Murder at the Blarney Bash by Darci Hannah

Author:Darci Hannah [Hannah, Darci]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 24

Although Niall hadn’t quite forgiven Kennedy, and Rory still had his suspicions about the man, I decided it best to placate all our ruffled nerves with a warm fire blazing away in the lighthouse fireplace, while placing a cup of Baileys-laced hot cocoa in everyone’s hand. Each mug was topped with a dollop of thick, freshly whipped cream, and a dusting of shaved chocolate. My culinary efforts were appreciated, as was the cozy setting. Although I always found it inspiring when pondering difficult situations up in the lightroom, I felt that, under the circumstances, tonight’s gathering would best be served in the coziest room in the lighthouse, my living room. Besides, Bailey and Wellington were with us, and neither one of them could manage the circular light-tower stairs. They weren’t exactly giant-dog-breed friendly. As we sipped our Irish cream–laced cocoa and mulled over what we had learned on our nighttime reconnaissance mission, the dogs seemed content to curl up together by the fire, sharing Welly’s large dog bed. With a snack in their bellies, they looked so peaceful as they slept in our company, seemingly without a care.

After meticulously marking the locations of the Blarney Stone, the public beach war memorial, the crime scene, and his log home on a map of Beacon Harbor, Rory had traced Finn’s movements, as we knew them, on St. Patrick’s Day night. The map was spread out on the coffee table for us to study. I had to commend Rory. Seeing all the important places at once, marked with Finn’s account of his movements, the time frame we were working with, and the distances between each location, a clearer picture was coming into view regarding what had possibly occurred on that cold, wet night. However, without the medical examiner’s report, we only had Finn’s account to go on.

Although we had driven the distance from the crime scene to the location of the gold at the war memorial, the route had taken us through the village to access both locations. However, now looking at Rory’s map, the actual location of the crime scene was a mile south from of where Finn had found the buried pot of gold, a fact that was pointed out to us by Niall Fitzhugh. I took the fact that he was still willing to sit next to Kennedy to be a good sign.

“Since some of you have basically accused me of being a murderer”—here Niall paused to shoot a dagger-eyed look at Kennedy before continuing—“I’m going to play devil’s advocate. While the case has been made that Finnigan O’Connor is an older gentleman in his mid-sixties, he’s still spry enough to walk a mile down the beach, with shillelagh in hand, to off the nasty little leprechaun.”

Colleen piped in, “I beg to differ. While he is spry enough, me father has great reverence for the fairy folk, of which the leprechaun is one. Daft as it sounds, me father truly believed he was trailing a leprechaun and had outwitted him.

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