Pawsitively Fatal (Silver Springs Cozy Mystery Series Book 4)

by Ginny Gold

Drew points toward Maggie’s cell phone sitting on the table between them. “It’s on there.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Opal can’t believe her eyes, though they’ve never deceived her in the past. The trinket that has been the talk of her community of cats is destroyed. Shattered into a million pieces. Gone into oblivion.

  The flash of light wasn’t what she expected but it also doesn’t surprise her. That trinket held powers that no human should ever have accessed.

  At least according to Jester.

  Jester. He’ll be thrilled to hear that their mission has been fulfilled. But it will have to wait until tomorrow. Right now she has to get through the night in a house full of guests and dogs that are likely unhappy with the outcome of this latest confrontation.

  Opal slips under the couch and listens and waits. No one speaks. There is no more barking from the bedroom where the dogs have been locked. She braves a peek out from beneath her hiding spot and sees that the man called Travis has fire in his eyes.

  Jester must have been right all along. The women who had possession of the time traveling powers weren’t accessing it. They were just holding on to everything. Keeping it all safe.

  But they weren’t doing a very good job. People like Travis kept showing up, trying to get the keys and trinket.

  As Opal watches Travis, she knows he was only out for power. The greed burns in his eyes and Opal retreats back under the couch. She’s relieved that the likes of Travis won’t be able to alter the course of the world by changing history.

  And she’s thrilled that the humans have made the right decision. The dogs were too trusting to think that time travel would be safe in the hands of humans. She can’t wait to gloat in front of Suzie and Oscar.

  ***

  Oscar’s barking stops first. He’s always been able to feel the location of the trinket on the cat collar, something Suzie envies but won’t admit. His silence is unnerving and Suzie asks, “What happened?”

  Oscar turns to look at her. His eyes have lost some of their color. They’re duller suddenly. “It’s gone. It’s all over.”

  Suzie sits heavily. The bathroom tiles are cold but she barely notices. “How do you know?”

  “I can’t feel it anymore. It’s gone.”

  Suzie can’t believe it and lies down in defeat. Her purpose for so long has been to keep the keys and trinket safe from people like Travis while making sure the women who owned everything kept it all alive. And now in a single night everything is gone.

  There was so much potential for their people to do good. They could have brought life saving treatments from the future. Or brought them to the past. Suzie knows they wouldn’t have abused the power like Travis, who had only greed and desire for wealth in his eyes.

  “We should have done more to make sure they saw the good,” Suzie whines from her spot on the floor.

  “It’s too late,” Oscar says. It’s clear that he’s also lost a part of himself when the trinket was smashed. “It’s over,” he says again.

  “The cats won. We’ll never be able to make peace with their species now. They’ll act all elitist. They’ll flaunt their win in our faces.”

  “They already did all that.”

  Suzie knows Oscar is right. “But it will get worse. We’ll never be able to live in harmony. If we’d been able to keep everything safe, we could have proved to them that we could all benefit from time travel.”

  Oscar doesn’t respond. He’s given up.

  CHAPTER 20

  Maggie picks up her phone and navigates to her videos. She presses play and hands it to Daniel. He leans back and watches, but everyone can hear the audio.

  “This, I can work with,” Daniel says, setting his burrito back on his plate and watching the recording.

  “Don’t play games with me, Ginger Rae. I know exactly what’s been going on in Silver Springs for the past year. You think Josh, Mitch and Karl were acting alone? I was the mastermind behind it all,” they hear Travis’s voice say through the mechanical filter of the microphone.

  “Some mastermind,” Erline’s voice says, muffled by a laugh.

  “So things didn’t go as planned. For them. But I will be successful. I haven’t done anything wrong.” The arrogance in Travis’s voice makes Maggie’s skin crawl.

  Daniel stops the recording and looks around the room. “So I just let a career criminal walk away from your house,” he says, dejection in his voice. “I guess I should get going. It looks like I have a long night ahead of me. Thanks for dinner.” He leaves Maggie’s phone on the table.

  No one walks Daniel to the door and they continue to eat in silence until he’s gone. As soon as the door clicks closed, conversation resumes in a flurry of excitement.

  “Whew. I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Winona says, her eyes losing the fear they contained moments ago.

  “Not so fast. You’re still staying with me. Travis hasn’t been caught. He’s just being tracked down,” Ginger Rae says.

  “And what makes you think that your house will be any safer than mine? Or Erline’s? He knows we all have a key,” Winona argues.

  “Why don’t you all stay here?” Maggie suggests.

  “And keep all the keys in one place overnight?” Ginger Rae exclaims.

  “I can stay too,” Drew offers, meeting Maggie’s eye to confirm. She nods her approval. It’s not like she’s just invited him to spend the night alone with her. She’s asked him to stay as the protector of four women.

  “And the dogs will alert us to anyone coming up the driveway,” Maggie adds.

  Once it’s agreed that the best place for everyone to stay until Travis is arrested is with Maggie and Drew, they finish their dinner more relaxed. Both bottles of wine are finished and the beer in the fridge disappears.

  “So, these keys,” Ginger Rae says when there is nothing left to eat or drink.

  “I’ll clean up, you ladies go get to work,” Drew says, picking up plates and bringing them to the counter.

  No one protests and the four women head to the garage, keys in hand.

  “I’m sorry I didn’t wait to talk to you all before I ruined the final object,” Maggie apologizes again. She’s still surprised by the bright flash of light upon its shattering.

  “Don’t even think anything of it,” Erline reassures her. “We’d come to the same conclusion. And given the circumstances, I think any one of us would have done the same thing.”

  “Enough about what’s already been done. Let’s find some tools to cut these keys.” Ginger Rae turns her back on everyone and starts opening drawers and cabinets.

  Maggie hasn’t touched a single thing in the garage since moving into the house in September, nor does she think she’d be very helpful in even knowing what each piece of equipment does. But Ginger Rae doesn’t seem to need help. She picks up tool after tool until she finds what she’s looking for.

  “Ah ha. We can heat them up and bend them so they won’t fit in anything.” She holds a blowtorch in one hand and a vice in the other.

  “Why do we even have to break them if the thing they unlock is already smashed to smithereens?” Maggie asks.

  “In case there was a second one,” Erline answers without missing a beat. “We know duplicates of the keys were made, though they weren’t reliable. We aren’t sure about the piece you smashed.”

  Maggie nods and follows along with this plan, staying out of the way. She had no idea Ginger Rae was so handy around a workshop and watches in awe as she efficiently sets up the vice and fires up the blow torch.

  “I’m going to check on Drew and the animals,” Maggie announces when work is under way. It’s clear that she’s not needed and wants to get out of the way. No one acknowledges her decision so she goes inside.

  Drew has cleaned up the whole table, put every last dish in the dishwasher, and every empty bottle in the recycling. He’s busy washing the pans by hand when Maggie sits down at the table.

  “Interesting evening,” Drew says, not turnin
g around.

  “It sure was. I don’t really know what to think about Travis. I was so sure he killed James, and now I’m starting from square one.” Maggie gets up and stands next to Drew. She starts drying the pans.

  “Not square one. You still have Kami, Anya and Mona on your list of suspects, right?”

  Maggie nods. “And Tess. Mona has just about convinced me that she’s innocent—that Mona is innocent, I mean. But she didn’t have much good to say about Tess and James’s relationship.”

  “Aren’t they roommates?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And it doesn’t seem odd that they would live together but Mona would throw Tess under the bus?”

  Maggie hadn’t considered this. Could Mona be lying about everything just to get the spotlight off of herself? “It’s possible,” she admits. “But also worth checking out her accusations.”

  They finish the dishes in silence, Maggie lost in her head, wondering what tomorrow will bring. She has a shop to run and wishes, again, that Clem was here to manage that side of things. Maggie wants to be able to fully devote herself to solving James’s murder, but she’s far from able to do that.

  “I wonder what will happen with James’s piano and other things he left Two Sisters now that Travis is going to be arrested,” Maggie wonders aloud, letting the dogs out of the bathroom where she’d forgotten about them. They go straight to the couch where Opal is hiding and show their disapproval of her presence by growling. Drew pulls them away and they settle reluctantly at his feet, never taking their eyes off of Opal’s hiding spot.

  “I’m sure that’s the least of your problems right now.”

  Maggie agrees. “I guess I should focus on getting enough beds made for everyone. I can sleep on the couch and give someone my bed. Clem’s room is upstairs, and my parents’ too.”

  Drew stands and follows Maggie to the closet. Without asking for his help, or him offering, she hands him sheets and they make each of the three beds.

  “Are you okay on the other couch?” Maggie asks when they finish making the final bed.

  “Sure. I’ve slept on worse.”

  Maggie smiles, remembering the night they spent in his car when they were staking out a possible suspect last fall. “The couch will be better than the car, I can promise you that.”

  Just as they sit back on the couch, the three women walk in from the garage, keys in their hands. “These won’t be fitting into anything anymore,” Ginger Rae announces triumphantly.

  All three keys land on the coffee table with a clunk and Maggie and Drew lean forward to inspect them. Each one is bent, mangled and deformed so as to be unrecognizable from its former life.

  Ginger Rae picks one up and slides it back onto the chain around her neck. “I’ve worn this too long to give it up now,” she says, everyone eyeing her as she makes her decision.

  Erline nods. “I’m going to call Jeff and ask him to spend the night here too. Is that okay, Maggie?”

  “Of course. Until Travis is arrested, I’d rather be safe than sorry,” Maggie says. This won’t be the first time Erline and Jeff have spent the night in Maggie’s house for their own safety.

  Winona yawns loudly and Maggie takes the hint. She shows everyone to a bedroom and then settles on the couch until Jeff arrives. Once she is alone with Drew, she brings blankets and pillows from the closet and Drew settles in for the night.

  Maggie is wide awake and knows she won’t sleep for hours still. She brings out her tablet computer and goes over all of her notes around Kami, Anya and Mona. She has to find the next lead to follow since her time outside of the store will be limited.

  Just after midnight, Maggie decides she has to talk to Anya again. And with Travis out of the picture she’s confident she’ll be able to entice her into a conversation.

  CHAPTER 21

  Tuesday morning dawns bright and cold and Maggie’s neck is achy. She moves it slowly and sees Drew asleep across the room.

  And then she remembers everything from last night. Travis showing up. Smashing the trinket on the collar against the wall. Bending the keys so they’re unrecognizable. Drew, Erline and Jeff, Winona and Ginger Rae spending the night.

  Maggie knows it can’t be too early since it’s February and the sun is already shining. She gets up and heads to the kitchen to start coffee, alerting the dogs that someone is awake and they barrel into the kitchen at top speed, Opal making a hasty getaway. She feeds them and they’re just as quickly back out of the kitchen and through the dog door into the cold snow. The grinding of the coffee beans rouses everyone and the sounds of talking and speculating about Travis’s fate soon envelope her.

  “Do you think Daniel caught Travis last night?” Winona asks, sipping her first cup of coffee.

  “I sure hope so,” Ginger Rae responds.

  “What, you don’t like spending the night at my place?” Maggie teases. The kitchen table is crowded once again with all six of them sitting around it.

  Ginger Rae’s cheeks flush. “Of course I do,” she stammers. “It’s just—”

  “I’m just giving you a hard time.” Maggie laughs, letting her off the hook. “I’d want to get back to my house too.”

  “Speaking of which,” Drew starts, then stands from the table, “I have to go get ready for work.”

  Maggie is thankful for the change in subject, and the possibility of everyone leaving soon. She has to open Two Sisters on time today or her conscience will get the better of her.

  Everyone else seems to take the hint. “Late coffee at The Coffee Bean?” Winona asks Ginger Rae and Erline. The other women nod in agreement, finishing their cups of coffee and leaving the mugs on the counter. Maggie can tell that they’re all much more relaxed this morning, knowing that they’re safe from anyone searching for the keys to time travel.

  “Now my coffee isn’t good enough for you either? First it’s the bed, now the coffee.” Maggie shakes her head, a smile on her face.

  Winona blushes. “It was delicious. Just habit to sit on the couch and gossip.”

  “You should hear them when they don’t get together,” Jeff moans. “They go through withdrawals.”

  All at once, the three women refute his claim. Jeff holds up his hands in defense but doesn’t say anything.

  “Let’s go so Maggie can get to work and we can get some more coffee.” Ginger Rae leads the way outside and Maggie is left alone with Drew in a quiet house.

  “I’ll see you later. Maybe lunch?” Drew raises his eyebrows in question and Maggie nods. “I’ll bring it to you.”

  “Thanks.”

  Drew places a quick kiss on her cheek and is out the front door before Maggie can return his gesture. She takes her cup of coffee into her bedroom, showers, dresses, offers Opal a few quick scratches on her head and is in her car before eight. She arrives at Two Sisters just in time to open at eight and sits down heavily in Clem’s office, wishing she had another cup of coffee or a way to go get one without having to close.

  Maggie has no idea what Clem does all morning alone at the store. Rearrange displays? Research new products to import? Look for antiques to buy? Maggie doesn’t do any of that. So she’s thankful when the phone in the red English phone booth by the front door rings and she has a break from the monotony.

  “Well good morning, sleepy head,” James’s voice sing songs through the receiver.

  “How did you know I wasn’t a morning person?” she asks. There are so many more pressing questions she should be asking him rather than wasting her time on this.

  James laughs. “It’s common knowledge on Main Street that Clem opens Two Sisters because you can’t be roused from bed before nine.”

  “If I had my way, I’d still be in bed,” Maggie admits, stifling a yawn.

  “So would most store owners. The joys of working for yourself.”

  Maggie changes the subject. “I imagine this isn’t why you called.”

  “No. What’s happening with my murder case?”

  �
�Well, Travis is innocent—”

  “I could have told you that,” James interrupts impatiently.

  Maggie rolls her eyes. “I know. I should have listened to everyone better. No one could place any man in Flower Power except for you. But I was following a lead I shouldn’t have. He’s not guilty of your murder, but there were some other things the police wanted to check out.”

  “So now they’re working on two investigations? My murder should be their priority,” he whines.

  “I’m sure it is. But I’m only looking into your death. Travis isn’t on my radar anymore.”

  “Great. What else do you have?”

  Maggie gets straight to the point. “Tell me about Tess.”

  “Tess Shea?”

  “That’s the one.” Maggie wonders if he’s avoiding answering.

  James huffs. “That one had it out for me ever since I opened Flower Power.”

  “For twelve years? And you never smoothed things over?”

  “You can’t smooth some things over, unfortunately.” James pauses but Maggie waits for him to continue. There must be something big in their past if Tess’s grudge has been going on for over a decade.

  When he doesn’t offer anything further, Maggie asks, “Did it have to do with your sexual orientation?”

  James laughs again. “If only. I could have managed that. But no. It was worse.”

  He pauses again and Maggie is forced to ask, “What was it about?”

  James sighs. “I don’t think Tess killed me. Her anger was always misdirected at me.”

  Maggie can tell James isn’t going to share whatever is in their past so she changes the subject. “Okay,” she gives in. She’ll ask Tess about it the first chance she gets. “I talked to Mona yesterday. She said there was a back door into your cooler where you were killed. It went straight outside. She said Anya and Kami would both have known about it. Would either of them have killed you?”

  “They both knew about the alternate entrance. And yes, I think both of them held a big enough grudge to want me dead. Were there no fingerprints or hair samples or DNA of some kind in the cooler?” he asks.