Plaster and Poison by Jennie Bentley

Wayne,” I said, getting up.
“I’ll do it,” Josh offered. He was standing in the door, hands in the pockets of his puffy, blue jacket, a long, striped scarf wound around his neck.
“That’s OK,” I said. “I’d better.” I ducked past him and out before he could ask me why.
When I got back to the kitchen, with Derek and Wayne in tow, Josh had taken his jacket off and gotten himself a cup of tea, which he was sipping from his vantage point by the counter. Shannon had also taken off her coat and had hung it over the back of one of the kitchen chairs. It was clear from the way she was fussing over Kate that she thought whatever was wrong had to do with her mother. Seeing Kate crying probably hadn’t helped to alleviate her fears. When Wayne came through the door, she turned to him, dark eyes flashing.
“What did you do to her?”
Wayne rolled his eyes. “I didn’t do anything to her. I love your mother.”
Kate smiled at him wetly.
“So why is she upset?” Shannon demanded. She straightened, hands on her hips, and tossed her hair back over her shoulder. Josh’s eyes turned glassy behind the round frames.
“Have a seat.” Wayne waved her to a chair. “We have some bad news.”
“What kind of news? Did someone break into the carriage house last night? Is that why Brandon is here?”
She sank down on the chair next to her mother and scooted it a little closer.
“In a manner of speaking,” Wayne said. “Yes, someone broke in. And died.”
“Oh, no! Who?” She looked around, taking account that none of us were missing.
Kate fumbled for her hand. “Honey, it was your father. Gerard. He’s dead.”
For a second, Shannon’s face was blank, absolutely void of expression. Then—“Daddy?” she asked, her voice cracking. “How?”
Josh swallowed, and I could see his jaw clench and his hand tighten around the mug he was holding until his knuckles showed white.
“It’s too soon to know for sure,” Wayne said, watching her, “but we believe, on preliminary evidence, that he was poisoned and asphyxiated.”
“Oh, my God!” For a second she looked like she might faint. Josh made a movement in her direction, then stopped himself. Hot tea splashed out of the mug and onto his hand, and he turned to the sink, swearing under his breath. The sound of cold water running accompanied Wayne’s next statement.
“I have to ask you some questions.”
“Sure,” Shannon whispered.
She had first heard from her dad a few months ago, she explained. He had contacted her on her Barnham College e-mail account and said he wanted to get to know her.
“That’s when he heard about the money,” Kate muttered. “Probate was complete in September.”
Shannon glanced at her but addressed Wayne. “We went back and forth a couple of times, by e-mail and phone, and then he told me he was coming up to Maine for a while.”
“Why?” Wayne had pulled out his notebook and pencil and was taking notes.
Shannon shrugged. “Just to see me. He’s been here for a few weeks.”
“Staying where?”
“Not sure,” Shannon said, biting her lip. “He had the car, so he always picked me up. We never went to his place.”
Wayne made a note, presumably to find out where Gerard had been staying. “Was this the first time he’d been in Waterfield?”
“No idea. If he’d been here before, he didn’t try to contact me then.”
“Of course not,” Kate muttered. “You weren’t a rich heiress until this autumn. There was nothing in it for him until then. He always was good at keeping an eye out for Number One.”
Wayne looked at her but didn’t comment. Instead, he glanced around the table, taking in Derek and me on the way past. “Can any of you think of any reason why he’d be in the carriage house last night? Did you arrange to meet him, Shannon?”
Shannon shook her head. “He always picked me up at Barnham. And I wasn’t planning to be here last night. I had studying to do. Midterms. With Paige. He and I were going to get together for dinner on Friday.”
A moment passed, and then we could see the realization hit