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“Spoken like a true murderer,” Killian shot at him. “Trying to make himself not a suspect.”
“No, I’m just trying to empty my bladder without having to get my dick out for all and sundry to see.”
“I don’t see why I have to stay here,” Vivianne said. “I’m tired and it’s been a long night, and I’m not under suspicion. Surely I should be allowed to retire to my room?”
“Not under suspicion?” Killian scoffed. “The famously jilted ex-wife who swore revenge is not a suspect—”
“No one is going anywhere.” Jonathan folded his arms over his chest as he blocked the doorway with his bulk. “We can’t risk the murderer attempting to make a run for it before the coppers get here. So I suggest yousit down.”
Jonathan said the last bit in a stern, terrifying voice. He meant business. And that meant that we were all trapped here.
Truthfully, I was going to need to go to the bathroom eventually, too. And no way was I going to use a bucket.
I know Jonathan was doing his job and protecting the castle, but we needed to get out of this room or Heathcliff was going to get stabby.
“Excuse me,” I said. “My friends and I, we’ve helped the police solve several murders in my village of Argleton—”
“—liar—” Charlie coughed behind me. “The police don’t work with amateur detectives.”
“—and I’ve brought several criminals to justice. The cases were actually the inspiration for my book. Perhaps we could offer our services.”
“For what?”
“To solve the crime.” I rapped my nails against the table. “There were five people in the room at the time of the murder – Christina, Killian, Vivianne, Charlie, and Donna. Five suspects. It shouldn’t be that hard to narrow it down to one murderer. If we know who did it, we could lock them up more securely until the police came, and the rest could go free.”
“You forgot yourself,” Charlie said sourly.
But I know I didn’t do it.I gritted my teeth. “Fine. I’m a suspect, too. So that makes six of us.”
“Perhaps we can all work together,” Christina suggested, her voice brightening. “We’re all mystery writers. We’ve all familiar with locked room mysteries, and at leastsomepeople in this room are innocent. Perhaps between us, we can figure out this crime.”
“I’m intrigued by this idea,” Morrie said.
“But how will we solve the crime?” Charlie asked. “We’re trapped in the godforsaken room together with Attila the Hun at the door. We can’t even inspect the crime scene, and as a retired detective, I know that the crime scene is the most important—”
“Morrie, Quoth, and Heathcliff can go,” I said. “They weren’t in the room with us, so they can’t be suspects, and they’ve been involved in murder investigations, too, so they know what to look for—”
“Pffft, we’re not fooled by that old trick. If we send your boyfriends, they’ll locate the clues that incriminate you and destroy them.”
“That only works if I’m the murderer,” I said. “Which I’m not. But fine, then how about this? Heathcliff, Quoth, and Morrie go, and you go with them. They’ll be Jonathan’s eyes and ears and make sure you don’t escape—”
“I’ll be delighted.” Heathcliff slammed his fist into his palm.
“And you can watch to make sure they don’t tamper with any evidence.Andyou can lend your expertise as a detective with thirty years experience.”
“Thirty-threeyears,” Charlie corrected, but he sounded mollified by my suggestion.
Jonathan frowned. “I dinnae like this. You should all stay here for—”
“We could be here forhours,” Donna said. “All night, even. None of us are going to go in a bucket.”
“And if we decide to revolt, there’s nine of us against you,” Vivianne added, her voice thick with determination.
“If we get this figured out, then we can all relax, including you,” Donna added. “You’ve been doing such a good job managing the estate during the storm, Jonathan. You deserve to be able to relax a little.”
“And maybe have some whisky?” Heathcliff said hopefully.
Jonathan remained silent. “Fine,” he growled. “The four of you can take a look at the murder scene. But don’t disturb anything, and you’re to walk straight to the library and straight back here again. You have twenty minutes.”
