A Purrfect Alibi

Myron straightened, his cheeks flaming as if he’d overheard my mother and was embarrassed. “I came to check up on my investment. I heard Madame Zenda talking about her supposed meeting this evening and figured I’d better stop by and see for myself exactly what kinds of shenanigans were going on here. Guess it was a good thing I did.” He let his gaze rest on Anita. “My suggestion is that you may want to get rid of those psychics right away. Bad publicity travels fast.”

I wondered if that really was the reason, or if he had been about to ask me to dinner. Good thing none of us had an appetite anymore—hopefully the dead body would keep him from asking me out. Luckily, he didn’t have a chance to because apparently something else traveled fast too—Myron’s voice.

Seth snapped his head around and looked at Myron. “Get rid of them? I don’t think so. Everyone here needs to be questioned.” Seth waved his hand to indicate all the people who had gathered. “These folks are potential suspects. No one is allowed to leave town.”

Nero stared at the body. The coppery smell of the blood made his whiskers twitch uncomfortably. He glanced sideways at Jed. “I thought you said you didn’t talk to any of them.”

Jed spread his hands out. “I didn’t, I swear.”

“Anita Pendragon seems pretty sure you’re the killer,” Marlowe said to Jed. The way that Jed was swirling and bobbing made it obvious that he was agitated. “Nah. Wasn’t me. I can barely push a small item off a table. How could I stab someone? And why would I?”

Nero studied the ghost. He seemed sincere, but then again, ghosts could be wily. And Jed had disappeared abruptly during their previous conversation. Nero hadn’t seen him since. He could have snuck out and murdered Madame Zenda and his claim that he could only push small objects could be a lie. Had he made a big show of it earlier just because he wanted an excuse as to why he couldn’t be the killer? But why would he care about appearing innocent in front of the cats? He was beyond any punishment from the humans.

“What about the curse?” Marlowe asked. “Maybe you wanted to prove the curse was real.”

“That was just hot air to keep people away. Besides, the curse was about someone messing with my treasure and I know the treasure wasn’t here in the cemetery.” Jed swirled over to inspect the body. It was obvious that none of the humans could see him. He passed by Victor and right in front of Esther. Anita shivered when he went right through her, but the others seemed oblivious. Of course, Nero couldn’t tell if Madame Zenda could have seen him. She was beyond that. Maybe her ghost would pop up and enlighten them.

Jed’s ghost bent down to inspect the note, then he hovered over the buckle. “No way I could do all this. I don’t even write like that. That buckle does look familiar though. I think I might have had one like that on my going-to-church shoes.”

“You mean that exact buckle or just one that looks like it?” Nero asked. Probably a replica. Because how would Jed’s actual shoe buckle get on the body? Had someone been in the attic where Jed said his things were? Ed had mentioned he thought that he had heard someone up there, but as far as Nero knew the door was locked. Nero mentally added exploring the attic as the first item on his agenda for this investigation. It would be easy for him to get into the attic through the small crack in a door that led from one of the old servants’ rooms on that floor.

Naturally, the cats would be doing a thorough investigation. Nero felt it was his duty to protect the guesthouse and Josie. As cat caretaker of the Oyster Cove Guesthouse, the responsibility to keep it running weighed heavy. Three murders in a row could be a major deterrent to guests.

“Why would someone want to kill Madame Zenda and leave this note if it wasn’t you?” Marlowe looked up at Jed with intelligent, calculating eyes. Good, the young cat was also thinking along the lines of investigating and shared Nero’s suspicions of the ghost.

“Beats me. Looks like someone wants them to think it was me. But why would I kill her? I don’t stand to gain anything,” Jed said.

Marlowe glanced at Nero and Nero nodded sagely as if he had some inner wisdom that validated Jed’s words. He didn’t but, since he was the mentor and Marlowe the mentee, he liked to put forth the appropriate impression of being wise.

“We’ll investigate all options. But one thing is for sure. If it wasn’t Jed, then we may have someone very dangerous on our hands.” Nero glanced over at the body, where the police were busy photographing and cataloging, and made a mental note to be very careful around Jed. The ghost seemed sincere in his insistence that he wasn’t the killer, but one could never be too careful. “Because whoever did this, definitely has a motive powerful enough to kill for.”

Eight

“Maybe Madame Zenda was a little bit psychic after all,” Millie said as we sat in the kitchen waiting for the police to finish with the crime scene.

“Why do you say that?” I asked.