Лейганн Доббс - A Twist In The Tail

I looked again. He was right. ‘Do you think the killer did this before and somehow persuaded Charles to come down the stairs?’

‘Maybe.’

I glanced at the pile of railing spindles. ‘But then why hit him with the newel post?’

‘The fall probably didn’t do the trick. Or it’s possible the killer bludgeoned him first and then set the stage to make it look like Charles had fallen by accident.’

‘But wouldn’t someone have heard something?’ I gestured toward the boards. ‘I mean all that sawing makes noise, right?’

Mike rocked back on his heels and looked thoughtful. ‘It does. But it’s possible the person did this some time ago and the sounds were masked by renovations going on in the other part of the house. I mean who can really tell where the hammering and sawing noises are coming from? And I’ve been working pretty steady every day, so the killer would have had plenty of opportunity.’

‘So that means it wasn’t just done in anger when someone saw he had written a bad review.’ If only the police would see it that way, maybe Millie wouldn’t have to promise Seth Chamberlain so many pastries not to arrest me. I glanced over at the window. ‘We found a footprint outside the window. I think the killer might have escaped through there.’

I thought about Tony Murano, my stomach taking a tumble. Charles had written a bad review about Tony’s lemon meringue pie. But if Tony was the killer that meant he’d planned this all out ahead of time. And that he’d come to sabotage the stairs and then lured Charles in here. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to go to his restaurant.? Then again, what could he do to me in broad daylight?

Mike walked over to the window and looked outside then checked the lock. ‘It’s unlocked. You know you should keep all the windows locked here, Sunshine. Oyster Cove might be a nice town but there is a killer running around.’

I refrained from rolling my eyes. There he goes again treating me like a little sister . I remembered it from when we were younger. I hadn’t appreciated it then and I didn’t like it very much now either.

‘Maybe the killer unlocked it to get out. He wouldn’t have been able to lock it back up once outside.’ So there, Mr. Smartypants!

‘Good point.’ Mike walked back to the stairs. ‘Whoever did this went to a lot of trouble to make it look like an accident. They must be angry that we weren’t fooled.’

‘And nervous about being caught.’ I walked back to the staircase and got on my hands and knees to take another look at the sabotage just to make sure that it really had been done on purpose. ‘It looks like you’d have to know exactly where to cut to get the boards to break like this. Who would know that?’

I had been intent on studying the saw marks and hadn’t realized that Mike had crouched down beside me. His voice startled me. ‘Anyone who knew about carpentry, or building.’

I glanced sideways at Mike. ‘Like you?’

Mike looked incredulous. ‘Why in the world would I sabotage the stairs and kill your guest? I didn’t even know the guy.’

‘He might have pissed off someone you’re close to. Someone whose been lurking around here.’ I glanced in the direction of the Smugglers Bay Inn. Not that I really thought Mike would kill someone for Stella, but stranger things have happened. And besides, what about the clog print? Maybe they’d done it together and Stella had hopped out the window in her clogs.

Mike caught my drift and his scowl deepened. ‘You think I did this for Stella Dumont? No way. She might have been interesting in high school but believe me, I have no designs on her. I’m older and wiser now and prefer my women… not quite so made-up.’

He reached out to pluck a cobweb out of my hair and I suddenly I felt self-conscious about my lack of mascara or blush. I had put a little lip gloss on this morning though, so hopefully that counted for something

Self-consciousness gave way to guilt. It wasn’t fair to accuse Mike. I had no evidence and he had been nothing but nice since working here. Even if his kindness was suspicious, it was not suspicious enough for me to accuse him of murder.

‘Sorry. I don’t really think you killed him.’

‘I guess we should tell Barbara Littlefield about this.’ Mike leaned forward and looked underneath the stairs again. ‘She’s been running around town saying this place is unsafe.’

‘I know. I have no idea why she has it in for me. I’m trying to restore it to the way it was originally. You’d think she’d be happy.’

‘I don’t think she’s ever happy,’ Mike said. ‘But it might be me she has it in for.’

‘You? Why would she have it in for you? And why would getting the guesthouse closed down hurt you?’

Mike shrugged. ‘I guess she doesn’t like anyone doing any kind of renovations or improvements. Wants things to stay just the way they are, and since I’ve been back in town, I’ve been doing a lot of renovations. Not to brag, but I am getting kind of popular in the home improvement sector.’

‘No doubt. But why focus on the guesthouse? I don’t see what it has to do with you.’

‘She probably thinks that casting a cloud on the work here would dissuade people from hiring me. Plus, she knows I’m attached to this place because of Aunt Millie. But I think she’s just crotchety in general. She doesn’t like that I came back here after a career in the Navy and started taking up carpentry. Thinks it’s suspicious.’

Now that he mentioned it, it was a little suspicious. Why would a Navy guy be doing carpentry?

As if reading my thoughts, Mike continued, ‘I always liked working with my hands and now that I’m retired, it gives me something to do. It’s not about the money. I really just wanted to help out Aunt Millie.’ His gaze drifted and locked on mine. ‘And now you.’

Footsteps sounded the hallway. ‘Hey look, this door is cracked open, I thought Josie was supposed to keep this wing locked.’

The door swung in and we looked over our shoulders to see my mother and Millie. Their eyes scanned the room, then widened as they fell on Mike and me kneeling on her hands and knees before the staircase. Millie’s eyes widened. ‘Oh sorry. We didn’t mean to interrupt.’ They backed out and Millie started to pull the door shut behind them.

I leaped up. ‘You’re not interrupting anything.’

They stopped and looked at us skeptically.

‘We weren’t?’ Mom’s left brow was quirked up as she nodded toward the stairs. ‘Looked like you were doing something to me.’

‘Yeah, you young people, one never knows what you’re getting up to. You do things differently than when we were young,’ Millie added.

Mike stood and brushed the dust of his hands. ‘We weren’t up to anything. We were looking at the staircase. Someone sabotaged it so that it would be unstable.’

‘Oh really?’ Millie hurried over and plopped down onto her knees. I was surprised she could do it so easily. ‘Let me see.’

My mother joined her. Maybe they took yoga or something? The two of them seemed to have no problem getting around on all fours.

‘Oh, I see. Right there, Millie.’ Mom pointed to the part of the treads that had been sawn.

Millie looked back over her shoulder at Mike. ‘What do you make of it?’

‘Someone wanted to cover up the murder.’ Mike stated the obvious.

Millie smiled proudly and glanced at me. ‘My Mike was an investigator in the Navy. He knows about this stuff. You should listen to him.’

‘I’ll try to keep that in mind,’ I said. I probably wasn’t going to listen to him though, in fact, I was counting the days until he wouldn’t even be around.

‘Well, well, well. I guess your suspicions were right after all, Mike.’ Millie stood. ‘So we have the chef’s clog, the missing cookbook, the torn review, and now the sabotage.’