Лейганн Доббс - A Purrfect Alibi

“Well, he opened the bank the same year Jedediah Biddeford was determined to be missing in Europe. He would have been out of a job if he hadn’t done that.” Millie reached for the next sheet and I handed it over.

The final sheet was the etching of the Oyster Cove guesthouse with Jed. He was wearing the shoes with the buckle. His wife stood next to him and children and staff to the side. Now why did that keep cropping up? I looked up at Esther, our eyes locking. Suddenly I knew what Esther had been up to. We’d made a huge mistake.

Millie snatched the last piece of paper out of my hand, pointed to it and addressed Esther. “Now there! This proves you’re the killer!”

“Yeah!” Mom agreed, then frowned and looked at me. “Err… could you explain just how it does that?”

“It doesn’t—”

Thunk!

A heavy onyx bookend toppled to the floor from the second shelf of the bookcase cutting off my words. Good thing it landed on the rug, might have made a dent in the floor otherwise.

“What?” Millie wore an expression of quizzical disappointment.

Meooo!

Merooolow!

Meruuuus!

The cats screeched as they bolted into the hallway. I could hear their footsteps racing up the stairs.

Realizing they were headed to the attic, I shot out of my seat. “I know who killed Madame Zenda and it wasn’t Esther. We better hurry or there may be another murder!”

We’d reached the doorway when the lights went out, stopping us cold. That was odd, there was no storm, why would the power go out?

Of course! It was the killer. We’d left our flashlights in the kitchen. Did we have time to get them?

And that’s when we heard the scream.

Twenty-Six

The scream left no doubt that there was no time to fumble around for the flashlights we’d left in the kitchen, so we headed straight for the stairs. By now my eyes had become accustomed somewhat to the dark and the moon shining through the windows helped, not to mention the meows of the cats who were just ahead of us. Lucky thing I didn’t have to try to fit the key into the lock. Then again, if I’d locked the door like I was meant to, I supposed we wouldn’t be running up here to stop a murder.

As we rushed up the stairs, noises from above quickened our steps. The moonlight had splashed in through the windows in the main house, but windows were sparse in the attic, so it was nearly pitch black. Muffled sounds came from the very far end where I’d seen Jedediah Biddeford’s trunk.

“Ooof… Arghhh…”

Not ghostly noises this time, these were coming from a human.

Mew. Nero’s meow was soft but insistent, as if he knew it was urgent for us to move toward the sounds but that we might not want to let the killer know we were there.

I focused on the direction of the noise, I was sure it was the back corner now, but getting there was another story. The attic was full of piled up cast-offs and it was too dark for me to see the path. Taking the wrong one might be off course and I’d be too late.

I started in one direction, but then felt a cold resistance and backtracked.

“Oghhhh…”

Oh no, that didn’t sound good. We were making slow progress; a few times I’d taken a step down the wrong path but had felt an odd cold resistance blocking me and then turned around.

Meroo! Marlowe didn’t need to tell me we were almost there, I could see the dark shadow of a person moving about as if wrestling something that was on the floor below them. Then a sickening thud. “Aghshhhh…”

“Hold it right there. We have you covered!” Millie shouted from behind me.

“Look out… gaghhh… gun!” A man’s voice came from the floor. Was he warning us or was this some kind of trick?

Esther trotted up behind us catching her breath beside me. “Wait, that sounded like Victor. I thought he was the killer!”

“No, it must be Anita!” Mom said. “I knew she was up to no good.”

They were both wrong. “I’m afraid not, it’s—”

“Shut up or I’ll shoot!” a voice shouted. “It’s unfortunate you’re all here. Now I’ll need to think up a new plan.”

“Guess it’s not Anita. Is there really a gun?” Mom whispered. “Maybe they’re bluffing.”

“And what is Victor doing on the floor?” Esther asked.

“I think he’s tied up,” Mom said.

“I wish I could see.” Millie craned her neck forward beside me. “We need to surround him then someone can get him from behind.”

Millie’s idea about surrounding the killer was a good one, but now that my eyes were getting used to the low level of light, I could see that wouldn’t be possible. He was in the corner, backed up against a tall bureau that had boxes piled high. Beside that, other pieces of furniture were jammed in all the way to the walls. There would be no way to get behind there easily.

“Maybe someone should go down and get the flashlights,” Mom whispered. “I can sneak back without him noticing in the dark.”

“Quiet, all of you!” The killer waved something in the air. A gun, or was it a bluff? “Get up against those bureaus, spread out so I can see all of you. Wouldn’t do to have one of you sneaking off now.”

My mind was racing—we had to come up with a way to distract him so we could overpower him. Maybe if I got him talking, he’d get distracted and it would give me time to think. “You won’t get way with this, M—”

Zzzzpt!

The lights came on, temporarily blinding me. I blinked, trying to keep my eyes on the gun. Maybe now I could rush the killer and…

“Myron Remington!” Millie gasped, looking from Myron to me. “Did you know it was him, Josie?”

Well, at least I was right about that. Myron was the killer. Too bad Victor was also right… Myron had a gun and it was pointed at us.

Myron looked dazed and a little spooked. “Who turned the lights on?” He glanced around the room as if expecting some sort of specter to appear. Too bad he didn’t loosen his grip on the gun.

On the floor in front of Myron lay Victor. He was tied up and he must have passed out… at least I hoped he was only passed out and not dead. The sound of someone gasping behind us drew our attention.

Gail stood behind Millie, looking over her shoulder at Victor on the floor. “I heard the noises up here. Did you capture Victor?”

“No, silly.” Mom turned her so she could see Myron with his gun. “Myron did. He’s the killer.”

Gail frowned. “Victor doesn’t look dead.”

“He’s not,” Myron snapped. “At least not yet. I guess you can all go together now. I won’t say I regret that. You’re all too nosey for your own good.”

Merooo! Nero sounded indignant on our behalf.

Mewooo! Marlowe agreed.

The cats were pacing around in front of Myron. I wasn’t sure if they had a plan, but I certainly hoped so.

“You might as well give up now, Myron. There are many of us and just one of you.” I gestured to our little group now huddled against a large mahogany server pushed against the wall.

“Yeah but I have the gun.” Myron’s lips curved in a sinister smile. Apparently he’d recovered from his shock of the lights coming on. I would have preferred they stayed out, at least that way some of us would have a chance of getting away, but now he could clearly see all of us.

I barely heard what Myron was saying as I was busy wondering how we could get around behind him. Maybe Victor would wake up and trip him? I couldn’t count on that and now with the lights on he’d see if one of us broke from the group and tried to slip between the furniture to the back. Where was Flora when you needed her? Last time we’d gotten ourselves into a predicament like this, she’d snuck up from behind and clobbered the killer.