A Mew to a Kill (23 page)

“She claims she was there because she got some note from Paisley asking her to meet her there. She said Paisley denied giving it to her.”
 

Wait. Paisley had said she’d gotten a note, too. But I couldn’t tell Jimmy that.
   

“Did she show you the note?” I asked.

“She claimed she threw it out.” Jimmy turned back toward the door. “Well, anyway, I just wanted to stop by and let you know we found the killer. Striker asked me to make sure you knew. He’s busy booking her right now or he’d have come himself. He said to tell you that you could stop investigating. He didn’t seem very happy that you would be doing that, but of course that’s no surprise to me.” Jimmy’s face looked thoughtful as he put his hand on the knob. “You know, after talking to you guys, I realize the evidence does seem kind of flimsy. But I’m sure Gus and Striker know what they’re doing, right?”

“I guess so.”

“Right. See you guys later.” He opened the door and disappeared into the street.

Pepper turned to me with an excited look on her face. “The note. You said Paisley told you she got one too, right?”

“That’s right. And if she did, that means that someone was setting Maisie up and the real killer is still out there.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

After Pepper left, I hung around the shop waiting for Paisley’s ghost to appear. I needed to ask her where she’d put that note. I figured if I could find it, I could give it to the police and maybe they could match the handwriting. If it wasn’t from Maisie, then she would be cleared and they would be able to get a lead on the real killer.

I went so far as to hang around in the fashion section, calling out for Paisley, Robert and Franklin, but none of them appeared. Ghosts rarely do when you actually want them to.

Shortly before closing time, the shop phone rang. I debated not answering it, but I often had customers call from other states looking for rare volumes of books and I couldn’t afford to lose a sale.

“Last Chance Books,” I trilled into the mouthpiece.

“Hi, Willa. This is Brenda Parrish.”

“Hi, Brenda, what can I do for you?” Why was she calling? She’d just barely left and, I had to admit, I was still a little miffed that she’d spilled the beans on Maisie. I was sure she thought she was doing the right thing … but still.

“I’ve spoken to the other judges, and none of us can find Paisley’s computer. Opal even checked with the police and at her house. Then we realized that you still might have the portfolio we looked at in the judges’ meeting. Do you have it?”

I glanced back behind the counter. The blue portfolio was sitting there. Better to give it to one of the judges than to have to hand it over to Kenny. “Yes, I have it.”

 
“Good! I think we can use it to put together a little memorial in the art show for Paisley. Do you think you could bring it by tonight? I don’t have much time to get this together, so I need it right away.”

I pressed my lips together. I had a lot to do, what with trying to find the note and all, but I did want to get rid of that portfolio. “Sure. I’m just about to close up shop then I have an errand to run, but I can swing by after that. Is six thirty okay?”

“Perfect.”

That would work out perfect for me, too. It was just about closing time and I didn’t have any other plans. Striker would be busy incarcerating Maisie, so my only plan was to try to dig up that note. Since Paisley wasn’t cooperating, I was going to have to go snooping around her store again. I just hoped Kenny didn’t catch me and do something drastic.

I went over to the window, looking out at Paisley’s store and scratching Pandora behind the ears. “Since I have to go over and look for that cat anyway, I guess I might as well look around for the note at the same time. You never know, I might get lucky.”

“
Meow!
” Pandora jumped off the windowsill and trotted over to the door. I guess she wanted to come with me. Maybe she knew something about the cat that I didn’t know.

I turned the sign on my door to ‘Closed’ and we slipped outside. I checked for signs of Kenny and when I didn’t see any, I figured it was safe to proceed. Pandora trotted across the street beside me and we turned down the alley, slowing our pace so that I could search the edges next to the buildings for a note.
 

I kicked at the piles of dried leaves, hoping maybe the note was lying underneath. No such luck.

We walked slowly toward the back parking lot. Pandora kept pace with me, looking up at me and mewing encouragingly. I didn’t know what she was being encouraging about, but at least it was something.

We got into the parking lot and I noticed the cardboard box I’d seen earlier was still there. There was no cat or kittens, and I couldn’t tell if the box had been occupied since I’d last been here. If the cat had given birth, the kittens would be too young to wander around on their own. She must have hidden them somewhere nearby … if she was even still on the premises.

“Where is Momma cat, Pandora? Do you know?”

“
Meooo.
” Pandora shook her head as if she understood what I had asked. She sniffed at the box and trotted over to the dumpster, crouching down and looking underneath.

The dumpster was on wheels and there was a small, four-inch gap underneath. The perfect amount of space for a cat to hide her kittens.
 

Figuring Pandora might be onto something, I crouched down and tried to look under. My stomach curdled at the smell of sour milk and wilting lettuce. It was impossible to see underneath. I would have to lie on the ground.
 

The area surrounding the dumpster was littered with various pieces of paper and some unidentified, gooey-looking stuff. I did not relish the idea of lying in any of it.
 

I cast around for a less icky spot and found one on the side furthest from the building. I lay down on my stomach gingerly, the effort aggravating my shoulder. No cat was to be seen. Pandora sat beside me, her head cocked to the side, watching with a quizzical look on her face. Then, she went over to one of the corners and started scratching and clawing.

“
Meow!
” She stopped scratching, looked over her shoulder at me, and then started scratching again.

What was under there?

I shimmied over to take a look, but I didn’t see anything other than the usual dumpster debris.

“
Merah!
” She pulled her paw out, holding it up triumphantly to reveal a piece of paper skewered on one of her sharp claws.

“What’s that?” I reached out and freed the paper. My heart gave a little thump.
 

The paper was ripped on the corner and stained with dumpster goo. The purple writing was blotched with food stains and smudged by drops of water, but I could still make out what it said.

Meet me at your store at 9 PM. I know what you’ve been up to.

Chapter Twenty-Six

I put the note in my pocket. The words made me wonder if Paisley was up to something else or if the killer just wanted to imply he knew something to make sure she showed up.

I walked back across the street, putting a call in to Striker and then Gus on the way. Neither one of them answered. They were probably busy with Maisie.
 

“I need to start over to Brenda’s now to meet her on time. I guess it won’t hurt if I quickly drop off the portfolio and then head over to the police station with this note. Maybe by then either Gus or Striker will be available.” I wasn’t sure why I was talking out loud to my cat. It was getting to be a bad habit.
 

“
Meow!
” Pandora trotted to the back as if she was getting ready to go in the car with me.

“No, you have to stay here. I can't take you to Brenda’s.” My car was parked in the little lot in back of the building, so I grabbed my purse and the portfolio, then headed toward the back door.

“
Meroo!
” Pandora frantically twisted around me, rubbing against my ankles. Guilt flooded my chest. The poor cat had been alone all night at my house while I was in the hospital. No wonder she was being so clingy. She probably felt abandoned.

“Okay. You can come, but you have to stay in the car.”

“
Mew.
”

Pandora hopped into the passenger seat and curled up in a ball while I pulled the car onto Main Street. I’d never been to Brenda’s house before, but I knew she lived a little ways out of town. In a small place like Mystic Notch, everyone knew where everyone else lived.

I drove the three miles in silence, wondering if I should have dropped the note off first. I didn’t want to just show up at the police station and hand it to a stranger, though. I’d wait until I could hand it to Gus or Striker personally. As I neared the road, I noticed a car had been following me. My nerves prickled uneasily when I noticed was a Toyota—the same car I had seen Kenny driving at the town hall.

Was he following me?

Once again, I debated whether I should even go to Brenda's. Maybe I
should
go straight to the police. Then I realized if it was Kenny, he would hardly do something to me at Brenda’s. I was almost there, so I might as well stop.

I turned onto Brenda’s road and slowed down expecting the car to follow me, but it didn’t. It continued on the main road. I realized I was just being silly. Paranoid. That probably wasn’t even Kenny. Lots of people had Toyotas and it wasn’t even his car in the first place. He’d borrowed it from a friend.

Brenda’s house was impressive, a large cape with a two-car garage that looked like a barn and a screened breezeway in between. I remembered that Elspeth had said the lumberyard had been heavily insured.

“You stay in the car.” I shook my finger at Pandora, who blinked at me with innocent green eyes. As soon as I opened my door she leapt across my lap out into the driveway.

“Pandora get, back here!” I yelled.

She ignored me and trotted over to the screened-in porch.

“
Meow!
” She pressed her nose to the screen. I hoped she didn’t punch a hole in it. That’s all I needed, to have to replace Brenda’s screen. Then I noticed another cat was on the porch, looking out. A very unusual cat with half black face and half orange face. I walked over to look more closely.

“Hi, Kitty.” The cat pressed her pink nose up against the screen and I bent down to scratch her through the mesh.
 

“
Hiss!
” Another cat, this one a white Persian, appeared around the corner and seemed to take an instant dislike to Pandora, who weaved in and out of my ankles, throwing smug looks at the white cat as if taunting him.
 

“
Mew
.” The cat inside the porch meowed daintily. She was tiny and I judged that she was probably barely a year old. I wondered if it could be the cat Brenda’s sister had saved in the fire. As I watched her while trying not to trip over Pandora, she batted at something in the corner. It rolled toward me. A purple-capped sharpie.
 

Doesn’t Brenda give the cat any better toys
? I thought.

“I thought I heard someone out here.” Brenda's voice pulled my attention from the cat and I looked over to see her hanging out the screen door. “Come on in.”

“That’s a neat cat you have out there.” I gestured toward the porch.

“Oh, that was my sister’s cat.” I was surprised at the tone in Brenda’s voice. It wasn’t affectionate like I thought it would be. Maybe the cat brought up bad memories.

“Is that the portfolio?” Brenda nodded at the book in my hand.

“Yes.” I handed it over and stepped through the threshold, turning back to give a warning glance at Pandora. “Don’t go far.”

“
Mew.
” She sat down in front of the car as if she was going to obey my command. She didn’t fool me, though. I suspected that as soon as I was inside, she’d go exploring.

The inside of Brenda’s house was as nice as the outside. She led me through the foyer into a plush living room that opened up into a white kitchen with gleaming, black granite counters. It smelled faintly of lemons.
 

Brenda set the portfolio on a table, her glance lingering on it as she asked, “Do you know anything more about the investigation into Paisley’s death? I hope I didn’t cause trouble for Maisie.”

I grimaced. “As a matter of fact, I heard they arrested her.”

“Really? She really did do it? It hardly seems possible … did they have a lot of other evidence pointing to her?”

“Apparently, Paisley took a picture as she was dying. It was a picture of Maisie leaving her place. That combined with you placing her at the scene was enough, I guess. I personally thought it could be Paisley’s brother, Kenny.”

Brenda’s face pinched at the mention of Kenny.
 

“Do you know him?” I asked.

She nodded curtly. “He worked in our lumberyard for a while. He was suspected of burning it, you know. He was sort of a troublemaker, but my sister Amanda had taken him under her wing.” Her face turned sad, then brightened. “But anyway, can I get you something to drink?”

“I can’t stay long. I just wanted to drop this off…” But she was already in the kitchen, grabbing a pitcher out of the refrigerator.