‘There’s only one way to find out what it is.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Follow them around and see what they do. If they killed Charles because he discovered they were doing something shady, and they didn’t leave town right away, then chances are they are still doing it.’
Seventeen
Nero shrunk back into the doorway of the bookstore as Josie came out of the Post Office.‘Get back! She’ll see us!’
Marlowe crouched low beside him. Juliette, Boots and Harry just looked at him.
‘So what if she sees you?’ Stubbs asked.
‘We don’t want her to think we’re following her.’
‘Ahh… Still playing aloof?’ Juliette preened.
‘Yep. Plus we don’t want her to try to lock us up inside or anything. We need to be free to protect her,’ Marlowe said.
All the cats shuddered at the thought of being shut up inside. Sure, many humans tried to curtail their outdoor activities thinking it was in their best interest and it likely was forregular cats. But Nero and his gang were special and needed to be free to roam around. How else would they solve mysteries?
‘Especially since I feel she may be barking up the wrong tree.’ Nero peeked out from his hiding spot. Josie was almost a block away. He slipped out and trotted a few stores down, taking care to stick close to the edge of the building and duck into doorways when possible. The others followed.
‘Barking up the wrong tree?’ Juliette asked. ‘Sounds like something that Mrs. Peterson’s chihuahua would do.’
‘I’ve seen him do that a few times,’ Harry said.
‘Very funny,’ Boots ran his paw the length of his long whisker, curling it up at the end with a flourish. ‘Nero means that he thinks Josie is on the wrong track. Why don’t you fill us in Nero?’
‘There was an incident at the guesthouse last night that eliminated some of the suspects.’ Nero told them how Tony had come to the Guesthouse and what happened after. Admittedly, he might have embellished the whole confrontation part a little bit to make it seem like he and Marlowe had stopped Tony from harming Josie, but since Marlowe didn’t disagree he felt like he was within his rights. He certainlywould have if it came to that.
‘Darn. I thought that clog print was a sure-fire clue and Tony would take the rap. So now what?’ Stubbs asked.
‘Once Tony was cleared, we knew Josie had to go back to the earlier clue. The note.’ Nero ducked quickly behind a tree when Josie turned around. ‘Holy Hiss, did she see us?’
Marlowe, who had ducked right behind him, peered out.‘I don’t think so. Looks like she’s getting into her car.’
‘Hmm… I wish I knew where she was going.’ Nero narrowed his gaze at Josie, who was settling in behind the wheel of her twelve-year-old Dodge sedan.
‘Hopefully back to the guesthouse,’ Harry said.
‘We can take the shortcut back there,’ Nero suggested.
‘Did you convince her to look at the note? I thought the police had it,’ Boots said.
Marlowe nodded.‘It took quite a bit of effort, but she finally got the hint. Luckily she had a picture of it on her phone.’
‘So what happened? Don’t tell me the note was a bum steer,’ Stubbs said, using his hard-boiled detective lingo again.
‘She puzzled out the potential meanings of the letters,’ Nero said.
‘Josie seems quite adept at word puzzles and games. I’ve seen her do the crosswords before,’ Marlowe added.
‘She discovered something?’ Juliette asked.
‘Now she suspects the Weatherbys. I feel she might be getting into dangerous territory though and want to keep her close.’ Josie’s car pulled onto the road and Nero dove under a shrub, scaring the bejesus out of a sparrow who burst out the other side like he’d been shot from a canon.
‘Are you sure she’s correct in suspecting the Weatherbys?’ Boots asked. ‘My whiskers are tingling at the thought and not in a good way.’
‘There are some clues. We saw gull feathers and nesting material in their room,’ Marlowe said.
‘And I saw them near the gulls’ nests,’ Juliette added.
‘They do seem overly interested in the gulls and Josie thought the note might be a blackmail note because Charles caught someone messing around with the gulls somehow.’
‘You mean this all has to do with what is happening to the gulls?’ Harry asked.
‘It’s a possibility.’ Nero scrambled out from under the bush and shook errant leaves off his coat, then started to groom off any dirt that might have gotten on the white patch of his chest. ‘Whatever the real reason is, Josie is determined to find the killer. Her reputation is on the line, after all.’
‘Of course. And we must assist like we always do.’
‘Great. Well, we gotta run.’ Nero trotted off in the direction of the shortcut that led to the guesthouse. ‘I’ll keep you all posted.’
‘Let us know if we can do anything else!’ Poe yelled after him.
‘You know where to find us!’ Harry added.
‘I’ll be watching the cliff from the Belfry!’ Juliette purred.
Nero broke into a full run, Marlowe at his tail. If they hurried they could get back to the guesthouse before Josie did something that might put herself in danger.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
I waited almost all day for the Weatherbys to make a move. I hovered around the front rooms with my duster, trying to look busy. I wanted to stay near the foyer so I could catch them if they left, but there was only so much dusting and straightening one could do in the front rooms.
I felt a little like a creep. Was I doing the right thing? If they were innocent, I’d simply see them taking pictures of birds. But if not…
I’d also had the distinct feeling someone… or something… was following me when I left the post office earlier that day. I hadn’t seen anyone when I did a tricky glance over my shoulders and the Weatherbys car was parked and cold (yes, I felt the hood) when I got back to the guesthouse, so itwasn’t them. What ifthey weren’t the killers and it was the real killer who was following me?
The cats had been acting strangely too. They bolted into the house a few minutes after I got home and had been staring at me the whole time. Now all of a sudden they’d disappeared. A creak on the stairs brought me out of my reverie.
‘Oh, hi, Josie. Huh, I saw Flora cleaning in here earlier.’ Ron looked at me suspiciously. ‘How often do you have to dust this place?’
‘One can never have things too clean!’ I chirped. ‘Old houses collect lots of dust.’
‘Ahem. Right. Well the Mrs. and I are just going for a walk.’ Ron held up the camera that dangled around his neck. ‘Going to see if we can spot a blue-billed horn-swallow.’
‘They have those around here?’ I’d never actually heard of one. Was he making it up? If he was the killer, then he probably was. I remembered how Mike had said that he thought it was odd that Ron had the specifications of his camera wrong, maybe he’d been lying then too? Maybe if I’d listenedto Mike, I would have realized Ron could be the killer sooner. Of course, I would never tell Mike that.
‘They are very rare, but we’re hopeful!’ Iona pulled Ron out the door and I stared out the window as they headed off to the path at the edge of the estate property. It wound up the hill above the Smugglers Bay Inn, then over to the cliffs near the gulls. I tossed down my feather duster and followed.
I’d always liked the serenity of walking in the woods with only the chipmunks and birds as company. The smell of pine and the dapples of sunlight filtering through the leaves can be magical. Except for today. Today the woods had an ominous feeling and being alone wasn’t quite so serene.
I came to a fork in the path. Now, which trail had they taken? I squinted down the path on the right and caught sight of something red moving in between the trees. Iona’s shirt. I picked up the pace. Something dark ran in front of me, almost tripping me.
‘Whoa!’
Mew! Nero leapt onto a rock and preened.
‘Hey, watch it.’ I whispered because I didn’t want to alert the Weatherbys to my presence.