Page 48 of Death on a Scottish Train

“That doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “He had to know if he continued to lose their money, he wouldn’t have any clients left. Why would anyone in his business make such dumb mistakes?”

Even as I said the word, something clicked in my brain. “Unless—he was trying to find ways to launder funds.”

“Did you see that on one of your detective series? This isn’t the sort of place that happens.” Ewan replied. He didn’t say it in a derisive way, more like he was curious how I came up with the idea.

“I mean, it’s not exactly a place where murder happens either, but it does sometimes. It’s possible. Bad people live everywhere. I don’t know much about laundering money, though. Seems like even then you’d need to be successful, or your clients would be less than happy with you.”

In truth, most of what I knew about laundering money came from that Ben Affleck movieThe Accountant. But I was having a problem with the idea that the victim lost money on purpose, especially when his sister was involved.

“True,” Ewan said. “And you would be talking more about organized crime, and we haven’t seen any sort of link to that in our town. Maybe in one of the bigger cities, but not Sea Isle.”

“The ACC is right. That is something we keep a close eye on here.”

I took a bite of my sandwich. Mara had used thick Scottish bacon, which was so good. The over-medium egg was perfectly done, though it dripped down my chin a bit. I used the paper napkin in the bag to blot the mess. The last thing I wanted to do was lose my eating privileges because I’d dropped egg in Ewan’s pristine vehicle.

“Do you have any solid suspects yet?” I asked. “I mean, anyone we should keep an eye out for while we’re going through Jacks’s files?”

“Other than the people he worked with, and those who were involved with the train event, no.” Ewan shifted the gears as we went up the mountain.

“What about his clients?” I repeated what the boat captain had told me the night before. “I don’t know if you heard everything he told me. We’ve said this before, but if he lost their money—and a lot of it—people have killed for less.”

“True. What isn’t clear at present was did he lose the money of just his clients, or was the whole firm involved?” Ewan said. “That would open up the suspect pool quite a bit. And would give us a reason why they are already under suspicion.”

I finished my sandwich as we pulled up in front of the accounting firm. Some of Ewan’s officers stood by the door leading into the offices.

After tossing my empty bag into the trashcan by the light pole, I followed Ewan and the others into the office.

The shock on Catherine’s face said it all. Her desk was piled high with boxes from Jasper’s bakery. Her eyes were wide, and she appeared terrified.

“You can’t be here,” she said. “We have important clients coming in this morning.”

“We have a warrant that says otherwise,” Ewan said as he held up a piece of paper. “We’re going to have to ask you to vacate the offices while we conduct a search.”

“What the blazes is all this commotion, I can’t hear myself think,” Jeremy Burns bustled out of his office. “What is all this? Why are you here, ACC? We’ve already answered your questions.”

“They have a warrant to search everything,” Catherine said, as she pointed to the paper in Ewan’s hand.

“Let me see that,” the other man said angrily.

He read it over, his frown deepening. “I’m calling my solicitor.”

“I’d highly suggest that,” Ewan said. “But the warrant means we can investigate all of your files without delay.”

“What does this have to do with Donald’s death? You can’t possibly believe one of us would harm him,” he said. “He was a trusted colleague and brought in a fair amount of business.”

“Then he lost some of his clients’ money,” Ewan said. “Well, not some—a great deal of money.”

“Markets go up and down,” Burns said. But his eyes had gone wide when Ewan had mentioned losing money. “That is the nature of the beast. When one is in the business, we understand that investing is for the long haul.”

He was doing that sort of double-speak people used to confuse others.

Burns glanced furtively at the door. “I have important clients coming in any minute,” he said. “This will have to wait.”

“I suggest you take your clients somewhere else or use your conference room across the hall. We will be here awhile.” Ewan pushed past the man and waved a hand for us to follow. Several of his officers held file boxes.

“Catherine, set up quickly across the hall.” Burns sounded exasperated but there was nothing he could do. Ewan wasn’t the sort to back down, no matter how he’d been challenged.

And if Burns fought too hard, he would look even guiltier.