Лейганн Доббс - A Twist In The Tail

‘Why didn’t you wait outside?’ Harry asked.

‘I did. I sat out on the sidewalk for more than an hour, but then the wife came out and shooed me away with a broom. She’s a shrew! The owner Tony is nice, but that wife. Yeesh.’ Stubbs shook his head. ‘Anyway, I waited around back at the dumpster after that, but I never spotted her again. You can’t see the front door from the dumpster and I didn’t dare go back on the sidewalk with that wife around.’

‘Is it possible you were too busy looking at the contents of the dumpster to notice?’ Juliette’s voice was tinged with friendly sarcasm.

Stubbs drew himself up to his full height. ‘No. I kept watch the whole time.’

‘Perhaps you should’ve been tailing the Weatherbys,’ Poe said with an annoying air of superiority. He could be that way.

Stubbs made a face at him. ‘Maybe. I didn’t know Juliette had seen them on the cliff and I was going on my instincts. What did you find?’

Poe simply pretended to preen his whiskers.

‘You did the right thing,’ Nero glanced sideways at Poe. ‘At least you had some new information for us, though I don’t see what it proves other than the fact that Tina likes to shop and eat. Too bad you weren’t tailing her during the crime, then we’d know if she was the killer.’

‘But it doesn’t all add up. What does the missing cookbook, the footprint, the affair and the cliffs have to do with Charles Prescott’s murder?’ Harry asked.

‘Perhaps we need to put our noses to the grindstone – literally. The sticky part is the footprint. The Weatherbys and Tina are both guests at the guesthouse. Why would they climb out the window?’ Nero mused.

‘What about this footprint… did you scent anything on it?’

Marlowe glanced at Nero and Nero nodded for him to continue. He had picked up several scents, but he wanted to see if Marlowe had also. He felt a little bad he hadn’t thought of this angle before. He’d been so focused on finding who wore the shoes, he hadn’t considered that the scents could lead them to a particular place.

Marlowe screwed her eyes shut and thought for a few seconds then said, ‘I smelled the usual things, bark mulch, anxiety, fear, but mixed in was another smell that I haven’t smelled around the guesthouse. A flowery sweet smell with just a hint of bitterness.’

Nero glanced at Josie and Stella, who were wrapping up their conversation. Josie was turning to leave.

‘Was it cinnamon?’ Juliette asked. ‘I smelled cinnamon in the field between the Oyster Cove Guesthouse and the Smugglers Bay Inn.’

Marlowe shook her head. ‘No, it wasn’t cinnamon. It was more cloying. Like a flower.’

‘Hmmm, perhaps a flower garden?’ Harry suggested.

‘Maybe.’ Marlowe looked undecided.

‘Well I guess that’s what we’ve got to work with,’ Nero said. ‘We need to explore all these angles. And put a tail on the Weatherbys.’

The cats all stretched and turned to go in their opposite directions. Just as they were walking away, Poe turned around, his head cocked to the side, his green eyes thoughtful. ‘Oh, one more thing.’

Nero sighed. Poe was always doing this. Saving up his little tidbit of information for the very last minute when they were all about to go their separate ways. But often Poe’s little tidbits were vital to the case, so he tamped down his exasperation and patiently said, ‘What is it, Poe?’

Poe looked at Marlowe. ‘That scent on the footprint… was it sharp on the sweetness and tangy on the bitterness?’

Marlowe nodded vigorously, her eyes wide.

Poe nodded. ‘Well then, we might want to check the Marinara Mariner more thoroughly, because what you describe is very similar to the scent of saffron, and I happen to know that Tony had a saffron squid ink pasta special running this week.’ Poe licked a paw. ‘It was quite delicious too.’

Down the hill, Josie was starting back to the guesthouse. Nero thought about Poe’s suggestion. Was it any coincidence that the chef clog had the scent of a special down at the Marinara Mariner and Tina was seen at the same restaurant? But did Tina wear chef’s clogs? If she did, why in the world would she climb out the window after killing Charles?

Nine

It was a good thing that I didn’t have to prepare supper for my guests because I was in no mood after that run-in with Stella Dumont. Where did she get off implying that the accommodations at a sleazy motel were preferable to those at the Oyster Cove Guesthouse?

Halfway across the field, I saw two familiar figures. Nero and Marlowe were bounding across the tall grass toward me from the path that led up the hill. I wondered what they had been doing up there.

They fell in step beside me. Unusual, because they usually ignored me. Maybe this was a good time to try to bond and make friends, like Millie had suggested?

‘Where have you guys been?’

Nero looked up at me, his golden eyes almost glowing in contrast to his jet-black fur.

Meow. Merow. Meroop.

‘Up on the hill you say? Yes, lovely view up there.’ Was that the appropriate reply? I wasn’t sure exactly how one spoke to cats. Surely they didn’t understand the actual words, it was probably more down to tone and gestures. Did you talk to them like little babies? I glanced down at them. Nope. Not these two. Millie had said to talk to them as if they were superior beings.

Marlowe flicked her striped tail.

Meyou.

I had no idea what meyou meant but I decided to answer anyway. ‘Oh me? I was over talking to Stella Dumont. Can you believe that she insinuated one of the guests had preferred accommodations in that sleazy motel out on Route One?’

Meooow!

Clearly Nero was as outraged at that thought as I was. ‘I know, right?’

We let ourselves in through the front door. I sauntered over to the guest register just in case Stella had been right. I didn’t think she was, but it didn’t hurt to double-check. I knew I hadn’t checked Tina out, but maybe Flora or Millie had done it.

Tina was still signed in. I checked her folder and the bill was still open. She hadn’t checked out. Take that Stella Dumont!

Nero hopped up onto the desk and pushed at the register with his paw.

‘Yeah, it’s just as I had thought, Tina didn’t check out. Stella doesn’t know what she’s talking about.’

Nero blinked.

‘But it makes me wonder… did Stella see someone who looked like Tina or did she lie? And if she did lie, then why?’

The guesthouse was extremely quiet. My stomach broke the silence with a growl so loud that it startled Nero, not to mention myself. It was unusual for it to be this quiet. Normally I could hear the hammering and sawing that indicated Mike was at work, or the television, or guests talking. But it was past supper time, Mike had gone home and it seemed that the guests were all out to dinner, as evidenced by the absence of their cars.

Just as well, I didn’t really want company. I headed back to the kitchen, the cats on my heels and thoughts of my visit with Stella on my mind.

I rummaged in the fridge, pulling out a bedraggled slice of pepperoni pizza, a few muffins that were leftover from breakfast and the remains of the seafood dinner I’d had two nights ago. Two glass baking dishes with foil wrapped around the tops were neatly stacked in the back. A note from Millie indicated they contained broccoli quiche for breakfast the next day.

That reminded me, I needed to figure out what to feed them for the rest of the week. I glanced over at the counter. Hadn’t Millie mentioned the sour cream coffee cake?

I shut the fridge, to the protesting meows of the cats. ‘Don’t worry guys I’ll get your dinner in a second.’