A Zen For Murder (Mooseamuck Island Cozy Mystery Series Book 1) by Leighann Dobbs Page A

Lowell. Sometimes people say they are from the next biggest town because others don’t recognize the smaller town names.”
    “I thought of that. There are no Sarah Whites that fit the description in any surrounding towns.”
    Dom pressed his lips together. “Well, that certainly does raise suspicions. However, Sarah could not have murdered Zoila.”
    Claire didn’t know whether to be glad or depressed about that. She liked Sarah and didn’t want her to be the killer, but if it wasn’t her, then who did they have left as suspects?
    “Why not?”
    “I checked around and she was at Chowders all morning. Several witnesses say she was there as early as six a.m. And since you saw Zoila alive at six, that means she was killed some time after six, so it couldn’t have been Sarah who killed her.”
    Claire stared out the window. The cove waters across the street were dappled with sunlight. Tourists in colorful clothes walked by with shopping bags dangling from their hands. They were happy, smiling. Claire sighed and turned her attention back to her tea. She was in no mood to see happy people.
    “So, Sarah has an alibi. But she also has a secret … and it must be important, seeing as she seems to be lying about who she really is.” Claire looked up at Dom. "So, if she didn’t do it, maybe someone did it for her.”
    “Someone who cares enough about her to kill for her?” Dom asked.
    Claire nodded.  
    “Well, I noticed Shane seems to be pretty sweet on her.” Dom lowered his voice. “And I felt sand on the floor in the diner at the counter, right where he had been standing the morning of the murder.”
    “You think he might have been the one who left the footprint in the zen garden?”
    Dom shrugged. “Maybe.”
    “But he seemed so surprised when he found out Zoila had been killed.”
    “Maybe he’s a good actor. We’ve seen killers act surprised before.”
    It was true—even the most hardened killers seemed to be able to pull off an award-winning performance when it came to diverting suspicion. But Shane wasn’t a hardened killer … she’d known his family since he was a baby. Then again, they’d also seen love make people do crazy things … including murder.  
    Claire didn’t want to say it out loud, but Shane wasn’t the only one who cared about Sarah. She knew Sarah and Ben had grown very close since Sarah came to the island. Especially after Anna got sick. Sarah had been almost like a sister to him. She’d encouraged him to take the delivery job and that had given Ben much-needed self-esteem. Claire knew Ben looked up to Sarah … but would he kill for her?  
    “We need to find out Zoila’s time of death and then figure out if Shane had opportunity.” Claire eyed her phone, noticing there was no reception, as usual. “Maybe I can get that information from Robby.”
    “If he’s feeling generous, maybe you can get him to tell us the exact make and size of shoe that made that footprint and if there was any distinguishing tread wear,” Dom said.
    “I’ll try.”
    “There’s something else strange.” Dom rubbed his eyebrows. “Shane’s account of when he was at Zoila’s doesn’t match with Kenneth’s. Kenneth said he saw Shane around one o’clock, but Shane said he was there after three.”
    “Why would Shane lie about that?” Claire asked. “Zoila wasn’t killed until the next day, so it’s not like he would lie so as to not be placed at the scene of the crime.”
    “Not that crime,” Dom said. “But maybe there was something else that happened at Zoila’s that he didn’t want to be implicated in.”
    “Like what?”
    “I have no idea. Perhaps that will come out as we investigate further. I do know one thing, though. We need to take a trip out to Zoila’s and see if there’s anything out there that might yield a clue.”
    Claire looked down into her empty cup. “But it’s probably locked up and on this case, we don’t have the benefit of being able to just browse