Whisker of a Doubt (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series Book 6)

by Leighann Dobbs

  Albert looked cross. “Well, I thought you said you wanted to hear about checkers strategy.”

  “Maybe later. First, I want to help you get to the great beyond, and for that, I need to ask about your son-in-law, Desmond. I’ve heard some talk that he’s not quite on the up-and-up.”

  Albert made a face. “Well, I have to admit, at first, I didn’t think he was good enough for my Gemma, but you know, he’s not such a bad guy.”

  “Oh really? You mean you got along well with him?”

  “Well, of course we had a few tiffs,” Albert scoffed. “But he ended up being okay.”

  “I heard he was selling off some of your old postmaster memorabilia. Stamps and stuff.”

  “Well, I had given him a few things.” Albert’s face fell. “I’d hoped he was starting his own collection, but if he was selling them off, I guess not.”

  “What about his carpal tunnel problem?”

  “Yes. Bad thing, that. He’s been out of work for quite a while, you know.”

  “I know, but do you think the problem is real?”

  “What? Well, of course it is. The doctor said so.”

  I sat back and ate another Triscuit. I wondered about that. Albert seemed pretty sure that Desmond wasn’t a faker or a cheater, and I had to admit that I was kind of hoping for Albert’s sake that he was right. It would crush him to discover his own son-in-law had killed him.

  Albert had said he’d given the stamps and other memorabilia to Desmond, so maybe he hadn’t stolen the things he was trying to sell to Barney. It was also possible Albert had given him some stamps and memorabilia and Desmond had taken some too. I’d have to investigate further. It was clear I wasn’t going to get any more information on Desmond from Albert. I had one last person to ask about.

  “And what about Nathan Anderson?”

  “Who?”

  “He’s friends with Desmond. Did you ever give him stamps?”

  “No. Never heard of him.”

  That didn’t mean much. If Nathan was into something with Desmond or trying to get at the letter through Desmond, Albert wouldn’t necessarily know who he was.

  “So will you be at the checkers game tomorrow?” I asked.

  Albert stood, his ghost swirling and fading. “Of course I will. In spirit. Now I hear the ethers calling. I hope what I had to say was of use, Willa, because this limbo just is not fun. Hopefully you’ll be able to help me soon.”

  Albert poofed away, and I was left in the room, alone with Pandora.

  Meow. Pandora looked at me knowingly.

  “That wasn’t very enlightening, was it?” I asked.

  Meoooo.

  “But I kind of believed what he said about Desmond, didn’t you?”

  Pandora trotted over to the couch and jumped up in my lap, rubbing her head against my hand and purring. I took that as agreement. She kind of believed Albert too.

  “And it seems like Barney and Albert really were friends. At least they didn’t have a big heated disagreement that would warrant Barney killing him.”

  Meroop.

  “I suppose that leaves Felicity,” I said.

  Pandora stopped purring and jerked her head to look at me. Meooo.

  I got a very negative vibe from the cat. Clearly, Pandora did not like Felicity. Who could blame her?

  “Yeah. I don’t like her very much either, and that’s why she’s my next best suspect. Well, her and Nathan.”

  Pandora frowned at me. Maroo.

  Pandora’s meow sounded like the word no. As in “No, I don’t like her either.” No surprise there. I had a feeling she liked Fluff even less, judging by the way they hissed at each other through my store window.

  “I really hope Desmond wasn’t taking advantage of Albert. Albert seems nice, and I’d hate to think of anyone taking advantage of him like that.”

  Meow.

  “But someone killed him. That person’s going to have to go to jail. If it turned out to be Felicity, that would just be dandy.”

  Meyoooow!

  I took that as agreement, even though it still sounded like a no.

  My phone dinged on the coffee table. A text from Striker.

  Thinking of you. Have a good sleep.

  Good feelings washed over me as I snuggled down on the couch with Pandora. Albert had cleared up a few things, and I was one step closer to finding his killer. Not only that, but I felt like I was developing a closer bond with my cat, not to mention taking my relationship with Striker to a whole new level.

  21

  The next morning, I arrived at the bookstore to find the regulars waiting outside with coffees in hand. I unlocked the antique oak door, and Bing handed me a coffee as they made their way to the sofa and chairs.

  Pandora trotted over to the seating area and plopped down at Bing’s feet then stared up at him adoringly. She never looked at me that way.

  Josiah sat slumped in his chair, leaning forward, elbows on knees, fiddling with the tab of the Styrofoam cup in his hands.

  “What’s the matter, Josiah? You look down in the dumps,” Bing said.

  “Uh, it’s nothing, really. The checkers tournament was this morning, and it just didn’t seem right with what happened to Albert.”

  “Oh dear, I forgot all about that. You guys sure do play early,” Hattie said. Today, she was wearing a lavender-colored pantsuit with a white shirt. Cordelia had on a white pantsuit with a lavender-colored shirt. They were both bright-eyed and alert, as usual. Worry washed over me. If the story of the pleasantry charm was true, and it somehow got reversed, how would that affect my regulars? Or me, for that matter.

  “It’s the postmaster way, you know, getting up early to deliver the mail, so we always hold the checkers tournament at six a.m. Barney won this year, but even he didn’t seem that happy about it.”

  “I could understand, considering the circumstances,” Hattie clucked.

  “I came in second, but I couldn’t take any joy in it.” Josiah leaned back and sighed. “Funny thing. The whole time, I felt Albert was there, looking over our shoulders.”

  I raised a brow but didn’t say anything. Little did he know, Albert really was there, looking over their shoulders.

  “What’s going on with the murder investigation, Willa?” Hattie asked. “Does Gus have any suspects?”

  “You know Gus. She doesn’t discuss her cases with me,” I said.

  Cordelia leaned forward and patted me on the knee, her eyes full of mischief. “Yes, but that hunky Sheriff Striker shares things with you now, doesn’t he?”

  My cheeks warmed, and I sipped my coffee to cover up. “He’s not really allowed to tell me about cases or anything.”

  Cordelia and Hattie exchanged a knowing look. Hattie said, “I’m sure he’s not allowed, but I bet he does. Anyway, I think it’s probably the son-in-law.”

  I seized my opportunity. “Didn’t you say that your niece knew him or something? What’s her name? Brenda?” I actually didn’t know their niece’s name, but this was a good way to find out.

  “Not Brenda, she’s the florist. Elise is the nurse.” Hattie pressed her lips together. “But she doesn’t know Desmond. She works at the clinic where he’s being treated for that injury.”

  “Oh, that’s right. Is that the clinic on High Street?”

  “Yes, it is. Very nice place, and do you know she has her LNA? She went to school for several years for that and…”

  I sipped my coffee and let their conversation fade into the background as it turned from Hattie and Cordelia’s niece’s resume to the local gossip. I nodded at the appropriate junctures in the conversation, but in my head, I was working a plan.

  Maybe I could make use of the charmed truth tea Pepper had mentioned to find out if Desmond really was faking his injury. I knew Striker said Desmond had an alibi for the time of Albert’s murder, but what if somehow he faked that too?

  For Albert’s sake, I hoped the rumors about Desmond were exaggerated, but I was going to find out one way o
r the other. And by nighttime, I could either cross him off my suspect list or report to Striker that he’d faked the alibi.

  As the regulars got up and left, tossing their Styrofoam cups in the trash, I whipped out my phone and texted Pepper.

  Meet at 3. We’re going to the clinic to find out what Desmond was really up to. Bring your truth tea.

  She texted back right away.

  Count me in.

  I had the rest of the day to wait, so I started shelving books. Hanna had the day off. I could’ve left the stocking for her to do tomorrow, but I liked staying busy. Pandora was zonked out in the cat bed again, but I got the impression, even though she was sleeping, she was watching me. It seemed like she was waiting for something. Probably worried I was going to make good on my threat to bring her to the vet.

  I spent the rest of the morning stocking the bookshelves and waiting on customers. I had a pretty good day, selling several old Agatha Christie hardcovers and some newer paperbacks from some of my favorite mystery authors.

  Shortly after noon, the bells chimed, and Striker came in.

  He smiled upon seeing me, and I felt we’d turned a corner in our relationship. Things were different now, and it was for the better. Now we shared a secret, and it was bringing us closer.

  “Hey, I just wanted to swing by.” He glanced down the aisles to see if anyone else was in the store. “Seen any ghosts lately?”

  “Well, as a matter of fact, I did talk to Albert last night.” I picked up some history books and gestured for him to follow me down to the history aisle.

  “And what did he have to say? Anything enlightening?”

  “He seems to think Desmond is on the up-and-up.”

  Striker made a face. “He was on Gus’s suspect list but came up with an alibi, like I told you yesterday. You still think he faked it?”

  “Maybe. I wanted to double-check with Albert,” I said, shoving a book into its spot on the shelf. “It’s always good to double-check things. People lie. I also found out that Albert and Barney Delaney had somewhat of an adversarial friendship but nothing one would kill over, according to Albert.”

  “Okay, Gus has Delaney on her suspect list too.”

  “How are things going with Gus, anyway? Are you able to steer her in the direction we want?”

  “No steering necessary. Really, we just want to find the killer, right? We don’t need magic or ghosts for that, just good old-fashioned detective work. ’Course, if we get a good tip from a spirit, I’m all for following that up too. Either way, we put the killer behind bars, and if there is any truth to this pleasantry charm and the ingredients, then we won’t have to worry, because the killer won’t be free to dig it up.”

  “Yeah, I suppose so.” I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen if we didn’t find the letter. Would it fall into evil hands? Somehow I knew instinctively that we had to make sure the letter was safe, but how? Only one way: we had to catch the killer with the letter. Or search their house for it after they were caught.

  Striker stepped closer, his finger tracing a line on the back of my hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll catch the person and get the letter.”

  Had he read my thoughts?

  “No, he can’t read thoughts.” Franklin popped up beside Striker, scaring the bejesus out of me.

  Striker looked concerned. “What is it?”

  “You can’t see him?” I gestured to where Franklin stood, and Striker looked.

  “No, I don’t see anyone.”

  Robert Frost popped up next to Franklin. “He can’t see us. Only you can. Didn’t we mention that?”

  Franklin nodded. “Your grandmother put us in place to protect the store, and as the new owner, you get to be the only human to see us. Aren’t you lucky?”

  “Yeah, real lucky.”

  “Yeah, we are lucky,” Striker said, then his frown deepened. “Wait. Is there some ghost here that I can’t see?”

  I nodded. I didn’t really want to tell him that the ghosts were Franklin Pierce and Robert Frost. That was stretching it a little too far. Maybe once we knew each other a lot better. “Two, actually. Bookstore ghosts. They just stay in the store, apparently.”

  Striker looked around as if wishing he could see them. He waved his hand through the air right at Franklin’s midsection. Franklin doubled over in mock pain just as Striker pulled his hand back. “I do feel something cold.”

  “Yep, that was one of them.”

  “Huh. Kinda neat. Well, I guess I can’t see them all.”

  “Hopefully, you can see the important ones, though.”

  “Yeah, hopefully. Between the two of us, I think we have the spirit world covered.” Striker stepped closer. “I don’t see anyone in the shop, so seeing as we’re alone…”

  I glanced behind him to see Franklin and Robert tittering. If you’ve never seen ghosts titter, it’s something to behold. They looked rather silly with their shoulders touching and hands over their mouths as their ghostly figures swirled around. Robert raised his bushy white eyebrows and nodded at me then pointed to Striker. “He’s a keeper.” And then the two of them disappeared.

  “We are now.”

  Striker leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on my lips. It was sweet and gentle and tasted like tuna fish sandwiches. Okay, maybe the tuna part wasn’t so pleasant, but the rest of it was.

  “I’m glad that we have this new connection,” he said.

  “Me too.”

  He stepped away, and I resisted the urge to pull him back.

  “But I don’t want you to think that our new connection means I’m going to look the other way while you put yourself in danger.”

  Uh-oh. Here it came. Now he would start acting like Gus.

  “Okay,” I said with a noncommittal tone.

  “Seriously, I don’t want you doing anything crazy. There’s a dangerous killer around, and who knows what kinds of things he can do? If it’s someone that knows about magic, or a so-called witch like Felicity, they could fight back in unexpected ways. And while I appreciate your help, I think you really should leave the detecting up to the cops.”

  “Oh, I will. I’m just gathering information for you,” I said.

  He backed away down the aisle. “Okay, but I want you to promise not to take any dangerous chances.”

  I smiled and nodded. “I promise.”

  Striker left, and I stared after him as he disappeared down the aisle, wondering if it was a bad thing that I hadn’t told him about my upcoming excursion with Pepper. Going to the clinic and asking about Desmond wouldn’t be dangerous, would it?

  I proceeded to stock books and tidy up the shop, keeping an eye on a sleepy Pandora until Pepper arrived promptly at three. To my dismay, she did not have her quilted tea cozy.

  “What’s going on? I thought you were going to bring a tea to help make Hattie’s niece talk?”

  “Oh, I did.” She held up an insulated travel mug with her shop logo on it. “It’s in here. I didn’t think it would be normal to bring a whole tea cozy to the clinic. That only makes sense when you are visiting someone at their home, so I opted for just putting it in this mug. It should stay warm until we get there.”

  Oh, good idea. I grabbed a couple of coupons from my counter. “I’m going to pretend like I’m there to give her a coupon as part of a friends-and-family promotion. Since Hattie and Cordelia are such good friends, I wanted to swing by with the coupon for Elise.”

  “Good thinking.” Pepper had gone over to Pandora’s cat bed and was stroking her and murmuring like you would to a child. Pandora looked up at her. The sun filtering through the window gave her eyes a golden glow as she meowed softly at my friend.

  “I think she might not be feeling well,” I said.

  Pepper frowned at me. “No, she’s fine. Just tired.”

  “Tired? From what?”

  Pepper smiled and glanced at Pandora. “Cat stuff. You know.”

  I didn’t know, but I also didn’t have time to wonder abou
t it. I was on a mission. “Are you ready to go?”

  Pepper stopped petting and came over to the door. “Yep.”

  I opened the door and gestured for her to go out first so I could lock it up. She turned back to Pandora and gave a little wave. “You be good now, you hear?”

  Meow!

  I wasn’t sure what the meow meant, but somehow I doubted Pandora was agreeing to “be good.”

  22

  Pandora watched Willa and Pepper get into Willa’s Jeep. Finally! She’d thought Willa would never leave. Her seventh sense had told her hours ago that the cats were on the scent of Nathan Anderson, and she didn’t want to miss out.

  Pandora ran for the closet and made her escape, glancing back down the street to see Barney Delaney at the front door of the bookshop. Oh well, he wasn’t going to get in for another free reference book. Yeah, Pandora had been keeping track, and Barney still owed Willa money.

  She watched as he cupped his hands to his face and looked in the narrow window beside the oak door then peered into the front window. Finally, he noticed the closed sign and proceeded to take a blue Post-it note pad out of his pocket, write a note, and stick it on the window. Who carried Post-it note pads with them?

  Maybe he was going to make good on that book, though. That would be good. Willa needed to watch finances to keep Pandora supplied with the premium cat food she favored. Speaking of Willa, Pandora was getting a little frustrated with the lack of communication. Sure, it seemed like Willa was warming to the idea of communicating with her, but she was getting the transmissions all wrong.

  Take all her talk about Felicity Bates last night, for example. Pandora had tried to tell her Felicity was not the killer and that she didn’t have the letter, but did Willa listen? No. She thought Pandora was expressing her dislike for Felicity. Granted she liked the redheaded witch about as much as she liked getting a hairball stuck in her throat, but that was totally not what she’d been trying to tell her human.