Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series) (15 page)

His gray eyes turned dark with feeling and my mouth dried up.
 

“Okay,” I croaked.

His grip on my arm tightened and he pulled me a little closer. I held my breath, my stomach tossing the roast beef sandwich around like the
Andrea Gail
in The Perfect Storm.

Was he going to kiss me?

He dipped his head toward mine.

And that’s when I threw up on his shoes.

Chapter Twenty-One

“You threw up on his shoes?” Pepper stared at me, her emerald eyes as big as saucers.

“Yeah, I think I might be coming down with something, although I feel fine now.” I pressed my fingertips against my temple in a futile attempt to make the painful pounding stop. “Other than this headache.”

“What happened?” She busied herself behind the counter of her shop, getting things ready for the morning crowd, glancing up at me every so often as I told her how I’d run into Striker at the Bates mansion. Her lips quirked up in a smug smile when I told her about how we’d had coffee and exchanged clues.
 

“His car was parked up here, so we were standing in front of my shop while I dug out my key.” I leaned across the counter, lowering my voice even though no one was in the shop to hear me. “It almost seemed like he was about to kiss me.”

I had Pepper’s full attention. “Really? What happened?”

“I felt sick and threw up. Lucky thing he was wearing police issue shoes—they should clean off pretty easily.”

“That sounds awful … what did he do?”

“He was a complete gentleman,” I said, grimacing at the memory. “He acted like it was nothing. But I noticed he didn’t seem like he wanted to kiss me anymore after that. It was humiliating … took me three Appletini’s to recover.

“Maybe that explains the headache I have this morning. Funny thing though, I didn’t feel sick when I was drinking those.”

“Oh, dear,” Pepper wrung her hands together, her eyes darting around the store as if she was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

“Pepper, do you have something to tell me?” I didn’t like the way she was
not
looking at me.

“Well …” she wrinkled her face. “I was only trying to help …”

“You didn’t!” My heart dropped—had she given me one of her crazy herbal teas thinking she could fix me up with Striker?

Pepper nodded. “I guess maybe I shouldn’t have made it a love-
sick
potion.”

“Pepper! I asked you not to.” I gave her a ‘how-could-you’ look, but the stricken look on her face made it impossible for me to be too mad at her. “So now I’m going to get sick whenever I see Striker? Did you give him a tea, too?”

“No, he didn’t need one.” Pepper tucked a long strand of hair back into the swirly bun on top of her head. “But don’t worry, I’ll make this right.

I felt a moment of panic as she turned around and started throwing herbs into an infuser. Her previous tea had made me throw up, who knew what this one would do to me?

I held my hands up in front of me. “Oh, no. I’m not drinking another tea from you. Not with the way those things backfire. Besides, it’s probably for the best if I throw up every time I see Striker. The last thing I need is to get involved with him.”

Pepper stopped what she was doing and turned to me, her hands on her hips. “Actually, Willa, I think you do need to get involved. How long since you and Jake split up?”

My heart twisted at the thought of my ex-husband. Our break-up hadn’t been pretty. “Two years.”

“Right, so it’s about time you got interested in someone else. I’m not saying you have to marry the guy, but go out and have some fun, at least. You don’t want to end up a shriveled up old maid, do you?”

Did I? The thought didn’t seem all that unappealing if it meant I could avoid another heartbreak.

“I’ll think about it,” I said, mostly to get her to stop talking about it. “I did find out a new clue, though.”

“When you were at the Bates mansion?”

“No, but come to think of it something strange happened there.”

“What?”

“I was talking to Derek and there was a big crash. Felicity came out of a side room and then everyone got all weird and Derek rushed me out of there.”

Pepper’s brow creased. “Did Felicity drop something?”

“I’m not sure.” I chewed my lower lip trying to remember what she’d said. “She said something strange … that she was practicing something. Maybe she does karate or something.”

“Or maybe she was practicing her spells and they went haywire.” Pepper looked at me out of the corner of her eye as she dunked the infuser in the hot water she’d poured into a teacup.

“Spells?” I wrinkled my face up at her.

“Some people say she’s some kind of witch.” Pepper slid the teacup across the counter at me and I eyed it suspiciously, wondering what might happen to me if I drank it. Would it cure me of throwing up on Striker, or simply cause me some other embarrassing malady?

“That’s silly.” I lifted the cup to my lips and sniffed. It smelled like mushrooms and dirt. “There’s no such thing as witches.”

Pepper simply shrugged and I thought back to my conversation with Elspeth about magic. I’d never been one to believe in magic or paranormal activity … but that was
before
I started talking to ghosts.
 

“So what was the clue?” Pepper prompted.

“Oh, right.” I took a tentative sip of tea. It was actually pretty good. “Striker said they found some gray hairs clutched in Lavinia’s hand.”

“From the killer?”

“Presumably. Although, we don’t know for sure. I plan to ask Lavinia if she remembers pulling her killer’s hair.”
 

Pepper’s lips curled in a triumphant smile. “So the killer couldn’t have been Ophelia.”

“No, you were right. It’s not her. She has an airtight alibi.” I told her about the time-stamped photo of Ophelia at the bank.

“I knew it!” Pepper snapped her fingers. “So now you can narrow your list down to just people with gray hair.”

“We don’t know that hair was from the killer, and anyway, that still leaves quite a long list of people.”

“Yeah, but I have a good idea where you can start.” Pepper thrust her chin in the direction of the window.

Outside, Cordelia, Hattie, Bing and Josiah were strolling by, Styrofoam coffee cups in hand, on their way to my bookstore. My stomach dropped as I realized they all had gray hair.

***

I jogged the short distance from Pepper’s shop to my bookstore where Bing, Cordelia, Hattie and Josiah were huddled together in conversation outside my door. Could one of them be the killer?

Of course not … I hoped. These people were my friends. I’d practically grown up with them. It just wasn’t possible one of them had killed Lavinia.

“Hey, Willa,” Bing said as they parted to let me open the door.

We filed inside and Hattie handed me a coffee. I leaned against my front counter, watching them settle on the purple sofa as I sipped the coffee slowly. The tea that Pepper gave me had already given me a boost and I didn’t need the caffeine as much as usual.

“That was a lovely service for Lavinia yesterday,” Cordelia said.

“Did you go, Willa?” Hattie raised a white brow at me.

“I did,” I answered. “I saw you over on the side, but you guys left and I had to talk to Augusta about something.”

“Oh?” Bing glanced up from his coffee. “About the murder?”

“Sort of.” I didn’t want to get into the whole thing about how I’d suspected Ophelia now that she’d been cleared.

“Seems to me that anyone who would be so bold as to try to steal those bronzes must have some big money problems,” Hattie said.

Cordelia nodded. “I imagine the police are looking into that.”

“Well, I hope they’re making some progress,” Hattie said. “It’s disturbing to know there is a killer in our midst.”

“
Are
they making progress?” Josiah asked, his eyes boring into mine.

“I’m not sure. You know how little Augusta tells me.” I chewed on my bottom lip. Josiah had been the postmaster his whole life. Surely, he didn’t make a ton of money in his retirement. And he was one of the few people that remembered about the bronzes and knew their value.

My stomach clenched. Surely, I wasn’t suspecting Josiah … was I? I caught myself looking at his hands to see if he wore a big ring. He didn’t … at least he wasn’t wearing one
today
.

Bing closed the plastic tab on the lid of his coffee and stood up. I noticed that he
was
wearing a big ring. His Magician’s Guild ring—he always wore it. I reminded myself that lots of people wore big rings, especially class rings and rings from organizations.
 

“What if it wasn’t the bronzes? What if they were after something else?” Bing said. His eyes held mine and I got the impression he was trying to tell me something. Or warn me.

Cordelia, Hattie and Josiah swiveled their faces toward Bing.
 

Cordelia’s forehead took on another layer of wrinkles. “What else would they be looking for? The only other thing in there is books.”

“That’s right,” Hattie said, pushing herself up from the couch. “Unless there is something else of value that the killer knows about and we don’t.”

Josiah tilted his head. “That could be. Seems like this is getting to be more and more of a mystery.”

“It sure is,” I said.
 

Cordelia and Josiah stood up and the four of them made their way to the door.

“See you tomorrow, Willa,” Cordelia said.

“Bye,” Hattie turned and waved.

“See ya,” Bing nodded.

“Later,” Josiah said as he shut the door behind him, leaving me alone in the bookstore.

Well, almost alone … Lavinia’s ghost swirled into view as soon as the door was firmly shut.

“So, how was my funeral?”
 

“It was nice. I’m surprised you weren’t there.” I got to the bottom of my coffee and tossed the cup in the trash.

“Oh, it’s kind of tacky to show up at your own funeral.” Lavinia looked at me as if she was surprised I wasn’t up on the latest ghost etiquette. “So how does it look on finding my killer?”

“Well, it wasn’t Ophelia,” I said.

“Oh, that’s too bad.” Lavinia made a face. “I mean, I figured it wasn’t, but still, I would have liked it to have been her. We didn’t get along.”

“But I did find a new clue that I need your help with.”

“Oh?” Lavinia’s ghostly brows swirled upwards.

“The police found some gray hairs clutched in your hand. They think you might have pulled them from the killer,” I said. “Do you remember pulling out the hair of the person that pushed you?”

“Let me think … I was walking toward the back of the stairs. I saw a shadow, then felt the pain in the back of my head. Then someone pushed me, right at the top of my back … I flailed my arms, grabbing out for anything to keep from falling.” Lavinia looked up at the ceiling, screwing her face up in thought. “Yes! I remember reaching out and grabbing on as I was falling. I heard a grunt. A few hairs ripped out. And then I fell.”

A prickle of excitement rippled through my stomach. “You heard a grunt? Did you recognize who it sounded like?”

Lavinia shook her head, her shoulders drooping. “No, sorry. It was just an odd grunt. It sounded like a man, though … most definitely a man.”

“Well, I guess that narrows it down some.” My head was starting to throb and my leg was aching. I glanced at the clock, my stomach sinking when I realized the day was just beginning. I made a mental note not to drink so many Appletini’s on a work night.

“Willa?” Lavinia pulled me out of my thoughts.

“Yes?”

“I don’t want to rush you, but I feel it’s urgent that you step up the investigation.”

I felt a tinge of annoyance. Who was
she
to be so pushy? “Oh, sorry I’m not investigating fast enough. I do have a business to run, you know.”

“There’s no need to get snippy. I’m simply telling you this for your own good.”

“My own good? What does
your
murder have to do with my good?”

Lavinia looked confused. “I’m not sure, but ever since I died, I get these feelings and that’s what I feel. Besides if you want to get rid of me, you need to find the killer.”

I pressed my lips together and stared at her. I sure
did
want to get rid of her. Having ghosts pop up when you least expected them was annoying. It was enough just to have Frost and Pierce lurking in the store. They didn’t seem like they were ever going to leave, and I didn’t want to add any more perpetual ghosts to the mix.

“You have all these clues now and you
were
a top notch crime journalist,” Lavinia pointed out. “How hard can it be to figure out who it is?”
 

“Right. Should be child’s play,” I said, feeling a sinking sensation in my stomach. “All I have to do is find a gray-haired man wearing a big ring and a blue cape that has financial trouble
and
doesn’t have an alibi for the time you were killed.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

The day went by quickly and I pulled into my driveway that night, exhausted from my Appletini hangover.

As usual, Pandora raced me to the farmer’s porch, stopping short at a large box that blocked the path to the door.

“Mew!” She looked up at me as if it was the most important box in the world.

“What is that?” I bent down to read the note on top of the box.

Willa, here are the books I picked up for you - Enjoy! Maggie.

With everything that was going on, I’d forgotten that Maggie had the books for me. She must have returned from her buying trip and dropped them off. I made a mental note to call her and thank her as I opened the door and pushed the box inside.

Glaring at the bottle of vodka on the counter, I rummaged in the fridge for supper. I didn’t have much, but managed to dig up a jar of jalapeños, shredded cheese and spaghetti sauce. I piled them on top of a toasted English muffin and then set it under the broiler to melt the cheese while I filled Pandora’s bowl.

I pulled the muffin out from under the broiler before I caught the house on fire and settled at the kitchen table to eat it. My leg had started aching again. I grabbed some
Iced Fire
and rubbed it in while I waited for the muffin to cool.