Two Scoops of Murder (Felicity Bell Book 2) by Nic Saint Page A

mutual calendar. She’d wiped the board clean and was feeling like a real police person. In her imagination the board would soon be filled with crime scene photos and snaps of the victim. Well, perhaps not photos, exactly. It was hardly likely that the medical examiner would be that obliging.
    Meticulously, she wrote down all the clues. “What else?”
    Felicity checked her notes. “There’s the fact that Alistair and Mary have this ongoing feud with their kids about the sale of the land and the inn.” She looked up. “I just thought it might be useful. I wasn’t going to put that in the article, of course.”
    Alice put this down under the heading ‘Suspects’. “Rob and Ruth Long. Good thinking, Fe. If anyone wanted Alistair dead, it would be them.”
    “Sad, really. I mean, to have kids who want their father dead?”
    “Well, we don’t know for sure they wanted him dead. Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
    “No, but simply the fact that all they care about is getting their hands on the money is enough to make you feel sorry for Mary and Alistair.”
    Felicity was right. She hoped that if one day she had kids they would be the prop of her declining years, not vultures waiting for her to croak. She tapped the board. “I don’t like this suspect list. Too short. Did Alistair have any enemies?”
    “Not that I know of. He was such a sweet man. I think everyone loved him.”
    “Not everyone. Remember that kid he got into an argument with last fall? Billy Conch? I think Alistair even spent the night in jail.”
    Felicity’s eyes widened. “Billy Conch. He found the body!”
    “No way.”
    “Way.” She’d forgotten all about the incident. Billy had kicked his dog and Alistair happened to see it. So he went over, kicked the boy and asked how he liked it. The kid didn’t like it and neither did his father, so he called the cops and Alistair had to spend the night in jail.
    “That’s not a reason to kill anyone,” Alice mused. “The Conches got even, right?”
    Felicity shook her head. “The case attracted the attention of an animal rights group out of TriBeCa and they made a whole case about it. Camped out in front of the Conch place for weeks, remember?”
    “Yeah, so?”
    “So Stephen Conch lost his job over that. The power plant didn’t like all the negative publicity and they fired him. I can imagine he was pretty sore about it.”
    Alice nodded and added Stephen Conch’s name to the suspect list, though without much conviction. She felt that he made a weak suspect and she didn’t hesitate to state her opinion that they would be wasting their time going after him. But since she believed in being thorough she dutifully jotted down the name.
    Both women stared at the whiteboard.
    “We need more information,” Felicity said, and Alice agreed.
    “Perhaps the holy trinity will know more.”
    “The holy trinity is bound to know more. They’re the holy trinity, after all.”
    Alice laughed. “We’re doing this, aren’t we?”
    “Yes, we are.”
    Alice held up her hand and Felicity high-fived it. They were going to solve this case or die trying. Well…perhaps not that last part. But they were going to do their utmost. For Alistair and Happy Bays.

Chapter 17
    V irgil stared at his phone . It didn’t often happen that his mother called him during office hours, for she knew that Chief Whitehouse was a stickler for discipline and productivity.
    “Mom?” he said, surreptitiously glancing in the direction of the chief’s office.
    “Just heard about Alistair,” his mother said in her customary clipped tones. “Dreadful business! How are you holding up?”
    “I’m fine, Mom,” he said, gulping a little. “I can’t talk now.”
    “Sure, sure.” There was a brief pause, in which he fully expected Mom to hang up and leave him to get on with his work. Instead, she asked, “Who did it?”
    “Mom!”
    “What? You’re a policeman, aren’t you?”
    “So?”
    “So aren’t you supposed