“When you’re as old as we are, people figure we’ve got one foot in the grave anyway,” Bill added. “And so they don’t really bother to look for evidence of murder when we actually do die. I think you’d be surprised how many of these so-called natural deaths are actually murders in disguise.”
I could see that both Scarlett and Gran gulped a little at this. Retirement homes? Dens of murder and foul play? Who knew!
“Okay, so Charlie… Moore?”
“One of the cleaners,” said Olivia. “Henry had a running feud with the guy. Always said he didn’t clean good enough, and kept badgering Charlie about it, threatening to report him to Brian. Charlie didn’t seem to care too much, but maybe he got fed up and decided to get rid of Henry once and for all.”
“Was he even here last night?” asked Gran.
“No idea,” said Bill. “But we figured he’s at least worth a look. He is a suspect,” he added when Gran gave him a skeptical look. “He’s got a motive, and now all we have to prove is that he also had the opportunity.”
“They all had means,” said Liz. “They all could have used a simple pillow to smother Henry with. So I think we need to focus on opportunity, since we’ve established motive for every person on this list.”
“Aren’t you forgetting someone?” asked Scarlett.
“Who?” asked Liz curiously.
“Well, Brian, of course. A difficult customer like Henry must be the bane of the existence of any retirement home director. So he gets rid of Henry, and opens up a spot for a new paying customer, this one hopefully a little less troublesome.”
“It’s possible,” said Liz. “Though as motives go, it’s not a very strong one, I’d say.”
“No, if Brian wanted to get rid of the difficult residents, he wouldn’t have picked Henry. There are others who are a lot more trouble,” said Bill.
“Maybe he did get rid of some of the others,” said Gran keenly. “Maybe Brian is a serial killer, and has been murdering residents ever since he became manager!”
Liz cackled with laughter.“I knew you’d make a great addition to Murder Club, Janelle!”
“Well done,” Bill chimed in with an indulgent smile. “Brian Brooks as a serial killer. Even I hadn’t thought of that.”
“It’s possible,” Olivia conceded. “Though highly unlikely.”
And so the investigation was off to a good start. Tasks were divided, suspects were discussed, and soon the meeting was adjourned.
“So why didn’t they ask us to join, Max?” asked Dooley as we left the others to talk amongst themselves.
“Because Murder Club is reserved for humans, Dooley,” I said. “And not cats.”
“We could launch our own Murder Club,” Harriet suggested. “I’m sure we’ll beat them in solving this case.”
“It’s not about who wins, Harriet,” I said. “It’s about getting justice for Henry—if he was murdered, and that’s still a big if.”
“So you don’t think he was murdered, do you, Max?” asked Brutus.
“I don’t know is what I’m saying. Until Abe tells us that he was murdered, or until his team of forensic specialists digs up some evidence, I’m going to defer judgment.”
“Fine,” said Harriet. “But while we’re waiting, at least we can start our investigation, can’t we?”
“Of course,” I said. Because I had to admit that things looked very suspicious. Henry had seemed healthy enough, not suffering from any ailments that could have caused his sudden demise. So working from the premise that his death wasn’t natural was the correct approach in my book. And then ifAbe found evidence that he was indeed murdered, with a little luck we might already have found the man’s killer.
28
Murder Club didn’t sit still, but immediately went about its business of trying to ascertain who could be guilty of Henry’s possible murder. And since it was a little hard for us to follow all five members of Murder Club around, we divvied up the tasks, the way we had done since our arrival at Happy Home.
Dooley and I were present at Gran’s interview with Kirsten, and it soon became clear to us that Kirsten didn’t actually bear a grudge against the man, much less had murdered him.
“I thought he died of natural causes?” she asked now as she went about her duties, with Gran following her around, and Dooley and I following Gran around.
“We’re not sure yet what happened, but just in case it was foul play, we want to see who could have done it,” Gran explained.
“Well, if you think I did it, you’re very much mistaken,” said Kirsten, who still looked sad at this sudden demise of a man she considered a friend. “I liked Henry. So what if he was a little eccentric? That doesn’t mean he meant anybody any harm. He was a peace-loving person, and went out of his way to make my life easier, for which I’ll always be grateful. He even told off Desmond, when he caught him stalking me.”
“Henry told off Desmond?”
“Oh, sure, on more than one occasion. Desmond didn’t like it, but he couldn’t say anything. He was afraid Henry would report him to Brian, and as far as I know, he may have done. Though if he did, he never told me about it.”
“Okay, so what about all this talk that he was rich and that he was going to make you rich?”