“Not necessarily,” said Gran thoughtfully. “Maybe Henry did leave everything to Desmond, but since he met Kirsten six months ago, when she started work here, Henry’s head was turned by the young woman, and so Desmond decided he needed to act fast if he was going to keep that inheritance. Sohe killed him before Henry could draw up a new will, leaving everything to Kirsten. Remember how he told her that he would make her rich? That must be what drove Desmond to kill the man.”
“But Abe says he died of natural causes, and the doctor says the same thing.”
“Let’s just wait and see,” said Gran, mimicking my thoughts exactly. “I think you’ll find that this wasn’t natural causes at all, and that Desmond has blood on his hands.”
And so our small delegation went in search of Liz to tell her the good news. We didn’t have to look far. Liz and Olivia and Bill, the three members of the murder club, were conferring in the cozy little nook that occupies the end of the corridor, and where residents can sit and relax and enjoy each other’s company.
“We want to join your murder club,” Gran announced. “We don’t think Henry died a natural death either.”
“He left all of his possessions to Desmond,” Scarlett added.
Liz’s eyes went wide. “How do you know?”
Scarlett didn’t know what to say for a moment. She could hardly tell the murder club chairwoman that Odelia had told me, and I told Gran, who told her. “Um…”
“We heard the police talking,” said Gran, quick off the mark as usual. “They found Henry’s will, and there’s only one beneficiary and that’s Desmond.”
“Good God,” said Liz. “Did you hear that, Bill?”
“I’m not deaf, woman,” said Bill. “Of course I heard that.”
“Look,” said Olivia, and produced a list of names. “These are all the suspects we think might have killed Henry. But if you say that Desmond is going to inherit, I guess that puts him right at the top of the list.”
“My point exactly,” said Liz. “Desmond must be our number-one suspect.”
“He was here last night,” said Gran. “Cause he helped us deal with Kate.” And she proceeded to tell the others about her late-night run-in with Kate Doyle.
“She actually tried to kill you?!” Olivia cried.
“Well, she probably thought I was an intruder.”
“She thought our room was her room,” said Scarlett.
“Yeah, that happened to me once,” said Liz. “She was in my room and thought I was an intruder. But at least she didn’t try to strangle me!”
“Good gracious, imagine if she had,” said her sister. “You were alone that time, weren’t you? So if she had tried to strangle you, she might have succeeded!”
Involuntarily Liz touched her throat, and so did everyone else, for that matter.
Even I felt a sudden strange constriction in the vicinity of my windpipe! Not a lot of fun to be in a place crawling with murderers and potential murderers!
“Okay, so let’s have a look at that list,” said Gran, and took it from Olivia. “So Desmond is at the top of the list from now on. And then we have… Kirsten Williams?”
“Henry had been acting very strange around her,” Liz explained. “It seemed to me he had developed some kind of obsession with the girl. And so maybe he attacked her and she defended herself and he died in the process.” She shrugged. “It’s a possibility and so we have to take it into consideration.”
“Annette Williams?”
“Kirsten’s mother,” said Liz. “She came round once, to complain to Brian about Henry. Said she wanted Kirsten to be kept away from that man. Said she didn’t trust him. Of course Brian fobbed her off by telling her he’d make sure nothing happened to her daughter, and that he vouched for his residents and yadda yadda yadda.”
“Basically he did nothing,” said Bill with a shrug.
“Which is why we put her on the list,” said Liz. “Maybe she finally got fed up with Brian’s negligence, and knew something that we don’t about what Henry’s plans were with her daughter, and so she killed him.”
“Okay, so next is Kate Doyle.”
“You told us yourself what that woman is capable of. She could have been in Henry’s room last night, after she left yours, and attacked him the same way she attacked you.”
“Bob Sankiewicz?”
“Well, Bob got tired of Henry badgering him about writing that biography of his, didn’t he?” said Bill. “He kept hounding him about the thing, and so maybe Bob finally had enough, and made sure he would never bother him again.” He gave us an apologetic grin. “Hey, I know Bob is a great guy. But as official Murder Club members we’re obliged to look at every possible angle here, whether we like it or not.”
“No, I think you’re absolutely right to put Bob on the list,” said Gran. “He does have motive, and opportunity, and means… Though we haven’t discovered how Henry was killed, have we?”
“Probably smothered with a pillow,” said Liz. “That’s how I would have done it,” she added when we all stared at her. “And since most doctors don’t look too closely when examining the death of an elderly person in a retirement home, chances are you’re going to get away with murder.”