What if his rage was bogus? What if he’d killed Dottie? What would his motive have been? Maybe The Ice Castle was suffering financially. Maybe he needed money. If he pawned the brooch, he wouldn’t get its full twenty-five thousand dollar value, but perhaps half was enough to solve the problem. Was the brooch even missing? What if Ray had taken out a life insurance policy on Dottie? She had a business to run. Both Matthew and I had invested in what was called key man life insurance policies so that, if one of us were to die, the business would be the beneficiary, and the proceeds would go into Fromagerie Bessette to help with the transition. Wrestling with the theory made me shiver. Honestly, I couldn’t believe Ray had killed his wife. From all I’d seen, he had adored Dottie. They had grown up in Providence. They had built a solid life here, with the ice rink and the pastry shop. They had been tireless at raising money for the Providence Children’s Fund.
