The Inn at Holiday Bay: Clue in the Clam, Kathi Daley [early reader chapter books TXT] 📗

“Perhaps that’s intentional. Perhaps the clams and the clues contained within are being used as decoys, so you’ll become sidetracked and don’t focus on the real motive.”

“You make a good point,” Colt said. “While it might not be wise to discount the clues as key, I agree it would be a mistake to abandon other theories at this point.”

Colt picked up one of the photos and appeared to be studying it. I was sure this was difficult for him. There had been murders in Holiday Bay in the past, but nothing like this.

“When I went by the Halifax home to notify his wife of his passing, she wasn’t home. I did some checking, and it turns out that she’s on a transatlantic cruise. I left a message with the cruise line for her and one on her cell, but she hasn’t called back.”

I waited for Colt to complete his thought since I could sense he wasn’t finished.

“Stan Fairfield’s wife is also out of town. I’m actually not sure where she is. One of their neighbors told me that she took off on a road trip to visit friends and wouldn’t be back for at least a month. I’ve left messages for her as well, but so far, there’s been no reply. Henry wasn’t married, so there’s no wife to notify. His closest relative is a cousin, and I’ve left a message for him to call me. I expect to hear back today.”

“Do you think the fact that all three victims were currently living alone in their homes is relevant?” I asked.

“Maybe. As far as I can tell, none of the men were killed in their home, but I suppose they could have been abducted from there. The county guys went to all three homes looking for clues but didn’t find anything. Still, it does seem like a huge coincidence that all three victims would have most likely been home alone in the house if they had indeed been abducted from there.”

I was about to comment when Sydney came back in from making her call. “I spoke to Genevieve, and she’s going to take a look at the information I sent and get back to me. I gave her basic information about each of the men, but the more we have to give her to feed into her software, the more likely we are to come up with something relevant. I think one of the things we need to do at this point is to come up with additional data on all the men.”

“I’ll organize what I have,” Colt said.

“What does the press know at this point?” Sydney asked. “I assume the news of the death of at least the first man is out by now.”

Colt nodded. “The local newspaper is published on Mondays and Fridays and distributed via local businesses. Additionally, there’s an abbreviated online edition posted every day. Oliver Halifax’s remains were found during the late afternoon Tuesday, so yesterday’s online edition of the newspaper has a brief story simply letting folks know that he’d been found dead on the island, and while the cause of death hadn’t been released, it looked like he hadn’t died of natural causes.”

“Does the press know about the clams and the notes?” Sydney asked.

“No,” Colt answered. “We’ve kept that out of the press. I expect that today’s online edition will have news of the second death as well as a bit more detail about the first death. It usually posts mid-morning. I haven’t seen it yet.”

“Let’s take a look,” Sydney suggested.

As Colt suspected it would be, the article today was a lot longer than the one the previous day. The man who wrote the paper had been out and about yesterday talking to folks and gathering quotes and opinions. While he was out researching the first victim, which had the local rumor mill operating at warp speed, news of the second victim had broken.

As Colt also predicted, the article didn’t mention the clam or note. The author of the article didn’t go into a lot of depth regarding the positioning of the body or the fact that the discovery of the victim had been facilitated by the delivery of a phone call.

Sydney pursed her lips and appeared to be thinking things over. Eventually, she spoke. “As long as the press and the public as a whole are kept in the dark about the specific details such as the clam and the note, we may be able to use that to flush this guy out. The killer obviously isn’t trying to hide the fact that these men have been murdered. He obviously wants everyone to know they are dead, and it seems that he’s interested in generating a good amount of gossip by the content of the notes he left behind. We have several options to consider. We could continue to keep things quiet. There are both advantages and disadvantages in doing so. We could hold a press conference and lay everything out on the table. There is a strategy to doing things this way as it helps maintain control of the narrative. We could also leak a lie or inaccuracy. If the killer is invested in sending a specific message, which seems to be the case, leaking a piece of information that contradicts what it appears he’s trying to do might flush him out.”

“What exactly do you think he’s trying to do?” I asked.

“It depends,” she said. “If the motive behind the deaths is to call out and punish these men, then the reason the notes were left behind might be to discredit these men even in death. If this is the case, then killing these men isn’t enough. He wants the world to know the sort of person they really were. He wants to provide a spark to get people talking in the hope that the truth