“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 areyou 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.
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.” Helet 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.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_2]
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 ofEsther. 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.”