Page 10 of Vows of Murder

This time, Toby didn’t encourage her to continue. He let the silence do that.

“I went into the courtyard and saw someone by a large stone. I thought he was kneeling in prayer. When I walked over, I called out hello, and when I touched his shoulder, he fell over. It was Kane Matthews. I’d seen a picture of him on their website. He was dead.”

I held up a finger and Toby nodded. “Molly, what color is your car?”

“The rental? Gray or silver, I guess.” She looked confusedat my question.

“One more question. When you left, did you see a vehicle parked next to your car?”

She hesitated. I could see the thoughts running through her head. “To the right of my car, yes, there was a Jeep. I’d forgotten about that. I don’t think it was there when I arrived.”

“I take it you saw Molly’s car in the parking lot?” Toby looked over at me.

“Yes. I went to see if I could find Amanda’s purse. She left it there yesterday when we went to tour the site. I took Emma with me so she’d get a walk today even if we got busy. I saw a gray car when I parked, but it was gone when I left.”

Toby stood and grabbed his phone. “I need to call Greg. Where are you going to be?”

“Amanda and I are heading to the Castle. Call us if you need anything else. Can Molly go now? I can drop her off at her bed-and-breakfast.” I smiled at Molly, who looked a little less shaken than she had when she came intothe bookstore.

“I’m staying at South Cove Bed-and-breakfast. It’s not far, I can walk.” Molly stood and looked at Toby. “If we’re done? I need to buy a book to try to relax. It’s been a crazy day.”

“You can go. Please stay in town until we figure out what’s going on.” Toby met her gaze.

“Don’t worry about that. My daughter is at that compound. I’m not leaving here until I talk to her. If she’s happy there, I’ll go home. But I need to hear it from her.” Molly stood and went over to the bookshelves.

Toby smiled at me. “At least Greg can’t say you intended to get mixed up with this one.It found you.”

“He’ll say it anyway.” I grabbed the bag with the books and looked at Amanda.“Ready to go?”

“Are you still up to going? I mean, you find a dead body. Then you chat with a woman who claims she had nothing to do with it, yetshe was there. Maybe we should just go home and wait for Greg.” Amanda watched Toby walk away, already on the line with her son.

“If I stayed home and waited for Greg when things like this happened, I’d never leave the house. Let’s go put another check mark on your vacation to-do list. Besides, I need a distraction.” I took Amanda’s arm and we headed to the Jeep.

I thought this might be her first investigation that she’d been close to. Man, she hada lot to learn.

Chapter 5

I kept my phone turned on as we went on the Castle’s museum tour. The company that had bought the historic home had done a great job restoring the main house’s first floor and one of the guesthouses into a museum, showing off the large number of priceless antiques that the former owner had collected, many from his trips to Europe. The large dining room had a long medieval-era table and church pews around the walls of the room. Tapestries hung everywhere.

Amanda was in heaven. She must have photographed each room a hundred times from every different angle. I was sure she’d need to spend some quality time sorting through her pictures between now and the wedding. Which would give me time to do other things.

Like, figure out who killed Kane Matthews. I was pretty sure that Molly Cordon would be off Greg’s suspect list sooner rather than later. The woman was too open about what had happened this morning.

Oh, and we had a wedding on Saturday. Not to mention a rehearsal and dinner on Friday. The dinner was set for The Wooden Bench, an upscale seafood restaurant. Aunt Jackie had taken on the planning, helping out Amanda, but the cost was coming out of the Miss Emily fund. It’s what I called my unexpected inheritance from my friend I met when I moved to South Cove. I used the money sparingly, mostly to support local charities or help with college costs for staff members of Coffee, Books, and More. It also supplemented the bookstore’s retirement payments for my aunt.

Greg and I had talked about the money when we attended Pastor Bill’s finances for couples class. He agreed with me that it should be used for extras, not everyday living expenses. At least we both agreed about that.

As I wandered behind Amanda as she toured the Castle, I realized that Greg and I had never talked about the tense phone call regarding his resume. I decided to put off the discussion until either the wedding was done, Amanda had left for home, or the investigation was over.

Having some sort of emotional argument on top of all three of those life factors was just too much. Even for me.

My thoughts went back to Kane. From our short conversation on Friday, I knew he was an intellectual, at least in the spiritual lane. The books in the meetinghouse seemed to portray a group that prized learning and thought, if not free thought. The group seemed very patriarchal, with women in a servant role. It was like Kane had turned the clock back to 1950 and turned all the women who followed him intoStepford wives.

I wondered ifthatbook was on his communal bookshelf.I imagined not.

“Jill, isn’t the pool beautiful?” Amanda asked as we ended the tour at the Grecian-style outdoor pool in front of a bar. The Castle bar offered cool drinks and sweets and, according to the tour host who’d just left the group, we were welcome to sit and enjoy a drink or two before exiting the property.

“Greg’s college buddy, Levi, had his bachelor party here at the Castle.” I flinched at the memory. Levi had also died here, poolside, during that weekend. Sometimes I put my foot in my mouth, and sometimes, my entire leg. This was oneof those times.

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