We know if we stay together, the murderer won't have a chance to claim his second victim. We feel almost completely safe. I'm convinced it's not one of us, and together we'll find the real culprit who destroyed Sue's young life and her baby.
On the way back to Paul's Island we discuss our time with Gary, how he said that the only person who could possibly take a boat out and not get logged in is Henry. I realize we are all now leaning toward Henry as the probable murderer.
When we arrive back at Paul's house, we go into the living room. Kat says, "Remember when we arrived here and Henry brought us over in his barge? Do any of you remember what he said?"
Erica answered, "Yeah, he said his life is boring."
Kat agrees. "That's right. Does anyone remember anything else?"
We all shake our heads.
"He also said not only is his life boring, but that it's going to change very soon."
I say, "I remember that now. I wonder what he meant by it."
Nat says, "Maybe he thinks us being on the island is going to bring some excitement into his life."
"Yeah," Steve says, "maybe he saw the note, found the kitchen door open, typed a new envelope on the typewriter, stole the knife, etcetera, etcetera. No, that's just stupid. It doesn't make any sense. How are we going to connect Henry to all this?"
Kat says, "It's possible. We have to work harder and find more information. At least we have something, not much, but something." She stops for a moment, and continues, "You know what I think? I think we should pray and ask God to help us. All of you may not believe this, but He knows who the murderer is, and I'm going to ask Him to help us find that person."
No one objects. We all hold hands while Kat prays, asking God to help us solve this mystery.
Chapter 24
When Kat is through, she goes into the kitchen and returns with the three plastic bags that hold the cigarettes. "The Inspector must have taken the knife, but he left these behind. Do you think we should go back now to the Main Island and let him have them?"
I shake my head. "I'll phone him and tell him they're here. He probably doesn't think they're important."
"Then he's wrong," Kat says. "They could be very important."
I look at her in surprise. "What are you thinking, Kat?"
"I'm thinking that there's something about these that we're missing." She has a quizzical look on her face.
Paul says, "You could be right. Why would anyone be so careless about leaving these things around for us to find?"
Nat says, "Yeah, it's like the person who left them wants to get caught."
"Yeah, but why?" Steve asks. "Why build up evidence against yourself?"
Kat shouts out, "I got it, I got it! Look at these butts. Each one of them is the same size, and look at the filters."
We all look, but nothing is sinking in.
"What is it, Kat, what have you found?" I ask.
She smiles. "Kit, it's so simple. I'm surprised we didn't figure it out before."
I still don't get it. "Don't keep us in suspense any longer, Kat. Just tell us what you're thinking."
"Well, the butts are all about the same size, because they were broken off. No one smoked them. They were just lit and then put right out."
Steve says, "Kat, how do you know no one smoked them? Anyone can tell they've been lit, so someone must have smoked them."
"No, someone lit them and perhaps took one puff, but that's all. Here, look at the filters. They're all perfectly white. I may not be a smoker," Kat looked over at me "… well, maybe once."
"Kat and I tried smoking, just before we went into high school," I explain. "We thought it was an 'in' thing, and were told all high school kids who want to be accepted had to be smokers. Probably like you, Paul, when you tried smoking one holiday. But after one drag I started coughing so much I thought I'd never stop. And Kat just started throwing up! That was enough for us. We decided right then that we don't care if we're accepted or not. We'll always have each other."
Kat doesn't seem to take in what I've just said, and I feel my face going red. I'm not sure why I said it, although I hope it's true.
Kat seems to be concentrating on the cigarette butts and continues with her findings. "I'm not an expert, but I know that when people smoke a filter cigarette the filter turns either yellow or brown from the nicotine. That's why smokers use filters, so they get less nicotine into their system. Now look at these filters. They're white, like no one smoked them.
"I think our murderer is a non-smoker, and placed these butts around in areas where he knew we'd find them, and wanted us to look for a smoker, which the guilty person is not. Who do we suspect who's not a smoker?"
Unanimously we say, "Henry!"
Kat nods. "I believe Henry is trying to lead us astray, and it almost worked. Now we have to put our heads together to figure out how Henry is guilty."
I suggest that we go to the library. "There's a whiteboard in there. Maybe we can list all the things we've discovered and the things we know. Perhaps if we list them they'll be easier to recognize, and we can go through them one by one."
Kat leads the way. Entering the library, she hands me a black dry marker. "Kit, you write things down as we call them out."
They begin so fast, I have to say, "Stop, one at a time, and please give me a chance to write them on the board before you call out the next one."
At the top of the board I write:
How did Henry do these things?
1. Find note on door?
2. Know kitchen door is open?
3. Use typewriter?
4. Murder Sue?
When I write, "Murder Sue," we all go quiet, so I erase it and instead write,
4. Take Sue's life?
5. Put body in sea, tied to pier?
After four and five, I write, "Why?"
6. How did he get little boat?
7. How did he put spare knife on counter?
8. Sabotage patrol boat?
9. How did he pin note to umbrella without being seen?
10. Why did he hide similar knife in cabinet but not cigarette butts?
11. Why did Henry do all these things?
Kat says, "Let's start with these eleven. Does anyone have an answer for any of them? No matter how frivolous you think it might be, share it with us. It may help us solve some of these questions now, rather than later, and help us put Sue's murderer behind bars, so he can't try to kill another one of us. We need to help the Inspector all we can."
I say, "Number six. Henry had permission to fix any boat at Gary's Rentals. It would be easy for him to take the little boat at night for a test and come to this island."
Kat says, "Number eight. It would be easy for Henry to sabotage the police patrol boat. He's a mechanic."
Erica says, "Number ten. I believe Henry's trying to scare us. He's having his idea of fun at our expense, leaving the cigarette butts to throw us off. Maybe the Inspector knows that, which is why he left them behind."
"There could be DNA on them," I suggest. "So let's keep them sealed in their bags." I'm surprised the Inspector didn't think of that, or is he ahead of us and knows who the murderer is, and knows the cigarette butts have nothing to do with the murder? "Any more suggestions?" I ask.
Steve says, "Number three. Using the old typewriter would be easy. If Henry got into the house by way of the kitchen and realized he'd torn the envelope, he might have gone into the library to look for another one. He saw the old typewriter and typed 'Welcome.' Or he's been here before and already knew about that typewriter."
Paul says, "Number five. Henry must have been on the island, most likely watching us. He probably saw us find Sue's body and saw Kit go to phone the police, snickering like he always does, watching us mourn over our friend. He also saw us put Sue's beach towel over her. When we went into the living room to wait for the Inspector, he knew that we wouldn't go out to the deck until he came. That would have given him over forty-five minutes to move the body."
There's a long pause before Kat says, "Number nine. The note on the umbrella. That was the night the patrol boat was broken into and sabotaged. The Inspector asked Henry to bring him over here. Remember what we did that night?"
Before anyone can answer, Kat answers her own question. "We all went into the library with the Inspector to check out the typewriter. And that was the night we learned the letter O is damaged, so we knew that the old typewriter in the library was used for the envelope."
Nat says, "Yes, all of us went into the library except …"
Again, in unison we shout, "Henry!"
"Yes," I say, "and if you remember, Henry came in later. He had plenty of time to pin the note on the umbrella." I turn to Kat. "Be honest now, who do you think the murderer is?
Before you read any further....
Who do you think is the murderer?
Chapter 25
As we give our reasons for each item on the whiteboard, we agree that every answer we come up with seems plausible, and I put a check before each one.
Out of the eleven questions on the board, six have been checked so far, more than half that we feel could make Henry guilty.
By this time it's after 1:00 in the morning. We're exhausted and it's time to go to bed. After a good night's sleep, we'll try working on the other five questions.
After breakfast at the house, we're planning to go to the Main Island and talk to Henry. We have no idea what we'll say to him, but we're hoping he will either slip up, or better yet, confess to the crime.
On our way to the stairway to go up to our rooms, we hear a beeping sound: beep … beep … beep …
Paul says, "Looks like we have a message."
At the bottom of the staircase and to the right is a little cove with a table and a chair. On the table are a small lamp and another telephone, this one with a built-in answering machine. We can see a red light flashing in the darkness.
We follow Paul. He looks down at the answering machine and presses the button. "You have two messages," a voice says. We must have been out when the calls came in, as we can easily hear the house phone ringing from the patio area.
"Hello, Mr. Paul, this is Kathy. I'm thinking of you, and praying for you and your friends. I'm so sorry to hear about your friend being killed. I'd like to get back to the island before you leave., but there are no available flights this week. The reason I'm calling you now is because I thought of something I forgot to tell the Inspector when he phoned me on the mainland. After we left the Main Island and were on the plane, we were discussing who locked the kitchen door. None of us could remember doing it. So I called ................"
Paul lets out a groaning sound. "My parents have this machine set for short messages. They hate long drawn-out ones."
Just then a voice on the machine announces, "If you want to hear the second message, please press play."
Paul presses play.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Paul, this is Kathy again. What I wanted to say is that I called Henry and asked him if he would go back to the island and check if we left the kitchen door unlocked. And if we did, I asked him to lock it. I told him your parents would pay him for his time after we return to the island. He said he would. He called me back later to say everything was okay. He's such a nice man. Anyway, I'm thinking he could have seen the note that you asked me to put on the door. I ................"
And the mechanical voice announces, "That is your last message."
We all walk back into the library. I pick up the marker and put a check before numbers one and two. Now we know that Henry was on the island and had access to the house to check the kitchen door. We now have eight questions answered that lead to Henry.
We sit in silence for a while. Eventually Kat says, "We're on the right track. We pretty well agree that Henry is our murderer."
We all nod our heads in agreement.
I say, "It must have been a fluke. Henry came upon the note by accident, read it and decided to have some sick fun to spice up his life. He probably had no intention of killing any of us. Perhaps he just wanted to scare us, but something happened to change all that. Sue knew the note was a joke because she'd written it with Paul at the university, which is why she wasn't afraid. She must have seen Henry, perhaps even approached him, and asked him what he was doing on the island. He probably freaked out. Maybe wanted some intimacy with her. Being drunk, somehow his little game turned into murder. Then his mind clicked and he began playing cat and mouse with us."
The others are listening intently, which almost unnerves me. But I continue.
"The murder just happened. He reacted to the situation. He became excited. To him, his life was no longer boring. He took on the role of a psychopath and apparently enjoyed every minute of it."
I think about what I'm saying, and quickly tell my friends, "I'm not sure if that's the way it happened or not. My mind is whirling. These are just suggestions. We'll never know for sure exactly what and how these things happened, until Henry confesses."
"Tomorrow," Paul says, "I'll call the Inspector and tell him what we know, and I'll play this phone tape to him. And I'll remind him we still have the cigarette butts."
Chapter 26
The Inspector arrives the next morning around 10:30. We're just finishing cleaning up the breakfast dishes, and hear his knock on the door. The main patrol boat is so quiet that we hardly ever hear him arrive. On the other hand, Henry's barge is just the opposite; we always hear his arrival.
We take the Inspector into the library. Detective Donna is with him, and she follows him closely. We show them our whiteboard, and explain how we think that most of the items could have been fulfilled by Henry, without a doubt.
Erica says, "Are you going to arrest him?"
The Inspector looks at each of the numbers as if he's memorizing them. He says, "The two most important questions on this board are numbers one and two. How did the murderer find the note, and get access to the house? If you can prove those two, I can arrest Henry on circumstantial evidence."
Paul says, "We have evidence that we're sure will be enough to arrest him. There's a message on the answer machine from Kathy our servant telling us how Henry knew about the note and the back door being open."
Paul plays the tape for the Inspector. When it's through, we all turn to him in anticipation.
He smiles grimly, looks at each one of us and says, "I believe you've just helped to solve this case for me. Thanks."
He turns to Detective Donna. "Gather up the evidence, including the tape, and the butts you left behind. We're going back to make our arrest."
I note that he's blaming Donna for leaving the butts. Surely he's the one in charge.
Turning to us, he says, "You're all free to leave. I know your return flight tickets are for tomorrow. I'll give the airline the okay signal. But before you leave the Main Island, I want you to stop by the office and sign a statement. I'll have Detective Donna draw it up."
"What time tomorrow?" I ask.
The Inspector sighs, almost as though the whole case is proving too much for him. "I'll be gone all morning, as I have to go to the mainland. I'm returning about three in the afternoon, but the statement for you to sign will be ready by ten tomorrow morning. Thanks again. We'll go pick up Henry and read him his rights. He's sure going to be surprised."
After the Inspector and Donna leave, we give a collective sigh of relief. We feel sadness, yet we're happy to be able to return to our university to gather up our belongings and go on with our lives in the big world. All of us, that is, except Paul; his loss goes much deeper than ours.
Kat says, "I'm amazed how everyone, including Gary, Kathy and even Detective Donna, thought Henry was such a nice guy."
Steve agrees. "It's amazing how people can be fooled. When we were snooping around the other day, we asked people what they thought of Henry, for no appare
nt reason, more just to make conversation. And mostly everyone said, "He drinks too much, but he's harmless. He's a nice guy."
That doesn't sound right to me. "I remember," I tell my friends, "how one of our criminology teachers told us that as a rule nice guys don't murder. If they kill someone, it's usually an accident and they confess it right away. They don't hide out, leave false evidence around or accuse someone else. They say, 'I did it,' and they don't resist arrest."
Kat nods. "It was Professor Edwards. He also said those are the easiest cases to solve."
Paul says, "Well, if your professor's correct and that's the norm, are you saying Henry may be innocent?"
Nat says, "No way! Look at the answers on our board. They all fit. Henry's the one Kathy phoned to check the kitchen door, so we know he came here to the island. We got the right person."
Nadia sighs. "Let's just forget it and get out of here. Like Nat says, it all fits."
By now, I have a strong feeling that Kat is sharing my feelings that Henry may not be guilty. I say, "You're probably all correct, but I'd like to see if we can talk to Henry tomorrow when we go to the police station. We leave on the late flight, so we'll have time. I have three questions I'd like to ask him."
Paul says, "It's okay with me. We'll have plenty of time. It won't hurt anything."
I look around at the rest of the group. They shrug their shoulders.
Nat says, "Okay, perhaps the two of you are onto something. We sure don't want to send an innocent man to prison or even to his death. What are your three questions?"
Nadia agrees with Nat that Henry fits the answers perfectly. She's insistent that Henry is guilty. Maybe that's because she wants to see someone, anyone, punished for Sue's murder. I know that Kat's going to agree with me later that it's important not to jump to conclusions too soon. But, yes, I think it could be Henry.
Chapter 27
We get up early and leave for the Main Island in our hired boat. We're coming back before our flight, so we put all out stuff in the dining room, and lock the house doors carefully. It will be safer here than on the Main Island while we look around.
Rachel's Restaurant is getting pretty crowded, but when Rachel sees us she greets us and takes us to a table in the back that sits the seven of us comfortably.
We order the same breakfasts we had yesterday when Paul was released. I have the specialty: blueberry pancakes topped with lots of whipped cream and extra macadamia nuts, with coconut syrup. Everyone thinks I'm crazy. They all have the traditional eggs, bacon and toast.
Paul's Island - A Kit and Kat Mystery 1 Page 8
