Page 24 of Death on a Scottish Train

She appeared genuinely worried. But we’d been tricked by sincerity more than once. Until they were proven innocent, everyone who knew the deceased was a suspect.

Part of my skepticism came from working in the ER in Seattle for way too long. People always wanted to make themselves look better than they truly were. They often lied about their health or the meds they took. Many of them didn’t mean to lie, it was just human nature.

Then there was the other end of the spectrum of people who lied about pain to get drugs to feed a habit.

I had my reasons for being suspicious, though I tried my best to see the good in people.

“Where was your hen party, and how long were you there?” Henry asked.

Her eyes went wide again. “You are asking me for an alibi, aren’t you?”

“Please, answer the question,” Ewan said as he came into the office. He flashed his ACC’s badge.

“I—uh.” She looked between the three of us. “Do I need a solicitor?”

“Did you do something wrong?” Ewan asked.

I hid my smile behind a cough. He had a way of taking control of situations and making people nervous.

“No. I’ve never been questioned by the police. I dinnae know how these things work.”

“Right,” Ewan said. “You are not under arrest. These are only preliminary questions to help set our scene for the death of Mr. Jacks. We’re trying to ascertain your whereabouts last evening to see if you hadany contact with him. Perhaps you may have noticed something that might help us with our inquiries. If you could give us the details, please.”

She appeared confused, as if she were trying to understand Ewan’s doublespeak. Everything he’d said was true, but designed so that she wouldn’t be suspicious.

I didn’t blame him. Lawyers complicated things and came with their favorite phrase: no comment. That sort of thing never helped with our inquiries.

“I left right after Mr. Jacks, which is why I came back today. I wanted to get home so I had time to get ready last night, and I forgot to send the emails changing appointments for Mr. Burns,” she said. “We were in Edinburgh at The Witchery. We all went in and rented one of the fancy suites and had the party catered so we dinnae have to worry about getting arrested for being drunk and disorderly like happened at Samantha’s do.”

None of us had any idea who Samantha was, but it didn’t matter. I had heard about The Witchery, though. I’d looked it up online after hearing someone talk about it at the pub. It was a cool sort of gothic hotel, and the rooms were not cheap. The hotel was on my list of places to check out.

“I left around ten this morning when I realized what I’d forgotten to finish at work. Now, can you please tell me what happened?”

Even though her story sounded true, Henry or Ewan would be following up on her alibi. They never left a stone unturned.

“Mr. Jacks died last night at the train station,” Ewan said. “It is an ongoing investigation so that is all I can say at the moment.”

She fell back into her office chair. “I can’t believe he’s really dead. If you’re asking so many questions, then it wasn’t a heart attack? That’s what I assumed.” The surprise was evident in her voice.

“The coroner is still running tests,” Ewan said. “When did your boss Mr. Burns leave for his business trip?”

“He’s been in Edinburgh all week. He has an event. He left from his home. Should I call him?”

“I already have,” Ewan said.

“But he didn’t tell me. Why wouldn’t he call me?”

“I asked him not to.” Ewan wrote something in his notebook. “Is there anyone who was upset with Mr. Burns or Mr. Jacks?”

She leaned her elbows on her desk and put her head in her hands. “I do not know. This is … I drank a great deal last night. I cannot think.”

“I’ll ask again: were their clients happy?”

She sat back in her chair and shrugged. “When you are dealing with money, few people are happy.”

“I want to make certain that I understand the business,” I said.

Ewan just loved it when I interrupted.