Лейганн Доббс - A Twist In The Tail

I jumped back, but it didn’t seem to faze Mom or Millie. They simply stared at the cat as if this was a common occurrence. I certainly hoped it wasn’t. After a few beats, Millie turned to me. ‘I think the cats are trying to get our attention. We’d better go see why.’

Seven

By the time we got outside, Marlowe had unattached herself from the screen and the two cats were pacing around near the corner of the house. Millie tried to pet them but they darted off into the back. We followed.

Out back, the plantings I’d had the landscaper put in gave way to just plain mulch. Funds were limited, so I’d only sprung for flowers on the sides of the house that were seen by guests. I wistfully thought of the day when I could have lush flowers all around the entire guesthouse. That was if I even had a guesthouse to landscape with all this murder business going on.

Another thing I couldn’t afford was to fix up the old windows that were practically falling out. So imagine my surprise when I noticed the new wood around them. Someone had replaced the rotted frames and sills.

‘Hmmm… I don’t remember that being on my work order.’

‘I think Mike mentioned something about you losing a lot of air conditioning and heat through those windows come winter. My heating bill was through the roof last year,’ Millie muttered as she bent to pet Nero, who skittered out from under her hand and leapt into the bark mulch under the window.

‘That’s nice, but I can’t afford to pay for this kind of work.’ How much did something like this cost? I’d have to have a talk with Mike. I couldn’t have him just doing extra work like this. I was on a tight budget and could only spare minimal funds for repairs since most of my money was needed for day to day operations.

‘I believe he said it was at no charge,’ Millie said.

I jerked my attention from the window to Millie. ‘What? Who does work for free?’

‘Someone who has a crush,’ Mom said, wiggling her eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

I made a face. ‘A crush? I think Mike’s a little too old to have a crush.’ I was sure he wanted something, otherwise why do the work? Very few people did something for nothing. I couldn’t imagine what, exactly, it could be though. Was it possible that Millie was right and Mike had fixed the windows to be nice? My heart melted a bit at the thought.

‘Never mind that,’ Millie waved her hand toward the windows. ‘These are in the West wing and that one there goes to the room Charles Prescott was murdered in. I think the cats have found a clue.’

Millie dropped to all fours and started combing through the grass.

Nero and Marlowe flopped down in the mulch, where they jumped, stretched, meowed and rolled around. As I watched their antics, I noticed something in the mulch that looked odd. It was a depression of some sort.

‘Wait a minute. Is that a footprint?’ I pointed to the indentation and Millie crawled over.

‘It is! It’s a footprint!’

‘Yeah but it’s probably from Mike doing the windows,’ I said.

‘I don’t think so.’ Millie peered closer at the footprint. I half expected her to whip out a giant magnifying glass. ‘Mike wears work boots and this is not in the shape of a work boot. Work boots are more rounded and they don’t have a high arch. But I know what does have a high arch. Chef’s clogs.’

Everyone looked at my feet. I was wearing chef’s clogs.

‘Come over here Josie, let’s see.’ Mom pulled me toward the mulch and I tentatively put a foot down a few feet away from the print.

‘Press down hard to make the print,’ Millie instructed.

I did as told then lifted my foot. Sure enough, the print was very similar.

‘Aha! It was a clue,’ Millie said as she reached down to reward Marlowe and Nero by petting their heads.

‘Yeah but too bad it points to Josie,’ Mom pointed out. ‘When did you step in the mulch?’

‘I didn’t.’

‘I don’t think it’s from Josie,’ Millie said as she studied the print. ‘There’s a bit of a difference. You can see here on the original print the edge is more rounded as if the clog is worn down, perhaps from someone who walks on the side of their foot. But if you look at Josie’s print, the edge is sharp.’

‘So it’s not Josie’s print?’ Mom asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ Millie said.

‘I haven’t been over here since the mulch was put down,’ I said.

Meow!

Marlowe scampered off to the other side of the house with Nero following at his heels. Apparently their job was done and they were off to greener pastures. Or at least I thought that was why they’d run off until I heard the booming voice behind us.

‘Tampering with evidence?’

We all turned to see Seth Chamberlain standing there, his eyes flicking from Millie to my foot, which was hovering over the print I’d just made in the mulch.

‘No. We found a clue. That’s more than I can say for the police,’ Millie huffed.

Seth frowned, but his eyes regarded Millie softly. He came closer, then looked up at the window. ‘This is the window that goes to the room the victim was in, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’ Millie gestured toward the footprint. ‘And we found a footprint right here underneath the window. Now it seems to me the killer could’ve opened the window, climbed out and then shut it again. No one can see back here and he could have made the perfect escape into the woods.’

Seth inspected the print.

‘Uh-huh… Hmmm… Oh...’ He looked up at us. ‘This looks like a print from a chef’s clog. Are you sure you were discovering this clue and not hiding it?’

Mom fisted her hands on her hips. ‘Now Seth Chamberlain, are you accusing us of obstructing justice?’

‘Why on earth would we do that?’ Millie asked.

Seth’s eyes were glued to my shoes. ‘Well this here is a chef’s clog print and Josie there is wearing chef’s clogs.’

It figured that the only good thing I’d gotten from my ex-husband besides our daughter was chef’s clogs. He’d always worn them and had talked me into trying a pair years ago. They were comfortable and I had taken to wearing them. It was only fitting that now, when I’d just started to get over our divorce and get my life on track, the clogs would be the thing that got me arrested for murder.

‘Not exactly.’ I pointed to the impression I’d made in the mulch. ‘See my footprint from my clogs is shaped differently than that footprint there.’

Seth squinted at the print and made a face. ‘Yeah I see, yours is fresher. The other one has been there a few days. The edges are not as sharp.’

‘You can’t be serious,’ Millie said. ‘Why would Josie climb out the window? She lives inside the guesthouse, so if she killed Charles Prescott, she would simply go back to her room inside the house.’

‘That’s right,’ I nodded. ‘I mean, if I did kill him in that room. Which I didn’t.’

Seth looked dubious.

Millie put her arm through Seth’s. ‘Now I know you do a thorough job, and don’t jump to conclusions. Surely there are several other chefs who wear clogs and had a much better reason than Josie to kill Prescott.’

‘Yeah like maybe the one he was writing that bad review about,’ Mom added.

Seth nodded, but still looked at me suspiciously. ‘Seems to me the bad review might have been about the Oyster Cove Guesthouse. I mean he was staying here.’

‘Yes, well you’re much smarter than we are at this sort of thing,’ Millie said, patting his arm. ‘I know you’ll want to check out all the clues and suspects thoroughly before homing in on one particular suspect. You wouldn’t want to arrest the wrong person, that wouldn’t look good on your record.’