Count Catula (Whales and Tails Cozy Mystery Book 9) by Kathi Daley Page A

investigation. Tripp had indicated to me that he hadn’t shared much with her, so it likewise made sense that she would want to speak to Orson Cobalter, the owner of the newspaper at the time. When she found out he was dead and that Cody had bought the paper she must have started the second list of names, with him at the top. I wasn’t sure what sort of information she’d hoped Father Kilian could provide, but he’d admitted to knowing both girls, probably better than most people currently living on the island. Toby Willis had been with both girls on the evening they died and Lisa had been Bronwyn ’s best friend and was at the party with her, so both made sense as primary people to interview. After I spoke with Rayleen again, Conrad seemed an obvious first-page interview as well.
    I turned to the second page. Under Cody’s name were Victoria and Eric. I had a feeling they’d been added after Amanda Lowman spoke to Toby and found out more about the party. The third page in the notebook had the name Masterson, which I now knew corresponded to the man she believed could be responsible for the murders in Kansas, as well as Dracon Moon and Conrad. Under those names were a series of numbers and letters that made no sense, so I suspected they were written in some kind of a code. On the pages that followed were scribbles that had looked like gibberish when I’d first looked at it but could actually, I suddenly realized, be in a foreign language. I wondered if she knew a second language. If the gibberish turned out to be German or Italian, for example, deciphering it would be a lot easier than I’d initially thought. I’d stop by the paper later to ask Cody to take a look at it. He had a software program that translated entire sections of text.
    In the meantime, I decided to make some breakfast, then maybe take another look at the property where Renfield and I had found the metal box with the photos, hair, and blood. We’d decided Siobhan would keep the box until Finn returned rather than turning it over to the temporary deputy, but ever since I’d found it I’d had an overwhelming urge to take another look around.
    By the time I’d driven all the way out to the property and back into town it would be time to head to Coffee Cat Books. I had a list of people I wanted to follow up with and hoped I’d be able to work phone calls or quick visits into my day.
     
    I’d decided to bring Max and Renfield with me on my early morning outing. For one thing, I felt safer having Max with me, and for another, I hoped Renfield would uncover another important piece of clueage. I’d called Siobhan before I left and asked her if either she or Finn could find out if Conrad Quarterman’s prints were on file. If they were and they matched the print on the fork we’d determined was most likely the murder weapon, case closed.
    Although I’d left my box of evidence in Siobhan’s possession, when I’d called her to ask about Conrad’s prints I’d asked if she could forward a copy of the photos, which I’d printed out. The photos had been taken after dark and the background was close to impossible to make out, but I still hoped there would be something in them that would help prove whether the sacrifice had taken place on Dracon’s land. Ever since my conversation with Rayleen, I’d been asking myself if Dracon and Masterson could in fact be the same person.
    As I had the previous day, I parked at the entrance to the overgrown drive and walked to the clearing where a house had once stood. It was another beautiful day and the sea in the distance was the deepest, darkest blue I had seen in quite some time. I took a minute to appreciate the beauty all around me and then took out the photos and began to look around.
    It seemed as if there was an incline behind the spot where the girls had been tied to the crosses. The glare from the fire made the photo even more difficult to make out, but there was a fairly clear outline of the backdrop