Pepper, the Highlander & the Dead Guy

“You really think Aunt Effie had a provision put in the sale of the property?” I asked.

“Your mom reminded me how much Effie had once talked about making part of her land a preserve and how terrible it was that she never got to realize her dream. It got me wondering.”

“So, Mom was one step ahead of us both without even knowing it,” I said, feeling better that I wasn’t the only one who missed it.

“That she was,” my dad agreed and turned to Ian. “Who else would profit if you followed through with these plans?”

Ian hesitated, averting my dad’s eyes.

“You thought of someone,” my dad said.

“Ah cannae see it being him. We’ve been friends for too long,” Ian said.

I had an idea of who he might say, and I didn’t want to hear the name.

“Who?” my dad insisted.

“Beau.”

Alarm bells went off in my head for Amy.

Ian continued. “He bought a small partnership in the business and that would connect with any building done on the property.”

“He’d earn a sizeable amount from such a project. That would be a lot of money to lose. When did he learn about the project?” my dad asked.

Ian rubbed his clean-shaven jaw. “Beau is the one who suggested it. People rarely assume handsome features go with intelligence. Beau is beyond intelligent. He’s an Oxford Rhodes Scholar. His degree is in financial economics. Financial institutions chased after him when he graduated, but he wasn’t interested. He liked the freedom and fun of being a cover model. But Beau is a good guy. Money doesn’t mean that much to him.”

“If he’s a financial genius, why did he ask Amy to help him with his money?” I asked.

“If I were to guess it would be because it would give him more time with Amy. He talks about her all the time and Amy is the first woman Beau has ever spent so much time with.”

“Unless it’s a ruse for him to stay close to the investigation. And it was wise of him to get a partnership in your business,” my dad said, and I had to agree with him on both counts.

It wasn’t looking good for Beau and yet I found it difficult or perhaps I didn’t want to believe the man Amy enjoyed spending time with could be a murderer.

“As he told me, it’s his pension for when he gets too old for the business,” Ian explained.

“I’ll have a chat with him,” my dad said and turned a concerned eye to me. “Amy still seeing him?”

My thoughts jumped to the phone call yesterday when Amy and Beau were on their way to Barn Book Store and that Amy never returned my call.

“She’s still seeing him, though she assures me they’re just friends,” I said.

“Like I said, a good way of keeping abreast of what’s going on with the investigation,” my dad said.

“I understand how it must look, but Beau is a good guy. He’d never do something like this,” Ian insisted. “Besides, he was there the night of the cellar incident.”

“He arrived with you?” my dad asked.

Ian remained silent for a moment. “He backed out at the last minute. But he was outside the lodge when I got there and stayed by Amy’s side the whole time. That clears him of the photographer’s murder.”

“An accomplice or a hired gun,” my dad said with a nod. “Also, there was that scrap of note Pepper found at your place the night she knocked Beau out with a punch. What had he been doing in the area? He also had ample opportunity to knock Pepper on the head when she found that letter. Yup, Beau and I are definitely going to have a nice chat.”

“Please do, sheriff, and you’ll see Beau had nothing to do with it. Also isn’t it going to prove difficult to find documents proving your assumption?” Ian asked. “When my lawyers contacted the local land records office here concerning my uncle’s will, they were told that many older documents were lost or fell into disrepair from age and couldn’t be saved. More were lost or displaced when the new town hall was built.”

“That’s what Struthers could have brought with him. The original documents to the sale of the property which would include any provisions Max and Aunt Effie agreed on,” I said.

“Maybe Struthers met up with Beau before he got to you, Ian, and Beau saw dreams of a substantial retirement going down the drain,” my dad suggested. “He murdered Struthers and destroyed the documents the guy brought with him, but Effie probably retained the original documents. He searched your uncle’s boxes for anything that would tell him where those documents might be located and found the letter Pepper had come across, tried to grab it that night, in hopes it would help him, and got only the corner piece which he lost when Pepper clocked him. Then he returned to retrieve it only to find Pepper there and knocked her out and took the letter.”