A Purrfect Alibi

More rustling in the bushes and Esther appeared. Unlike Victor, she was visibly shaken. Her hands flew to her face. “Oh my, how dreadful!”

Then she stepped a little closer, curiosity apparently overtaking her horror. “Is that a note?”

“Yes, the ghost left it,” Anita said. She must have recovered from her grisly discovery because she’d whipped out her notebook and was taking notes.

“Poor Betty Sue,” Esther said.

“Betty Sue?” I asked as everyone turned inquisitive eyes on her.

Esther nodded. “Oh yes, that was Madame Zenda’s name before she changed it. Betty Sue Lipowitz. Did none of you know this?”

“No.” How would we have known that? But the fact that Esther knew indicated a past relationship. They must not have been close friends though, because Esther didn’t seem overly upset about her death. Millie zoned right in on that. “Did you know her well?”

Esther looked thoughtful. Was she reminiscing, or deciding how to cover up the nature of their relationship? Now that I thought about it, they hadn’t seemed friendly at all, in fact they had seemed slightly adversarial. Then again, all the guests had seemed that way toward each other. I hadn’t thought much about it as it seemed natural to have some professional rivalry in their business.

“Well, we weren’t besties or anything but we’ve both been mediums for decades and have crossed paths before.”

“Do you know why anyone would want to kill her?” Mom asked. By the tilt of her head and narrowing of her eyes, I could tell she had Esther at the top of her suspect list.

“Oh dear me, of course not. Such a shame. And what is with this note? Sounds ominous.” Esther looked around, as if expecting Jed’s ghost to appear from thin air.

“Yeah what is with the note?” Of all people, Myron had shown up. Now why in the world was he here? I thought about Mom and Millie’s insistence that he had a crush on me, hopefully he wasn’t stalking me or something.

He peered over at the body, his face turning visibly white. He looked as if he was going to throw up. “That looks like a warning.” He turned his scowling gaze on me and visions of my loan drying up ran through my head. Dread curled in my stomach. Were Myron’s concerns valid? I knew he was worried that rumors of murdering ghosts would affect bookings.

The sound of sirens split the air and Mom and Millie sprang into action, securing the crime scene as if they’d been deputized.

Millie moved everyone back from the body and Mom stood in front of them as if to provide a barrier. By the time Sheriff Seth Chamberlain and his deputies arrived on the scene things appeared quite orderly.

Seth glanced at the body, then at Mom and Millie, his gaze taking in their all-black outfits. He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest, then addressed Mom and Millie. “Okay, tell me what’s going on? Who discovered the body and how did you all get on the scene? And what is with those outfits?”

Millie filled him in on what had transpired, glossing over the reason for their outfits and simply saying that they just happened to be both wearing all black today because it was supposed to be slimming.

“And see, right there is proof this was Jedediah’s ghost.” Anita snapped a picture of the note on the body with her cell phone.

“No pictures of the crime scene, please.” Seth frowned at Anita. “And just what are you doing here anyway? You’re not a guest at the hotel.”

Anita shoved her phone back into her bag, making a show of rooting around. Was she avoiding eye contact with Seth? “I… uh… heard through the grapevine that Madame Zenda was going to contact Jedediah Biddeford’s ghost. That’s big news.”

Through the grapevine? More like through my open window. But was that really the reason Anita was here? I could tell by the skeptical look on Seth Chamberlain’s face he might be wondering the same thing. Did Anita and Madame Zenda have some sort of arrangement and if so, was Madame’s death a benefit or a hindrance to Anita?

Seth glanced back at the body. “You don’t really think a ghost did this, do you?”

“Well, sure, who else would do it?” Anita asked.

Good question. I looked at the group of people—Anita, Victor, Esther. Apparently, the scream had brought them out from the guesthouse just like it had brought Mom, Millie and me, but was one of them the killer? And why hadn’t it summoned Gail? I would’ve been able to contemplate that more deeply if Myron wasn’t standing beside me, wringing his hands and nattering on about having a bad feeling about this.

He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “This is not good for the guesthouse, you mark my words.”

“Myron, what are you even doing here at this time of night?” I asked.

“I bet he came to ask you to dinner,” Mom whispered.