Лейганн Доббс - A Purrfect Alibi

Millie reached the cemetery first and paused just inside the broken wrought-iron gate. The moon had risen, and the slab headstones cast eerie shadows on the scene. Something lay on the ground next to a triangular monument with a weeping willow etched on it. Anita Pendragon stood over it.

Anita looked at us, her mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water gasping for oxygen. She pointed at the body. Madame Zenda. Millie crouched down beside the body, which was no pretty sight. Madame Zenda had been stabbed in the chest. Blood soaked the front of her white caftan. The weapon looked familiar. I leaned closer and recognized the Oyster Bay Guesthouse logo on the handle. Anyone could have nabbed that at any time. But that wasn’t the worst part of the scene. The worst part was the note on her chest that looked like it was written in blood. Get out. Leave me alone.

“What’s that?” Mom bent down and jabbed her finger toward an old rusty buckle that lay beside the note. I was getting a little concerned that finding dead bodies didn’t seem to faze my mother and Millie anymore. It wasn’t such a big deal for me because I’d been going to school to be a medical examiner before my career was derailed with marriage and a daughter. I was used to seeing dead bodies and it wasn’t just because this was the third one that had shown up at my guesthouse.

“Looks like an old buckle.” Millie glanced up at Anita. “Did you kill her and leave this note and buckle?”

Anita’s eyes widened. “No! I was following her to get a scoop on her talking to the ghost. But I lost her. I wandered around looking for her and then I stumbled upon that.” She gestured toward the body.

Millie looked skeptical. “Did you see anyone else? Like the killer leaving the scene, perhaps?”

Anita’s eyes darted around the area as if looking for the culprit. “No. It’s so overgrown here, who could see anything? Besides, it’s clear who the killer is.”

“Is it?” Mom asked.

“Yes.” Anita sniffled and let out a shaky breath before glancing around furtively and leaning toward us. “The ghost.”

Was it my imagination or was Anita acting just a little too scared? It didn’t escape me that the body and note would make a sensational story. And she was the only one here. Would someone else have had enough time to kill Madame Zenda, leave a note in her blood (if it was, indeed, in her blood) and an old buckle and scurry off before Anita discovered her? Had it really been Anita who screamed upon discovering the body or was it Madame Zenda’s scream we’d heard as Anita was stabbing her? Anita was wearing a pink jacket and a white shirt underneath. Not a drop of blood was on her. Could she have changed clothes? She could have hidden another outfit anywhere in this messy overgrowth.

“I hardly think a ghost did this,” Millie scoffed. “Where would he get the murder weapon? Or a buckle? Can ghosts write notes?”

“I’ve heard of ghosts doing lots of things.” Anita gestured to the note. “And look at the note. It says to ‘leave me alone’. All these psychics were bothering Jed. And what about that old buckle? It looks to be from his era. You ask me, that’s a sign that it was him.”

The buckle did look old, but I’d seen some very convincing replicas. A closer look would be nice, but I knew better than to disturb anything at a crime scene. Luckily, so did Mom and Millie. Despite Sheriff Chamberlain’s crush on Millie, I didn’t think he’d look too kindly on that.

A rustle in the bushes announced a new arrival.

“I called the police, they should be here any minute.” Victor Merino appeared, giving the body only a cursory glance.

“How did you know the police would be needed here?” Millie asked. Clearly she was suspicious, and with good reason. Victor had hardly seemed surprised that Madame Zenda was dead. Was that because he already knew? He wouldn’t be the first killer that doubled back to the scene of the crime.

“I heard the scream.” Victor’s eyes darted to the body again. I saw a flicker of something. Fear? Guilt? “I figured it couldn’t be good, but I wouldn’t have thought it was this. What happened?”

He was going to have to come up with something better than that to convince me. So someone screamed, so what? It could have been that someone saw a snake or a rat. How did he know the reason for the scream involved something that the police would be needed for?

More rustling in the bushes and Esther appeared. Unlike Victor, she was visibly shaken. Her hands flew to her face. “Oh my, how dreadful!”

Then she stepped a little closer, curiosity apparently overtaking her horror. “Is that a note?”

“Yes, the ghost left it,” Anita said. She must have recovered from her grisly discovery because she’d whipped out her notebook and was taking notes.

“Poor Betty Sue,” Esther said.

“Betty Sue?” I asked as everyone turned inquisitive eyes on her.

Esther nodded. “Oh yes, that was Madame Zenda’s name before she changed it. Betty Sue Lipowitz. Did none of you know this?”

“No.” How would we have known that? But the fact that Esther knew indicated a past relationship. They must not have been close friends though, because Esther didn’t seem overly upset about her death. Millie zoned right in on that. “Did you know her well?”

Esther looked thoughtful. Was she reminiscing, or deciding how to cover up the nature of their relationship? Now that I thought about it, they hadn’t seemed friendly at all, in fact they had seemed slightly adversarial. Then again, all the guests had seemed that way toward each other. I hadn’t thought much about it as it seemed natural to have some professional rivalry in their business.

“Well, we weren’t besties or anything but we’ve both been mediums for decades and have crossed paths before.”

“Do you know why anyone would want to kill her?” Mom asked. By the tilt of her head and narrowing of her eyes, I could tell she had Esther at the top of her suspect list.

“Oh dear me, of course not. Such a shame. And what is with this note? Sounds ominous.” Esther looked around, as if expecting Jed’s ghost to appear from thin air.

“Yeah what is with the note?” Of all people, Myron had shown up. Now why in the world was he here? I thought about Mom and Millie’s insistence that he had a crush on me, hopefully he wasn’t stalking me or something.

He peered over at the body, his face turning visibly white. He looked as if he was going to throw up. “That looks like a warning.” He turned his scowling gaze on me and visions of my loan drying up ran through my head. Dread curled in my stomach. Were Myron’s concerns valid? I knew he was worried that rumors of murdering ghosts would affect bookings.

The sound of sirens split the air and Mom and Millie sprang into action, securing the crime scene as if they’d been deputized.

Millie moved everyone back from the body and Mom stood in front of them as if to provide a barrier. By the time Sheriff Seth Chamberlain and his deputies arrived on the scene things appeared quite orderly.

Seth glanced at the body, then at Mom and Millie, his gaze taking in their all-black outfits. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, then addressed Mom and Millie. “Okay, tell me what’s going on? Who discovered the body and how did you all get on the scene? And what is with those outfits?”

Millie filled him in on what had transpired, glossing over the reason for their outfits and simply saying that they just happened to be both wearing all black today because it was supposed to be slimming.

“And see, right there is proof this was Jedediah’s ghost.” Anita snapped a picture of the note on the body with her cell phone.