Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series) (19 page)

“Yes. She said she’d be here any minute.” Striker looked through the window of the examination room to the dark, empty reception area then back at me. “Will you be okay until then? I want to go back to your house and help Augusta inspect the crime scene.”

“Sure.” I opened the door and he followed me out into the lobby. Since it was after-hours, there was no receptionist, no customers waiting, which suited me just fine. I could use some alone time.
 

We stood looking at each other awkwardly. I wondered what Striker was thinking … and why my stomach was flip-flopping.
 

Then the door opened and Elspeth swept in, breaking the spell.

“Where is she?” Elspeth’s worried eyes darted between the three examining room doors.
 

“In here.” I started toward the room Pandora was in. Striker gave me a wave and moved toward the door to the parking lot.
 

“Thanks,” I called after him. He turned and nodded to me, then was gone.
 

Elspeth was already at Pandora’s side, her hands lovingly caressing the cat’s fur.
 

“What happened?” She looked at me with puckered brows.

“Someone broke into my house and ransacked my living room. Pandora must have been there. I found her like this, under a pile of books.”

“Books?”

I nodded.

Elspeth’s face hardened and she pressed her forehead against Pandora’s, all the while crooning softly to the cat.
 

Pandora’s tail lifted a fraction of an inch, the kinked end sticking straight up in the air. Her eyelids fluttered, then opened. She gazed into Elspeth’s eyes as if the two of them were having some sort of telepathic communication.
 

Pandora put her paw on Elspeth’s forearm and Elspeth nodded, then turned the paw gently in her hand. Pandora’s claws shot out, revealing broken jagged edges.

“She fought the intruder,” Elspeth squeezed her paw gently and I saw the pinkie claw pop out. My breath caught in my throat … skewered on the claw was a scrap of navy blue fabric.

“That looks like the same fabric that was on the murder weapon. I should get Augusta to look at that.” I pulled the fabric off, found a plastic baggie on one of the drawers, and deposited it inside.
 

Holding the bag up in front of me, I felt a spark of hope. “I don’t know why the person who killed Lavinia would break into my house, but maybe this scrap of fabric will help the police figure things out.”

“That’s not the only thing that might help them,” Elspeth said.

“What do you mean?”

“Judging by Pandora’s claws, she fought hard. Your intruder couldn’t have escaped being marked. Find the person with claw marks on their arm, and you may have found your killer.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“You think the person who broke into your house was the same person who killed Lavinia?” Pepper’s brow creased as she tucked the soft, mint-colored chenille blanket around my legs.

“Well, the color looked the same and it is a strange coincidence.”
 

I’d called Augusta from the animal hospital and she’d come right away to pick up the navy blue piece of fabric. According to her, they hadn’t found any clues to go on at my house. Striker had insisted on righting my bookshelf and putting the books back, which somehow made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Or maybe the warm and fuzzy feeling came from the tea Pepper was pumping into me as I sat tucked into an overstuffed chair, safe and warm inside her country cottage.

“But what’s the connection?” She poured more tea into my cup.

“I have no idea, but now I’m starting to think the murder didn’t have anything to do with the bronzes, and I got the impression Augusta and Striker might think so, too.”

“Well, if it wasn’t about the bronzes, then what?”

I shook my head and took a sip of tea. I don’t know what Pepper had put in it, but it sure was relaxing me.

“Maybe if we look at the suspects, it will make more sense,” Pepper said.

“Oh, that reminds me, I do have a new suspect since I last talked to you.” I told her about my conversation with Emma.

“Derek Bates? But he always seems so nice.” Pepper screwed her face up. “I can’t picture him being a killer.”

“True, but I can’t picture Bing or Josiah being the killer either.”

“I hate to think it’s any of them. Can’t you come up with someone else?”

“I’ve tried and, other than Ophelia, who has an alibi, those three are the only ones who had means, motive or opportunity.”

“But, which one of them had all three?”

“That’s a good question.” I chewed on my bottom lip while I thought about it. “All three of them were in town that morning, so they all had opportunity.”

“And any one of them had the means to clobber Lavinia and push her … you don’t have to be too strong to do that.”

“So, that leaves motive.” I put my teacup down and snuggled into the chair. “And if the killer wasn’t after the bronzes, we’re not really sure
what
the motive is.”

“It could still be financial,” Pepper said. “You said they ransacked your bookcase. Maybe they were after a valuable book?”
 

“But, I don’t have a valuable book.”

“Not that you
know
of, but have you checked all those books lately? Maybe one became rare for some reason … the author died or whatever. Or maybe you just never knew you had a rare one.”

“Maybe.” I did a mental inventory of my books. Some had been my grandmother’s. I thought I knew the inventory pretty well, but maybe I’d missed a rare one.

“So who needed money?” Pepper asked.

“Not Bing or Derek … maybe Josiah. He can’t make much on the postmaster’s pension.”

“Josiah could probably use some extra money, but Derek’s not rich, either.” Pepper took my teacup and walked around the center chimney to the kitchen area. “Idris controls the Bates fortune and he doesn’t hand money out easily, so Derek doesn’t really have any of his own.”

I stifled a yawn. “So it’s between Josiah and Derek.”

“Not necessarily.” Pepper took a pillow out of the hall closet and started making up the sofa for me to sleep on, which was a good thing since my eyelids felt like someone had tied lead weights to them. “You can’t forget about the clues. The navy blue cape, the ring and the gray hair.”

“Josiah doesn’t wear a ring. I have no idea if Derek or Josiah have a blue cape, but I know Bing does—his magician’s cape.
And
he has gray hair and a ring.”

Pepper screwed her face up. “I’m trying to think, but I remember Derek has dark hair. So, only Bing and Josiah have gray hair.”

“This is confusing. It could be any of them.” I moved over to the sofa, nestling under the soft covers.
 

“Or anyone else.” Pepper tucked the blanket under the sofa cushion and pecked my cheek. “But it’s late and you must be exhausted. Let’s get some sleep and we can think more about it in the morning.

“Mmmhmm.” I mumbled my response, almost fully asleep.

As I drifted off, my subconscious mind sifted through the clues and suspects. Visions of rings, capes and murder weapons passed before my closed eyelids. The pieces snapped into place just before I fell into the deep abyss of sound sleep.
 

Suddenly, I knew who matched all three clues … and I had a good idea how to prove he was the killer.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

I leaned on the counter at my bookstore
,
tapping my finger impatiently on its polished wood surface
.
I’d come in early, after checking on Pandora, and set the wheels in motion.
 

Today, Lavinia’s killer would be brought to justice.

Outside, dark clouds had settled over the mountain. The smell of rain permeated my senses and the humidity frizzed my hair and made my leg ache. I bent down to massage it, jerking my head up as the bells over the door tinkled.

“Morning Willa.” Hattie and Cordelia, in matching purple raincoats sauntered in. Cordelia had an extra Styrofoam cup, which she handed to me.

“Thanks.” I tipped the cup toward her, then took a sip.
 

The door opened again and in came Bing, followed by Josiah. I noticed they both wore trench coats, but that wasn’t unusual given the rainy forecast. Josiah shrugged his off and took a seat on the couch, rolling his sleeves up. His arms were not marred with scratches, which supported my theory.
 

Josiah was not the killer.

Bing sat on the couch next to him. He didn’t remove his raincoat. I glanced nervously at the big ring on his hand.

“I heard about the break-in at your place.” Bing turned concerned eyes on me. “Are you okay?”

“News travels fast. I’m fine.”

“And Pandora?” My heart warmed at the genuine concern in Hattie’s voice.

“She’ll be fine,” I said. “Doc Evans is just watching her for another night.”

“Oh, good,” Hattie and Cordelia said in unison.

The door opened again and the four gray heads swiveled to see Augusta enter, her brows raised in question.

“Hi, everyone,” Augusta turned to me. “I got your cryptic message. What’s this about?”

I took a deep breath. “I think I know who Lavinia’s killer is, and I’m going to prove it right now.”

Augusta raised her brows.

Hattie and Cordelia gasped.
 

Bing frowned, his bushy white brows practically covering his eyes. “Now, Willa ….”

Josiah cocked his head, rubbing his chin. “You don’t say.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a wispy swirl starting to form at the end of the cookbook aisle. Figures, Lavinia would show up now when I didn’t need her.

I turned away from Lavinia’s ghost in time to see Augusta roll her eyes at me.
 

“Willa, how many times do I have to tell you not to investigate on your own? If you have a theory about the killer, you should tell me and let the police do the proper investigation.”

The door jingled open, saving me from having to answer, and everyone turned to see Derek Bates step inside the shop.

Lavinia’s ghost was doing her best to distract me. I could see her out of the corner of my eye down at the other end of the store where she was gesturing and gyrating. You’d think she’d be happy I was getting ready to unmask her killer, but instead she looked concerned. I turned my back on her.

“Hi, everyone.” Derek scanned the group uncertainly before resting his gaze on me. “Willa, you said you have a book for me.”

“Hi Derek.” I avoided his question. “I think you know everyone here.”

“Umm … yeah.” He made a face and pushed a lock of hair back from his forehead, revealing the gray streak. “What’s going on? Where’s the book?”

“There isn’t any book,” I said.

“What?” What are you talking about?”

Derek was still standing by the door and I was on the other side of couches. Everyone’s heads were swiveling back and forth between Derek and me like they were watching a tennis match.
 

I decided to move in for the kill.

“Emma at the church told me she saw you skulking around here the morning Lavinia Babbage was killed.”

Derek scrunched his face up. “What? When was that? … Oh. Yes, I remember now. I
was
in town … but surely you don’t think I had anything to do with
that
?”

I looked down at his hand. Where was his ring?

Lavinia had made her way over to the counter and was gesturing at me again. I turned to the side, ignoring her.
 

Doubt started to bloom in my gut—maybe Derek wasn’t the killer. But he
had
to be—the clues all led to him.

He was young and strong, with the means to clobber and push an old lady.

He was seen in the area at the time of death.
 

He needed money and knew about the bronzes in the library… if the bronzes were even still the motive.

Even though his hair was dark, he did have that streak of gray. Lavinia could have easily reached back and grabbed on to that exact spot of hair.
 

And
, even though he wasn’t wearing a ring now, I’d remembered what had niggled at me about the photo of him with his brother, father and grandfather holding the family crest in the photo album—they’d all been wearing matching family crest rings.

Not only that, but I’d seen a long black car in the Bates’ garage—just like the one Ophelia described fleeing town that morning. And hanging next to that were dark driver’s coats. Sure, I hadn’t been able to make out the color in the dark, but I was willing to bet they were navy blue.
 

He could deny it all he wanted—the real killer usually did.

I noticed everyone was staring at me so I continued. “Isn’t it true that you’re in need of money? You don’t have much of your own and your grandfather controls the family money.”

Derek’s face pinched and he shuffled his feet. “Well, yes, but I don’t see what—”

“And you knew about the valuable bronzes in the library,” I cut him off.

“The ones grandfather donated? That you keep pestering us about?”

Lavinia was practically doing cartwheels on the counter. I ignored her—I was almost finished, and then we’d have this whole thing behind us and Lavinia could go off to wherever ghosts went off to.

I narrowed my eyes at Derek. “Where were you last night around six p.m.?”

“Huh? I was home … just what is going on here?”

“My house was broken into by Lavinia’s killer and I think you know
exactly
what is going on because you had means, motive and opportunity.” I ticked the last three words off on my fingers.

“That’s crazy!” The words exploded from Derek’s mouth. “I didn’t kill Lavinia or break into your house!”

“Really? Then explain why you were skulking around in the woods just before the murder and were seen fleeing town right after in your long black car.”

A confused look passed over Derek’s face. “Long black car? You mean the Lincoln? I never take that car … and if you must know, I was bringing my cat to the vet that morning.”

I remembered what Emma had said about Derek being one of the ‘opposers’ of the feral cat sanctuary. “Cat? I heard you didn’t even like cats, so now I know you’re lying.”