone, Vicky heard Sarah take a sharp breath.
“Don't do anything,” she said swiftly. “Don't say anything to the guests. If you have to talk to any of them, just mention that it's a police matter and it's being handled.”

“
Are you sure?” Vicky asked as she stepped inside the lobby.

“
Yes, we'll make an announcement in the morning. That will give Mitchell some time to investigate, and hopefully the guests will have some time to calm down,” Sarah sighed on the other end of the phone. “I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you with this Vicky.”

“
Sarah it's all right I took care of it,” Vicky assured her and already regretted disturbing her. “Please, please, try to get some rest. We can meet in the restaurant for breakfast tomorrow, okay?”

“
I'll be there,” Sarah promised and yawned as she hung up the phone.

When Vicky walked further into the lobby she saw several uniformed officers quietly talking to different guests. Vicky recognized them as all being at the inn for the conference. As she walked closer their muttered comments revealed that she wasn't going to find any sympathy for Nicholas in this group.

“
You know I never would have suspected that Brendan could be capable of something like this, but I guess getting passed over one more time just made him snap,” one woman said as she shook her head with dismay. “Such a terrible waste.”

Vicky pursed her lips and shifted casually toward
s another conversation, under the guise of straightening up some of the brochures.

“
Yeah Brendan could be a bit of a hot head,” a man was saying to one of the officers. “One time when we went on a trip to the Keys he got into a fist fight with one of the managers. We all have our moments, but you know throwing punches is just taking things a little too far,” the man shrugged and glanced away nervously. Vicky bit her bottom lip as Nicholas was looking more and more guilty. He certainly didn't have very many supporters. She turned around to straighten out some more brochures when she saw Mitchell walking across the lobby towards her. She fanned the brochures guiltily out on the table, knowing that she had been eavesdropping
on a police investigation.

“
Hello sweetheart,” Mitchell said in a murmur beside her ear. He was careful not to be too affectionate in front of the other officers. “I asked them to do the questioning in private, I'm sorry they're out in the lobby.”

“
It's fine,” Vicky said quickly and then added. “Most of the guests that are staying here are here for the conference, so they've all heard about what happened.”

“
Sorry to say that it's only going to get worse,” Mitchell sighed and drew his fingertips across his forehead to ease some tension he was feeling. “The time frame that Nicholas admits to being away from Ida is the exact time frame that the ME estimated the time of death.”

Vicky winced at that revelation. She was hoping that the time of death would rule out Nicholas' potential involvement. She listened attentively as Mitchell continued.
“Worse, we've still not found the murder weapon, but the ME has given us a guess as to what it was.”

“
What did she think it was?” Vicky asked, her eyes focusing on him.

“
Looks like it was a corkscrew,” he admitted
.

“
Oh no,” Vicky replied her voice trembling.

“
What?” Mitchell asked and studied her intently.

“
I did receive a request from Nicholas to leave a corkscrew in his room, along with some wine,” Vicky winced as she admitted this. She knew that Ida would be upset with her, but she had to agree with Mitchell. Every shred of evidence was pointing right at Nicholas.

“
I'll send a uniformed officer to see if it's still there,” he said. “Do you have a list of what other rooms requested a corkscrew?” he questioned.

“Henry will have it,” she replied.

“Can you ask Henry for the list and also a list of where any other corkscrews might be located, please. Then we can collect them and have them evaluated,” he made a note in his small notebook and then tucked it back in his pocket.

“
I will, right now,” Vicky agreed with a frown. “So I'm guessing that Nicholas won't be getting out any time soon?”

“
We're holding him for now,” Mitchell nodded and then reached up to rub lightly at the back of his neck. He grimaced as he did, and Vicky recognized this as an indication that he was uncomfortable.

“
What is it?” Vicky tried to pull more information from him as she studied him.

“
It's just,” he hesitated a moment. “Nicholas looks perfect for the murder. He's got motive, opportunity, and now potentially the murder weapon. But something doesn't fit. If he really was planning to murder Charleston, why did he wait until they got here? And why not arrive with a more effective weapon than a corkscrew?”

“
That's a good point,” Vicky tapped her chin lightly as she considered his words. “It seems much more like a crime of passion than a planned assault,” as her mind drifted back to the crime scene, she recalled what she had thought of earlier. “One other thing, Mitchell,” Vicky added in a lower voice. “Just how did the murderer get out of the room? It took all of my strength to force that door open to get in. So how did he get out?”

“
We're looking into that,” Mitchell nodded. “Maybe through the window and onto the balcony. The crime techs are evaluating the scene right now.”

“
I'll go talk to Henry,” Vicky nodded. “Let me know if there's anything else you need.”

“
Oh, be on the lookout for Charleston's fiancée, she's been roaming around here half-drunk and very angry,” Mitchell warned. “She hasn't been ruled out as a suspect either Vicky, so please be very careful.”

“
I am, I promise,” Vicky leaned up and pecked his cheek lightly. Mitchell blushed at the kiss and smiled.

Vicky headed for the kitchen, but when she got there she found the door was closed and locked. This didn't surprise her as it was getting late and room service was only offered until certain hours. What did surprise her was that when she looked through the small glass rectangle window in the door, Henry was not inside. He usually spent a little extra time after the kitchen was closed either preparing dishes for the next day, or experimenting with a new recipe. Perhaps all of the police activity had scared him off. If that was the case then Vicky was sure she could find him in the sta
ff quarters.