A Purrfect Alibi

“Yep. Anita Pendragon was in here asking all about Jedediah Biddeford and his treasure. Luckily, I already had a lot of information out on him from a few weeks ago when the skeleton was found.” Agnes pointed to a pile of papers and a book. “So, it’s fresh in my brain and I would’ve remembered if someone bought buckles just like this.”

“Anita was here asking about Jedediah?” Mom asked, her eyes widening as she nodded at Millie. Clearly this moved Anita up the suspect list.

Agnes pushed the phone toward Millie and bent down to store the magnifying glass back under the shelf. “Yeah, probably had something to do with that television producer.”

“Television producer.” This was the first I’d heard of that and the notion set my mind spinning.

Agnes nodded. “I don’t remember his name. Some muckety-muck in a suit. He came in and wanted to know about Jedediah Biddeford, too. Asked all about the Oyster Cove Guesthouse. Wanted to know all about the skeleton. He even bought a pen for my trouble. Good thing too, it’s important that these high falutin’ types realize information isn’t free.”

“He asked about the guesthouse?” This did not bode well. A movie about murders at the guesthouse would hardly bring in more guests. Or would it? One thing it would do is generate a lot of money for someone… maybe for the psychic who could talk to Jed. Had Madame Zenda known about the movie? Clearly Anita had.

“Yep, sounded like he was fixing to make a movie or a TV show or something. Kept asking about all this ghost business that you have going on over there with those psychics.”

The mention of the psychics reminded me that Esther had been here. She hadn’t been looking for a buckle, unless Agnes was lying or her memory was off, but did she know about the movie producer? I slid her card out from under the pen display and held it up. “And Esther Hill, what was she doing here?”

Agnes frowned and snatched the card out of my hand. “That there is confidential information. I don’t tell on my clients. You should know that, missy.”

All-righty then.

Mom gave me an I-raised-you-better-than-that scowl.

“Right. I was just wondering if maybe she overheard the movie producer asking about Jed’s ghost.”

Agnes shoved the card under the table. “Hard telling. Lots of people were here when that producer fellow came in and later on he was over at Annie’s clam shack making a big deal about how important he was. Half the town heard him then.” She paused for a few beats. “Is there anything else I can help you with?”

“No. Thanks for the information.” Millie turned and we followed her out.

Outside in the street, Mom turned to us. “Do you really think someone is considering making the story about the skeleton into a movie? That could be quite lucrative and might even be good for business.”

Millie nodded. “And we all know that money is a prime motive for murder, but the question is… who knew about the movie?”

“Anita Pendragon did. Agnes said she was in the shop, she might have overheard and she was first on the scene with the body. She’s a reporter too and would know how to cover things up and make it look like she only discovered the body when she’s really the killer,” Mom said.

Millie started walking toward the car. “That’s probably why she was hanging around the guesthouse so she could be the first to scoop a story when one of them talked to Jed. Then she could partner with the movie producer and get her ten minutes of fame.”

“Esther knew too,” I said. “Or at least she could have known. Her card was at the antique store and Agnes was quite secretive about why it was there.”

“I still say that Pendragon and Madame Zenda were in cahoots,” Millie said. “That’s why Zenda was yelling out the window about her meeting with Jed.”

Mom nodded. “Probably knew about the movie and wanted to make sure Anita covered it so that word would get back to the producer.”

“I just hope that sourpuss Myron Remington doesn’t think the publicity would put people off from booking a room at the guesthouse,” Millie said.

I cringed. “Unfortunately Myron might be right. I got a cancellation just this morning.”

Millie stopped in her tracks. “You did? Did they say why? Maybe it had nothing to do with all the murders.”

“They didn’t say specifically but it sounded like they were making up an excuse.”

Mom patted my arm. “Don’t worry, dear. Once word gets out about a movie, people will be flocking to stay at the guesthouse. People like to see where a movie took place.”

I hoped she was right, but something in my gut said otherwise. “We don’t even know if there will be a movie and in the meantime I’ve had three murders this summer. No wonder people are getting nervous. We need to figure out who killed Madame Zenda ASAP so we can get this whole thing out of the headlines.”

“Good point,” Mom said. “People have short memories. Once this is all over then it won’t take them long to forget. Unless of course the movie producer wants to use the guesthouse as a movie set.”