Саманта Сильвер - The Purr-fect Crime

“How old was the map?”

“From the 1910s. It was a map of Sycamore State Forest. It had to be worth at most $50.”

I frowned. Sycamore State Forest was a protected state park just south of Willow Bay. In fact, the municipality of Willow Bay bordered onto the park. But Chief Gary was right. There was literally no reason at all for anyone to steal a map that was completely worthless.

“Were there any other copies of the map?” I asked. Chief Gary’s eyes narrowed.

“Why are you asking?”

“Just curiosity,” I replied, trying to give my best I’m-totally-innocent look.

The look Chief Gary gave me indicated that he in no way believed me, but he still answered my question.

“No. As far as we’re aware that was the only copy of the map. Which is what really makes the theft a shame, it’s not worth of a lot, but it does have some historic value.”

I nodded. I still had no idea why anyone would want to steal that map, unless, as Chief Gary thought, it was just some kids playing a prank.

“Hey, while I’ve got you here, I found out who those men were at the funeral, that you took a picture of.”

“Oh yeah?” I asked, interested.

“They weren’t really anyone interesting at all. Just some men from Portland looking to start a business in Willow Bay, who saw all the excitement going on and thought they’d come have a look.”

This time it was my turn to look like I didn’t believe Chief Gary. I wasn’t sure why. After all, he had never lied to me before, as far as I knew. But there was something about those men, I knew they weren’t from Portland. I knew there was something else going on.

Damn it. I had to get Charlotte on this one. There was a spell we’d learned as kids, a truth spell. I didn’t want to use it on Chief Gary, but it might be the only way to get to the truth. Charlotte had mastered the truth spell, like she’d mastered literally every single other spell we’d ever learned. Me, on the other hand, I knew a handful of simple, useful ones, especially for a teenager – how to unlock a door, how to turn invisible, how to hide some vodka cruisers from sight – but the truth telling spell had always been above my abilities. Not Charlotte’s though. Like every single other thing that could be learned by a brain, Charlotte mastered tons of spells that were far beyond my abilities.

“Really?” I tried, going for the normal human way of getting answers.

“Yes,” Chief Gary replied, shifting uncomfortably in his chair. “There’s nothing strange about those men at all. They turned out to be completely legit. Now just drop it, ok?”

“Ok,” I answered, disappointed. I knew there was something he wasn’t telling me, but I wasn’t going to get the answer out of him. I knew that much.

“Now, please promise me you’re not going to tell anyone about what you heard about the break in at the library.”

“Well, I already told Charlotte and Sophie, but they’re the only ones who know, and I told them to keep it under wraps. I think it’ll be ok,” I told Chief Gary. I could understand his position. He wanted the town to feel safe, and right now, everyone felt anything but. As soon as someone was arrested for Tony Nyman’s murder things would probably go back to normal pretty quickly, but until then, well, who knew.

“Thanks,” Chief Gary replied. “I can’t wait for all this to die down. I really can’t.”

“Same here,” I told him. “I’m sure you’ll find the person who killed Tony Nyman soon, though.”

“I hope so.”

That was my cue. I stood up, thanked Chief Gary again, and left the police station with a whole bunch of stuff on my mind. Why had Chief Gary lied to me about the men at the funeral? Who were they really? Was he lying? I was pretty sure he was.

And I’d at least managed to confirm most of what the hamsters had told me, and got a little bit more information out of Chief Gary. Although who on earth knew what it meant. Maybe he was right, maybe it was just some kids playing a silly prank.

Feeling a headache coming on from information overload, I headed back to the vet clinic. After all, there were a handful of animals who needed to be seen that afternoon.

Chapter 19

When I got back to the clinic, Charlotte was waiting for me, talking to Sophie in the lobby area while Karen was on the phone scheduling an appointment.

“Hey, what’s going on?” I asked. Charlotte rarely came to the vet clinic; she was almost always either at school in Portland or at home studying.

“I just came over to say I heard about a huge pro-Ocean Mist rally happening in a couple of hours. Apparently a whole bunch of the head honchos from the project are going to make an appearance – you know, to rally the troops and all that. I thought maybe we should go, and casually ask some questions, you know. See if there’s anything they can tell us that might lead us to Tony’s killer.”

“Yeah, exactly. Our last appointment today is at 4:15, so you can take care of that, Charlotte and I can head over earlier, and then you can join us when you close up.”

It was a good idea, but to be honest, I really didn’t want to hang around with a whole bunch of people who were actually in favour of Ocean Mist. It was just so bad for the town. Still, Charlotte had come up with a good idea.

“Yeah, sure,” I said. “Plus I found out a few things from Chief Gary. Come on, let’s go chat in the back.” I motioned to Karen that we were going in the back room; she knew to come and get us when our next patient arrived.

The back room of the vet clinic was where we stored all the extra equipment, and housed the cages for our patients who required an overnight stay. At the moment, we didn’t have anyone in them, and the place was empty.

Charlotte leaned against a counter while Sophie rested against the wall. I took the chair by a small desk in the corner of the room and swivelled it around to face my sister and best friend.

Five minutes later, I had recounted everything Chief Gary had told me about the map.

“It has to all be about the resort. I know it. It just has to,” Charlotte said.

“Oh, that wasn’t all,” I added, remembering. “There were also the guys we took pictures of at the funeral. You know how there was something weird about them?”

“Yeah,” Sophie replied. “I don’t trust them.”

“Well, Chief Gary told me they were businessmen from Portland, and that they checked out.”

Sophie let out a laugh that almost sounded more like a bark.

“HA! What a liar.”

“That’s what I thought,” I said, “but I couldn’t get him to admit it and tell me the truth. I was hoping Charlotte would help us out with a truth spell at some point.”

“Oh there’s definitely no need to get witchy with things,” Sophie said. “I know he’s lying, and I know the truth.”

“What? How?” Charlotte and I both asked. Suddenly Sophie looked a little bit more abashed.

“Ummm… I just kind of… know a guy.”

“Oh my God,” I said, everything suddenly clicking. “It’s Taylor. Taylor told you.”

The blush creeping up Sophie’s face gave her away.

“HA! I claimed, triumphantly. I knew you were going out with someone. You’ve been acting weird since you had to give him your statement.”

“Wait, Taylor as in the guy from the family of cops?” Charlotte asked, and I nodded, probably a bit too enthusiastically.

“OHMYGOD,” Charlotte exclaimed. “How come you didn’t tell us sooner?”

“Because I knew you guys would make fun of me,” Sophie said, crossing her arms and jutting out her chin. I grinned.

“Awwwwwww, why would you think we’d make fun of you?” I asked.

“Because the last few boyfriends I’ve had you guys gave me so much crap over them that I don’t trust you guys anymore.”