Page 20 of Death By Llama (Friendship Harbor Mysteries #7)

Justin stared at it too, his brow furrowed. Then he shrugged. “I have no idea, but Nick was clutching it in his hand when we found him.”

“That’s… strange,” I murmured, still studying the delicate patterns etched into the object.

“That’s what I thought too,” Justin agreed. He slipped the evidence bag back in his computer case.

He shifted in his chair. “I’ve also decided to contact the coroner and have them perform a full autopsy on Peanut as well.

Two men falling in the exact same spot within two days…

It’s strange. On the surface, it doesn’t seem like they had anything in common, but they did have a confrontation recently.

And I’m just… curious about the connection. ”

“I’m curious too,” I admitted.

“Oh, I have no doubt about that,” he replied wryly.

Oliver smothered a laugh. Justin turned serious again and pointed a finger at me. “But no interfering with the investigation.”

“I won’t,” I assured him.

He stared at me for a long moment, clearly unconvinced. “You’d better not.”

“It’s just strange they were both dressed as a santa. That has to be a coincidence, right? We don’t have someone out to kill anyone dressed as Father Christmas.”

Justin ignored my musings and turned to Oliver. “I’ve already spoken to Cameron and Henry, but everyone staying at the inn will need to remain here while the investigation is ongoing—at least until they’re cleared. Obviously.”

Justin glanced back at me. “That being said, I’d recommend your parents stay with you. I don’t think it’s particularly safe here right now.”

Oliver straightened in his seat, a flicker of alarm crossing his face. “Wait, but I’m supposed to stay here, even though it’s not safe?”

“Well, you are the innkeeper,” Justin replied with a shrug, his tone pragmatic.

Oliver looked at me again. “This is your fault.”

“How is it my fault?”

“I would never have moved here if you hadn’t inherited Steamy’s and I wouldn’t be forced to make small talk with potential murderers.”

I smiled weakly in response and shrugged. “You’re an excellent innkeeper.”

Justin’s cell phone rang and vibrated on the desk next to his notebook. He immediately reached for it, tapping the screen. “Sheriff Pelletier,” he said in a businesslike voice. He paused, listening to the person on the other end. “Yes. Yes. Thank you for calling.”

He gave me and Oliver a look that silently said he wanted some privacy.

I really wanted to hear his conversation, sensing it was important, but he’d already agreed to keep me in the loop, and that was a pretty huge step for us.

Normally, he was irritated by my nosiness.

Maybe now he was starting to see me as a bit of an asset when it came to my investigating skills.

Both Oliver and I quietly got up and left the dining room. Once we were in the hallway, I stopped. I lingered near the doorway, out of Justin’s line of sight, hoping to catch some of what he was saying, but Oliver caught my wrist and dragged me back toward the kitchen.

“So what are you thinking?” he asked.

“I’m thinking that I was right. Peanut’s death wasn’t an accident, especially now that we know Nick’s definitely wasn’t.”

“No, I mean, who are you leaning toward as your primary suspect?” he asked, then gave me a pointed look. “Plus, it’s a little too early to start the ’I told you so’ game.”

I made a face. “I don’t think it’s too early.”

“Okay. Whatever.” Oliver shook his head and rolled his eyes. “But who’s your primary suspect?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I think we only have three potential suspects.”

Oliver waited.

“Daphne. She’s the other woman or the jilted woman—I’m not sure which—but she also found his body.

And I have to say, when we were outside, she was really hamming it up with her grief.

I wasn’t quite buying it. But then we also have Ashley, who is Nick’s…

other—” I paused to find the right word “—paramore. And we don’t know where she really was.

I saw her in Bar Harbor, but when I called Brad, he claimed she was in Boston, which, now that I think about it, she couldn’t have been there yet.

So where was she? And where is she now?”

Oliver raised a hand to stop me. “Wait, who’s Brad?”

“He co-owns Opulent Occasions with Ashley.”

“When did you talk to him?”

“I called him a little while ago when I remembered I had the business card.”

“And you didn’t tell Justin?”

“I would have, but I didn’t get the chance before he got that phone call.” Which I still really wanted to hear.

Oliver still looked mildly confused, but then he nodded and said, “And suspect three?”

“Vance, who was clearly competitive with Nick and didn’t care for him. Maybe he had a reason to do him in—like trying to get the part in that movie they were both fighting over.”

“We’ve known plenty of actors who would at least consider murder to get a starring role.”

“Definitely,” I said. “But where I’m hung up is the fact that none of those suspects explains why Peanut was killed.” I paused, pondering. “It just doesn’t tie together for me.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Oliver agreed. “Maybe he truly was an accident. They did find peppermints on his body. Maybe Jack really did give Peanut a nudge. Unintentionally knocking him off the edge, of course.”

I hated to consider that, but maybe Oliver was right. “But how could one death be an accident and the other intentional? That seems crazy.”

“Jack was nuzzling Peanut, who was drunk and not particularly sure-footed and fell, and someone realized it would be very easy to knock Nick off of the cliff today.”

“True.”

I considered telling him my theory about Cameron and the insurance, but I just couldn’t believe he’d do that. Saying it aloud would be the ultimate insult to Cameron’s character.

Justin appeared in the kitchen doorway again.

“That was Ashley Wells,” he said. “She’s in Boston.

She has a corporate event she’s catering this evening.

I think that takes her out of the running since you saw her in Bar Harbor earlier today.

She had at least a three-hour drive back to Boston—closer to four, really.

So that makes it kind of impossible for her to have been here in the timeline we’ve got right now. ”

“I’m going to go talk to some of the other people who were in the inn today, including some of your staff, if that’s okay with you, Oliver?”

Oliver nodded.

Justin disappeared down the hallway. Oliver and I exchanged looks.

I made an intrigued face. “And then there were two.”

“And I’m supposed to sleep here in the same house with both of them?” Oliver asked. “This job doesn’t pay me enough.”