Davis, Krista - Murder, She Barked - A Paws & Claws Mystery (A Paws and Claws Mystery)

Where had Twinkletoes come from? I followed them but they had vanished. I felt like an idiot standing in front of the fireplace and looking around. They had to be in the suite somewhere.

In less than two minutes, they raced through the suite again, Twinkletoes in the lead. This time I was ready. I watched to see where they were going. But Twinkletoes jumped up on the hearth.

Trixie focused on her, ready to play.

Thinking I had missed my opportunity, I flicked on the fire and settled in one of the cozy chairs with my feet up. I strained to hear any indication of activity across the hall. Nothing.

Twinkletoes sprang off the hearth. Dancing sideways like a Halloween cat, with her back arched, she whapped Trixie on the nose with one of her paws and took off again.

Trixie’s claws rustled against the wood floor as she scrambled after Twinkletoes. I jumped up and chased them, just in time to see Trixie disappear through the bookcase in the dining room.

What on earth? I knelt down and peered at the bottom shelf. They had gone through a round pet-sized hole in the back. I stood and stepped back. In the dark cherry wood, it was almost invisible. No wonder I had missed it.

I grasped a shelf. A little pressure caused that section of the bookcase to swing open to a stair landing. A light switch to my right turned on overhead lights. I trotted down the stairs, laughing at how stupid I’d been. These had to be the old back stairs to the kitchen. Indeed, a landing on the second floor provided an exit, undoubtedly hidden on the other side. I continued down another flight of stairs. At the bottom, I pushed against a wood panel with a pet door in it and found myself in Oma’s private kitchen with Twinkletoes and Trixie.

Oma must have built a similar hidden staircase between her suite and her office when she put on the new addition. That would explain how she managed to leave without being seen by Casey or me.

That tricky woman! I couldn’t stop smiling. My dear old Oma was one of a kind. I should have known she would use the renovation as an excuse to build hidden passages. She loved things like that.

I carried Twinkletoes up to my suite. Trixie raced ahead of us. I located some heavy books and blocked off their escape hatch. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about Trixie being stolen from the kitchen.

I settled back in the big cushy chair with my feet on the ottoman, waiting for something to happen. Trixie jumped up on the chair, and twisted and turned until she wedged herself in beside me. I felt my eyelids grow heavy.

• • •

Trixie’s yelp woke me at one in the morning. She sat up at attention, listening. One more yelp and she ran to the door of the suite and barked like crazy.

Forty-two

I peered through the peephole in the door. Someone was out there. More than one someone. I couldn’t tell who they were. I heard murmuring and thought I saw Dave.

Holding Trixie back so she wouldn’t run out, I cracked the door. Dave escorted Tiny to the elevator.

Leaving Trixie and Twinkletoes cooped up in my suite, I stepped out. “Tiny?”

Handcuffed, his eyes wide with fright, he said, “They’re not my keys. I swear! Somebody mailed them to me. I didn’t murder anybody. Specially not Sven.”

Dave didn’t say a word. He pressed the button for the elevator.

“Are you the one who’s been sleeping up here?”

“I didn’t mean to upset nobody.”

“Why? Why were you sleeping in the storage room?”

Tiny lowered his voice and hung his head. “I’m next. He’s gonna kill me next. Them keys were a warning. I been hiding there.”

“Then you know who the killer is.”

His head lifted, and his eyes conveyed fresh alarm. “I didn’t say that. I don’t know. For sure I don’t know who was driving that car, and that’s the God’s honest truth.”

“Tiny!”

“Look, Holly, Dave. I’m ashamed of myself, I am. I done something real bad. I’ll fess up to it ’cause I know it was wrong. The night you drove up here, Holly, that was me you saw out on the highway. I . . .” He appeared to be thinking fast. “I was afraid the driver, you—” he pointed at me “—would recognize me, so I followed you to the inn. I looked in the glove box in your car and saw Ben’s name on the registration. When Mr. Luciano come around the corner in the fog, I thought it was Ben, and I clobbered him.” He hung his head when he said, “I meant to kill him. But I couldn’t.” He met my eyes.

“You were going to kill the person who saw you on the highway?”

“I don’t have it in me to kill nobody. I don’t. I’m right sorry about Mr. Luciano. But I didn’t kill nobody. I swear. I didn’t want nobody to know I threw the car off the mountain. That’s why I told people there was a ghost out on the highway, and he must have done it.”

“Why did you throw the car over the side of the road?”

Tiny closed his eyes like he’d realized his mistake in telling us so much. “Oh, man! I done it now.”

The elevator doors opened. They stepped into the elevator and turned around to face me.

“You gotta believe me,” said Tiny. “I didn’t kill nobody. I didn’t! I swear.”

Dave grunted with disbelief, and the elevator doors slid shut.

I didn’t know what to make of Tiny’s arrest. I returned to the suite, changed into my T-shirt, and wrapped the Sugar Maple Inn robe around me. Too agitated to sleep, I poured a glass of wine and walked out on the bedroom balcony to look out over Wagtail. Trixie and Twinkletoes came along. Their noses twitched as they caught scents on the night air.

White lights twinkled in trees along the pedestrian zone. Streetlights helped illuminate the walkways. Shop windows glowed in the night. It was enchanting.

But my thoughts kept returning to Tiny. I hadn’t anticipated that he would be the one arrested tonight. His pleas of innocence still rang in my ears. And the look on his face—he knew more than he’d said. I wished I could be in the car with them. I bet he was spilling his guts at that very moment.

I tried to piece together what I knew. If Tiny was telling the truth, then he must have done something terrible to feel he had to kill the person who saw him on the highway. That didn’t exactly bolster his protests of innocence. Surely stealing a car didn’t rise to that level.

Something else was bothering me. Something was wrong with that picture. Why would the car thief have Mortie’s keys? No one had said it was a carjacking. That meant someone had swiped Mortie’s keys to steal the car. I knew of only one person who had easy access to those keys. Kim.

Surely she hadn’t stolen her own father’s car! Had she handed the keys over to someone else? I intended to find out.

• • •

In the morning I rose early, hoping to catch a minute with Zelda before she was too busy to talk. She knew Tiny far better that I did.

A quick step onto the balcony confirmed it was a gorgeous day, but fall had arrived and brought colder temperatures with it. My sandals would have to be replaced with something warmer soon. I unblocked the pet door to Oma’s kitchen so Twinkletoes could come and go as she pleased. Dressed in the khakis and the sleeveless white turtleneck, I took Oma’s black jacket with me to walk Trixie.

Trixie and Twinkletoes scampered down the grand staircase ahead of me, stopping to sniff various spots. Even so, they beat me to the bottom. Trixie turned right and dashed into the dining area.

I could hear her barking and rushed after her. She followed Shelley’s replacement, yelping at her for food.

Swooping down on Trixie, I attached her leash and coaxed her away. “We don’t bark for food like that. As soon as we get home, you’re going to doggie school.”