A Stewed Observation

by Karen C. Whalen

  Jane raised her palms in the air, her fingers splayed out, as if reaching, searching for the truth. “Fiona told me you had the spiral. She saw my notebook in your room, not Griff’s.”

  “That’s because I took it from Griff. Your notepad, and your suspect list, too, were in his room along with a book on excited delirium.”

  “So Griff bought the book…he’s the one who took it from the library and put it back.” Jane’s hands tumbled to her lap, and she stared at the woman she’d wrongly thought was a killer.

  “I imagine so. The guards served another search warrant and found a receipt for the book in Griff’s room while you were out in the graveyard with him just now.” Mairéid must have known all along that her cousin killed her dad. She probably knew that Griff was the one who had his arm around Alsander’s neck, just as Sean had described it. No wonder she hated him. Jane peeled her gaze away when Una scurried into the coffee shop and yanked another chair over to the table.

  “Hello, Bruce, Cheryl, ’n everybody. What’d I miss?” She plopped onto the seat.

  Doug said, “Griffin’s been arrested,” at the same time as Olivia, whose words sounded like an echo.

  Una slapped the tabletop with a loud bang making everyone jump. “I knew it! I knew it was him.”

  “That was very perceptive of you.” Mairéid gave Una an admiring glance. “An astute observation.” The way Mairéid said it sounded like “a stewed observation.” Yet, Jane wasn’t sure Una had known. Hadn’t she been suspicious of Sean?

  Bruce adjusted his glasses. “I started to suspect him, too. My old boss sent me a text on our way back to Ireland today. He’d received a call from Griff asking about my record on the police force.”

  Cheryl added, “Griff tried to throw suspicion on Bruce…”

  “And on Ryan, too,” shouted Una. No one was startled by her outburst this time.

  “So, it wasn’t you who said Bruce had your dad in the choke hold? It wasn’t you who put the police on to Bruce’s internet postings?” Jane waggled her finger at Mairéid. “It was Griff the whole time?”

  Mairéid nodded, but before she could speak, Cheryl fluttered her hands. “Everyone in Bruce’s department was investigated when that prisoner died. Bruce wasn’t even present when it happened, but an investigation is standard procedure.”

  “The facts weren’t the same, either. No choke hold. No excited delirium.” Bruce crossed his arms over each other and drummed his fingers on his elbows. “Nolan’s insinuation that I used excessive force was so off base.”

  “I can’t believe that idiot Nolan went after Bruce.” Cheryl shook her head from side-to-side in slow motion.

  “Me either.” Una slammed her palm on the table again, and Cheryl gave her a thumbs up.

  “Let it go. He got it right in the end.” Bruce uncrossed his arms and slung one over the back of Cheryl’s chair.

  Jane ran the tips of her fingers across her forehead and darted a look toward Mairéid from under her lashes. “I’m sorry I ever suspected you, Mairéid, but I thought you were following me. And, I thought you were buying drugs. You were acting very suspicious.”

  Mairéid’s cheeks were bright red. “How could you think I bought drugs?”

  Olivia stuck up for her friend. “We saw you outside that herb store. It sure looked like a drug deal.”

  “You’re all off your nut. I was buying herbs.” Mairéid made a face as if stumped.

  With her own head down and shaking side-to-side, Jane said, “I might as well admit, Mairéid, I looked in your room.” No one in the dinner group seemed surprised by this.

  Mairéid clucked her tongue. “You wouldn’t’ve found anything suspicious there.”

  Jane’s head snapped up. “But, I did find something odd. Wrestling magazines were on the floor in your room with pictures of wrestling holds.”

  “I was looking up choke holds.” Mairéid tucked her arms close to her body. “Trying to figure out what happened.”

  “All that information was in the book on excited delirium.”

  “Was it? I should have read it after I found it in Griff’s room.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t find the letters, since you found the book and my notepad.” Jane rubbed her aching temple with her index finger.

  Sean returned with two more mugs and placed them in front of Cheryl and Olivia. He asked Una, “What would you like?” Una said she wanted Earl Grey and he went to get it.

  “What letters?” Olivia tapped Jane’s elbow and arched one eyebrow.

  “I found letters from Kate to Griff in his bedroom, but…” Her words broke off when they all drew in a breath. “It’s not what you’re thinking. I sneaked into his room when he wasn’t there and snooped around. That’s the only time I was in Griff’s bedroom.” Jane fired them back an I-can’t-believe-you-guys look. “Anyway, one of Kate’s letters made it sound like she was going to move into the castle with Griff if only Alsander was dead. I see now that Griff was the one who thought his uncle was in the way of things, not Kate.”

  “Who writes letters anymore? Isn’t everything by text?” Cheryl seemed mollified with Jane’s explanation.

  “Not here. We still know how ta’ write letters in Ireland!” Una jammed her red glasses against the bridge of her nose.

  “I did try to warn you off Griff. You seemed to have dropped him as a suspect and the two of you were getting pretty cozy.” Mairéid’s eyebrows bunched together, but she didn’t look so much like a witch anymore.

  Jane couldn’t help but ask, “Did you leave me the threatening notes?”

  Doug ran a hand over his bristling, red mustache. “What threatening notes?”

  “There were a couple of warnings.” Jane’s fingers were cold and numb. She put both hands around her hot mug for warmth. Did someone—Mairéid—try to give her a helpful heads-up or a threatening tip-off?

  “It was me, I did that. I was just trying to warn you about Griff, like I said.” A line was drawn between Mairéid’s brows. “I saw you come out of the tower. I thought you were up there with Griff, not that you were snooping. But I never followed you. It was just a coincidence that we both went to the Rock of Cashel.”

  “I do believe in coincidences.”

  “You probably thought I slashed your tire that time, too, but I didn’t. Really, Jane. That was vandals.” Mairéid gave her a reproachful look, but brightened when Sean returned with the rest of their drink orders balanced on a tray.

  Jane examined Sean’s pleasant, round face. He may not have sold the amphetamine to Mairéid, but he could still be the drug connection. She asked him, “Where did the amphetamine come from? You can tell us now.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sean’s face blanched again, just like it had when he thought Nolan was about to arrest him.

  Mairéid must have guessed what Jane was thinking. “You got it wrong. Griff bought the amphetamine from someone else, not Sean.” She reached for his hand, and they wound their fingers together.

  Jane had misinterpreted the couple’s meetings—not to buy drugs, but to make dates. “Oh, I’m sorry. I understood, well, that you had a record, Sean.”

  “Cac! That happened in my early twenties. I was just a kid. But, what I heard was, I heard Griff bought the amphetamine off someone I know.”

  “You didn’t tell me that.” Mairéid let go of his hand and crossed her arms. Was there trouble in paradise after all? Would his attention to Mairéid be as fleeting as his interest in Fiona?

  Sean sputtered, “I didn’t want the police coming after me for anything, so I kept my mouth shut.”

  “You’ll tell them now.” Mairéid’s angular face puckered.

  Sean cowered. “Likely they already know and that’s why they arrested Griff.”

  Jane asked him, “Sean, when were you in Alsander’s room? You were there. You knew what was on his bedside table.”

  His gaze shifted right and left. “Ah, let me think.”

  “You went inta’ his ro
om with me. It woulda’ been Sunday when we brought Da his tablets.” Mairéid squeezed Sean’s arm as she said to Jane, “I shoulda’ followed my instincts. I never thought Da needed that medicine.” Her phone rang and she answered it, saying, “Uh-huh…uh-huh…really? Okay,” while everyone watched and listened. After disconnecting she said to them all, “That was Superintendent Nolan ta’ let me know Griff confessed. He’s in a holding cell. Nolan told me I could visit before they move ’im.” She took stock of Jane for a moment and added, “He asked to see you.”

  After only a brief hesitation, Jane agreed, “I’d like to see him,” but when Cheryl gave a grunt of disgust, she pled, “Come on, Cheryl. I’ve got to talk to him. Besides, you and Bruce need to go see Ryan.” Behind her upright palm Jane pointed to Una and gave Cheryl a meaningful look.

  “That’s right, Cheryl.” Una was quick to pick up on it. “You and Bruce need ta’ give Ryan a proper apology for leavin’ without sayin’ goodbye.”

  Bruce said, with a contrite expression on his face, “We were planning on it. Let’s go, Cheryl.”

  “I’m coming, too.” Una stood up. The Breewoods left on foot with Una since the rain had ceased.

  Olivia said there was something she’d seen in a shop across the street that she wanted to pick up and led her husband out the door, saying, “We’ll take our car and meet you back at the castle.”

  Mairéid gathered her jacket and purse. “You want to drive to the gardaí’s station, Jane?”

  “Sure. I need more practice driving on the left.”

  “Later, Sean.” Mairéid made her exit, and Jane followed her out the door.

  Chapter 21

  Griff had one wrist handcuffed to the metal chair in the visitor’s room at the jailhouse. A scratched and dented iron table, painted an industrial green, divided them.

  “I’m sorry, Jane.” His Irish accent didn’t make her heart pitter-patter anymore, but if there were women on his jury, he’d likely get off with a light sentence.

  “You might as well tell me everything, since you’ve already confessed.” Jane hooked her purse over the back of the chair and took the seat opposite him.

  “I knew you found my book in the library the first time I saw you there, the night Uncle died. I thought it was a good hiding place, right in plain sight with the other books. I didn’t think anyone could possibly put it together, so I didn’t move the book until I overheard Bruce mention, when I was in the hall outside the Breewoods’ room, that you bought the same book.” His eyes raked over her. “I underestimated you.”

  She crossed her arms and sat back from the table. “You put the book back on the shelf.”

  “I kept noticing the chair was moved, like you’d returned to look for it. I wondered if you’d notice it missing and find it even more suspicious, so I put it back. I should have just gotten rid of it.” His chin dipped low as if he was facing the floor, but his pale eyes squinted up at her.

  “So, you figured out how to make his death look like it was caused by excited delirium?”

  “I did.” He didn’t say more, even after she waited a few moments.

  “You switched doctors hoping for a diagnosis of anxiety or mental illness or something?”

  “You’re very smart, Jane.” He lifted his head a little higher. “That’s what happened. Dr. Watcherly put Uncle on a benzodiazepine.”

  “What’s that?” She planted her hands on her knees. She wasn’t giving up until she heard it all.

  “Anxiety medication.”

  “And the pills looked similar to the amphetamine tablets?”

  “Similar enough. There’s one type that comes in white, like the benzodiazepine.” He must have resigned himself to telling the whole story, since he continued on. “I bought the amphetamines and switched the tablets. Uncle started to act crazy, over-the-top angry.”

  She tapped a knuckle on her chin. “When the opportunity presented itself, you choked him in front of witnesses…and what better witnesses than guests, ones who had just arrived…and one a policeman you knew would probably help restrain a violent man.”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “I was hoping to get a determination of excited delirium and couldn’t believe my luck when the medical officer actually put it in his report. But then, I’d sent him a bunch of literature in advance in a big envelope with a return address from the Medical Society.” Griff’s chin came up. “By the way, Dr. Watcherly called me and told me that you phoned him up to ask questions.”

  “I didn’t get much out of him.” She considered the Irishman sitting across from her. His was a bizarre but ingenious plan. The research, the drugs, the will. A sizzling surge of anger coursed through Jane’s veins. “You were the one encouraging the police to go after Bruce. How could you do that? How could you do any of it?”

  He stared once more at the floor.

  “Griff! Look at me.” Her lips trembled.

  His face crumpled. “I couldn’t trust that Mairéid wouldn’t force yet another will. Once I got Uncle to sign my new will, I had to act quickly when the opportunity came my way. It’s all Mairéid’s fault. Destiny hasn’t dealt me a fair hand.” His feverish, over-bright eyes locked onto hers as he leaned in, straining against the cuffs, but she angled away. “At first I saw you as a threat, and I wanted to make you an ally, so I pursued you. Then I fell in love with you, a rúnsearc. I didn’t plan that.” There was a stillness about him. “I regret what I did to my uncle. My conscience was bothering me and I was going to tell you and give myself up, but I was afraid I’d lose you.”

  Griff had lied to her all along about everything. He’d lied so smoothly.

  She took in his strawberry blond hair falling forward over his brow, his turquoise blue eyes, his melodic Irish accent, his sorrow which appeared genuine. Scraping back her chair, she said, “I feel sorry for you, a rúnsearc. But this is goodbye.”

  ****

  Cheryl and Jane were stuffed into their seats, bumping elbows on the shared armrest, on the flight home at the end of their two-week vacation. Cheryl was in the middle seat, with Bruce sleeping on the aisle side and Jane wide awake on the window side. Doug and Olivia had seats across the aisle.

  “I’ll have white wine. I don’t care what kind,” Jane told the flight attendant. After the young, uniformed woman handed the wine over, Jane lowered her tray table and positioned the short plastic glass in the center.

  Cheryl said, “I’ll have one, too.” After the attendant had set a glass in front of her, Cheryl pointed her index finger back and forth between the two wine glasses on their trays. “Please check back soon because we’ll have another after these.”

  Jane sipped her wine. “You didn’t need to come back to Ireland for me.” They were still talking about the murder.

  “If we hadn’t returned, you’d be engaged to a jailbird.” Cheryl laughed out loud as she picked the last broken pretzel out of the corner of the miniscule bag handed out by the airline.

  After only a moment, Jane’s lips turned up, too. “I told you it was not an engagement ring. But what an adventure, huh?”

  “Adventure, disaster, tomato, tomato.” Cheryl pronounced the words, “to-may-to, to-mah-to.”

  “Come on. It was an incredible trip…after all, we took part in a murder mystery…in a castle…in Ireland.” Jane’s body relaxed into her seat. She was exhausted from the last three whirlwind days in Scotland.

  Cheryl giggled, “And the entire stay in Ireland was free.”

  “I don’t think Dale had his room comped like we did.” Jane took another sip, her wine disappearing.

  “Really? Well, too bad for him.” Cheryl stuck out her tongue.

  Jane said, “You know, I felt abandoned. First Dale, then the rest of you.”

  “You poor thing. Quit feeling sorry for yourself.” Cheryl butted her elbow into Jane’s.

  Jane took a deep breath. “Actually, it’s more like I was beating myself up inside, but I’m better now.”

  “Yes. Stop t
hat.” Her friend pinched Jane’s arm. “You’re harder on yourself than anyone else is.”

  Rubbing the spot, Jane said, “Okay, okay. And you were right about something else, too.”

  “What?” Cheryl signaled for the flight attendant, who ignored her and looked the other way.

  “You said I needed to stick to my own plan, be steadfast and all, after Dale left.”

  “I said that?” Cheryl wrinkled her brow.

  “Yes, you did. I may have beat myself up, but I never gave up. I’m glad I stuck it out.”

  With her head, neck, and shoulders stiff, Cheryl pivoted to face Jane. “I was afraid for your life when I saw you with Griff. He was holding on to you so tight. And you had that ring on your finger.”

  Jane said in a small but confident voice, one without a hitch, without a doubt. “I was always safe. He wouldn’t have hurt me.” She turned her head to stare out the dark window. The sky was inky black without any stars over the ocean below. Sliding the window shade shut, she swiveled back to her friend. “I loved Scotland. Didn’t we have fun in Edinburgh and Glasgow?” She made sure to pronounce it “Glass-go.”

  With a twitch of amusement around her mouth, Cheryl appeared to be fighting more of the giggles. “It would have been more fun if you hadn’t led us all on the wrong path, the long way to Arthur’s Seat.”

  Jane had indeed directed the group up the harder, steeper route to the panoramic view of the city and the firth at the top of Holyrood Park. After she’d joined them, the group had spent one additional day in Edinburgh and then two days in Glasgow. Glasgow was not as pretty as Edinburgh, but they had all enjoyed the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum that last day before boarding the plane for home.

  Cheryl held out her hand. “You really surprised me when you turned up with that tattoo. Let me see it again.”

  Jane stretched her right arm across her chest and Cheryl grabbed her wrist, twisting it this way and that. “It’s pretty, I’ll admit, but I still can’t believe you got a tattoo.”

  After Jane had left Griff at the jail, she and Mairéid had walked past a tattoo studio. Jane had admitted she always wanted one on her wrist. Mairéid quickly called up Fiona—yes, just as if they were good friends—and Fiona had rushed over, then the two women ushered Jane inside the shop before it closed. They apparently were no longer fighting over Sean. Since they were both looking at heart shaped tattoo designs, Jane wondered if they would get matching tats with Sean’s name, but they didn’t. Instead they helped Jane pick out a vine with the words, “not forsaken,” woven among the ivy. Ivy vines were considered lucky in Celtic lore. It only took a little time and only hurt a little, too. Afterward, she showed up at Ryan and Una’s sporting her new wrist wrap.