Page 60 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

He looked like he wanted to say more.

“No excuses,” Isobel said. “It was wrong.”

“She’s right. Goodnight,” he said. They left.

“Sometimes I think having a patisserie is hard work, and then I see something like that. I don’t know how you do it, Em,” Jasper frowned. “You were so good with them.”

“Unfortunately, I have a lot of experience dealing with worried family members and friends. We moved so fast in the ER that I made a point of trying to be compassionate on what is sometimes the worst day of someone’s life.”

“His poor sister is soul crushed. I don’t think she could have hurt him,” Mara said.

“I don’t disagree. She and Baird are suffering.”

OK,” Mara said. “We’re all thinking the same thing, right? One of the Duncan’s was killed accidentally?”

“I’m not ready to say. You’re right, it’s too much of a coincidence, and we heard some news tonight that might link them.But then we have alibis and other things that have already been sorted.”

“I think it’s that awful boss guy. He had such a sweet wife. Do you think she knows how awful he is?” Jasper asked. “From what you’ve said, he has to be the prime suspect. And he told her that he was in Edinburgh, but we know he’s here in town.”

“I keep wondering if he killed his aunt to get the property,” Mara whispered.

We stared at her.

“What? Don’t look at me like that. The wife said the aunt’s death was sudden. We know he’s not exactly a nice guy. I can spot them. You know I can. It’s why I didn’t bar Baird from the pub. That guy had it coming.”

“Mara,” Jasper and I said at the same time.

“You don’t even know him,” I said. “You adored his wife.”

“Right. And she’s the first lovely woman to end up with a jerk husband?”

“She makes a good point,” Jasper said.

“It’s all happened so fast,” Mara said. “The aunt only died two months ago, and they sold all of her stuff. She probably had hidden the ring. That Robert found out it was accidentally sold, and then somehow discovered it was bought by a Duncan Craig.”

“And maybe he thought it was the Duncan who worked for him,” Jasper added. “Who would ever think there were two of them?”

I pursed my lips. I’d been mulling over the same thing all the way home tonight. Not about the aunt but the mistaken name.

“I’m not saying you aren’t on to something. I’ve been considering the same possibility. It could be the boss didn’t see theguy who bought the puzzle box that we think the ring was in. And he’s tall enough. But Ewan says he has an alibi. And how did he find out it was a Duncan Craig?”

“Look at the sales sheet on your phone,” Mara said. “It listed the names by the items.”

She was right. I’d forgotten about that.

“Robert might have an alibi, but what about one of his cronies? Isn’t that what you call the bad guy’s henchmen?” Jasper asked.

I smiled. He really was into all this. “Or. They could be lying for him. I don’t know much about that side of things. I need to talk to Ewan about it. If there were other witnesses.”

“He could have hired one of them to kill the Duncans,” Jasper said.

Mara shrugged. “Or we could have one of those things where the killers switch up the murders. They kill for one another.”

“Ewan would tell you to lay off the murder mysteries,” I said.

We all laughed.

“The thing is, I don’t know for certain that the second Duncan was murdered.” I held up a hand when they both opened their mouths. “Trust me, I get it. But Ewan would tell us to follow the facts. I’m still waiting for tests to come back. The DNA on the cuffs may help us figure that out.”