A Purrfect Alibi

“It’s in the cabinet, same spot as always.” I glanced out the window trying to see what she’d been looking at. I didn’t see anything unusual unless you consider Victor tiptoeing through the overgrown gardens unusual.

“The tea leaves have told me to be aware of what’s outside.”

Something in her manner set me on edge. Now that I thought about it, Gail didn’t seem to be a very good tea-leaf reader. Her readings were always very vague. At least Esther had come up with the tall, dark and handsome routine. And Madame Zenda had produced the death card. Madame Zenda claimed to be a medium, Esther could summon spirits in her crystal ball, Victor claimed he talked to those from the afterlife in his meditations, but, as far as I knew, Gail only read tea leaves. That seemed like a one-way conversation to me.

I pulled some Earl Grey out of the cabinet and handed it to her. Her gaze had drifted out the window again and she jerked her attention back to me and took the tin.

“I was wondering, how will you be able to communicate with Jed using just tea leaves?” I asked.

She looked confused. “What? Oh, well… the leaves don’t actually help me talk to him directly. Not the way you think. But I see things in the leaves. Answers to questions. So I focus on a question and the answer is supplied.”

I craned my neck to peer into her mug where a clump of crushed-up leaves sat on the bottom. It looked just like a regular bunch of tea leaves to me but who knew, maybe the arrangement of the leaves had some meaning for her. “Have you gotten any answers?”

“Unfortunately I haven’t gotten anything from Jed.” Her eyes were drawn back to the window as if magnets were attached.

“If Madame Zenda isn’t full of hot air, he must be around. Maybe he doesn’t like tea,” I suggested.

“Maybe.” Gail’s gaze dropped to the tea mug and I sensed she had something to add but she remained silent.

“So what have you seen in the tea leaves?” I asked.

“Oh… A few things about the guesthouse. Nothing important.”

“Things about the guesthouse? Like what?”

Gail’s gaze dropped to the mug. “I see lots of renovations.” She frowned. “And maybe some problems with completing them.”

My left brow ticked up. You didn’t need to be a psychic to see that I was doing a lot of renovations. “You don’t say.”

“Oh.” She waved her hand dismissively. “I know you have renovations going on, but this is more than that.” Then she glanced down again, a frown spreading on her face. “Of course, I also see something disturbing.”

“Disturbing?” What could be more disturbing than a bunch of psychics trying to talk to the ghost of the guy I’d found inside the wall? I leaned over to look into the mug again.

Her face darkened further as Victor passed by the window, ducking and weaving in the shrubs. What was he doing? Trying to figure out Madame Zenda’s location?

“Yes, you’d better be careful,” she whispered, then tore her gaze from the window and forced a laugh. “Listen to me being all dark and ominous. Nothing bad is coming, just be careful around that Myron guy. And don’t take what you hear from the guests too seriously. Everyone might not be on the up and up here.” With that she raised her mug at me and turned to leave. “Thanks for the tea.”

The conversation was a little unsettling, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. I also didn’t have time to think about it because two dark-clad figures lurking by the side of the house caught my attention. I pressed my face to the window. First Anita Pendragon, then Victor, and now this. How many people were skulking around in my yard and what did they want?

The two strangers resembled small, white-haired ninjas. Except they weren’t strangers. It was Mom and Millie and they were heading for the kitchen door.

Six

I got to the kitchen just as Mom and Millie came through the door. They were wearing identical plain black T-shirts. Their white, spider-veined legs called for attention beneath the hems of their black shorts. I didn’t have the heart to tell them that the white pompom-backed Peds and tennis shoes sort of ruined the look.

Millie went straight to the fridge, presumably to inspect the sausages. “Oh good, I see you browned them. Very nice.”

“What do you think?” Mom gestured to the outfits. “We’re going incognito tonight so we can find out what Madame Zenda is up to without being seen.”

“It’s not incognito, Rose,” Millie said. “It’s undercover.”

“No, not really undercover… invisible, like a stealth bomber,” Mom said.

Nero and Marlowe trotted in from the pantry and looked Mom and Millie over, then glanced at each other as if wondering what the two senior citizens were up to. Mew. Nero looked up at me. If a cat could roll its eyes, I swear he would have done it right then.

I noticed their bowls were empty. So, they had rushed over to scarf down their food as soon as I’d left the kitchen. They didn’t fool me, I knew they liked to be ornery but I also knew they liked to eat.

“So you’re going to hide in the bushes and follow Madame Zenda?” I asked.