Mission Impawsible

by Krista Davis

  “Find Twinkletoes.”

  Trixie put her nose to the floor and followed something that was invisible to me, but not surprisingly, it took her straight to the dog food pantry. For once, the door was firmly closed. I opened it. Neat and orderly, it contained no cats or other creatures.

  I strolled down to the office. Still no sign of Twinkletoes. Trixie and I walked around the back of the inn. Maybe she was on one of the terraces enjoying the summer weather.

  No such luck. Where had that sweet girl gone? Trixie and I returned through the terrace door and walked through the empty dining area.

  I heard nails clicking on the floor before I saw Cooper. He sprang toward me joyously. “Hi, sweetie.” If only John were as lovable as Cooper.

  John walked in a moment later carrying Twinkletoes in his arms. He set her on the floor, and she rubbed her cheeks on his legs, winding between them.

  “Twinkletoes!” I dashed over to him and picked her up. “Where have you been?”

  John’s mouth dropped. “You have to be kidding me. There’s no use in pretending, Holly. I can’t believe you brought your poor cat over to my house and made her scratch on my windows to come inside.”

  I looked down at Twinkletoes in my arms. “What a silly kitty. Why did you do that? I’m sorry, John. She has never done anything like this before.”

  “Sure she hasn’t. Obviously you taught her to do it.”

  “How would a person teach a cat something like that?”

  “Holly, I don’t know. I’m sure there are ways. She didn’t just wander over to my house on her own.”

  “Actually, she did. Because I don’t even know where you’re staying.”

  He smacked his forehead like he thought I was impossible. “I find it alarming that you have no compunction about lying right to my face. Do you really think you can convince me that you haven’t been lurking around my house? For Pete’s sake, Trixie came to my door the other night. If you’re going to sneak around and spy on people, you should at least leave her at home. I’m done with you.” He held his palms out like he was stopping traffic. “Don’t send your cat or dog over anymore.” He turned and walked out the door.

  Of all the nerve!

  In my arms, Twinkletoes purred. I nuzzled her head and the volume increased. What a relief to have her back.

  Still holding her, I stepped out on the porch and yelled, “Hey, John!”

  He paused and looked back.

  “Thanks for bringing Twinkletoes home!”

  He waved dismissively and continued on his way.

  Zelda and her friend Axel approached from the other direction. “Hi. What brings you to the inn?”

  “Would you mind if we hung out here tonight?” asked Zelda. “Everyone is staring at me and whispering like they think I’m the one who whacked Hank.”

  “Sure. You’re welcome to check the magic fridge to see if there’s something you’d like to eat.”

  They walked inside, but I settled into a rocking chair with Twinkletoes. I couldn’t imagine what had possessed her to wander away from the inn.

  I stroked her gently and looked out at the quiet plaza. The sun was setting on Wagtail. Lights inside stores and restaurants glowed in the twilight. People walked peacefully along the sidewalks. How could there have been two murders and an attempted purse-snatching in my beloved Wagtail?

  I gasped aloud. How could I have overlooked something so obvious? There was a reason Hank hadn’t followed me that night. The person lurking around Zelda’s house hadn’t been Hank!

  Thirty-one

  Zelda had to know, immediately.

  Apologizing to Twinkletoes, I set her on the floor of the porch and dashed inside. In the empty lobby, I took a minute to compose myself. Pretending to be calm, I poked my head into the private kitchen. Axel and Zelda were in a sweet embrace.

  I cleared my throat. “Sorry to interrupt. Zelda, could I speak with you for a moment?”

  “No,” she said, not letting go of Axel.

  Crooking my finger and wiggling it, I forced a smile and said, “I need to speak with you out here. Please?”

  There was no mistaking her reluctance to release Axel. “I’ll be right back.” She glared at me and muttered, “This better be important.”

  When she emerged, I seized her hand and towed her over to the Dogwood Room in case Axel was listening at the door.

  “Holly! What’s going on?” Zelda looked at me with worried eyes.

  “Remember when I went over to your house to distract Hank and lure him away?”

  “It was last night, Holly. Of course I recall it.”

  “That wasn’t Hank hanging around outside of your house.”

  She stared at me in silence for a moment. “Of course it was. I saw him.”

  “You saw someone. I did, too. But it wasn’t Hank. A couple of hours earlier, Hank had stopped Mick from stealing Celeste’s purse. After I tried to lure Hank away from your house, I went to Tequila Mockingbird. That’s when Nessie found out Hank’s real identity and left in an uproar. Celeste said her mother embarrassed her to death and walked her home. Hank walked separately but kind of followed them. That means it couldn’t have been Hank outside of your house. He was with Celeste that entire time.”

  Zelda’s right hand trembled as she covered her mouth. “Who was it, then? Why would anyone else be stalking me?”

  I helped her to a seat, but she popped right back up and paced back and forth. Four steps away from me. Four steps back to me.

  “Axel?” she whispered. “Is that who you think it was?”

  “I don’t know.” I wanted to ask my next question kindly, but in the end, there wasn’t a nice way to put it. “Have you been flirting with anyone else?”

  Fortunately, she did not appear to be offended. “No. Well, maybe. You know what it’s like. Somebody says something funny in a bar and you give him a retort.”

  There were hundreds of single men in town! “Zelda, I want you to concentrate. Think back. Did you notice anything about that person? Height, weight, was he carrying anything? Did you notice what he had on?”

  Zelda shivered when she said, “He was a dark blob of a human in the night.”

  Unfortunately, I knew exactly what she meant. I had seen the same thing. A hunched-over person dodging through the yard.

  Zelda seized the neckline of her top in her fist. “What do I do now? If it was Axel, he’ll get angry if I try to ditch him.”

  I’d been thinking about that. We had to keep Zelda safe. “I think it’s best if you stay here tonight. The more people around you, the better. Maybe when Ben comes home he can walk over to your place with us to get what you need for the night.”

  “Ben? He couldn’t save me from an attacking wasp!”

  She was right. I sucked in a deep breath. “I guess we have to tell Dave.”

  “What if he thinks we’re making it up?”

  “That’s a chance we have to take,” I said.

  “Maybe we should talk to Ben first, so we don’t do anything stupid. He told me not to say anything to Dave unless he was present.”

  I could understand that. “Ben’s on two dates tonight.”

  “Two? Are you kidding?”

  “Amazing, isn’t it? Okay, here’s what we’ll do. Oma and Gustav will be back soon. Meanwhile the three of us will stick together, and I’ll try to get ahold of Ben.”

  “How do I explain to Axel that we can’t be alone?”

  That was a very good question. “Tell him you feel sorry for me because I had to stay here to work. Bring the food out to the dining area, and we’ll be in full public view.” My head was reeling, but another thought occurred to me. “Zelda, when did you first see Hank hanging around outside at night?”

  “The first night he was in town. After he came to the inn looking for me. You know th
at.”

  “I wanted to be sure,” I said.

  Zelda looked like she might burst into tears. “Why is this happening to me? Who would want to stalk me?” She chewed on her lower lip. “Holly, I’m scared.”

  I gave her a big hug. And I took comfort in knowing that she was safe at the inn, and would soon be surrounded by a lot of people.

  At that moment, Oma walked in with Gustav, followed by Sky and a woman who looked very much like her. Duchess bounded over to greet Trixie and Gingersnap while Sky introduced me to her sister, Cate.

  “I’m so very sorry about your husband,” I said.

  “Thank you. It came as such a shock. Poor Randall. In spite of his tendency to be bullheaded and opinionated, I never imagined that anyone would murder him.” She dabbed at her nose. “His last moments must have been horrific. I can’t get them out of my head.”

  I wished I had something comforting to say, but I suspected she was right. “Do they have any leads?”

  “If they do, they haven’t told me. There’s been such a fuss over his patient files. Our lawyer says the HIPAA laws permit them to be examined, but they’re getting a court order first. Meanwhile, one of his patients could have killed him and fled the country by now!”

  “Did he have dangerous patients?” I asked.

  “Of course. He didn’t talk about them, so I wouldn’t know who to look for, but one of them made the news a few years ago when he took a knife and ran down a street trying to kill people. Randall was called to testify in that case.”

  Could Randall have been looking for a patient? My gaze strayed to our guests who were returning from dinner. Was one of his patients staying with us? It was impossible to know.

  “Every place in Wagtail is still full up,” said Sky. “Do you think you could put a roll-away bed in our room for my sister?”

  “It will be tight, but we can do that. I assume it’s okay with Nessie?”

  “If she stays out like she did last night, she won’t even notice.”

  “You’re not worried about bunking with her anymore?”

  Sky brushed off my question with a sheepish “No.”

  Behind me, Zelda said, “I’ll help you, Holly!”

  I hadn’t heard her join me. “We’ll bring it up right away.”

  Sky and her sister thanked us and walked up the grand staircase.

  Zelda elbowed me and hissed. “This is our chance to look around in their room.”

  “For what?”

  “Anything suspicious or out of the ordinary.”

  “What about Axel?” I asked.

  “I’ll tell him something came up. Now that people are here, he wouldn’t dare hurt me. Right?”

  I hoped not.

  Zelda hurried back to the kitchen and escorted Axel out within two minutes flat. When he tried to kiss her, she deftly turned her cheek.

  Poor guy. He had to be wondering what he had done for her to go from not wanting to leave his arms to practically pushing him out the door.

  “Come on. I need a bed, too,” said Zelda.

  In the basement, we loaded two folding beds onto the elevator. Twinkletoes jumped on top of one for the ride to the second floor.

  I stopped by the housekeeping closet for sheets, blankets, towels, and pillows and stopped dead at the sight of the box of disposable gloves.

  Zelda bumped into me. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” Would Dave fingerprint boxes of gloves if I asked him to? But fingerprints on the boxes still wouldn’t mean someone had murdered Hank. My fingerprints were on them, too. It wouldn’t prove a connection at all.

  Sky had left the door open. She and her sister had opened a bottle of wine and sat at the table by the window.

  Zelda and I pushed the bed into the room. While I spread the bottom sheet over the corners, Zelda indiscreetly knelt on the floor.

  What did she think she was doing? I tried to cover for her and finished making the bed. She popped up, smiling. I left the towels on the bed as well as an additional blanket in case the night was cool.

  Sky thanked us profusely and promised to call if they needed anything else.

  The second the door closed, I hissed at Zelda. “What was that about?”

  She pulled a business card out of her pocket. It said Randall Donovan, MD, and gave a business address and phone number. On the reverse, someone had scribbled SaurianPail@selfdestructmail.com. “What does that mean?” I asked.

  She held it by the edges. “It means one of them met and talked with Randall before his death. How else would his business card have gotten into their room?”

  “It was under Nessie’s bed,” I murmured. “Saurian Pail? What kind of name is that?”

  “I don’t know. But doesn’t saurian sound familiar to you? Like something from a science-fiction movie?”

  I nodded. “The Saurians. Like a group from another planet or something.”

  “Centurians, maybe? Who are they?” asked Zelda.

  “Romans. I doubt there’s any connection.”

  “Ben will know!” Zelda’s eyes shone. “And in any event, it means one of them was in contact with Randall.”

  “His wife could have dropped it.”

  “Under the bed? I doubt it. She just arrived.”

  We took the elevator and the other bed up to the third floor and rolled it to the door of my apartment with Twinkletoes riding on top of it. I pushed it next to a wall in the living room, near the French doors. It had fit there well in the past.

  Zelda disappeared into the kitchen. When she returned, Zelda scooped up Twinkletoes and cooed at her. I could hear Twinkletoes purring.

  I phoned Ben but had to leave a voice mail message.

  “I wrapped Randall’s business card in plastic wrap so we wouldn’t get any more fingerprints on it.”

  “We’d better hand it over to Dave.”

  “No way. I’m giving it to Ben. He can do it. I’m mad at Dave for treating us like suspects. Not to mention that he better find the guy who has been stalk . . .“ Zelda paused before screaming, “My cats!”

  Thirty-two

  I tried to be calm. “What about them?”

  “They’re at home all by themselves with no one to protect them. If someone is stalking me, how do I know he won’t hurt my cats? What if he sets fire to my house? What if he breaks in? Didn’t you see Fatal Attraction?”

  As remote a possibility as that was, I understood completely. I would have been every bit as concerned about Trixie and Twinkletoes. “Let’s go get them.”

  “Really?” Zelda’s woe changed to hopefulness.

  “Sure. We can take a golf cart. How many carriers do you have?”

  “It’s not far. Some of them can buddy up in carriers,” said Zelda. “And Leo can ride in the golf cart like a dog.”

  I would have grabbed my white denim jacket, but I couldn’t find it. Instead, I slipped on a lightweight teal sweater. I checked the time. Casey would be on his way soon. I called him and asked him to meet us at Zelda’s house.

  “Safety in numbers,” I said.

  I let Oma know where we were going in case anyone needed something at the inn, and we hurried out to the golf carts. Trixie tagged along. I hoped Twinkletoes wouldn’t throw a hissy fit when she found she was having feline company for the night.

  When we parked in front of Zelda’s house, she started to step off the golf cart, but I nabbed her arm. “Wait.”

  We sat in the quiet night for a moment. Not a single light shone in Zelda’s windows or in the house next to hers.

  “What are we doing?” whispered Zelda.

  “We’re waiting for Casey and making sure the stalker isn’t hanging around.”

  “Oh! Good idea. I don’t see anyone, do you?”

  “Not yet,” I said.

  “Boo!�
��

  Zelda and I screamed. Trixie jumped out of the golf cart and ran to Casey, who had come up behind us.

  “You scared us half to death.” Zelda clasped a hand to her chest. “I thought you were the killer.”

  “Gosh, I’m sorry. How come you’re so jumpy?”

  While we walked to Zelda’s front door, I explained the situation to Casey. Trixie scampered along, apparently unconcerned, which reassured me.

  “You mean you called me to keep you safe from Zelda’s stalker?”

  Zelda unlocked the door and flicked on the lights.

  I thought I saw Casey’s chest puff up just a little. “Cool! Nobody has ever done that before.”

  Seven cats came running. I shut the door so they couldn’t race outside.

  Trixie yelped once. “Shh, Trixie,” I said. “You’re the guest here.”

  Zelda walked through the house with all the cats following her. Casey and I waited in the kitchen while she retrieved cat carriers.

  She returned and said, “Everything looks okay.”

  We helped her coax unhappy cats into the carriers.

  Zelda handed me a cat carrier. “Here, you take this one. Casey, would you carry the second one? I’ll lock up and bring Leo and the other two cats.”

  I kept a watchful eye out for Zelda’s stalker, but he didn’t show up. I was glad that we didn’t encounter him, but it made me wonder if the stalker knew Zelda was staying at the inn. Didn’t that point a finger of guilt at Axel?

  I didn’t mention that to her. Zelda was already jittery, and I didn’t think it would accomplish anything to tell her.

  We were packed into the golf cart like the proverbial sardines that cats liked to eat. Zelda was right about Leo. He rode in the golf cart like a dog, sitting up and looking around.

  At the inn, we piled into the elevator. Trixie had a fear of small, enclosed spaces and balked at riding the elevator. She waited until the doors were closing before taking off. She met us at the door to the apartment, wagging her tail.