Ghostly Paws (Mystic Notch Cozy Mystery Series) (2 page)

“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” I said as I dug the key out of my pocket and put it in the shiny brass lock of the antique oak door of the bookshop.

“Oh?” Bingham Thorndike, another of the regulars, raised a bushy white brow.

I pushed the door open and gestured for them to go inside. Cordelia and Hattie went first, then Josiah Barrows, the retired Postmaster, then Bingham, or Bing as we all called him.

They all looked at me expectantly as I turned the sign in the door to ‘Open’ and switched on the inside lights. I took a deep breath of the comforting musky-vanilla scent of leather and old paper.

“So, what’s going on down at the library?” Josiah broke the silence. I was surprised he didn’t already know since he seemed to know everything that went on in town, sometimes even before it actually happened.

“I’m afraid Lavinia took a fall.” I bit my lower lip and tried to figure out a gentle way to break the news. After a few seconds, I hadn’t come up with anything so I just blurted it out. “She’s dead.”

Hattie and Cordelia gasped. Bing sipped his coffee. Josiah rubbed his chin. Pandora jumped up on the counter next to my nickel-plated old-fashioned cash register and let out a mournful wail.

“Mercy sakes,” Hattie said as she maneuvered her way past the chair toward the sofa.

“Poor Lavinia,” Cordelia whispered.

I’d recently added a set of purple micro-suede chairs and a sofa to the front of the shop for customers who wanted to sit and read a book while browsing. The four of them settled somberly into the plush seating.

I watched them sip from their Styrofoam cups, their faces in thoughtful repose. They looked comfortable on the sofa. At home. I started to wonder if maybe I had made it
too
comfortable for them.

“You sure she fell?” Josiah wrinkled his brow at me.

I nodded. “She was getting up in years and not so steady anymore. I found her at the bottom of the stairs—the ones in the back.”

“You found her? What were you doing in the library?” Bing asked.

I explained how I’d seen the light on, gone in to investigate and found her lying at the bottom of the steps. I left out the part about all the blood.

“Oh dear, that must have been terrible for you,” Cordelia clucked.

“That must have happened early on.” Josiah scrunched up his weathered old face. “In all my years as postmaster, I don’t recall Lavinia ever gettin’ to the library before eight o’clock.”

“That’s true,” Hattie and Cordelia said at the same time, then looked at each other and giggled.
 

“Seems odd she fell. She got along pretty good every time I saw her around town,” Josiah added.

“But it must have been a fall,” Bing said. “No one would want Lavinia dead.”

I half-listened as the four of them rambled on about the subject, distracted by the swirling gray mist that was forming over by the mystery section. A prickly feeing of uneasiness settled over me—I knew what that gray mist was.
 

Pandora hopped off the counter and trotted over to the mist, batting at it playfully.

“Right, Willa?” Bing’s question tore my attention away from the swirly mist.

“Huh?”

“Lavinia came in early sometimes when she had a backlog of returns or books to catalogue.”

I thought about the question as I watched Bing weave a large gold coin in between his fingers. A retired magician, he was always fiddling with coins and doing impromptu tricks with various objects. I’d known Bing since I was a little girl, and he taught me a few of his tricks. Some of them I still practiced, but there were quite a few more of them, the ones he wouldn’t teach me, that had me baffled. I couldn’t figure out how he did them. It was almost as if he really was using magic.

The effect of the coin was mesmerizing. I watched it weave in front of his index finger, then behind his middle finger, then in front of the Magicians Guild ring he wore on his ring finger then behind the pinkie and around, making its way all the way back to his index finger. As I watched, I contemplated his question. Had Lavinia come in early sometimes? I was having a hard time remembering.

“I’m not sure, Bing. I can’t remember.” I looked at Josiah. “Do you remember, Josiah?”

Josiah looked like he was about to nod off. He tilted his head and looked up at the ceiling. I was about to prompt him again when he finally spoke.

“I can’t say for sure. I think one time she did come in early but that was before a big book sale,” he said. “Was she fixing to have a book sale?”

We all looked at each other and shrugged.

“I have no idea,” Hattie said.

“We could look in the Gazette,” Cordelia said, referring to the town paper. “There would be an announcement if she was planning one this week.”

Out of the corner of my eye, the mist was getting thicker. It swirled around the edge of the bookcase, beckoning to me. Pandora sat next to it, her eyes drilling into mine.

Bing drained his coffee and pushed up off the couch. “Well, I gotta be on my way. Lots to do today.”

“Me, too,” Josiah said.

“I guess the party’s over.” Cordelia stood. “We’ll let you get to work, Willa. Let us know if you find out anything more about Lavinia.”

“Will do,” I said as I watched them file out the door.

As soon as they were gone, I turned my attention to the misty swirl. The swirl was one of the side effects of my accident—the one I didn’t like to dwell on. But, I’d found out the hard way that if I ignored it, things only got worse.

So, I straightened my shoulders and walked toward it.

I marched past the rows of books to the end of the aisle. Rounding the corner, my breath caught in my throat as I came face to face with … Lavinia Babbage.

***

“Eeek!” Lavinia screeched, her ghost turning to static like an off-air channel on an old television set.

“Lavinia!” I squawked, my heart thumping in my chest. I knew the swirl meant a ghost was around the corner, but I wasn’t expecting it to be
Lavinia’s
ghost.

Ever since my accident, I’d been seeing ghosts. It started off as just random sightings of misty swirls. Then the swirls started to form into human shapes. Then they started talking to me. It wasn’t something I wanted, it just happened … and it was impossible to ignore them. Each one of them seemed to want something and would pester me until they got it. I wondered what Lavinia wanted.

“Sorry, Willa,” she said, her form materializing into a semi-solid shape. “I wasn’t expecting you to come barreling around the corner like that. And I’m sorry you had to find me … you know … at the library.”

“Oh. Right. Sorry you … umm … died.”
 

“Thanks.” She held her hand up toward the window and we both watched the sunlight filter through it. Lavinia waffled her hand back and forth, apparently fascinated with the effect.

“So, did you want something?” I prompted as I glanced over my shoulder into the shop, praying no customers would come in and find me talking to thin air.

She put her hand down. “Yes, sorry, I’m still getting used to being dead. It’s not easy, you know.”

“I’m sure it’s not.”

“Anyway, I didn’t fall down the steps.”

I was afraid she was going to say something like that. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I didn’t trip and fall. I got whacked on the back of the head and was pushed!”

“Pushed? Are you sure?”
 

“Sure as shinola,” Lavinia said, then leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I was on my way to church to … umm … light a candle for my Harry. I often did that before opening the library. Anyway, I was on my way when I saw the lights on in the library. I knew I didn’t leave them on, so I went in to investigate. I thought I heard something downstairs, but as I approached the steps, I heard something behind me. I turned to see what it was and then … whack! Lights out!”

“You didn’t see who it was? Did you get any sense of whether it was a man or woman?”

“Nope. All I saw was a big shadow … like the person was wearing a cape.” Lavinia pressed her lips together and looked out the window. “Oh, and they wore a big ring.”

“Ring? What kind of ring?”

She looked back at me, her ghostly form rippling like water disturbed by a pebble. “I’m not sure. It was chunky, like a class ring. I remember hearing the noise, seeing the shadow, feeling pain and getting pushed. I saw the ring in a blur as I went down. Next thing I know, I’m waking up on a steel table inside Stilton’s funeral home. Scared me half to death. Of course, I didn’t realize I actually
was
dead at first. Anyway, once I figured it all out, I knew I had to come here and get your help.”

“You did? How did you know to come to me?” I felt a little disturbed by this. Was there some sort of sign in the afterlife telling these ghosts to seek me out? I certainly hoped not.
 

Lavinia tilted her head. “You know, I’m not rightly sure about that. Might be because I know you were a crime journalist down south. Anyway, I just got this feeling and it must have been right because you’re the only person that’s been able to see and talk to me since I … err… died.”

“Okay. Well, I’m not sure what you think I can do for you. I didn’t see any evidence of anyone being there in the library. Maybe you’re confused about what happened, you know—with being so newly dead and all?” I asked hopefully.

“No, I don’t think so. I’m sure someone did me in.”

“But,
who
would break into the library and why would they want to kill you?”

“I have no idea,” Lavinia said. “That’s for
you
to find out. All I know is that I need your help to find the killer and neither one of us is going to be able to rest until you do.

Chapter Three

Lavinia’s ghost started to fade, her final words barely above a whisper. “Only
you
can help me, Willa.”

Pandora batted at the last trailing wisp of ghost mist, then looked up at me and meowed something that sounded like, “
You have to help
.”

I frowned down at the cat. “Did you just say—?”

My words were cut off by the sound of the bells over the door. I looked between the bookcases in time to see Pepper St. Onge bustle in carrying a silver tray complete with teapot and two porcelain teacups on dainty saucers. She wore a cute vintage skirt set in violet, which complemented the mass of auburn hair piled on top of her head. Pepper usually wore her hair up like that. She’d been growing it since kindergarten, where we’d met and become best friends. Last I knew it fell below her waist. My heart warmed thinking of our close friendship that had lasted for forty-three years, even though I’d spent almost half of those years “down south” in Massachusetts.

“I heard what happened at the library, so I figured you could use a nice calming cup of tea.” Pepper peered down the aisle at me as she put the tray down on the coffee table.
 

She settled her tall, slim frame onto the couch, then patted the seat beside her as an invitation for me to sit.
 

“Thanks.”
 

I sat beside her and she poured the tea, then added a splash of cream from the tiny silver creamer she’d brought.

“I put something a little special in there to calm your nerves,” she said as she handed me a pink chintz cup perched atop its matching saucer.
 

I looked into the cup dubiously. Pepper had fallen in love with herbal teas when we were in high school. It was no surprise to me when she opened a tea room in our small hometown. People came from all over New England to drink tea and eat finger sandwiches and cakes in her cozy shop. Pepper claimed that her teas had healing powers.
 

At first, I had thought she was just being fanciful, but after witnessing several examples of her healing teas in action, I believed they
did
have some sort of powers. The problem was that they usually backfired and had the opposite effect than was intended.

I sipped the tea politely, wondering if it would have the opposite effect and make me more anxious.

Pepper watched me from over the rim of her teacup. My heart warmed at the concern in her emerald green eyes.
 

“How did you find out about Lavinia already?” I asked.

“The twins stopped by for a bag of peppermint tea,” she said, referring to Hattie and Cordelia.

“Ahh…” I nodded sagely. The grapevine in our small town worked quickly, so I wasn’t surprised that word had gotten out already.

“So, what happened?”
 

She clucked with sympathy as I told her how I’d seen the library door open and light on and then found Lavinia at the bottom of the stairs.
 

“And that’s not even the worst part,” I said.

“Oh?” Her brows crept up her forehead.

“Lavinia’s ghost claims she was pushed.”

“Ohhh.” Pepper’s eyes grew wide. She was the only one I’d told about my strange new ability and was fascinated with it. “What did she tell you?”

“Just that someone hit her on the head and then pushed her, and she won’t rest until I find whoever did it,” I said.

“And you’re going to find whoever did it?”

“I don’t have much of a choice, because I know that when she says she won’t rest, it really means that
I
won’t rest because she’ll keep pestering me.”

“So what’s your plan? Did she give you any clues?”

“Two clues. The person was wearing a cape and had a big ring.”

Pepper frowned. “A cape? Like a super hero?”

I laughed. “More like a super villain. I’m not sure if her account is reliable … she only saw a shadow of the killer and their hand, so I think it could have been just a loose coat they were wearing. I mean, who wears a cape?”

Pepper sipped her tea. “So what are you going to do?”

I sighed, leaning back on the couch. I was starting to feel more relaxed—maybe Pepper’s tea had worked its healing magic as intended this time.

“Well, I guess first I’ll have to ask the other shop owners if they saw anyone around the library early this morning,” I said. “Not too many people are here at that time.”

“I know Myrna comes in to the coffee shop early,” Pepper said. “Maybe she saw something?”