The Legend of Tabby Hollow (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 5) by Kathi Daley Page A

regular before he passed, and Aiden sometimes takes his place when he’s in town,” Danny added.
    “Aiden? Really?”
    Aiden was about as straitlaced as they came.
    “I think he does it more for the sense of tradition than anything else.”
    “Are there ever any new men allowed to join?” Tara asked.
    “When I was at the lodge checking things out today, I found out that a couple of months ago a man from out of the area requested membership. He was a stranger to the island, but he claimed to be a fisherman by trade and he was male, so technically they had no reason to keep him out. He was a likable enough fella named Jeremy Vance. They couldn’t keep him out, but most of the guys refused to accept him no matter how hard he tried to fit in. Personally, based on the stories the men from the lodge told me, I think it was because he was good at poker and was single-handedly responsible for the financial decline of several of the good old boys.”
    “Do you think he was cheating?”
    “I don’t know if he was cheating or not, but the guys were sure he was. I guess they managed to find a way to get rid of him because as far as I heard he doesn’t come around anymore.”
    Siobhan had written everyone’s name on the board as Danny mentioned them. When she was done she took a step back. “I don’t know what any of this means, and while I’ve been away for a few years now, I can’t believe any of these men would kill Mayor Bradley or Grover.”
    “What about this Jeremy Vance?” I asked. “You said the guys managed to get rid of him. Maybe he was mad enough about being kicked out of the club to take revenge on the men who refused to accept him.”
    “It seems like a long shot,” Finn commented.
    “Yeah, we might be barking up the wrong tree with the poker angle,” I commented. “It still looks like the common link is the Island Council, although Lacy seemed to think we’d find the killer among the men who hang out at the lodge.”
    Siobhan moved around a few of her sticky notes and added a few others.
    “Why did Lacy think that?” Finn asked.
    “She said she overheard Grover arguing with one of the men; she wasn’t sure who. She seemed to think there was tension within the ranks of the good old boys.”
    Finn frowned but didn’t say anything.
    “Okay. Cody, why don’t you tell us what you found out from Francine concerning the mall project?” Siobhan directed.
    “While it may or may not have been true that Mayor Bradley met with the developer who wanted to build the mall, Francine said the development of the project was never going to pass the council and everyone knew it. When the developer first brought his idea forward, he was told he would be best served by looking for another location. Francine is of the opinion that even if the developer had managed to change Bradley’s mind, it wouldn’t have done any good because the other four members of the council were dead set against it.”
    “In other words, unless this developer was willing to kill all five council members there was really no way he was going to get a permit to do what he wanted to do,” Danny contributed.
    “Two of the five are dead,” Tara pointed out.
    “While that’s true, I think killing three people in order to build a mall is a long shot,” I countered. “There has to be an easier way to make a buck.”
    “I agree with Cait,” Siobhan spoke up. “We found out at the bank today that both Bradley and Grover were on the verge of bankruptcy. If this developer really wanted to build his mall all he had to do was bribe them. Killing them makes no sense. I think we can eliminate the developer as a key suspect.” Siobhan looked at Finn. “Do you agree?”
    “Actually, I do,” Finn answered. “I’ve done some checking and apparently, the developer has already applied for a permit to build on the Olympic Peninsula. I don’t see a monetary reason for him to have killed two men, and as far as I know, he didn’t have a