Лейганн Доббс - A Purrfect Alibi

“That’s too bad. We’ll have to figure out another way to find out who killed you.” Nero loved a good investigation, even if the killer was long dead, but he had another motive for helping Jed. He didn’t want the old ghost hanging around any longer than necessary. Lingering ghosts could be a nuisance and he liked things the way they were. He knew that as time went on and Jed got bored, his antics might not be as innocent as pushing things off tables. Best to help him move on to where he belonged.

“Yeah, but there’s one good thing about Madame Zenda being a kook. It means that death card she pulled up is meaningless. That had me worried,” Marlowe said. “But now that we know she’s a fake, we won’t have to worry about another death at the guesthouse.”

Four

“You ask me, they’re all a bunch of fakes,” Millie whispered as she leaned against the door frame and peeked out into the hallway.

Mom nodded from her place at the table where she was eating a sliced-up apple. “Old and washed up.”

“I did a little bit of research on them and I heard that Victor Merino was accused of fraud back in Ohio.” Millie came back into the kitchen and rummaged in the new stainless-steel fridge. The Oyster Cove Guesthouse kitchen was a mixture of old and new. Old wooden cabinets painted a cheery yellow, golden pine floors so old that they were worn down in front of the sink and new appliances for cooking the delicious home-style breakfasts that the guesthouse had a reputation for.

Funny thing about the breakfasts; it turned out I wasn’t much good at cooking them. That’s why Millie kept coming over to help me out. I was learning, but I didn’t mind Millie pitching in, it lightened my workload and kept Mom and Millie out of trouble. Right now, she was rummaging up some ground meat for a homemade turkey sausage recipe she’d pulled from her trusty stack of weathered and food-stained recipe cards.

“What kind of fraud?” Mom asked.

“A woman accused him of billing her thousands of dollars to communicate with her dead husband. Victor argued that he really was talking to the deceased and he had told her things no one else knew about. Her son claimed it was all information he got by reading old newspapers and asking around.” Millie had opened a cabinet and was squinting up to the top shelf. Millie was only about five feet tall and I could see she had her eye on the old jadeite mixing bowl.

“Do you think any of them really can communicate with the dead?” I asked as I reached above Millie’s head for the bowl and handed it to her.

Millie laughed. “I doubt it.”

“Then why are they here?” Mom put her plate in the sink and ran some water over it.

Millie shrugged. “Who knows. Maybe they think Josie will pay them to talk to Jed. Or maybe they really are searching for treasure. Remember a few weeks ago when the whole town came out.”

How could I forget? The discovery of Jed’s skeleton last month had started a treasure hunt that involved most of the town. Never mind that legend had it that Jed had cursed anyone who stole his treasure, I guess people were more interested in money than they were afraid of whatever the curse might bring. “I hope they don’t start digging, I just got the grass to green up over all the holes again.”

“Why would Madame Zenda make a big announcement that Jed was going to talk to her?” Mom asked. “She seemed pretty sure of herself. Sounds to me like she really is going to talk to him. Maybe she isn’t a fake.”

I hoped she was. Images of the death card bubbled up again and I shuddered. “Maybe she figured if she announced it then the others would think she really was going to talk to him and give up?”

“It could be that. She’s trying to stake a claim. Now the others have to come up with something better or more interesting. I think each one of them might be trying to get a sensational story to boost their careers.” Millie cracked an egg and separated the white into a bowl. “I hear most of them have careers that are on a downswing.”

My gaze flicked to the window. “Maybe that’s why Anita Pendragon has been seen skulking around here.”

“She has?” Millie stood on her tiptoes to look out the kitchen window. “Huh, I wonder if one of them called her so she could write a story on their supposed communication with Jed.”

“Getting in the papers would definitely boost someone’s career,” Mom added. “And I did notice that when Madame Zenda made her pronouncement she made sure that her voice carried out the window. I thought maybe Jed’s ghost was out there but now I wonder if she knew Anita was out there and wanted her to hear it.”

“She was very loud about it.” Millie whisked the egg white rapidly.

“Yeah, unfortunately Myron heard it too and he didn’t look very pleased,” Mom said.

I pulled out a chair and sat at the 1940s’ Formica table, worry gnawing at my gut. “I know. He’s worried that publicity about people talking to a ghost here could hurt the bookings at the guesthouse. What do you think?”

Mom made a face and looked at Millie, then bent down to pet Nero and Marlowe, who had trotted into the room and were sitting next to her looking at us as if listening to our conversation.

“Myron is a worrywart. I wouldn’t worry about anything he says.” Millie pulled a knife out of the rack and started chopping the onion and apple she’d laid out on the cutting board.

“Except if he really thinks that, maybe he won’t give me the next installment on the loan. Or worse, demand I pay what I’ve borrowed in full. I already invested everything I have and without the loan the guesthouse will go under,” I said. “Not to mention that I need the guesthouse to be fully booked to keep cash flowing.”

Millie put the chopped apple and onion into a bowl, tossed in some sage and nutmeg and then plopped the ground turkey in and mixed it all together, then formed them into small patties and put them in the fry pan. Soon the sounds of sizzling meat and the spicy smell of sausage permeated the air. Millie flipped the sausages and then turned to face me.

“Myron is a man and he’s easy enough to handle. I can tell he’s sweet on you so all you have to do is dazzle him on a date and he’ll give you the keys to the vault.”

At my obvious look of distaste she continued, “You don’t have to marry the guy, for crying out loud. But sometimes us businesswomen need to use every advantage. Lord knows I’ve had to many times.” She patted the sides of her hair and smoothed her apron over her hips. I didn’t dare ask for details.

Mom must have been still thinking about the treasure. “What I don’t understand is how each one thinks they are going to get the treasure without the others seeing them.”

Millie pursed her lips. “You know, that’s a good question. I’ve noticed they’re all following each other around.”

I’d noticed that too. “It’s like they don’t trust each other.”

“But if they are all fakes, then each would know the others can’t talk to Jed,” Mom said.

“Maybe they aren’t sure about who is a fake and who isn’t.” Millie bent down to pet Marlowe who was doing figure eights around her ankles. “I know some of them have crossed paths before from what I read about them. Except Gail, she seems to have kept a low profile.”

The cats had once been Millie’s, but since she couldn’t have pets at the senior housing complex where she lived, she’d made keeping the cats a stipulation for the sale of the guesthouse. At first, I hadn’t been too sure, I’d never had a cat before, but I had to admit they were growing on me. As if sensing my thoughts, Marlowe turned her green gaze on me, eliciting all kinds of warm fuzzy feelings. Okay, I admit it, I was getting really attached to them, not to mention that they might have saved my bacon a few times in the previous murder investigations.