“I believe you, Chance.” His use of my nickname sent a fresh wave of happiness tingling through me. We walked slowly back across the park. “Since I’m working a shift with her tonight at the police station, I’ll try to figure out a way to do that.”
“And I’ll try to get Albert to tell me more about Desmond and the argument with Barney. Maybe it will at least let us rule them out. Then we can work on getting actual evidence against Felicity and Nathan.”
“Just promise you’ll be careful, Chance,” Striker said, facing me as we waited at the corner. “We need to be able to prove our suspect had means, motive, and opportunity beyond a whisper of a doubt before we present it to Gus. Otherwise, she won’t believe it, and we need to catch the person responsible soon, before things get uglier than they already are.”
19
Pandora wished Willa were on board with the magical goings-on in Mystic Notch and the important roles the cats played. Pretending to be fast asleep in her cat bed so Willa wouldn’t take her somewhere when she needed to sneak out was getting tedious.
Pandora opened one eye and watched Willa walk down the street from the comfort of her cat bed. Her seventh sense had told her to meet the cats outside the Bates mansion. They were tailing Felicity Bates this afternoon to see if she was the one digging up ingredients, and Pandora didn’t want to miss out. She waited until Willa was out of sight then ran for her escape route in the closet.
Pandora raced across town, slowing to a trot only once she’d scurried under the imposing black wrought-iron fence on the edge of the Bates property. Up ahead, Otis, Sasha, Tigger, and Hope were crouched down in the field, watching the house.
She weaved her way through the tall grasses, keeping one eye on the foreboding mansion that loomed in the distance as she made her way toward the cats. The Bates mansion was like something out of a gothic movie—all turrets and widows’ walks and eyebrow windows that gave you the impression the house was watching you. Pandora suppressed a shiver and let the late-afternoon sunshine warm her fur as she breathed deep the earthy scent of freshly fallen leaves. The breeze tickled her whiskers as she came up to the group.
Otis turned around. “It’s about time you got here. What’s wrong? Did your human keep you cooped up?”
Pandora bristled. Did he always have to make a snide comment? She couldn’t help but retaliate. “At least I have a human all to myself.”
“Stop with the arguing. We’re on a mission,” Hope said. She was the youngest of the group but already very wise. Pandora knew she was destined for greatness and had already shown an aptitude for leadership. Perhaps one day, if Inkspot decided to step down, Hope would take his place.
“Where are the others?” Pandora asked.
“They’re looking for signs of digging around town. We’ve only discovered one of the relics. We don’t know how many have been dug up. They’re raising their seventh senses together to sniff it out.”
The cats’ extraordinary senses were made more powerful when they focused in a group, especially their seventh sense, which allowed them to hone in on something specific.
Pandora settled down on her haunches. “So what’s happened with Felicity?”
“Nothing,” Tigger said. “We followed her for hours, and all she has done is get her nails done and go clothes shopping.”
“All this running around town is exhausting,” Otis said.
“Maybe if you lost some weight, you could keep up.” The words were out of Pandora’s mouth before she could stop them, and she regretted them immediately when Hope speared her with an angry look. She really shouldn’t lower herself to Otis’s level, but she just couldn’t help herself.
“Anyway, we raised our seventh senses while we were here, and there’s no sign of the letter in the house. Or the ingredients,” Sasha said.
“But it has to be Felicity,” Pandora said. “I heard her arguing with Nathan Anderson outside the bookstore.”
“Arguing?” Otis frowned.
“Yes, about the letter.”
“If they were arguing, that means they might not be in on this together,” Hope said. “What exactly were they saying?”
Pandora thought about it. She’d only heard mention of the letter, then Fluff had jumped in the window and distracted her. “I’m not sure, but they were definitely at odds.”
The cats exchanged an uneasy glance.
“Perhaps one of them has it, and the other is trying to take it,” Sasha said.
“Yeah, but which one?” Otis asked.
Hope held up a paw. “Shh. I think I hear something.”
Hiss!
Pandora leapt at the sound behind her, her heart slamming against her rib cage when she saw a giant, white, fluffy ball. Fluff.
The cats all jumped back, and Pandora instinctively put her body between Fluff and Hope. Pandora and Hope had done battle with Fluff before, and Fluff’s powers were strong. Fluff had tried once to force Hope over to the side of evil, and Pandora could tell by the predatory gleam in Fluff’s orange eyes as his gaze fell upon Hope that he wasn’t done trying. He had almost succeeded before, and Pandora shuddered to think of what might happen if he had.
Hope stood tall and stepped out from behind Pandora. She had grown a lot since the battle. Maybe now Fluff would be no match for her. Fluff might have been thinking the same. He shrank back just the tiniest bit.
“What are you malcontents doing out here? This is private property,” Fluff hissed.
“What are you going to do? Call the cops?” Tigger asked.
Fluff glared at him, and Tigger inched back half a paw.
“You people shouldn’t be spying. Soon all your goody-two-shoes ways will be for nothing. And you’ll be sorry that you crossed me.” Fluff’s gaze fell on Hope again. “Though there is still time for some of you to come over to my side.”
“Not on your life,” Hope said.
“Have it your way, then. You’ll soon see what happens when things are not so pleasant in Mystic Notch.”
Pandora’s blood chilled, and she glanced uneasily at the others. Their ears were angled forward, their whiskers twitching.
“What do you mean?” Otis asked.
“You know what I mean.” Fluff sat back on his haunches. “The reversal of the pleasantry charm.”
“Before it can be reversed, all the ingredients need to be recovered,” Hope said.
“Of course.” Fluff licked his paw and ran it behind his pink-and-white ear.
“And your human does not seem to be the type to dig,” Otis added, eliciting a scorching look from Fluff.
“Neither does yours. In fact, she’s an old lady. Very old. I highly doubt she’s up for digging.”
Otis drew himself up taller. “My human has more magic in her little finger than yours does in her whole body!”
“Yeah, we’ll see what good that does her once my human finds all the ingredients. Then she will be able to reverse the pleasantry charm, and Mystic Notch will be ours. In fact, I hear your human is quite ancient. Perhaps only the good and pleasant magic is keeping her alive. What do you think will happen to her once the charm is reversed? As soon as my human finds the let—” Fluff snapped his mouth shut and looked around nervously.
Otis pounced on his words “Aha! So your human does not have the letter!”
Fluff frowned. “What? No. I didn’t say that she didn’t have it.”
“You didn’t have to, because if she did, she’d surely be digging up the ingredients right now,” Hope said, glancing at the house. “And from what we can tell, she hasn’t done any digging, unless you consider rummaging in the sale rack at Ducharme’s department store digging.”
Fluff’s whiskers twitched, and he glared at the cats. “Fine then. But yours must not have it either if you are here looking for it.”
“Well, fine then!” Otis arched his back and stepped closer to Fluff. Pandora had only seen him exhibit bravery once before, but she knew he had it in him. Otis was more complicated than he let
on. She had a sneaking suspicion his ornery and uncaring demeanor was just for show, and she vowed to be less antagonistic toward him. That might not last long, but at least she’d try.
The cats all glared at each other, the only sound a few guttural growls and an odd hiss here and there.
After a few seconds, Fluff stood. “Okay. I’ll give it to you that neither one of us has the letter. But that’s okay, my friends, because now it’s game on. Whoever finds the letter first will be the winner, and unlike your band of strays, I am no loser.” And with that, he presented his backside and stalked off toward the house, his fluffy tail high in the air.
“Well, I guess that answers the question. Felicity does not have the letter,” Otis said.
“Then that means she’s not the killer,” Sasha said.
“Then who is?” Pandora wondered.
“Is it Nathan? Desmond?”
“What about the wife?” Tigger asked, and everyone turned to him in surprise.
“The wife?” Otis asked.
Tigger grimaced. “Well, sometimes when I watch television with Elspeth in the house, she likes to watch detective shows, and it’s usually the spouse that did it.”
“I do not think that is the case here,” Hope said gently.
Tigger looked down at the ground. “Probably not. There is much more at stake here than spousal jealousy or anger.”
Hope turned to Pandora. “You heard Nathan and Felicity arguing about the letter. Perhaps Nathan is the one we should look into next. Felicity was likely trying to get him to hand it over.”
“I heard that Desmond was working with Nathan,” Sasha said.
“Desmond would have known about the letter because he was related to Albert,” Tigger added.
“Maybe they are all in it together?” Sasha suggested.
“There is another one who might have known about the letter,” Otis said. “The antique dealer, Barney Delaney. One of the feral cats said they heard him arguing with Albert, and Albert’s son-in-law, Desmond, was seen in Barney’s shop. Perhaps they are working together.”
Pandora remembered the bookstore regulars talking about Barney Delaney and how he would likely win the checkers contest now. “Perhaps Albert’s death had nothing to do with the letter and more to do with anger. Barney may have killed him over an argument or their rivalry at checkers.”
Tigger’s whiskers twitched. “But you said yourself that Felicity knows about the letter. Seems more likely that is the reason for Albert’s death. And we know it was taken from his body.”
“Good point, Pandora, but my vote is on Nathan,” Otis said. “His family goes way back to Hester’s time, and he clearly knows about the letter if he was arguing with Felicity.”
Pandora’s heart warmed at Otis’s words. Apparently, he did trust her judgment.
Hope stood and started toward the edge of the field, the others following. “We have many suspects to follow. Let us go back to the barn and see if the others have found more evidence of digging.”
“And take a catnap,” Otis added. “We need to be fresh to follow these suspects, as things could get dangerous.”
“Good point,” Sasha said. “I vote we stick together from here on in. We are more powerful in numbers.”
“We’ll confer with the others as to which suspect to start with.” Otis glanced at Pandora. “But from what we’ve heard, maybe Pandora is right, and it should be Nathan Anderson.”
20
I returned from my late lunch with Striker to find Pandora still asleep in her bed. Apparently, she’d slept the whole time, as I didn’t find signs of any mischief in the shop. She looked completely exhausted and was barely able to trot out to the car for the ride home. I worried once again if something was wrong with her. Should I make a vet appointment?
“What’s with you, Pandora? Are you coming down with something?” Did cats come down with colds like people? I’d had Pandora for several years and hadn’t known her to get sick once. “You’re acting like you’ve been out running around all afternoon instead of sleeping in the sun in your cat bed.”
Pandora let out a snore.
I put my hand on her head to feel if she was hot, and she stirred slightly, purring lazily. “Do I need to take you to the vet?”
Pandora’s eyes flew open. Mewooo.
Weird, it almost sounded like she said “no” as if she was really trying to communicate with me. It wasn’t the first time I’d thought that, but it was the first time I was willing to entertain the thought that it might actually be true.
As soon as I opened the door of my Jeep, my worries about Pandora’s health were put to rest. Pandora sprang up and leapt over my lap, out of the car, and onto the porch. I figured the promise of getting her supper must have rejuvenated her.
In the kitchen, Pandora ran straight for her food bowl while I rummaged in the cabinet for cat food. “You want salmon or tuna?”
Meowna.
“Okay, tuna, it is.”
I set about filling up her dish, and Pandora hopped up on the counter again, batting at the dandelion tea. This time I didn’t yell at her. She was right. I needed to drink some of that tea to encourage an Albert sighting.
“Yeah, I get it. I need to find out about Desmond and Barney.” Great, now I was talking to her as if I expected her to understand. Funny thing was, she was looking at me just like she could.
I finished filling her cat bowl and started making tea. Good thing I’d eaten a lot at my late lunch with Striker, because I didn’t have any food here. And without Striker to bring me dinner, I’d have to fend for myself.
I found a tomato and a jar of jalapeños in the fridge. I sliced the tomato and set each slice on top of a Triscuit then topped each of those off with a jalapeño ring while the water boiled.
Once everything was ready, I retired to the living room and lounged on the couch, sipping the tea and munching the Triscuits. It was a good combination if not a little spicy. Too bad I didn’t have any sour cream to cut the heat.
My gaze fell on the paperweight. Maybe it would show me a clue. But tonight it didn’t show anything unless you’d consider a reflection of my white ceiling a clue. Maybe it didn’t produce clues on command. It might be like ghosts who never popped up when you wanted information from them but always seemed to be around when you didn’t want them.
Across the room, Pandora sat in a chair, staring at me intently. I was glad that she seemed to have perked up, but honestly, it was kind of unnerving the way her unblinking eyes were glued to mine. I stared back, thinking she would look away. Nope, she kept on with her luminescent, unwavering stare. Well, if she thought I was going blink or look away first, she had another think coming.
Out of the corner of my eye, a misty swirl caught my attention, and I wavered.
Meow!
Pandora’s triumphant meow indicated her jubilation at winning the staring contest, but I didn’t care. The mist was starting to take a human form. I gulped down the rest of the tea.
“Albert?”
The mist continued to materialize. Yep, definitely human.
“Albert, is that you?”
“Huh? Oh, yes, it’s me.” Albert came into focus.
“How are you doing?” I asked, wondering if that was an appropriate question for a ghost. Albert didn’t look like he was doing that great.
“Oh, sorry, Willa. I’m a little distracted. You know the checkers tournament is tomorrow morning, and well… this will be the first time in thirty years that I won’t be in it. Seeing all my old friends there…” Albert sighed. “Oh well. Nothing can be done about it, but I feel so very odd.”
“I’m sorry, Albert. It must be awful to be in limbo, still seeing your old life but unable to be part of it. Maybe I can help you move on to the afterlife. I hear it’s much nicer than the state you’re in now.”
Albert perked up. “Oh, really? Well, then I’m all for that.” Then he turned thoughtful. “Though I will miss seeing my family.”
“
I hear over in the afterlife, it only seems like a short while before you are reunited with your loved ones.”
Albert looked dismayed. “Well, I wouldn’t want them to die soon.”
“Oh, no. No,” I corrected. “They live out their full lives here, but it just seems quick to you over there.” At least that was what I’d heard from Franklin and Robert.
Albert appeared to be mollified by that, and he sat down on the chair. “Very well, then. What can I do to help?”
“A couple of things. First I wanted to ask about Barney Delaney. Your son-in-law, Desmond, said he saw you arguing. What did you argue about?”
Albert waved his ghostly hand around. “Oh, that Barney. He’s very serious. Guy can’t take a joke. You know we both collect stamps, right? Of course, being former postmasters, that’s not unusual, and Barney is in the antique business, so he knows a lot. Anyway, he wanted to know if I had any uncanceled stamps from my day. Well, I thought he was implying that I would have stolen them right off the letters! I got a little hotheaded, and we had a row.”
“Oh? Why would he think that?”
“Turns out he didn’t. It was a misunderstanding. He wasn’t implying any such thing. Then, of course, when the talk turned to checkers, it got a little heated again. You know there’s a strategy to checkers, and we differ on best practices. It looked like we were arguing, but it was really just passionate debate.”
“No, I didn’t actually know that,” I said, taking another Triscuit, tomato, and jalapeño snack and munching on it. If he and Barney weren’t really arguing, then Barney had less of a motive for killing him. This was good information as far as narrowing down suspects went, but I hoped he wasn’t going to launch into a long-winded description of how to play checkers. I doubted there was much of a strategy.
Albert scooted forward in his seat. “Oh certainly. Well, you know, if you’re the one to go first, you should—”
“Albert,” I cut him off. I didn’t really have time for this. Ghosts were notorious for not hanging around very long, and I didn’t want to waste time talking about checkers when I could be getting the scoop on the next suspect: his son-in-law, Desmond. “I really could use your help on something else.”
Whisker of a Doubt (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 6) Page 9
