Free Shamrock Shenanigans (Zoe Donovan Mystery Book 19) by Kathi Daley

killer rarely turns out to be my original suspect. It was best to keep an open mind as I continued my investigation. I asked his lordship where Piper had been all day and he claimed not to know. I couldn’t tell if he was lying, but I didn’t suppose it really mattered.
     
    I was thrilled to find the sun shining through our bedroom window when I awoke the next morning, but I was less than thrilled to find both Charlie and Zak gone. I hated waking up alone. I hadn’t meant to sleep so late, but between my late-night chat with Lord Dunphy and the tossing and turning I’d done trying to process everything after I’d returned to the room, it had been the early hours of the morning before I’d finally gotten back to sleep.
    I sat up and looked around the room. It appeared Zak had straightened up. I was about to toss back the covers to get up when Zak and Charlie returned to the room.
    “Good, you’re awake.” Zak kissed me on the lips and handed me a cup of coffee. He had a plate with a muffin in his other hand. “Charlie and I have already eaten, so I brought something up for you. It looks like we’re going to have a few hours of sunshine before the next wave of the storm rolls in, so I thought you might want to go for a walk.”
    “I’d love to go for a walk.” I smiled as I sipped my coffee. “I wonder if we can get down to the beach.”
    “I actually spoke to the cook about that when I was fetching your muffin. She explained that the trail that runs directly from the castle to the beach is steep and will be impassable, but she gave me directions to access the beach through the boathouse at the other end of the island. It really isn’t that much farther than the stable.”
    “Sounds like fun.” I picked off a piece of the poppy seed muffin and put it into my mouth. “I bet a lot of cool stuff washed up during the storm. Who knows what we’ll find.”
    “I’ll bring a bag to put things in.” Zak sat down on the edge of the bed. “Now that you’ve had your coffee and been fed, do you want to tell me where you went last night?”
    “Sorry. I didn’t know you even realized I was gone.”
    “I thought we agreed we wouldn’t do any sleuthing alone.”
    “I wasn’t sleuthing. Exactly. I heard a noise in the hall. I peeked out and saw a figure, which I followed. She led me to the kitchen, where I found Lord Dunphy having a sandwich. I stopped to chat with him for a few minutes.”
    I shared my conversation with his lordship while I finished my coffee and muffin. Zak agreed with my assessment that it might be important that it was actually Piper who was responsible for the guest list. I asked him if he’d seen her downstairs, and he hadn’t. He’d had breakfast with Armand, who’d shared some more about his travels. Zak confirmed that Armand had been alone in his room after leaving dinner on the night of the murder, which didn’t leave him with an alibi, although he also shared that the more he got to know the professor, the more certain he was that he wasn’t the killer we were looking for. Zak had a pretty good gut instinct I’d learned to trust. If we eliminated Armand based on that instinct and Susan because she had been in her room tossing her cookies when the murder occurred, that just left Liam, Piper, and Luke. At this point my money was still on Liam.
    After I got dressed, Zak, Charlie, and I headed downstairs and out the side entrance. It was a cold morning, probably no warmer than forty degrees, but the sun felt wonderful on my face. Based on Charlie’s quick trot, it was clear he was happy the sun had decided to poke its head out for a few hours as well.
    The sea in the distance looked calm today. Waves gently lapped toward the shore, causing a pleasant backdrop for the sound of the birds that had come out to feed on the fish that had washed up during the storm. The air smelled fresh after the cleansing rain, although I had a feeling once the sun hit the dead fish scattered on the